Evidence-Based School Counseling

Abstract

Although school counselors and school counselor educators have an ethical responsibility to use and to teach evidence-based practices (EBPs), recent research has illustrated a lack of EBP in counselor education scholarship. In school counselor education programs, training related to EBP may be absent due to a lack of understanding or instructor training. This article provides a model using three pedagogical approaches for integrating EBP into school counselor education programs. We review the three approaches-stand-alone courses, full program integration, and program-school-community integration-in depth and use a case study to illustrate the application of the three approaches. Implications for school counseling practice and research conclude the article.

Counselor Education and Supervision: 2018 Annual Review

“…Conceptual contributions included advocacy for the counselor-advocatescholar model (Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018), a framework for intersectionality (Chan, Cor, & Band, 2018), and integration of creative thinking and problem-solving across the curriculum (McCarthy, 2018). School counselor educators presented focus group data regarding school counselor preparation (Watkinson, Goodman-Scott, Martin, & Biles, 2018) and three options for integrating evidence-based approaches within programs (Zyromski, Dimmitt, Mariani, & Griffith, 2018). Finally, Schmidt, Havlik, and Malott (2018) explored development of undergraduate counseling minors.…”

Enhancing Evidence-Based Practice Through University–Practitioner Partnerships

“…These calls only echo earlier efforts by authors to point out the need for intervention research to inform school counseling practice (Brigman, 2006;Dimmitt, Carey, McGannon, & Henningson, 2005;Whiston & Sexton, 1998;Whiston, Tai, Rahardja, & Eder, 2011). As a result of the lack of empirically supported interventions within the field, school counselors often look to related fields outside school counseling to obtain evidencebased interventions (Zyromski, Dimmitt, Mariani, & Griffith, 2018).…”

“…School counselor educators may not possess a wealth of experience or understanding of applying EBP and therefore experience low self-efficacy around educating others (Patel et al, 2013). Counselor education programs can use pedagogical approaches to overcome faculty hesitancy or low self-efficacy around teaching EBP to school counselors in training (Zyromski et al, 2018). We argue that implementing EBP university-practitioner partnerships represents a pedagogical approach that may aid in building counselor educator EBP self-efficacy and increase the likelihood that EBP are presented in a positive light to current and future school counselors.…”

“…First, students in the school counselor education program need to be exposed to EBP in their coursework. A recent article outlined multiple strategies for integrating EBP throughout school counselor education coursework (Zyromski et al, 2018). The authors suggested that EBP could be integrated in school counselor education programs through stand-alone courses; full program implementation; or program, school, and community partnerships.…”

“…Reinforcing EBP skills through field experiences required intentional partnership with school counseling practitioners that use EBP or those willing to participate in professional development to build their capacity to use such practices. As school counselors in training collaborated with practitioners, they saw the benefits of EBP, including the evaluation of school counseling interventions (Zyromski et al, 2018). Finally, sustaining this type of collaborative relationship over time required the development of a more formal model.…”