Follow-Up Evaluation of Career-Counseling Programs

· Instruments of known reliability and validity from previous research are recommended, and objective, nonreactive measures (e.g., archival data, cost data) should be employed along with subjective measures (e.g., ratings, self-reports)(Oliver, 1979). Furthermore, both intermediate and ultimate outcomes of career counseling should be assessed. Intermediate outcomes (e.g., job-seeking skills) lead to final outcomes (e.g., employment status), and show why a program succeeds or fails, and allow improvements to be made (Morell, 1979).”Learning outcomes” (e.g., selfawareness, opportunity awareness, decision-making skills, and transition skills) are important intermediate outcomes of career counseling and precursors of subsequent socioeconomic outcomes, such as earnings (Conger et al., 1994).