The Western Boone County Community School Corporation, Thorntown, Indiana, in opening a new high school is concerned with instituting a guidance and counseling service to meet the needs of its students effectively. In instituting these services, it seems imperative to survey the people served in the guidance and counseling program, namely, the students, parents, teachers, administrators, and Board of Education, to discover the relative importance these publics ascribe to the various activities a counselor should be involved with in the school. Its usefulness will depend upon the extent to which the program will use the survey's results in conjunction with the expertise of the school counselor. The writer is certain that the guidance and counseling administrator will find the study an excellent device for finding the concerns of the different people involved as a step in the final construction of the comprehensive guidance and counseling program for the new high school.

Professional School Counselors (PSCs) have been called to be leaders for educational reform to support the academic, career, and personal/social development of all students through the coordination and facilitation of their comprehensive, developmental school counseling program (American School Counselor Association , 2005; National Model). The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the contributions of PSCs' values and leadership practices to their programmatic service delivery (counseling, coordinating, consulting, and curriculum). The three constructs and instruments investigated in this study were: (a) Schwartz Value Theory (the Schwartz Value Survey ; Schwartz, 1992), (b) the Leadership Challenge Theory (the Leadership Practices Inventory ; Posner & Kouzes, 1988), and (c) school counselors' programmatic service delivery (the School Counselors Activity Rating Scale ; Scarborough, 2005). The findings of this study contribute to the school counseling, counselor education, and leadership literature. The sample size for this study was 249 certified, practicing school counselors (elementary school, n = 83; middle school, n = 76; high school, n = 74; multi-level, n = 8) in the state of Florida (35% response rate). The participants completed an on-line surveys including a general demographic questionnaire, the SVS (Schwartz, 1992), the LPI (Posner & Kouzes, 1988), and the SCARS (Scarborough, 2005). The statistical procedures used to analyze the data included (a) structural equation modeling (path Analysis), (b) confirmatory factor analysis, (c) simultaneous multiple regression, (d) Pearson product-moment (2-tailed), and (e) Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The primary research hypothesis for the study was that practicing school counselors' values and leadership practice scores would contribute to their levels of programmatic service delivery. The statistical analyses of these data identified several significant findings. The path analysis models testing the contribution of school counselors' values and leadership practices on their service delivery did fit for these data. Specifically, the results indicated that values contributed minimally to the model fit (less than 1%); however, leadership practices made a significant contribution (39%) to the school counselors' service delivery. Additionally, 31% of the participants reported that their current school counseling program was consistent with how they perceive a successful school counseling program should be implemented, yet only 29% of the school counselors reported feeling comfortable in challenging their involvement in non-counseling related duties. Further, although these data indicated that the majority of the school counselors valued self-transcendence (accepting of rules and appreciating others); structural equation modification re-specification procedures revealed that the model fit supported the value type, self-enhancement (self-direction and personal success) as a more significant contributor in promoting leadership practices and effective service delivery. Implications for professional school counseling and counselor education are presented, along with areas for future investigation.

There is an understanding that the guidelines for school counselors in Swedish elementary schools lack the preciseness in what the school counselors should do to design and perform their work. Previous research shows that school counselors find it difficult to both establish their role but also to find their position in the school organization. Therefore, this interview study aims to present the perception of six school counselors in Sweden and discover how they feel about their work practice in elementary schools. We found that the main theme in the study was that the work was mainly affected by the management from the school board. Another surprising theme showed that the interviewees agreed that a better work description might help the counselor in general but wasn’t sure that it would help them in their current workplace. They asserted that a good relationship and cooperation with the school board and co-workers were much more important than a more detailed work description. Furthermore, the study also aims to compare their descriptions of the practical work that they perform, to the general guidelines for the work of school counselors. We found that their work in general was according to what is expected for the guidelines, but that in which way the work tasks were performed could differ from one another. Lastly, the study also contains the interviewees perceptions of their position in the school organization and which factors that simplifies or aggravates their practical work. The majority thought that they had established a clear role and position for themselves. However they agreed that many of the coworkers didn’t have the same perspective and understanding as themselves. Some of the interviewees also thought that the quantity of students they were dealing with, also made a difference on the quality of their work.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Despite several decades of theoretical support and empirical validation concerning Multicultural Counseling Competence (MCC), the mental health field has been criticized for a lack of measurable constructs that embody multicultural counseling skills (Sanchez-Hucles & Jones, 2005; Weinrach & Thomas, 1998). In an effort to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of observable multicultural counseling interventions, web-based survey research was used to examine the relationship between the counselor’s broaching behavior and multicultural counseling competence in a sample of middle school counselors. Broaching has been conceptualized as a measurable multicultural counseling skill and refers to a counselor’s effort to initiate and process discussions of race, ethnicity, and culture in the counseling relationship (Day-Vines, et al., 2007). Results revealed a statistically significant relationship between broaching and multicultural counseling competence. Most notably, advanced attitudes toward broaching as conceptualized in the broaching construct are predictive of multicultural counseling competence. Additionally, the relationship between broaching skills and MCC seems to indicate that even rudimentary attempts at broaching may also be predictive of multicultural counseling competence. Equally as important, the study supported the conclusion that avoiding discussions of race, ethnicity, and culture has a negative impact on the counseling relationship. Results need to be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size (N = 65) and the continued validation of the Broaching Attitudes and Behavior Scale. / Ph. D.

This study explored the relationships between school counselors' motivational orientation, perceptions of the importance, and levels of implementation of Academic and Personal/Social Development Standards as a strategy for supporting academic achievement. A secure online survey was sent to 539 Virginia elementary school counselors; 212 completed the questionnaire reflecting a response rate of 39%. Participants rated their perceptions of the importance and their levels of implementation of 26 Virginia Academic and Personal/Social Development Standards (Virginia Department of Education, 2004). The Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS; Guay, Vallerand, & Blanchard, 2000) assessed participants' type of motivation for incorporating personal/social development interventions into their programs as a strategy for supporting academic achievement. Participants' ratings confirm both types of Standards are perceived as highly important for supporting academic achievement and are implemented at relatively high levels. A correlation matrix demonstrated three of the four motivation scores were not related to either perceptions of importance or to levels of implementation of either type of Virginia Standard. Four regression models indicated that the motivation predictor variables accounted for no more than 6.3% of the variance in participants' perceptions of the importance and levels of implementation of either type of Virginia Standard. Finally, the hypothesis that Intrinsic Motivation would be the most salient type of motivation for implementing Virginia's Personal/Social Development Standards as a strategy for supporting academic achievement was not supported. However, high mean scores on the Identified Regulation subscale suggest participants do possess internal motivation for incorporating personal/social development into their programs. Based on the results, several recommendations were offered. School counselors should collaborate with school leaders, embrace accountability practices, and advocate for the necessity of maintaining a comprehensive program focus. Counselor educators can familiarize students with research pertaining to the contributions of different types of development on achievement and emphasize the importance of utilizing the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model (ASCA, 2005). Implications for future research include replicating this study with principals and secondary school counselors, evaluating how Standards are interpreted and applied between school counseling programs, and examining other constructs found in the motivation literature that may better explain school counselors' desire to maintain a comprehensive program focus. / Ph. D.

The job satisfaction of elementary school counselors in Virginia was examined in this study. The entire population of 324 elementary school counselors was surveyed with a modified Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. The following research questions were addressed: 1.) What are the levels of overall job satisfaction in elementary school counselors in Virginia? 2.) What degree of satisfaction do Virginia elementary school counselors express with subfactors of job satisfaction? 3.) For elementary school counselors in Virginia, what is the relation between overall job satisfaction and selected demographic variables/work characteristics? Data were also collected through use of an individual information form. Survey materials were mailed to 324 elementary school counselors with a response rate of 88.89% obtained. Of this total 273 of the surveys were usable for data analysis. / Ed. D.