School Counselors and Principals Serving as Co-Conspirators for Antiracist Program Evaluation

Abstract

Principals and school counselors, as advocates and leaders, have a moral and ethical imperative to interrogate and disrupt the educational inequities pervading P–12 schools. Trained in data collection, disaggregation, and analyses, principals and school counselors must utilize their knowledge and skills in program evaluation to challenge systemic racism, advocate for marginalized students, and collaborate with key stakeholders to dismantle racist policies and practices taking place in classrooms, schools, and broader communities. Program evaluation practices are tools that school counselors and principals can use to bridge social capital by inviting historically marginalized groups of people to have their voices be heard and have a seat at the table where decisions are being made. In this article, we present an Antiracist Program Evaluation Cycle as a framework for school counselor and principal collaboration, with recommendations to disassemble institutional racism that exists within schools and communities.

Development of School Counselors’ Evaluator Identity: An Investigation of the Factors Contributing to Program Evaluation Engagement

“…Although program evaluation and data-based decision making are different concepts, in analyzing this definition, program evaluation knowledge and skills come to the forefront as key components in successfully implementing the four steps of data-based decision making. As with program evaluators in other fields, collecting and analyzing data is essential for school counselors as they seek to recognize opportunity and achievement gaps for students, advocate for the dismantling of racist practices and policies within the school, and create necessary systemic change within schools and communities (Beasley & Ieva, 2022).…”

Student Change Agent Model: How School Counselors Can Operationalize the Advocating Student-Within-Environment Framework to Promote Student Empowerment

“…Unfortunately, no well-established instrument currently exists that measures student empowerment. School counselors should be wary of relying too heavily on certain academic data, such as standardized test scores, because of the way such methods have been historically inequitable for certain student populations, thus further oppressing students and decreasing student engagement and empowerment (Beasley & Ieva, 2022). Instead, the school counselor may collect pre- and postintervention assessment data on related constructs such as hope (Snyder et al, 1997) and school belonging (Goodenow, 1993), which are more universal and inclusive measures of success than test scores.…”