Week 2 - Chp.

As I did my readings this week, the quote that really jumped out at me was a quote by S.B. Baker, "Without basic knowledge of measurement principles, test users are navigating without compasses" (as cited in Ekstrom et al., 2004). Yes, we could perhaps muddle through the paperwork, language, and numbers on our own and come up with a rudimentary understanding but it would be lacking. I liken it to my two months in Guatemala where I was studying Spanish. During my first few weeks I wandered around town in a bit of a haze. I did not know Spanish and bought my market items using lots of hand gestures, smiles, and the few words I had learned. Sometimes I got what I wanted and sometimes I didn’t. Usually I persevered until I purchased what I came for but sometimes my frustration level was so high I just gave up and came home with a papaya instead of a mango. After a few weeks my Spanish improved immensely (nowhere to go but up!) and I felt much more comfortable going to the market. I came home with what I had gone for and a few more goodies besides after actually having simple conversations with the merchants. My confidence soared! That was over 20 years ago and while my Spanish is now rusty, the lessons I learned are still with me.

 

Research has found that school counselors have the strongest background in assessment compared which teachers and administrators. (Ekstrom et al., 2004). This is an important responsibility for school counselors. This is the time to learn the skills and hone our knowledge of assessment. We need to be aware of ASCA’s ethical standards and our own grasp of assessment and take advantage of future training opportunities. Our textbook does a nice job of presenting the statistical concepts. Some of the concepts looked familiar to me from my recent Research Methods class but some honestly looked like a foreign language. The examples they used were helpful and the various graphs helped me start to understand the concepts. I know I will refer to this chapter frequently as my grasp of this knowledge is still tenuous. While I have a compass to help navigate this sea of assessment, I am still working on honing my skills!

 

 

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for

        counselors and helping professionals. (7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River,

        NJ: Pearson.

 

Ekstrom, R.B., Elmore, P.B., Schafer, W.D., Trotter, T.V., Webster, B.

        (2004). A survey of assessment and evaluation activities of school

        counselors. Professional School Counseling, 8(1), 24-30.