LSP Program Evaluation & Consultation 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A school psychologist is asked to consult with a teacher whose student shows sudden academic decline. The psychologist focuses solely on the student's functioning without examining teacher or school factors. This approach violates which consultation principle?
- Voluntary participation
- Ecological perspective (Correct answer)
- Indirect service delivery
- Confidentiality of consultation records
Correct answer: Ecological perspective
Effective consultation should adopt an ecological perspective, examining student behavior within the context of environmental, classroom, and school-level factors.
Question 2: Which evaluation approach is most appropriate when a program is newly implemented and its theory of change is unclear?
- Summative evaluation
- Developmental evaluation (Correct answer)
- Goal-based evaluation
- Cost-utility analysis
Correct answer: Developmental evaluation
Developmental evaluation supports learning and adaptation in emerging programs where the theory of change is still evolving.
Question 3: A program evaluator observing classrooms notices that teachers change their behavior when being watched. This threat to validity is called:
- Selection bias
- Maturation
- Reactivity (Hawthorne effect) (Correct answer)
- Regression to the mean
Correct answer: Reactivity (Hawthorne effect)
Reactivity, or the Hawthorne effect, occurs when participants alter their behavior because they know they are being observed.
Question 4: In Caplan's model of mental health consultation, 'consultee-centered case consultation' focuses primarily on:
- Providing direct therapy to the client
- Identifying the consultee's lack of knowledge, skill, confidence, or objectivity (Correct answer)
- Changing organizational policies
- Training the consultee in evidence-based assessments
Correct answer: Identifying the consultee's lack of knowledge, skill, confidence, or objectivity
Consultee-centered case consultation targets difficulties in the consultee—specifically gaps in knowledge, skill, confidence, or objectivity—that affect their work with the client.
Question 5: A psychologist consulting with a nonprofit discovers the staff lacks motivation partly due to unclear organizational roles. The BEST consultation approach would address:
- Individual staff members' psychological histories
- Organizational structure and role clarification (Correct answer)
- External funding sources exclusively
- Community demographics
Correct answer: Organizational structure and role clarification
Organizational consultation focuses on structural and systemic factors—such as unclear roles—that affect staff performance and morale.
Question 6: When presenting program evaluation findings to stakeholders with varying levels of technical expertise, the evaluator should PRIMARILY:
- Use technical statistical language to demonstrate rigor
- Tailor the communication style to the audience's background (Correct answer)
- Present only positive findings to maintain stakeholder support
- Delay reporting until all secondary analyses are complete
Correct answer: Tailor the communication style to the audience's background
Effective evaluation communication requires adapting language, format, and level of detail to match the audience's background and informational needs.
Question 7: A consultant and teacher collaboratively define the problem, share responsibility for intervention, and jointly evaluate outcomes. This best reflects which consultation model?
- Expert consultation
- Mediation consultation
- Collaborative consultation (Correct answer)
- Prescriptive consultation
Correct answer: Collaborative consultation
Collaborative consultation is characterized by shared ownership, mutual problem-solving, and joint responsibility between consultant and consultee.
LSP Program Evaluation & Consultation 4
A school psychologist is asked to consult with a teacher whose student shows sudden academic decline.
The psychologist focuses solely on the student's functioning without examining teacher or school factors.
This approach violates which consultation principle?