The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a shift from traditional to comprehensive, developmental counseling programs focusing on prevention programs to assist the "whole" child (e.g., meeting social, emotional, academic, and career needs). This shift has been slow and inconsistent, bringing great variability to the role of school counselor. This study investigates the current functions of school counselors in Northern Virginia. Five research questions are posed: (1) How do counselors spend their time? (2) In what way do counselors want to change their allocation of time to various counseling activities? (3) How do school counselors feel about their preparation to perform various counseling activities? (4) What factors (work setting, gender, level of education, teaching experience, counseling experience, student-to-counselor ratio, desire to change time allocation, and level of preparation) affect how counselors allocate their time? (5) Do differences exist between school counselors' allocation of time to various counseling activities and the mandate of the Virginia Department of Education? Seventy-three Northern Virginia school counselors (45% response rate) responded to a survey on activities in the four major categories recommended by ASCA (counseling, consulting, guidance, and coordination) and in administrative/support services. Participants also were asked to fill-out a one-day log describing their typical counseling functions on any chosen workday. Results indicated that, on an average, Northern Virginia school counselors feel well prepared to conduct counseling activities and allocate 46% of their time to counseling, 17% to consultation, 12% to guidance, 7% to coordination, and 18% to administrative/support services. Counselors desire to spend more time working with students individually and in small groups, and less time in test coordination and administrative tasks. Statistical analyses (p< .05) indicate that allocation of time was significantly affected by work setting, gender, desire to change present time allocation, and level of preparation. These results suggest that Northern Virginia school counselors in this study are performing the functions recommended by the American School Counselor Association and by the Virginia Department of Education. Implications for future research are explored. / Ph. D.

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Crash data suggests that intersections are areas producing conflicts among the various road users because of entering and crossing movements. Traffic signal control systems may not always be sufficient in preventing collisions at intersections between emergency and other vehicles. The Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study of 2002 illustrates that the second leading cause of fatal injury for firefighters is vehicle collisions. Furthermore, the involvement of an emergency vehicle in a crash can negatively affect the overall efficiency of emergency response services. Thus, there is a need to facilitate the implementation of higher-payoff strategies to improve the safety of emergency vehicle passage through signalized intersections. This research aims to provide a basis for the transportation professionals to identify problem areas and take measures that will potentially enhance intersection safety for emergency vehicles. It includes the presentation and comparison of the EV crash situation in Northern Virginia. The results indicate that 49% of all EV accidents along U.S. Highways in Northern Virginia occurred at signalized intersections. This percentage is 75% along U.S. Highways in Fairfax County, the largest county in Northern Virginia, and it is 79% along U.S. 1 in Fairfax County. The analysis, also, illustrates that the major collision type at signalized intersections was of the angle type, which suggests that an appropriate warning sign may be absent. These findings enhance our understanding of emergency vehicle crash characteristics and thus, may facilitate the identification of possible warrants to be used in determining the appropriateness of installing signal preemption equipment at signalized intersections. / Master of Science

The Chesapeake Bay, once one of the worlds most productive estuaries, has been severely impacted by human activity in the water and on the lands around it. Viewed as an ecosystem, the Bay is no longer able to support the variety and abundance of biota that it was historically able to. Several decades of research on the Chesapeake have pointed to human activities as being the principle reason for this decline. Of these detrimental activities, elevated inputs of Nitrogen and Phosphorus to the Bay were singled out as being the greatest cause of water quality deterioration. The state of Virginia is trying to reduce its annual load of Nitrogen, to the Potomac River, to 60% of what the load was estimated to be in 1985. Virginia would like to accomplish this goal at the lowest cost to its citizens. Therefore the state needs to determine the combination of nitrogen control efforts which will achieve the goal at the lowest cost. The state would also like to be able to maintain nitrogen loads at or below this cap level, indefinitely into the future. This study was undertaken with three primary objectives. The first was to project the level of annual nitrogen inputs to the Potomac River, from the state of Virginia, over the next 15 years. The second was to estimate the minimum annual costs necessary to achieve and maintain a 40% reduction in total nitrogen inputs, using the Virginia's estimated 1985 inputs as a baseline. The final objective was to assess the potential cost savings that may result from using one of two alternative development patterns within the rapidly urbanizing Northern Virginia portion of the Potomac Watershed. The first alternative is prohibiting low-density development within the Northern Virginia region, and the second is to restrict all new development to be within 5 miles of an existing urban area. Study results suggest that there has been no significant progress toward meeting the nitrogen reduction goal, due to the increase in population within the watershed, over the past 13 years. To attain the goal in 1998, a minimum of $27 million, above what is currently being spent annually, would be required. Under the current land use trend within Virginia's Potomac Basin, the annual cost for maintaining the goal is estimated to rise to $38 million annually, in 1998 dollars, by the year 2013. This is a 40% increase in cost. If the first alternative development pattern is adhered to over this 15-year period, then the annual cost will be $33 million, for an annual cost saving of approximately $5 million in 2013. The second alternative could achieve similar results if implemented, costing roughly $5 million less in 2013 than the annual cost per year under the current trend. These findings suggest that the use of alternative development patterns can help slow but not prevent the annual cost, of maintaining the cap, from rising. The study indicates that the reason for the continuous rise in annual cost, over this fifteen-year period, is due primarily to an increase in nitrogen loading to the Potomac that will result from the wastewater disposal needs of the growing population within the Basin. Furthermore, the state will eventually exhaust its lower cost options for reducing Nitrogen loadings, and at that point the annual cost for maintaining the Nitrogen Cap will begin to rise exponentially. Under current land use trends this rapid rise in cost is unlikely to occur within the next 15 years, and is more apt to occur sometime within the next 20 to 40 years. Once annual expenditures begin to rise exponentially it is unlikely that the state of Virginia would be able to maintain its 40% reduction goal. / Master of Science