Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students are at-risk for high rates of bullying and harassment in the school setting. School counselors are uniquely positioned to provide support to LGBTQ youth and work alongside building principals to create safe and welcoming school environments. To build on existing literature, this researcher set out to examine how demographic factors and the school counselor-principal relationship influenced school counselor advocacy for LGBTQ youth. By examining these factors, school counselors are better informed about the roadblocks or barriers that might influence their advocacy efforts. In addition, this information helps counselor educators to better prepare school counselors as advocates and change agents. An anonymous survey with questions about demographics, attitudes, knowledge, and advocacy activity was completed by 169 practicing school counselors in the United States. Results revealed that sexual orientation of the counselor, the state in which the counselor works, the community setting, state and local policies influence a school counselor’s advocacy activity. Additionally, the number of years school counselors and building principals work together and the perceived collaborative working relationship are predictors of school counselor advocacy activity. Using a systems perspective can help school counselors identify how to advocate for LGBTQ students at the individual level, at the school, district, and community level, to the public arena.

Research suggests the collaborative role school counselors can have with administrators to bolster school reform and facilitate a safe and positive learning environment for all K-12 students (College Board, 2009a, 2009b) is vital. Unfortunately, research that explores the roles and efforts of school counselors and administrators in their collaborative work for and with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students is scare. Yet, according to Goodrich, Harper, Luke, and Singh (2013), LGBT students “have long struggled in schools with little support” (p. 319). To address this gap, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of school counselors and administrators in their work to support a safe and supportive school climate for LGBT students. The following research questions informed and guided this study: a) What are the lived experiences of school counselors and administrators who make concerted efforts to improve the educational environment for LGBT students? b) How do school counselors and administrators make meaning with their relationships in their work with LGBT students? The methods used to recruit participants for this study were modeled after College Board’s (2009b) study with seven exemplary school counselor-principal teams. In College Board’s (2009b) study, researchers identified school counselors and principals who received recognition for demonstrating exemplary contribution in their respective professional organizations. These exemplary professionals were than paired with their school counselor/administrator counterpart for joint interviews (College Board, 2009b). By paralleling the best practice protocol established by the College Board (2009b), this study consisted of three rounds of interviews with four school counselor-administrator teams. Participants were selected from national and/or state level LGBT educational organizations, where a school counselor and/or administrator were awarded/recognized for creating a safe and inclusive school environment for LGBT youth. Additional participants included school counselors and administrators identified as the school counselor or administrator counterpart to the awarded. The researcher completed an inductive approach to data analysis, utilizing both open coding and horizontalization to reduce the data. Thematic categories emerged from the data and are presented and discussed as they relate to the overarching research questions. The between-case themes include: Learning firsthand, leading by example, intentional partnering, moving beyond turf wars, and pushing the system. Recommendations for school counselors, administrators, and school counselor-administrator teams are provided. Directions for future research are also discussed. Keywords: School counselors, administrators, interdisciplinary collaboration, LGBT youth

This study is about how school counselors in Kalmar County view the need for a pupil curative work online, what they believe are ethical aspects to be considered in social work online and if they feel they have sufficient training to conduct pupil curative conversations online. The aim has been to make contact with universities in Sweden to see if they have elements of social work education that lectures a social work online. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with school counselors in Kalmar County. The majority of the interviewed school counselors lacked the knowledge and experience of a student curative work online but some had discussed this phenomenon at work. One counselor worked daily with a pupil curative work online. The intention of interviewing universities to investigate whether there are elements of social work education that addresses a social work online defaulted unfortunately because they choose not to participate in the study. The main conclusion of our study is that school counselors consider themselves lacking sufficient knowledge to conduct pupil curative conversations online. All of the interviewed councilors wanted more knowledge about and discussion on the phenomenon. School counselors showed a slight ambivalence to a pupil curative work online, while many felt that they should meet young people where they were, in this case on the internet, they still advocated that personal interaction face to face is superior to internet curative work.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves [34-36].

The achievement gap is still an epidemic in America and many schools struggle with identifying the reasons that their students of color are not achieving at the same rates as their White peers. This review of the literature uncovers some of these reasons and gives counselors ideas for how they can help these students achieve appropriately. Throughout the literature the disproportionate ratio between the overwhelming majority of White school counselors and educators and the growing number of students of color is clear, meaning that Whites in educator roles are over-represented compared to the demographics of the student body. Also, it is evident that the education that counselors have received in the past, and are still receiving, has been lacking in multicultural competency standards. These are just a few of the reasons for the emotional disconnect that students of color feel with the education system and counselors in particular, which makes the job of the counselor difficult when trying to help all children be successful, as is mandated by the American School Counselor Association and NCLB. The literature suggests that White school counselors can become multiculturally competent and can improve school climates to embrace diverse cultures, which in turn increases the chances of student success. Counselors are important change agents in schools and can help to close the achievement gap. / text

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This study is about how school counselors in Kalmar County view the need for a pupil curative work online, what they believe are ethical aspects to be considered in social work online and if they feel they have sufficient training to conduct pupil curative conversations online. The aim has been to make contact with universities in Sweden to see if they have elements of social work education that lectures a social work online. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with school counselors in Kalmar County. The majority of the interviewed school counselors lacked the knowledge and experience of a student curative work online but some had discussed this phenomenon at work. One counselor worked daily with a pupil curative work online. The intention of interviewing universities to investigate whether there are elements of social work education that addresses a social work online defaulted unfortunately because they choose not to participate in the study. The main conclusion of our study is that school counselors consider themselves lacking sufficient knowledge to conduct pupil curative conversations online. All of the interviewed councilors wanted more knowledge about and discussion on the phenomenon. School counselors showed a slight ambivalence to a pupil curative work online, while many felt that they should meet young people where they were, in this case on the internet, they still advocated that personal interaction face to face is superior to internet curative work.

No description available.

<p>  </p> <p>Conceptions of giftedness have changed since gifted education became a focus for research. Rather than focusing solely on scores such as grades or Grade Point Average, definitions of giftedness have become more inclusive, and giftedness evaluation criteria have become more holistic. Despite the growing research, few studies have specifically investigated school counselors' perceptions of giftedness, and even fewer have examined the perceptions of preservice counselors. This study seeks to address this gap by examining pre-service school counselors by employing a qualitative descriptive approach, supplemented with quantitative information. The study involved 176 Turkish and 56 US survey participants, as well as 13 Turkish and eight U.S. interviewees. After I analyzed the data from these two countries, the primary finding of the research was that the participants demonstrated an insufficient understanding of giftedness, often subscribing to myths that perpetuate in the field. Consequently, the major implication of this study is that there is a pressing need for more comprehensive training and mandatory coursework on gifted education for preservice school counselors.</p>

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The use of data by school counselors has grown increasingly important over the past few years, and has a prominent place in the American School Counselor Association's National Model for School Counseling Programs (ASCA, 2003). This study examines the effect and effectiveness of four variations of a workshop designed to improve school counselors' data use skills. The workshops were designed to vary along two dimensions; the amount of conceptual knowledge participants were exposed to, and the amount of a technology application participants were exposed to. The technology application, dubbed "EZAnalyze," was developed specifically for use in this study, as no suitable technology tools existed. The quantitative results of the study indicate that being exposed to technology did not have a statistically significant impact. The qualitative results indicate lack of time and knowledge were the most prominent barriers to applying what was learned during the workshop, and technology and access to useful data were the most prominent facilitators of data use. / 2031-01-02