The Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation (CSCORE), established in January 2003, is committed to providing a powerful vision for school counseling in 21st-century schools. This includes identifying, developing, and disseminating information about evidence-based resources that support K-12 students in their academic, social/emotional, and college/career aspirations and achievements.
Through our national conference, journal, and scholar retreat, CSCORE works to highlight relevant scholarship and develop the research capacity of practitioners and emerging school counseling scholars. Our website also provides information about relevant interventions and resources.
Effective counseling in schools requires high-quality research related to counseling, consultation, teaching, advocacy, academic advising, college placement, and the myriad of activities and program components that are part of a successful school counselor’s daily work. It also necessitates consideration of how to bridge the gap between these research findings and what is actually done in schools, so that school counselors are using what is known about best practices to support students.
CSCORE
Center Leadership
Carey Dimmitt
Director
Carey Dimmitt is the Director of the Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation and the Program Coordinator and a Professor in the School Counseling Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her scholarship focuses on evidence-based school counseling practices, school counseling curriculum development, metacognition, and systemic change in educational institutions. Dr. Dimmitt is the Co-Coordinator of the annual National Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference. She is the co-author of the books Evidence-Based School Counseling: Making a Difference with Data-Driven Practices (Corwin, 2007) and the School Counseling and School Social Work Treatment Planner (Wiley, 2012). Dr. Dimmitt also has co-authored chapters on metacognition in education for the APA Educational Psychology Handbook (APA, 2012) and the Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 7: Educational Psychology (Wiley, 2012). She has published in the journals Professional School Counselor, Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, Counselor Education and Supervision, Elementary School Journal, and Computers in the Schools. Dr. Dimmitt served as the Counseling Content Expert for ERIC from 2007-2014.
Email: cdimmitt@educ.umass.edu
Matthew
Lemberger-Truelove
Associate Director
Matthew Lemberger-Truelove is the Associate Director of the Frederickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation and the Letitia Neag Morgan Chair and Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is the former Editor of the Journal of Counseling and Development (the flagship journal for the American Counseling Association) and Fellow of the American Counseling Association. Matthew received his doctoral degree in counselor education from the University of South Carolina. He was a school counselor in both elementary and high school settings. Matthew’s scholarly works include empirical research, funded projects, and theoretical writing. His empirical work generally pertains to evidence-based school counseling, school counseling theory, and children’s mindfulness. He is especially interested in culturally responsive interventions that support children and families from challenging economic environments.
John Carey
Director Emeritus, Founding Member
Dr. Carey is a leader in the evidence-based school counseling movement and has extensive, documented experience in coordinating large multi-site research projects related to outcome and policy research. He has served as the Principal Investigator or Co-PI on many funded research projects including: statewide evaluations of school counseling programs in Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska; and a College Board-funded study to identify the characteristics of school counseling programs associated with successful college transitions for low income and minority students. Dr. Carey is the co-author of the books Evidence-Based School Counseling, Achieving Excellence in School Counseling, and Multicultural Counseling in Schools. Dr. Carey recently received a Fulbright Specialists grant to help Korea University incorporate evidence-based practice into their school counseling graduate program. He is currently working with a team of international scholars to develop an International Handbook for Policy Research on School-Based Counseling.
Center Fellows
Kenya Bledsoe
Senior Leadership Fellow
Kenya G. Bledsoe, Ph.D., LPC-S (AL, MS), NCC, NCSC, BC-TMH, is an Assistant Professor at The University of Mississippi. Before obtaining her doctorate, she served as a secondary school counselor and leader for 15 years. Dr. Bledsoe demonstrated a social justice orientation to school counseling by providing access to AP courses, exposing students to college and career opportunities, and developing collaborative relationships with community-based organizations and post-secondary institutions to make college accessible to all students. Dr. Bledsoe's research interests include school counseling supervision, educational equity for marginalized student groups, and anti-racist school counseling. She has published in journals including Professional School Counseling, Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, and the Journal of Counseling & Development. Dr. Bledsoe is active in numerous professional counseling and civic organizations and has served in counseling leadership roles across the university, state, regional, and national levels. Dr. Bledsoe was the 2023 American Counseling Association Dr. Judy Lewis Counselors for Social Justice Award recipient.
Rawn Boulden
Leadership Fellow
Rawn Boulden, Ph.D., LPC (WV), NCC, NCSC is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University. Formerly, he was a school counselor in Virginia and provided outpatient counseling services to youth and adolescents in West Virginia. Moreover, he was an Assistant Professor of School Counseling at West Virginia University for four years. His scholarship focuses primarily on school counseling and counseling youth and adolescents. His research interests include school counseling, students with diverse learning needs, counselor education, rural school communities, school climate, resilience, cultural competence, and psychometric research. Dr. Boulden has secured more than $5.6 million of federal grants as principal investigator (PI) addressing youth mental health disparities in West Virginia. He is the proud recipient of both the 2023 WVU College of Applied Human Sciences Outstanding Researcher award, and the 2023 WVU Values Coin awarded for his research that aligns with WVU’s land grant mission.
Blaire Cholewa
Leadership Fellow
Blaire Cholewa, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Counselor Education Program in the Department of Human Services and co-chair of the Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference. Previously she was an Assistant Professor in the Counselor Education Department at Kean University where her primary role was teaching graduate counseling students. Her research is grounded in exploring ways counselors and educators can improve educational equity so all students have the opportunity to succeed. She is particularly interested in two related lines of inquiry: counselor-teacher consultation and the retention of high-risk college students.
Emily
Goodman-Scott
Leadership Fellow
Dr. Emily Goodman-Scott (Professor, School Counseling Coordinator: Old Dominion University-VA) teaches the next generation of counselors, supervisors and faculty in ODU's counseling master's, education specialist, and doctoral programs. She is also the director for ODU's Holmes Scholars program. Before that, she was a special education teacher, school counselor, and provided mental health counseling. Her overarching professional goal is creating more equitable and just educational systems, and bridging the gap between school counseling research and practice. Dr. Goodman-Scott is passionate about researching school counseling, including Multi-tiered Systems of Support; school counseling roles and trends, and counseling youth with exceptionalities/diverse-abilities. She appreciates qualitative research and centering the voices of educators, students, and families. She has published extensively, including two books (A School Counselor's Guide to MTSS- 2019; 2023; Making MTSS Work - 2020), and over 50 peer-reviewed, national journal articles (i.e., Journal of Counseling and Development, Professional School Counseling, Counselor Education and Supervision). To date, she's authored the most peer-reviewed journal articles in Professional School Counseling, the flagship journal of the American School Counselor Association. She is a 2023 Fellow for the American Counseling Association (ACA) and also a recipient of the 2020 ACA Research Award. Grounded in her work as a previous school counselor, she prioritizes making research accessible and useful -- through scholarly mentoring, advocacy, national and state school counseling leadership, and collaborating with schools, districts, and educational/counseling organizations. She continues to be honored and excited to be a part of the EBSCC Advisory Counseling and CSCORE.
-1-1.jpeg)
Sarah Henry
Leadership Fellow
Sarah M. Henry, Ph.D., LSC, NCC, NCSC is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech. She has served as a high school counselor and college access provider in diverse districts in rural Virginia. Her research interests are rooted in equity-driven school counseling, rural education, school-community collaboration, and protective factors. Dr. Henry serves as an editorial board member for the Teaching and Supervision in Counseling journal, as well as a reviewer for Theory & Practice in Rural Education. She has published in journals including Professional School Counseling, the Journal of Counseling & Development, Theory & Practice in Rural Education, the Journal of Child & Adolescent Counseling, and the Journal of College Access. Dr. Henry has presented at over 30 state, regional, and national conferences on topics related to rural education, creativity in school counseling, and preventative programming. She was awarded the Outstanding Counseling Education Doctoral Student from the Ohio State University College of Educational Studies in 2023.
Hyunhee Kim
Leadership Fellow
Hyunhee Kim is an Assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Prior to becoming a counselor educator, Hyunhee had professional counseling experiences working with children, adolescents, college students, and adults in schools and community settings. She is interested in protective factors that help students thrive, regardless of the adversity that they may encounter. Her research interests include school counseling outcome research, school connectedness, hope, mindfulness, bullying, and career development. She has served as an editorial board member for Counseling Scholarship & Practice in Educational Communities, Journal of Employment Counseling, and Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy. Her dedication to collaborative research led to her being awarded the Doctoral-Level Exemplary Research & Practice Award (AARC) and Outstanding Graduate Student award (NARACES).
Melissa Mariani
Leadership Fellow
Melissa Mariani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Florida. She has ten years of experience as a school counselor and guidance program coordinator at the elementary and middle school levels. Her research interests include evaluating the effectiveness of evidence-based school counseling interventions, specifically those focused on improving students’ pro-social skills, fostering a positive classroom climate, and preventing bullying. Dr. Mariani is co-author of the book Facilitating Evidence-Based, Data-Driven School Counseling: A Manual for Practice (Corwin, 2016). In 2011, she was awarded Florida School Counselor of the Year for PK-8 and was recently honored University Scholar of the Year at the Assistant level. Dr. Mariani is passionate about professional service and currently sits on national, state and local advisory councils. She has held various leadership positions for the Florida School Counselor Association (FSCA), serves on several editorial review boards for professional counseling journals, and is a national trainer for the Student Success Skills (SSS) curriculum.
Citlali E. Molina
Leadership Fellow
Dr. Citlali E. Molina is an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Texas Christian University with a focus on culturally and linguistically responsive school mental health interventions and educator professional development. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling from the University of North Texas, is a licensed counselor, and has over 17 years of experience as a school counselor and educator. Dr. Molina’s research centers on trauma-informed practices, social-emotional learning, and promoting resilience and well-being in schools, particularly in under-resourced and diverse communities. She co-founded the Mental Health Matters conference, which brings together over 120 LPCs, school mental health professionals, and school stakeholders in East Texas to engage in learning and collaboration to bring much needed resources to high needs rural schools. She has led trauma-sensitive professional development for educators in Texas and Belize. Her work is supported by several funded research initiatives aimed at improving student mental health and school connectedness​.
J.P. Oehrtman
Leadership Fellow
J.P. Oehrtman, Ph.D. is a licensed professional school counselor in the state of Ohio and an Assistant Professor in the School of Counseling, Higher Education, Leadership and Foundations at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) located in Bowling Green, Ohio. He earned his Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 2018. He has co-authored several articles and has numerous international, national and state presentations on topics ranging from school counseling supervision to micropolitics in schools. Prior to coming to BGSU, Dr. Oehrtman worked for over 20 years in K-12 education both as a school counselor and educator with students across all levels. His primary research interests focus on school counselors’ collaboration within schools, school counselor supervision, and school counseling evidence-based practices. Dr. Oehrtman has served on the executive board for the Ohio School Counseling Association, as a reviewer for the Professional School Counseling Journal, and as a reviewer for the American School Counselor Association Recognized School Counselor Preparation Program. Finally, Dr. Oehrtman has received several awards including the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Associate in 2015 and the Outstanding Counseling Education Doctoral Student in 2016 and 2017 from the Ohio State University Counselor Education Program, the William E. Loadman Dissertation Award in 2019 from the Ohio State University Department of Educational Studies, and the Ohio Counselor Educator of the Year in 2023 from the Ohio School Counselor Association.
Julia V. Taylor
Leadership Fellow
Julia Taylor, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Counselor Education within the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia, where she also serves as co-director of the Virginia Partnership for School Mental Health. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Taylor worked as a school counselor and dean of student services for a decade. During this time, she supervised school counselors-in-training, developed district-wide counseling curricula, and authored several counseling-related books. Currently, Dr. Taylor’s research, service, and advocacy efforts center on three key areas: (1) advancing K-12 mental health service delivery, (2) promoting effective, data-informed decision-making, and (3) addressing equity concerns in the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of comprehensive school counseling programs.
Elizabeth Villares
Leadership Fellow
Elizabeth Villares, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Program Coordinator in the Department of Counselor Education at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Villares has worked as a teacher, school counselor, and guidance director at the secondary level. Her areas of specialization include integrating technology in school counseling programs to improve data-driven practices, and collaborating with school counselors to develop action and outcome research and program evaluation projects. Her current research focus includes implementing school counselor-led evidence-based programs to improve the academic achievement and social-emotional development of students in grades K-12. Dr. Villares has published more than 15 publications in national/international peer reviewed journals and done over 40 refereed presentations. She has received numerous awards including the 2011 Association for Assessment in Counseling and Evaluation, Outstanding Outcome Research Article of the Year award, Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Emerging Leader Fellow, and the Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Associate Professor Scholar of the Year.
Jennifer Watkinson
Leadership Fellow
Dr. Jennifer Scaturo Watkinson is a Professor within Loyola University Maryland's School Counseling Program where she served as the program director for 9 years. Before her appointment at Loyola, Dr. Watkinson was an elementary school counselor for 14 years who transformed her school counseling program into a data-driven and comprehensive school counseling program that included prevention and intervention approaches. In addition to holding a professional license in School Counseling in Maryland, Dr. Watkinson is also a Licensed Professional Counselor (MD), MD Board Approved Supervisor, and a Board Certified Coach (BCC). Her latest research interests include school counselor supervision, school counselor transformational practices that incorporate professional coaching strategies and organizational learning theory, identity development of student-athletes, and multilingual learners. Dr. Watkinson has secured over 4 million dollars in Federal grants and received Loyola's Engaged Scholar Award.
Brett Zyromski
Leadership Fellow
Brett Zyromski is co-founder and co-chair of the national Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference. He is involved with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) as one of fifteen Lead Recognized-ASCA-Model-Program Reviewers (LRR’s) nationwide, and has also serves as a trainer of the ASCA National Model for the American School Counselor Association. Recently, Dr. Zyromski was a writer and service provider for a 1.2 million dollar Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Grant received by the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services. Dr. Zyromski has published over a dozen articles related to school counseling issues, and has delivered over 30 national, regional, and local presentations. He was the invited chair of the revision team for the Development Counseling Model for Illinois Schools and founded and coordinated the Southern Illinois School Counseling Interest Network. Dr. Zyromski has consulted with numerous school districts on evolving guidance programs to data-driven, comprehensive school counseling programs. He has provided workshops on crisis preparation and response in schools, supervision in counseling, using school counseling to change sundown town communities, and data-driven school counseling practices. Dr. Zyromski has served as a reviewer for the Professional School Counseling Journal and has been recognized for numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2010 North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Professional Leadership Award, the 2010 Illinois School Counseling Association Presidential Award, and the 2008 North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Outstanding Professional Teaching Award.
Graduate Student Fellows
Yung-Yu Lee
Graduate Student Fellow
Yung-Yu Lee, M.Ed., Ed.S., LPC-A, NCC, is a doctoral student intrigued by Play Therapy and School Counseling at the University of North Texas Counselor Education and Supervision program. Lee is the editorial assistant for the Counseling Scholarship & Practice in Educational Communities (CSPEC) and is also an Assistant Director at the Center for Play Therapy (CPT), coordinating evidence-based play therapy outcome research. His clinical experiences include providing individual and group counseling services to children and adults in diverse school and clinical settings. His research interests include play therapy, school counseling, and quantitative research.
Claudia Smith
Graduate Student Fellow
Claudia L. V. Smith, Ed.S., is a doctoral student in the Higher Education Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Their scholarly interests include college access/persistence, school counseling outcomes for marginalized populations, evidence-based interventions for high school students, and counseling curriculum development. Claudia currently serves as one of the Editorial Assistants for Counseling Scholarship & Practice in Educational Communities (CSPEC), and has worked to support students in a range of K-12 and higher education settings. They earned their Master's and Education Specialist degrees in School Counselor Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and hold a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies Education from Boston University.
Center Members
Sarah Fefer
Professor Sarah Fefer received her doctoral degree from the University of South Florida’s APA accredited program in school psychology in 2013. She completed her predoctoral APA/APPIC accredited internship at the May Institute and her postdoctoral fellowship at UMass’ Psychological Services Center. Her research and clinical interests involve supporting students with challenging behavior across home and school contexts using multi-tiered systems of support. She has engaged in research focused on positive behavior support, family-school partnership, and a phenomenon called the Positive Illusory Bias among students with symptoms of ADHD. Dr. Fefer teaches graduate level courses in prevention, development, developmental psychopathology, applied behavior analysis, and single case experimental design. Sarah received the College of Education's Outstanding Teacher Award in 2019, and was selected as a 2018-2019 Family Research Scholar with the Center for Research on Families.
Craig Wells
Craig S. Wells is a Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Research and Evaluation Methods Program and also serves as Associate Director in the Center for Educational Assessment. Dr. Wells received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2004 in Quantitative Methods in Educational Psychology. Professor Wells teaches courses in statistical methods and structural equation modeling. His research interests include the study of non-parametric item response models, detection of differential item functioning or item bias, and assessment of IRT model fit. He also has a keen interest in the philosophy of science and its applications.
Sarah Whitcomb
Sara Whitcomb received her doctoral degree from the University of Oregon’s APA accredited program in school psychology in 2009. She completed her predoctoral APA/APPIC accredited internship at the May Institute and her postdoctoral fellowship at UMass’ PSC. Her research and clinical interests are in mental health promotion and positive behavioral support systems in schools, social-emotional learning, and behavioral and instructional consultation. Dr. Whitcomb is an adjunct faculty member and teaches courses in social-emotional and behavioral assessment and consultation. In addition, Dr. Whitcomb has coordinated and supervised the third and fourth year practicum.
Ximena Zúñiga
Ximena Zúñiga is a national leader of diversity, equity and social justice issues in education in higher education. Dr. Zúñiga's background is in critical philosophy and critical pedagogy, participatory education, and action research. Her initial work was in literacy work and popular education in non-formal adult education programs in her native Chile. Before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Dr. Zúñiga directed the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan where she participated in developing the intergroup dialogue educational model in higher education. She has served as PI and Co-PI on several international, national and local grants including the Inclusive University Initiative at Pune University in India (Obama Singh Grant, 2013-2016), Multi-University Intergroup Dialogue Research Project (W.T.Grant & Ford Foundation, 2005-2008) and Pluralism and Unity Initiative at UMASS Amherst (W. & F. Hewlett Foundation 1998-2002). She is co-editor of Multicultural Teaching in the University (1993), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (2001; 2010; 2013; (Routledge); Intergroup Dialogue: Engaging Difference, Social Identities, and Social Justice(Routledge, 2014). She is co-author of Intergroup dialogue in higher education: Meaningful learning about social justice(2007;Jossey-Bass) and Dialogues across difference: Practice, theory and research on intergroup dialogues (2013; Russell Sage Foundation). She recently co-edited a special issue for the Journal of Equity and Excellence in Education on intergroup dialogues in k-12, higher education and communities (February 2012). Recent articles and book chapters address racism, immigration & globalization issues in anti-racist education, diversity and social justice education in higher education, and theory, practice, and research on dialogues across differences in higher education and communities. She teaches foundations courses in social justice education, theory, practice and research on intergroup dialogue in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and communities, and a multi-section intergroup dialogue undergraduate course.
Members & Fellows Emeritus
Karen Harrington
Megan M. Krell
Rich Lapan
