Blog 12

In reading Chapter 12 I found myself thinking about where I was going to be able to be most useful with the skill set I had developed in relation to assessments etc.  I found the SPLASH test strategy (Drummond & Jones, 2010) to be very attention grabbing especially since I think it would be most fitting when used with High school students. The thought of doing testing and assessing is still not something I am over the moon about, but i must admit that after administering the KBIT and the Baron-EQI I do feel more prepared. I think that with any test there is a period of uncertainty since we are all ethical counselors that can recognize the issues that could be mistaken for learner IQ errors should we not be prepared to administer a test. Having tackled my fear head on, I was interested to find myself being excited more or less over a testing strategy. To continue to move towards being a more competent professional that administers tests I think the “Test Preparation and Performance” would be very helpful. 

I thought that chapter 14 was particularly helpful for me because it gives a really nice overview of the types of assessments as well as providing a realistic framework for what a real school counseling job may look like. I have heard a few 3^rd year school counseling students be disappointed with Guidance Program Development because they feel that the school counseling job is not as they had expected and GPD is the course that really opens their eyes. I am not fearful of this as I truly feel that the school counseling field is my spot that I will be happy regardless of what aspects of my job are given to me that are technically “not my responsibility”. I thought that chapter 14 was a nice precursor for setting the realistic expectation of what my job may actually look like. Of course, I would love to be in my office/traveling around the school meeting with and counseling students but realistically, my job will entail many things that are not individual/group counseling. I think of it metaphorically- the majority of my job is the meat and potatoes. The ability to have individual sessions or run groups with students is more like the desert. The pieces that I would love to do all day- and find the most joy in doing is not going to be what the majority of my job consists of. Thankfully, I am ok with doing all aspects of this job because like I said, I really feel like this is my fit.

Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.