Blog 1

Blog 1 Having taken courses in quantitative and qualitative research and participated in some large-scale research studies at a university, I thought I had a good background in assessment before beginning this particular course. In reading the assigned chapters for this week, though, I was reminded of the fact that there is much I have to learn about assessment, especially related to the administration of individual and group assessments in the school setting. Because of this, I appreciated the way in which the authors of the text begin with an overall definition of assessment at the beginning of Chapter 1 and continue into a step-by-step description of the assessment process. This is an assessment structure that we can emulate when completing assignments for this course and then further down the road, practice when we are actually designing assessments as school counselors. I hope that I will be well-versed in the 23 competencies described on page nine by the conclusion of this course, but if not, it will be helpful to note the areas in which I will need to improve in order to feel confident practicing these techniques in a school or university setting. Related to these competencies are the ethical and legal issues described in Chapter 17. Although it may be impossible to memorize every single law or case related to ethical and legal issues in assessment, this information may be a usual reference to refer back to before making any rash decisions as practicing school employees. Of course, we know that the real world often differs dramatically from the "ideal world" described in some textbooks, so we will have to balance our desire to help with our need to uphold certain ethical standards and the political arenas in which we practice. Chapter 2 provides even more detail about the methods and sources of information for assessment. I noted that the areas of assessment, including intellectual ability tests, aptitude tests, achievement tests, career or employment inventories, and personality inventories, are the same categories we have to choose for our assessment procedures. It is again helpful to know that we will be practicing studies that we will most likely design in professional settings, which helps to somewhat alleviate my lingering uncertainties about my competencies in these areas as a practicing school counselor. Drummond, R., and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals (7th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.