School Counseling Assessments 

Assessment in the context of a counseling setting can be understood as either an evaluation or systematic method that seeks to obtain information from various sources helping counselors develop inferences about the various facets of people, the effect of events, places, and things have on people, and on the effectiveness of programs, (Whiston, 2013).  Given the broad nature of this definition, one can more easily grasp the role of assessment in its more familiar domain or purpose: Intelligence/Cognitive, Ability, Family, Career, and Personality.  Many may be familiar with the SAT, ACT, or GRE but fewer could articulate that these are all ability assessments that aims to measure a student’s ability to perform in a college setting.  The relationship a school counselor has with  assessments would be a rather focused one that is primarily limited to evaluations and appraisals.  Given that diagnosis diagnosis falls outside of the responsibility for school counselors, test or measurement instruments with psychometric properties in many cases may be inappropriate for school counselors to administer.

 The ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors doesn’t specifically forbid school counselors from using psychometric instruments; however, it does spell out that the administration and interpretation of such instruments should be done only within the scope of practice for which a counselor is trained and competent, (ASCA, 2016).  Whiston argues that assessment is integral to counseling given that the first step in a therapeutic setting is the counselor assesses the client's problem(s), (Whiston, 2013).  Only after a thorough assessment can a counselor move on to conceptualizing and defining the client’s problem.  Outside of the direct services of individual or group counseling is the accountability component, and ASCA spells out that school counselors should assess the effectiveness of their school counseling program and the impact it is having on students’ academic, career and personal/social development; particularly as it pertains to closing the achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps, (ASCA, 2016).  So, it makes a great deal of sense that school counselors have in their arsenal effective tools that aid them in making effective evaluations and appraisals.

*Click on a link below to see sample assessments*

Personality Assessment

Career Assessment

Suicide Potential Assessment