US School Counselor State Licensure Requirements for Program Evaluation

Using qualitative content analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007), we examined the expectations of states in the US regarding program evaluation content for school counselor licensure. Results show that 43 states maintain some form of program evaluation expectations for licensure, up from the 19 identified by Trevisan (2000). Twenty-eight states require licensure tests that purportedly align with CACREP, ASCA, or maintain a state developed licensure test that measures program evaluation content. Twenty-one states explicitly mention alignment of their curriculum with CACREP, ASCA, or both. The depth and scope of the program evaluation requirements that could be identified are ambiguous and unconnected to best program evaluation practices articulated by the evaluation field. We offer recommendations to build the evaluation capacity of the school counseling profession in the US that include refinements in graduate education of school counselors, in-service training for practicing school counselors, and revision of licensing and program expectations to include standards of best practice in program evaluation