Psychology in the Schools, Vol.

46(6), 2009 
C 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pits.20393

FAMILY ASSESSMENT IN K-12 SETTINGS: UNDERSTANDING FAMILY SYSTEMS

TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE, COLLABORATIVE SERVICES
CHRISTIE EPPLER
Seattle Pacific University
SARAH WEIR
Child Care Services, Seattle, Washington

Professional school counselors, school psychologists, and other professionals working in K-12
settings have a complex job of meeting the needs of all students. Often, referral to outside counseling
is necessary; however, an effective and comprehensive counseling model advocates for school
mental health professionals to employ a wide variety of techniques to ensure equitable distribution
of services to all students and their families. This article explores using family assessment tools
to support both students’ academic achievement and their families within a school context. A case
study illustrates how a professional school counselor could employ and collaborate with family
assessment tools to support the student, family, and school systems.  C 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

With the growing number of diverse and changing families, schools, professional school coun-
selors (PSC), school psychologists (SP), and other K-12 mental health workers confront the issue
of bridging the disconnection between school and home life (Amatea & Brown, 2000; Miller, 2002;
Sink, 2005). Current literature sheds light on information regarding finding family strengths, con-
necting families to support services outside of the school, and using child assessment to create filial
change (Amatea, Smith-Adcock, & Villares, 2006; Bryan, 2005; Quinn & Lee, 2007; Tharinger,
Finn, Wilkinson, & Schaber, 2007). However, a review of the literature shows a deficit in the use of
family assessment tools within school counseling and psychology professions. Although SPs and
PSCs consider both students’ and their families’ needs when formulating a service-delivery plan,
assessment in the schools is almost entirely focused on student performance and behavior (Riccio &
Rodiguez, 2007). School counselors and psychologists are trained to refer families to outside spe-
cialists for assessment and intervention (Brown, Dahlbeck, Sparkman-Barnes, 2006; Miller, 2002;
Quinn & Lee). Although referral is necessary with many families presenting with in-depth issues,
the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2005) National Model for School Counseling
Programs R
required PSCs to use a wide variety of techniques to ensure equitable distribution of
services to all students and their families. Likewise, the National Association of School Psycholo-
gists (NASP, 2000) recommended empowering families through comprehensive assessment while
connecting students and their families to community-based services. Thus, this article explores the
importance that PSCs and SPs have knowledge of some family assessment tools to both collaborate
with and advocate for all families.

R ATIONALE
Family assessment is the intentional process of understanding family systems (Sperry, 2004).
Filial assessment uses creative and standardized measures to inform interventions regarding what
will aid a specific family’s situation. Family assessment affords counselors the opportunity to
see a family’s own dynamic, replacing possible assumptions about a family the unique details of
which are unknown to school professionals. Family assessment tools assist in planning treatment
strategies by helping the counselor to consider relational dynamics, culture, and other variables
that influence family and student functioning. Family assessment tools may be non-numeric (e.g.,

Correspondence to: Christie Eppler, 3307 3rd Ave. West, Seattle Pacific University, School of Education, Seattle,
WA 98119. E-mail: eppler@spu.edu

501
502 Eppler and Weir

genogram, ecomap, and timeline) or numeric (e.g., Clinical Rating Scale, Family Environment
Scale). It is important to understand a family’s structure, dynamics, interaction patterns, and strengths
so that counselors and other mental health workers may collaborate with families, without the
professionals assuming that one style of intervention will work for all families. Counselors may
use family assessment tools directly with the students and their caregivers. Although the counselor
or psychologist may not have an opportunity to work directly with siblings or other members of
the student’s subsystems (e.g., grandparents, aunts, cousins), some information regarding the larger
system could be assessed to promote a holistic systems approach to understanding and treating the
student.
There is a current call for best practice, data-driven programs in the school (ASCA, 2005;
Eschenauer & Chen-Hayes, 2005; NASP, 2000). SPs and PCSs could use family assessment tools
in pre- and post-test interventions with families to help determine the efficacy of their work with
families. This measurable evidence may be shared with the family and aggregated for school and
district outcome assessment purposes.

C ONCEPTUAL F RAMEWORK
An effective comprehensive school counseling program sees students, their families, and the
schools as connected systems (Miller, 2002; Sink, 2005). Individual teachers and students form
classrooms nestled within buildings that are filled with administration and staff. Clearly, this is a
living ecology of subsystems and interactions. Systems, by nature, are complex. Thinking about each
student’s physical and psychological makeup, familial background, and community culture adds to
the intricacy of the school system’s dynamics. When working in the schools, it is easy to focus on
those present in the classroom. However, students bring the influences of their family dynamics and
functioning with them to school. As such, it is important for schools to understand families and to
collaborate effectively with these external systems to build a successful learning environment and
to promote healthy outcomes for students.

Exploring the Family School Connection with Bronfenbrenner’s Ecology

of Human Development
Although there are several social ecological models that are relevant to the focus of this
article, Bronfenbrenner’s Theory of Human Development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) best structures
our understanding of the systems related to family and school interactions. Examining students and
their families from an ecological, systemic perspective may afford insight into unnoticed connections
that are beyond the immediate and obvious influences (Bronfenbrenner). Historically, schools and
families have been disconnected contexts for children. There is a need to connect families with
the school (Holcomb-McCoy, 2007; Miller, 2002). Families who do not feel understood by school
personnel may either disconnect or remain disengaged from the school system. Understanding
family culture and dynamics through assessment is one way to understand and serve students and
their families. This, in turn, could lead to an increased potential for collaboration between schools
and families.
Bronfenbrenner (1979) considered the individual’s immediate environment the microsystem
because it involves interactions between individuals and the environments in which they live. These
systems have a significant influence as individuals are continually participating in several microsys-
tems simultaneously. A student’s microsystems may include classroom interaction, involvement with
peers, home life including time with extended kin, and various other settings. Schools and families
are both natural microsystems for learning. However, the learning styles of home and school are
not always congruent. Bronfenbrenner used the term “mesosystems” to describe the connection and

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 Family Assessment 503

interaction between and among microsystems. Specifically, students must learn to negotiate both the
school system and the family system. This task is complicated when the two systems have different
rules, boundaries, and expectations for the student’s behavior. For example, a child with permissive
parents who guide with a laissez-faire approach to rules may encounter an authoritarian teacher who
expects the child to follow strict classroom regulations. To increase awareness of home functioning
and how it relates to academic performance, it is important for a PSC and an SP to be able to assess
the student’s home microsystem and learn about the imprint of the family dynamic on the student’s
academic achievement.
Similar to the mesosystem, which connects two or more environments for students, the exosys-
tem involves connections between settings; however, the child does not participate directly in one of
the settings. For example, this significant, yet indirect, influence may be seen where public funding
of school counselors (an exosystem in which the child is not directly involved) significantly affects
the professional support the child receives during school hours (a microsystem in which the child
does actively participate). Exosystemic factors may also influence the family dynamic. For example,
a single-mother working several jobs to support her children may not have the at-home time to
support her children emotionally if the mother’s workplaces (exosystems) require a majority of her
time and energy. These connections and external factors are important to assess as these influences
direct students’ learning performance. Family assessment tools such as the ecomap (detailed later in
this article) help school professionals understand the exosystemic influences in a student’s life.
The macrosystem, an umbrella influence that affects all other systems, accounts for the social,
cultural, economic, religious, and political issues in family and educational systems. Social norms
influence how we learn. Some families believe it is important to learn from oral histories of family
and community whereas other families may believe that children should focus on the future instead
of hearing about the past. Caregivers who grew up under norms of one era may encourage children
to continue in that tradition. Gender, ethnicity, and religiosity direct our assumptions about and
biases toward education. Many of the family assessment tools described in this article help school
professionals understand how a family’s culture influences a student’s social, emotional, career, and
academic performance.

L OGISTICS
There is a trend to adapt effective, clinical practice to working in the schools (Mullis & Edwards,
2001; Whiston & Bouwkamp, 2005). Using clinical best practices in the schools applies to the use of
family assessment within K-12 educational contexts. Consequently, it is impossible for counselors
and psychologists working in the schools to assess every student’s family. However, there may
be situations when doing family assessment may ease the professional’s duties rather than adding
something else to a professional (or team) who already has so much to do on a daily basis. Creating
relationships help counselors working in the school partner with families by letting the families’ own
voices be heard (Allen, 2007; Tharinger et al., 2007). Additionally, these partnerships help build
congruency between home and school life. Of course, it is not possible to meet with and assess every
family in the school. Just as PSCs and SPs are trained in the use of individual counseling theory
and technique, which may be used with only a percentage of the entire school population, family
assessment may be prioritized to be used with students in high-need families or with students who
report that family functioning has a negative influence on their academic performance.
As with many programs and interventions in the school, a counselor’s time and a district’s
money influence best practice. Although it does take both time and money to assess families, the
benefits of collaborative care and effective understanding of family systems may outweigh the
limitations of spending resources to assess family systems. For example, families that feel heard
might not reach out to various school staff members by calling or stopping by the office as frequently.

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504 Eppler and Weir

Counselors may save time trying to reach out to disconnected families if these families can connect
to someone who wants to understand their unique dynamic. PSCs and SPs may implement effective
and appropriate interventions early if the student has been accurately assessed through a personal,
familial, and cultural lens.

Dealing with Time Constraints

It is unrealistic to think that one person in a K-12 setting could assess families single-handedly.
To gather holistic information regarding the student and his or her family, PSCs and SPs need to
collaborate with nurses, social workers, drug and alcohol specialists, and other professionals in
the building and district-wide. It is important to work as a team when assessing and intervening
with families. Counseling interns who are placed in the school and have been trained to use family
assessments could help to gather information. Additionally, it is important to empower K-12 students
to understand their own filial dynamics and to help with their own assessment process. Counselors
could introduce students to some of the family assessment tools in large-group guidance sessions.
Then, counselors could follow up with students who need additional small group or individual
support.

Family Consultation and Family Assessment

The multifaceted and changing nature of family interactions makes assessing families accurately
a complex task. However, family work is feasible in the schools. Nicoll (1992) promoted a family
counseling and consultation model for school counselors that advocated for establishing relationships
with caregivers, empowering them to help with filial changes to support the student and the school.
Family consultation in the schools is traditionally between the SP or PSC and the student’s caregiver.
Family assessment is similar to family-school consultation in that it seeks to establish connections
with families while empowering families to create change. However, family assessment adds the layer
of involving a larger system perspective. Points-of-view from caregivers and other family members
are considered when assessing how the problem was created, attempted solutions, and possible
interventions. Moreover, family assessment adds the structure of tools that assist in understanding,
intervening, and advocating for the family system using data-driven services. Psychologists and
counselors within school systems have the opportunity to work with students presenting with family
concerns on both an individual level and within the family unit. Working within several layers of the
system is congruent with the ASCA (2005) model that advocates for collaborating; hearing multiple
perspectives to solve personal, social, and academic concerns; and applying congruent treatment on
several levels (e.g., home, school).

N ON -N UMERIC FAMILY A SSESSMENTS

The following is a summary of commonly used family assessment tools that can assist school
mental health professionals in understanding filial dynamics as they relate to a student’s growth and
achievement. Moreover, knowledge of these tools may help school counselors and psychologists
collaborate with outside mental health referral sources (after the counselor obtains the appropriate
releases for consultation). A case study, based on an amalgam of both authors’ personal experiences
in the schools (all identifying characteristics have been changed), illustrates how Shawna, school-
based counselor, used family assessment tools. Briefly, the case study examines the Jackson family:
a mother, Elsa, and her three children, Sara (14), Anita (8), and Cord (6). The mother and children are
estranged from the children’s father, having recently moved away from him and supportive maternal
grandparents. Sara attends middle school. Anita and Cord attend the same elementary school, and
are in first and third grades. The PSC in this case study was a second year, female counselor at the

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 Family Assessment 505

elementary school. She became concerned about the family when the teacher of Anita, the third-
grade student, contacted the school counselor because Anita was having trouble paying attention in
class. That week, Elsa also contacted the school counselor to express her concern that the youngest
child in the family, a boy named Cord, seemed to be having some adjustment difficulties with both
the first grade and the new school.
Non-numeric, structured family assessment (e.g., family interviews, genogram, ecomap, and
timeline) are qualitative activities for use in K-12 settings. These creative methods of exploring
family functioning provide the PSC and SP with background information on the family, which is
critical when creating a counseling intervention plan. Using these assessments enables the school
mental health professional to join with the family while exploring family dynamics that standardized,
objective assessment often cannot access. Although non-numeric tools have established parameters,
they are flexible and allow the school professional room to adapt to families’ needs and context.
This is important to the work of family assessment in educational contexts, as PSCs need flexible
tools to work successfully with diverse families in a time-limited setting.

The Family/Counselor Interview

There is a wealth of literature orienting counselors on how to conduct in-depth interviews
and make observations when assessing families (Cox, 2003; Davidson, Quinn, & Josephson, 2001;
Sattler, 2002). The literature agrees about the necessity of assessing both strengths and weaknesses
of the family. Interviews may include information about a typical day, the layout of the home, family
disagreements, desired changes, and past crisis (e.g., accidents, mental health history, and transitions
such as being homeless). Hearing and understanding this information affords the school professional
the knowledge to create a plan that fits within the family’s resources, values, and context.
While conducting a family-focused interview, the school counseling, school psychology, and
family therapy intervention literature places a strong focus on finding family strengths (Amatea et al.,
2006; Quinn & Lee, 2007; Tharinger et al., 2007). It is important to begin the interview by validating
the strength of the family, listening to their concerns, and building rapport based on common goals.
Although the goal of the family interview may be to gather information and/or set up a plan of
action, it is important to build a working relationship with families who may feel disconnected
from the school setting (Auger, 2006). School counselors may start the conversation by thanking the
caregiver(s) for taking time to visit the school, telling them about the student’s successes and his or
her positive qualities, and asking the caregiver(s) what they hope may happen in the course of the
meeting.
When Elsa arrived in the school counselor’s office to discuss Anita’s and Cord’s difficulties,
Shawna listened attentively and validated Elsa’s concern about the behaviors Cord displayed during
the first few weeks of first grade. Elsa reported that Cord refused to go to school in the morning.
He also argued with his older sisters much more frequently, demanding that they take responsibility
for dressing him. The school counselor made an effort to normalize, without minimizing, Elsa’s
concerns. She commented that other first graders checked in with her regularly because the transition
to first grade can be hard. Shawna used the time to inquire about Anita’s adjustment to school. Elsa
stated that she saw progress with her children’s adjustment. Anita agreed, stating that a school tutor
was helping with homework skills. Shawna continued the conversation about strengths and progress
by asking what the family had already done to help solve the morning arguments.
Gathering family information differs from an individual interview in that the family presents
multiple viewpoints from each member’s perspective. To gather these diverse views, the school
mental health professional could use circular questioning (Cecchin, 1987; Fleuridas, Nelson, &
Rosenthal, 1986; Mauksch & Roesler, 1990; Penn, 1982; Selvini Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin,

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506 Eppler and Weir

& Prata, 1980) rather than direct individual questioning to see the variation in family members’
responses. Circular questions highlight differences in family members’ thoughts, perceptions, and
behaviors. For example, the school counselor may ask Elsa and her children which person in the
family is having the hardest time in his or her new situation. Circular questions also help both the
counselor and the family explore the context surrounding the problem (i.e., time of the problem,
relationships affected by the problem, different reactions to the problem). The counselor may ask
any of the following: “What happens right before Cord refuses to dress? Cord, what do you think
Mom thinks about your problems getting dressed or not eating school lunch? Mom, what do you
think of that? Anita, what do you do when your brother won’t get himself ready for school? What
does your sister do?” These questions highlight where the family is on the same page and where
they differ in their view of the problem.
Patterson, Williams, Grauf-Grounds, and Chamow (1998) offered a comprehensive template
for early counselor/family interaction that can be modified to fit the needs of an SP or PSC working
with families. Their plan guides the counselor to:
1. Conduct a general, initial assessment. The school professional should ask about the pre-
senting problem, inquire about attempted solutions, and assess for crisis and stressful life events.
For example, the school mental health worker may ask when the caregivers noticed a change in
the student, if they see any problem behavior, and what they have tried to do to solve the problem.
When the counselor asked about any recent changes, Elsa stated that she recently enrolled at the
local community college. She was taking a full load, requiring study time in the evenings to which
her children were unaccustomed. The family stated that they had tried to do homework together, but
no one seemed to get anything done because one person was always distracting.
2. Assess potential issues of harm and substance abuse. To each person at the meeting, the
school professional would ask about risk of harm to self or others. PSCs and SPs may assess for
this information through verbal and/or written assessment. School professionals may develop a
brief information questionnaire for caregiver(s) to fill out before or after the initial meeting. Forms,
developed in collaboration with school and district administration policies, may be a good way to
assess for sensitive information that may not come up in an initial family interview (see Appendix
for a sample form created by the authors). The survey may be given to all members of the family
to assess both individual and family functioning while learning about different perceptions between
and among family members. Literacy and language proficiency would need to be assessed before
distributing the short survey.
3. Appraise biological functioning. The school professional working with the family would
inquire about general health, including history of chronic and acute illnesses. The counselor working
with the family could consult with the school nurse to help gather this information. This information
is important for PSCs or SPs to help with appropriate referral sources. When Shawna asked about
family health issues, she learned that Elsa’s pregnancy with Anita was difficult and that Anita had
notable delays in walking and talking. This information helped the counselor understand that there
may be a biological component to some of the learning difficulties that Anita experiences. The
school professional may then collaborate with the nurse or other health care provider to make sure
that Elsa and the children are connected with appropriate community health services.
4. Gather information related to psychosocial health. In the interview, the PSC or SP should
ask about feelings, thoughts, and behaviors related to the presenting problem. The counselor may
observe and inquire about temperament (Chess & Thomas, 1996). Additionally, the counselor or
psychologist needs to find out about the student’s spirituality, social support systems outside the
immediate family, and place in the larger social context. Shawna asked Elsa about family supports
and resources. The PSC learned that the family relied on social service agencies with which they
were unfamiliar. This information will be included on the ecomap.

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 Family Assessment 507

During and after the interview, the school professional may find it helpful to record information
on genograms, ecomaps, and timelines. These activities may be done with the family as a collabo-
rative project or could be done by the PSC or SP to help him or her remember complex information
shared in the meeting. Counselors could teach and model how to make these filial pictures so that
students could work on their own assessments, empowering them in the process of change.

Genogram
A genogram is a graphic representation of a family’s structure, emotional bonds, and inter-
personal relationships (Magnuson & Shaw, 2003; McGoldrick, Gerson, & Shellenberger, 1999).
This visual allows professionals to see generational patterns within family systems (Altshuler, 1999;
Dunn & Levitt, 2000; Halevy, 1998; Kuehl, 1995; Magnuson & Shaw; Wiggins-Frame, 2001).
Counselors may use genograms to assess career choices (Gibson, 2005), spirituality (Hodge, 2001),
culture (Estrada & Haney, 1998; Hardy & Laszloffy, 1995; Watts-Jones, 1997), and solutions (Kuehl,
1995) found in the immediate and extended family. Genograms may foster engagement and rap-
port between student and counselor (Altshuler, 1999). This rapport is important when students feel
uncomfortable or unwilling to share information or explore issues regarding their family.
Genograms are created by using geometric shapes and gathering structural and relational
information on a family (for a complete description of shapes and connectors, see McGoldrick
et al., 1999). Next to each family member’s shape, the counselor may include demographics such
as birth date, death date, educational level, and functioning patterns (e.g., absenteeism, drinking
patterns). Critical family events such as transitions, losses, and successes may be included on the
family genogram. Due to the time-limited nature of school counseling and psychology, much of the
information gathered for the genogram should relate to the student’s presenting issue. Additionally,
the information should include academic information as this may help to uncover family patterns
that might support or inhibit student academic success (Bridsall, 2006).
For example, Shawna collaborated with Anita’s teacher to present a large-group guidance lesson
regarding family strengths and academic success. The counselor presented the idea of a family tree,
or genogram, to the students. After modeling how to draw a simple genogram, Shawna asked the
students to represent the persons with whom they lived and/or who were important to them. Next, she
asked the students to indicate a strength that family members used to help them finish a job or chore.
Figure 1 shows the genogram that Anita drew to represent how her family gets tasks accomplished.
When Shawna met with Anita and her mother, the counselor used Anita’s genogram to point out
how Elsa and the children already possessed qualities that Anita could use to help her complete
tasks on time. Anita could find out from Cord what helped him remember to bring his work home
in his backpack. The counselor, Elsa, and Anita could talk about times when it worked to study as a
family and when it was more helpful to study alone. These study skills would assist in turning in her
assignments and raising her grades. Anita’s genogram also gives insight into when it may be harder
to study (e.g., when she misses her grandparents). The counselor and Anita (with help from Elsa)
could brainstorm ways for Anita to process her loss to help her concentrate on her studies.
Getting information from several family members increases reliability and offers different
perspectives (McGoldrick et al., 1999). When working with the caregivers to gather information
about a student’s microsystem, a school counselor or psychologist may start by asking about the
family member(s) present, and then broadening the scope to the larger, extended family. For example,
if Elsa presented to the school counselor with relational difficulty regarding getting her son Cord
to comply with morning routine responsibilities, the counselor may ask, “Who currently lives in
house? Who else in your family is getting ready in the morning?” The PSC or SP assesses for patterns
related to the presenting problem: “Elsa, how did your parents help you get ready for school? Anita,

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508 Eppler and Weir

Can’t study
when I miss
Grandpa and
Grandma. We
used to be
close, but we
moved.
Did Dad
Study?
We
don’t see Elsa/Mom goes to
him. college. She wants
us to study
together. I like this,
but it can be hard.

Sara, 14, will

answer my Cord, 6,
Anita, 8, He is good at
question if she is
I’m good bringing all
not on the
at making his papers
phone.
a quiet home in his
Sometimes Sara
place to backpack
has trouble
study
turning in work.

FIGURE 1. Anita’s self-drawn genogram related to how her family completes tasks. This information was used to brainstorm
ways that will help Anita turn her homework in on time.

tell me what it is like for you to get ready for school. When you were in first grade, how did you
get ready? What do each of you do when your brother won’t get ready?” The answers are indicated
on the genogram as words and symbols. As the visual representation develops, patterns emerge that
may help the PSC understand the context of the presenting problem. For example, the PSC working
with Elsa and her family learns that transitions have been hard for several members of the family.
Each child had trouble adjusting to a new school and a new grade level. The PSC can also explore
what worked well in past transitions and apply those ideas to helping Cord with his current problem.
As information is added to the genogram, the counselor or psychologist scans data for patterns,
coincidences of dates (e.g., the anniversary of a death in the family occurring at the same time as a
child begins to act out), and untimely life-cycle transitions (e.g., moving, divorces). The problem seen
in one family member may echo in another family member. The counselor will look for mesosytemic
clues to build choices that could bolster a student’s well-being and academic performance. For the
Jackson family, after the parents’ divorce and the family’s move, both elementary students started
having problems at school. The genogram helps to assess that this difficult adjustment happened
a year after the children last saw their father. Additionally, the genogram indicates a connected
sibling subsystem that currently is being strained by the new roles of the changing family. That the
children are fighting at home may be affecting their ability to concentrate at school (a mesosystemic
disconnection). Understanding this information will help the school professional offer a range of
interventions such as tips for siblings to adjust to being a family support and advice on paying
attention at school.

Ecomap
Like genograms, ecomaps (Hartman, 1978) are a visual representation of family functioning.
The ecomap moves the context from the extended family to the social realm; it shows the family’s

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 Family Assessment 509

Place of
Worship

Community Community
Services Elsa College

Cord
Sara Anita

Extended
Sports Family

FIGURE 2. Jackson family ecomap. This information shows supports and stressors that affect the family and the students.

connection to supports and stressors within their macrosystem or their community. Ecomaps show
energy given to and drawn from other systems such as school, health care, jobs, and places of
worship. To create an ecomap (see Sherman & Fredman, 1986, p. 100), the counselor draws a large
circle at the map’s center. Next, the counselor draws circles representing other systems in the family
environment (work, community centers, etc.) relevant to each family member. After the counselors
explore community connections, they draw arrows from the main circle toward or away from the
subcircles. These arrows represent power given to the family or energy flowing away from the family.
Similar to the genogram, a solid or thick line represents an important or strong connection and a
dotted line shows a tenuous connection.
Figure 2 shows the Jackson family’s ecomap. There is a strong relationship between the family
and their place of worship and extended family. This information is important when assessing family
strengths. Strengths and connections can relate to the family as a whole or to specific individuals. As
a whole, the family is experiencing several new relationships with community services (e.g., a food
bank that gives the Jacksons supplemental food when their own resources run low). The family finds
these services helpful, as indicated by a line drawn from the community service circle toward the
entire family. Individually, Elsa feels connected and supported at the community college, indicated
by an arrow connecting Elsa to the community college circle. Although this is a support to Elsa, her
children reported that they do not like the time Elsa spends at school and studying (represented by
an arrow pointed away from the children toward the community college). Anita copes by thinking
about her success as a soccer player. This support is pictured with an arrow from the soccer circle
pointed toward Elsa. However, the driving time required to get the children to soccer practice places
a slight stress on Elsa.

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510 Eppler and Weir

Through the ecomap, the counselor or psychologist is able to assess connections to the com-
munity, areas that deplete the family of strength, and resources that help the family cope. If the
family’s ecomap is devoid of connections to health care (e.g., access to a primary care physician
or insurance), the counselor becomes aware of the need to establish connections and design inter-
ventions appropriate to the family’s needs. The school professional may also look to balance the
system, decreasing areas of stress while increasing supports. Creating a balanced system filled with
useful resources could assist a student’s academic achievement. For example, if Elsa’s children are
able to eat a balanced dinner provided by the food bank while getting physical activity from sports,
they may be able to concentrate fully on their academic pursuits.

Timeline
A timeline is a map to record benchmark events from each individual’s life cycle, the family’s
development, and societal changes that influence the family. To create a timeline, the PSC draws
a straight line on a large sheet of paper, and then asks the family to write down individual and
family milestones. Lucey and Staton (2003) suggested that couples and families make a solution
timeline to discover past solutions, identify resources, and think about current difficulties through a
developmental and strength-based view. Shawna would draw a line and ask the family to write or
draw important family transitions such as the birth of all siblings, separation of parents, and move
to the new town. Each member may draw one or two important life events on the timeline such as
starting a new grade or making a new friend, showing both micro- and mesosystemic influences on
the presenting issue. Shawna could ask the members of the family to indicate what they did to help
solve the problem. These solutions are marked on the timeline. For example, Anita may explore
what she did to ease the transition when the older siblings began school. This could support Cord’s
academic success if these strategies work as an intervention to his school transition issue. The school
professional may also guide the family to hypothesize where they would like to be in the future (in
days, months, or years), which may help the family and the school counselor assess their goals and
aspirations.
In addition to the structured assessments described above, there are a myriad of other structured
and creative assessment techniques (Deacon & Piercy, 2001; Satir, 1967; Sherman & Fredman, 1986).
Deacon and Piercy explored the use of sculpture, drawing, photography, and performance not only as
family intervention, but also as assessment. Creative assessments aid counselors in assessing family
dynamics while building rapport with diverse students and their families. Qualitative assessments
also benefit students and families by empowering them to take an active stance in problem solving,
collaborate with the counselor, and learn from one another (Deacon & Piercy).
Empirically tested assessment tools are also important in the practice of family assessment, as
qualitative methods are “by no means a substitute for standardized tests” (Deacon & Piercy, p. 358).
Rothbaum, Morelli, Pott, and Liu-Constant (2000) demonstrated the value of using a combined
qualitative–quantitative strategy in their research regarding family relatedness with Immigrant-
Chinese and Euro-American parents. A combined approach may also be useful for SPs and counselors
to assess students’ and families’ K-12 settings.

S TANDARDIZED M EASURES
Empirically tested quantitative measures include self-report questionnaires and standardized
behavioral observations. However, because SPs and PSCs do not engage in long-term treatment
with various subsystems (i.e., parents, parent–child, siblings), it is unlikely that these professionals
would administer and score many numeric family assessments. To offer best practice services to
K-12 families, it is important that school professionals collaborate with outside systems (Brown,

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 Family Assessment 511

Dahlbeck, & Sparkman-Barnes, 2006). If a student and his or her family are seeing an outside
therapist, standardized family assessments may be discussed during a consultation (after appropriate
releases of information are signed). It is important that treatment teams be aware of each other’s
goals and interventions. To have an informed dialogue during which the school-based counselor
or psychologist may ask specific and relevant questions, it is important that these professionals be
aware of the terms and constructs found within standardized family assessment tools frequently used
in family treatment. Additionally, in a recent article, Thomas and Ray (2006) advocated that PSCs
be aware of how the Clinical Rating Scale (Olson & Killorin, 1985) and the Family Environment
Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981) are used by family counselors. The authors advocated that healthy
collaboration between outside mental health professionals and school-based counselors assists in
providing effective systemic intervention for exceptional students and their families.

M ULTICULTURAL C ONSIDERATIONS IN FAMILY A SSESSMENT

As families and society become increasingly diverse, it is important to understand how eco-
nomic, political, and social factors relate to relational assessment (Gopaul-McNicol, 1997; Koss-
Chioino & Canive, 1996; Parke, 2000; Sciarra, 2001). The school mental health professional must
guard against seeing diverse families through her or his own cultural worldview or by judging
the family based on a narrow set of standards. Overgeneralization of assessment data limits un-
derstanding of intracultural variation and disservices clients (Parke, 2000). Sciarra (2001) reviewed
family assessment techniques (including self-report measures, counselors’ observations, and clinical
structured activities) from a multicultural perspective. He advocated for an integrated approach to
assessing and interpreting data from culturally diverse families. An example of such a model is
Gopaul-McNicol’s (1997) bioecological approach to multicultural systems assessment. This model
orients counselors in culture-sensitive assessment and treatment of individuals and families from
various ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. This systems approach highlights the student’s
and his or her family’s own empowerment, a contextual change toward a true multicultural society,
and the development of the counselor when working with diverse groups.
When interviewing students and their families from all backgrounds, it is important for school
counselors and psychologists to ask participants about both their structured and standardized as-
sessment results, thus honoring the family’s own experience. As many families have adapted their
behaviors due to biological, social, spiritual, and psychological needs (Carter & Hindi, 1999; Koss-
Chioino & Canive, 1996), traditional assessments may not fully reflect a family’s level of functioning.
Further research needs to be conducted to normalize these and other family assessment tools on
diverse populations including various races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and class statuses. For
example, the Jacksons have a strong religious background. Elsa’s conservative parenting character-
istics lead her to shelter her children in ways that could be misconstrued as pathological, when these
beliefs may contribute to the family’s cohesion and resiliency.

F UTURE D IRECTIONS
There is still much work needed to bridge the gap between families and schools. Using family
assessment tools in the K-12 setting could be one means to closing this divide. The greater number of
assessment tools a PSC or SP understands and uses, the more successful the professional may be at
intervening with a student and his or her family. Moreover, many SPs and PSCs need to understand
family assessment tools to deepen their understanding of family functioning and intervention.
Although the case study presented here describes an elementary school example, the use of family
assessment tools is congruent with a K-12 comprehensive school counseling program. The activities
described may need slight modifications to fit the needs of the developmental levels of students
and their families. For example, a high school student may create a more sophisticated pictorial

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512 Eppler and Weir

representation for his or her non-numeric assessment than the younger student may. When the
school counselor worked with the elementary students, Anita drew a simple genogram after a brief
large-group guidance lesson. When working with high school students, they may be able to add
detailed information, including more relational dynamic information. It is important to empower all
students and their families to be active participants in the assessment and intervention process.
Using the family interview, genogram, ecomap, and timeline with the Jackson family un-
derscored family dynamics that contribute to the students’ functioning at school. Additionally,
knowledge of the tools helped the school professional collaborate with other professionals working
with Elsa and her children. Through family assessment techniques, the school counselor was able to
explore family patterns, find family strengths, and design effective strategies to bolster the students’
academic achievement.

A PPENDIX
Thank you for connecting with the school care team. We would like to get to know you a little
better. Please take a minute to fill out this brief questionnaire:

1 2 3 4 5
Never Hardly Sometimes Most of Almost
Name: ever the time always

You like doing activities with your family.

You can share your concerns openly with
your family members.
You feel like your family supports you.
You feel like you are in good health.
You have major health concerns. (If so, list
below.)
Do you have concerns about the amount
you drink?
Do you use nonprescribed or illegal drugs?
Do you feel like hurting yourself?
Some people don’t feel safe when they are
at home. Do you feel comfortable and
safe in your living situation?

Please explain any of your above answers:

Feel free to list any additional concerns you would like to talk about with the school counselor/school
psychologist:

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