The Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference: Contexts for Creating Change

Abstract

This special edition of Professional School Counseling presents some of the key proceedings from the sixth annual Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference (EBSCC). The EBSCC exists to provide professional development around effective school counseling program components and interventions, especially related to evidence-based practices and other cutting-edge innovations in school counseling. We offer a brief history of the EBSCC, a definition of evidence-based school counseling, and an overview of the contents of this special issue. Future directions for evidence-based school counseling conclude the article.

Inclusion of Theory for Evidence-Based School Counseling Practice and Scholarship

“…For a school counselor, these complexities influence the manner in which they pursue various practices that are each intended to result in desirable student and school outcomes. This results-focused approach to school counseling is consistent with recommendations found in the ASCA National Model (2019) from the American School Counselor Association and is consonant with the evidence-based school counseling movement (see Zyromski & Dimmitt, 2019). That is, each school counselor can support students and other members of the school community by committing to practices that are predictably successful and that can result in reliable evidence.…”

Evidence-Based School Counseling: Embracing Challenges/Changes to the Existing Paradigm

“…Attendees from almost all 50 states attended the online conference, with 472 school counselors, school counselor educators, school counselors in training, and other educational leaders attending three panel presentations, 19 poster presentations, 16 round-table presentations, 55 fifty-minute presentations, and three double sessions. Since the inception of the EBSCC in 2013 (see Zyromski and Dimmitt (2019) for a brief history), the conference has focused on equipping school counselors with the skills to conceptualize problems or practice through an evidence-based school counseling lens so that interventions are data informed, likely to meet the identified needs of students, and able to be evaluated. Strands within the conference include exploration of data-based decision making, interventions with efficacy for student outcomes, conceptual arguments for challenging or expanding the EBSC approach, and counselor education approaches for training the next generation of school counselors.…”

Embracing School Counselors’ Situatedness: Data-Based Decision Making as Fulfillment of a Complex Identity

“…But it is how we approach improving these outcomes (and the data that support these approaches) that is more distinctly carried out through a mental health lens. From understanding the supporting evidence for various theory-based techniques and common factors research to the selection, implementation, and fidelity of prevention and intervention strategies, school counselors are mindful of the scholarly knowledge base that supports our work as counselors in school settings (Dimmitt et al, 2007; Zyromski & Dimmitt, 2019; Zyromski & Mariani, 2019). Increased recognition of the mental health role of school counselors can be observed in the evolution of the ASCA National Model’s “Inappropriate Activities for School Counselors” section between the third (2012) and fourth (2019) editions, wherein the original phrase “providing therapy [emphasis added] or long-term counseling in schools to address psychological disorders” (ASCA, 2012, p. 45) was edited to say that only “providing long-term counseling” is an inappropriate use of time (ASCA, 2019a, p. xiv).…”

“…In recent years, evidence-based school counseling (Dimmitt et al, 2007; Zyromski & Mariani, 2016) has expanded the traditional emphasis of data-based decision making from data-driven decision making and accountability practices to include school counselors’ intentional adoption of interventions that directly meet the identified needs of students (Zyromski & Dimmitt, 2019). One benefit of intentionally choosing interventions to meet students’ needs is that it prioritizes needs within the data-based decision-making process.…”