"A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Title from PDF of title page (Georgia Southern University, viewed on May 6, 2010). Leon Spencer, major professor; Sharon Brooks, Barbara Mallory, committee members. Electronic version approved: December 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p.199-215).

The purpose of this study was to investigate post-secondary students' perceptions of the role and functions of their high school counselor. One hundred seventy-three students currently attending a community college in a suburban area of a large metropolitan city participated in this study. The participants were asked to complete a survey developed by the researcher. Five research questions (listed below) guided this study. 1) Do post-secondary students perceive that high school counselors are performing the functions outlined by the American School Counselor Association (see Appendix B and C), and are there gender and ethnic differences? 2) How are perceptions of services rated as "very" important by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 3) How are perceptions of services rated as "often" performed by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 4) What are post-secondary student's perceptions of the importance with which specific counseling functions are performed as compared to perceptions of frequency? 5) What is the level of unmet need for counseling services perceived as "very" important by post-secondary students? The results indicated that only two percent of high school counselors performed all functions identified on the questionnaire, however the majority of participants indicated counselors performed nearly one-third of the functions. The functions were noted as academic, career, or personal/social domain. The most important function and the most often performed function rated by participants was discussing graduation requirements and the least important as well as the least performed function was identified as assistance with relationship issues. In general, there was not a significant difference between gender and ethnicity. The percentage of participants who indicated a function was "very" important, however was "seldom" or "never" performed was above 50% for most functions. / Ph. D.

The principal investigator (PI) for this study surveyed 207 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members on their attitudes toward utilizing trained counseling paraprofessionals in school counseling. The PI also examined the relationship between participants’ attitudes and their subjective reports of the counselor-student ratios in their schools, the amount of work time they spent providing direct counseling services to students, and the extent to which their districts experienced a school counselor shortage. The participants’ mean reported counselor-student ratio (1:464.63) significantly exceeded ASCA recommendations of 1:250. Elementary counselors reported the highest counselor-student ratios while high school counselors reported the lowest. Furthermore the PI found a significant linear trend for counselor-student ratios to decrease as school level increased. The participants’ reported mean percentage of time involved in direct counseling services (61.48%) fell significantly below the ASCA recommended 70%. Elementary counselors reported the highest amount of time involved in direct counseling services while high school counselors reported the lowest. The PI also found a significant linear trend for percentages of time involved in direct services to decrease as school level increased. Over one-fourth of the participants indicated school counselor shortages existed in their districts. A majority of participants supported utilizing counseling paraprofessionals in their schools. The PI found a significant negative correlation between support for counseling paraprofessionals and percentage of time involved in direct services. Participants reporting the lowest percentage of time providing direct services to students thus expressed the strongest endorsement for utilizing counseling paraprofessionals. Participants most strongly endorsed assigning clerical duties to counseling paraprofessionals. They likewise endorsed assigning some indirect helping duties to counseling paraprofessionals. However, participants strongly opposed assigning direct counseling duties to counseling paraprofessionals. Based on the results of the study the PI developed recommendations for school counselors, school administrators, state education agencies, and institutions of higher learning regarding the training, education, and job duties of counseling paraprofessionals.

While current accountability regimes in U.S. public education focus on the job performance of individual school professionals, research in industrial/organizational psychology has established the importance of system-wide factors for organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify school-wide factors that predict guidance program readiness in New York State high schools. This nonexperimental, quantitative study was based on a survey sample of 97 guidance counselors in New York State. Multivariariate analyses of variance showed that two school-wide independent variables-urbanization of school location and counselor-student ratio-predict scores on guidance program readiness, measured using the American School Counselor Association Readiness Survey. This instrument assesses program readiness on seven subscales-community support, leadership, guidance curriculum, staff/time use, counselor's beliefs and attitudes, counselor's skills, district resources-and overall program readiness. Because prior research shows that this instrument predicts guidance program effectiveness, the findings of the present research have important implications for school reform debates. Specifically, it would appear that school-wide factors significantly influence guidance program outcomes, calling into question the adequacy of accountability systems based on the job performance of individual guidance counselors and other education professionals. This research contributes to a growing body of evidence in support of the whole system paradigm of school reform, which seeks to improve both individual and system outcomes through system transformation.