The current literature on school counselor job satisfaction does not address the experiences of school counseling directors. This is a unique set of counselors due to their role as leaders and supervisors in the building. Therefore, this study sought to better understand the experiences of school counseling directors in relation to job satisfaction and leadership. The researcher collected data through 10 interviews with participants having met the criteria of serving as a school counseling director of a middle or high school, supervising a department of at least two counselors, and working in the role for at least two years. Data analysis showcased the different expectations in the role of the school counseling director in addition to four major themes: Intentionality, Leadership Training and Knowledge, Overload of Responsibilities Assigned to Role, and Sacrifice. The subthemes for Leadership Training and Knowledge include limited counselor-specific preparation, limited recognition of leadership style, collaboration, and influence of administrators. The subthemes of Sacrifice include time to complete duties and gender-related influence on role acquisition. These themes are discussed in relation to current research as well as in regards to implications about the expectations of the school counseling director’s role, gender influence, leadership training standards and programs, and wellness. Recommendations for further research about school counseling directors, district-level supervisors, and leadership training are also given.

Mental health counselors who counsel adolescents suffering from substance abuse and obesity issues have successfully used motivational interviewing with their clients; however there is little data that has explored motivational interviewing when it has been used to address academic concerns in schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of school counselors who have used motivational interviewing to improve student academic performance. This heuristic phenomenological qualitative study examined the perceptions and experiences of professional school counselors who had used motivational interviewing in their schools. Criterion sampling was used to recruit 9 middle and high schools counselors from across the United States. Interview data was analyzed using NVivo software and provisional coding, which revealed four specific themes: defining motivational interviewing in schools, explaining specific techniques, combining motivational interviewing with other theories, and training opportunities for school counselors. The themes that emerged from this study strengthen existing research and provide current and future school counselors with insight into the potential that motivational interviewing could bring to their school counseling programs.

As school counseling interns graduate and transition to a professional school counseling work world, there are issues which may affect their personal and professional development, such as ongoing skill acquisition, keeping current in the field, and reflective awareness of professional counselor growth. Counselor educators continually seek approaches and methods of training school counseling interns with potential for transference to the world of practicing school counselors. However, translating ongoing supervision of school counselors to the real world setting can prove problematic. First, there is a lack of clinical supervision after graduation, and then any supervision received tends to be provided by school administrators. This exploratory study sought to explore the potential of one model of group supervision, which could potentially translate into the real work world of practicing school counselors. The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of school counseling interns' with a reflecting team model of group supervision, Structured Reflecting Team Supervision (SRTS), during the final, internship semester. A qualitative method was used for this exploratory study due to the scant research in the areas of clinical group supervision and the SRTS model with the school counseling intern population. This study was designed to answer the following research question: What are the experiences of school counseling interns exposed to the reflecting team model of group supervision throughout their internship semester? Data consisting of structured open-ended interview guides (SOIG) were gathered three times throughout the semester. Data was also gathered one time through a separate SOIG at the end of the semester from the academic supervisors to ensure consistency of the use of the model. Study participants found hearing multiple perspectives on the same case to be the most important aspect of their time together. Several participants suggested an earlier start to the SRTS model might provide an opportunity to follow the cycle of new idea implementation and reporting back progress from those ideas. A number of participants looked forward to trying the model in the field through peer consultations to meet the needs for further clinical supervision.

The career development trajectory of undocumented Latino youth can present unique challenges for school counselors. Undocumented Latino youth have few career choices due to holding different values from the majority culture, realistic fears of deportation, restrictions in obtaining lawful employment, and having an unconventional pathway to citizenship. The school counseling profession has been tasked with working with undocumented Latino students on issues of career development, despite these obstacles. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation was to build a stronger understanding of the unique experiences school counselors encounter when career counseling undocumented Latino students. Results from this research generated a theory into how school counselors work on issues of career development with this marginalized population. Results also offered a perspective in which school counselors can be trained on realistic and empowering methods that foster career development in undocumented Latino youth.

The ACT automated admissions system was adopted by the Colleges and Universities in the Utah system of higher education in 1974. The automated admission system was conceived at a time when College enrollment all over the United States was decreasing, and thus was viewed by its proponents as a positive step in alleviating some of the articulation problems between post secondary institutions, high school counselors and prospective students. Educators who developed the program felt that it would be an advantage to prospective students by providing an admissions decision shortly after the ACT was taken. Automated admissions appears to be an advantage to high school counselors because it eliminates the need for a high school transcript in the admissions process, and because it reduces the amount of time the counselor is involved in the mechanics of the admissions process. This study represents an effort to determine the impact of the Automated Admissions system on the high school counselor and on prospective college students. The results of this study indicate that a significant number of Utah high school counselors favor the Automated Admissions system as opposed to "traditional" admissions systems formerly in use, because of the reduction in clerical work required of the counselor.

The purpose of this essay is to explore high school and collage school counselors knowledge and experience of honour related violence and repression. Our study is based on a qualitative method with interviews. The main question in our study is to examine the school counselors education in how to provide support to the exposed adolescents. We have conducted six interviews with school counselors in the southern Sweden. We have used a semi structured interview technique with questionnaires that have been a support to us during the interviews. The results of our study showed that some of our respondents knew that they had limited education and knowledge in honour related violence and also that they wanted more experience about the problemarea. Other respondents said that they had experience enough about the problemar ea. The results also show that the respondents believe that there is more honour related problems in the adolescents families than what the counselors find out about, and that some of the respondents didn´t even know in wich way they could provide help to theese students.

This study is of a qualitative phenomenological approach. Its background lies in recent reports that show the problem of self-harm increasing among adolescents. The intent of the study was to highlight school counselors’ view of self-harm, and their experiences of meeting self-harm through their work. Six school counselors, all employed in secondary school, have participated in semi-structured interviews. Data from these interviews have been categorized into themes named Girl Cutters, Waves, Meeting Self-harm, and Responsibility. These where analyzed according to a social constructionist approach and have been compared to previously known research. Results show that several of the school counselors defined self-harm as girls who cut themselves. It is also described that self-harm occurs in time-periods for groups of pupils, described as waves. A number of school counselors divided girls who self-harm in to two categories, depending on how severe it is considered to be. Several of the school counselors described that school take on a high responsibility for mental health among adolescents, more then they are legally responsible for. School counselors described signals for development of self-harm problems as over all changes in the pupils general behavior.

This study focused on school counselor accountability practices. The role of the school counselor is changing and the need to be more accountable is now here. This study attempted to answer several critical questions regarding school counselor accountability. It examined the degree to which school counselors use accountability measures, to what extent they believed certain accountability practices were deemed helpful to their school counseling program, and what they believed their barriers were. Accountability is a “hot” topic in present school counseling literature; but little research has been done up to this point investigating these issues related to school counselor accountability nor school counselors’ perceptions and beliefs about them. This study attempted to delve into those perceptions and beliefs. Participants were members of state school counseling associations from across the United States. Three hundred seventy-five school counselors participated. Of those, 70.2% were currently using accountability practices. A total of 47.4% of the participants report presently being required to implement accountability practices. The most frequently reported barrier to accountability practices was that it was “too time consuming.” The most frequently reported type of assistance desired from professional organizations or university programs was training. Support was reported most frequently as the type of assistance desired from school systems. Results from other analyses are also included. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for further research are provided.

This study examines the alignment between Arizona public high school Administrators' expectations of professional school counselors, the ASCA National Model (2005), and the instruments used in Arizona to evaluate professional school counselors. Participants included ten principals and assistant principals, and 103 of the 111 public school districts with at least one high school in Arizona. Data was obtained through semistructured interviews, document, and content analysis. Organizational Role Theory and Leader-Member Exchange Theory guided the qualitative and quantitative analysis. Findings indicate that administrators' expectations of professional school counselors align 62% with the ASCA National Model, while the instruments used in Arizona to evaluate professional school counselors align 13% with administrators' expectations of professional school counselors and 21% with the ASCA National Model. The best predictor of alignment was school district use of a school counselor-specific evaluation instrument. Recommendations focused on the need for clearer communication of role expectations between administrators and counselors, and for more meaningful evaluation practices that align with counseling standards.

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