The Development of an SVIB Interest Scale for School Counselors

A professional school counselor key was developed on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank using Campbell's revised procedures. Of the 403 counselors initially contacted, 340 responded. Of this number, 203 were identified as professional counselors and were included in the professional school counselor scale. Each of these individuals was fully certified, possessed three or more years' experience as a counselor, was a member of a professional guidance association, and was thoroughly satisfied with his job as a counselor. Differences between professional counselors and non-professional counselors seemed to indicate a greater people-orientation in the professional counselor group. This was further supported by relationships of the professional counselor key with other scales on the SVIB.     

A radical change in counselor education and certification

The new Washington state certification plan for school counselors includes promising innovations. The plan calls for behaviorally stated performance standards related to client outcomes. Resulting programs for in-service as well as pre-service counselors are developed in a partnership among professional associations, school districts, and university counselor education personnel. Professional identity and involvement are encouraged through counselor self-assessment against specific performance criteria, individualized training and self-renewal programs, and lifelong professional development plans. A new role is developed of a counselor staff development specialist who functions as a school training consultant and counselor educator.     

a counselor and change: Reminiscences and Resolutions

Counselors are becoming more aware of the importance of working with large systems to bring about change that will influence individuals. Working as a school counselor, the author attempted to bring about change. His methods resulted in some dramatic occurrences and encouraged him to spend considerable time reflecting on his behavior and developing guidelines for wiser future action. In this article he relates some of his early experiences as a young school counselor and suggests guidelines for bringing about change.     

Specialized Counseling—A New Trend?

The study, apparently the first of its kind, investigates the activities of the specialized school counselor in the elementary and secondary schools of Ohio. The specialized counselor was defined as a certified counselor who spent at least one-half of his professional time performing the activities related to a single area of guidance, such as educational or college guidance. Questionnaires were sent to three groups of educators—guidance directors, specialized school counselors, and counselor educators. Participants in the study were asked to provide information relative to the nature and needs of specialized counseling. The data seem to show indications of an increase of specialization in counseling. The functions of such specialists are reported.     

Psychotherapy in the school

Counseling and psychotherapy are two terms for the same function; there is no essential difference in the nature of the relationship, the process, the methods and techniques, the purposes or goals, or the results. Vocational counseling is not a different kind or level of counseling, requiring less background or preparation. If anything, preparation for vocational counseling requires more time than does preparation for therapeutic or personal counseling—the former includes the latter. Therefore, if counseling has a place in our schools, it cannot be limited to vocational counseling.

It appears that there is a need or place for counseling and counselors in our schools, and that recognition and acceptance of this need is growing. The school has the opportunity, and the responsibility, for providing counseling, broadly conceived, to its students.

The staff member who has been designated as a school counselor appears to be the logical person to provide counseling services. While it is true that in the past the school counselor has not in fact been a counselor, nor adequately prepared to function as a counselor, counseling is presently accepted as the major function of the school counselor, and his preparation is becoming essentially preparation for performing the counseling function. While there are some who resist this trend, it appears to be well established.     

Counselor Bias and Women

Counselors are biased against girls and women. Several recent studies examining counselor's sex biases are reviewed. Research indicates that attitudes of counselor trainees, school counselors at all levels, counselor educators and supervisors, and clinicians are sexist. The Attitude Toward Women Scale was administered to 80 employment counselors. Male counselor attitudes were more sexist than female counselor attitudes. Suggestions for dealing with counselor bias are reviewed. Counselors must first battle their own biases. They should also be sensitive to the developmental stages of a person's life, as well as to job requirements and employer attitudes. Occupational literature should be nonsexist and nontraditional.     

The many publics of the counselor: a dialogue

The following is a condensed and edited version of a dialogue that took place in December 1973 in the format of a guest panel discussion for the benefit of a class in “Guidance in the Secondary School.” The panelists were selected as being representative of the various publics served by school counselors; the participants were a junior high school student, a high school student, a teacher, a beginning counselor, an experienced counselor, a superintendent of schools, and a counselor educator. By way of introduction, the dialogue begins with a sketch of the participants. (Pseudonyms are used for the students.)     

The roles of the secondary school counselor and the secondary school psychologist as perceived by educators of counselors and by educators of school psychologists

This study has indicated that counselor educators and educators of school psychologists are substantially in agreement regarding their perceptions of the roles of guidance counselors and school psychologists in the secondary school. Functions which are perceived as being performed by both counselors and psychologists have been described. These may lead either to collaborative endeavor or role conflict. Basic counselor and school psychologist roles have been presented. The perceived role of the counselor is broad and extensive; the perceived role of the school psychologist appears narrow and intensive.     

Microcounseling: the counselor as trainer

The skills of the counselor are too important to be used only in the guidance office. The counselor should move into the school and the community to teach others the various skills of counseling and interpersonal communication. Microcounseling is a systematic method for teaching counseling skills in a short period of time. The author explains the relationship of microcounseling and counselor education to the role of the practicing counselor. He believes that conducting systematic training programs in such skills as microcounseling should become an important role for counselors.     

A Question of Counselor Function and Responsibility

This paper examines the concepts and attitudes of school administrators regarding the functions and responsibilities of school counselors. The implications of the differences in attitudes between counselors and administrators are discussed. Evidence is presented which suggests the possibility that differences may be due to counselor and administrator personalities. The need for the school administrators to be educated by counselors is stressed, and an example is given of a current concept of counselor responsibility.     

School Climates and Student Behavior: Implications for Counselor Role

The current research on the study of school climates is described, and implications of this research for counselor role are indicated. This research has examined the nature of educational climates and environments, as well as the relationship of various environments to student achievement, attitudes, and behaviors. The research provides information about the nature of school environments as they are affected by staff characteristics and behaviors and student peer group characteristics. This research indicates that schools do have quite different climates which are supportive of diverse types of student and staff behavior. It appears that the adjustment and success of an individual student may well be a function of (a) the type of climate of the school he attends, and (b) the extent to which the school climate is supportive of his individual needs. After an extensive review of nine methodologies for studying school climate, possible applications of these research findings by the counselor are described.     

College Freshmen View Counselor Help in College Selection

Little attention has been paid to the role performance of counselors in the college decision process. This study surveyed 270 college freshmen at a northeastern university in an attempt to explore the activities of their high school counselors in college admissions. The students came from 233 institutions of secondary education. Among the findings were: (1) the high school counselor has increased in importance and in potential influence in the college-choice process; (2) the helping activities of counselors were for the most part active and direct; (3) the expectations of the students for the counselor were for active involvement by the counselor; and (4) in some cases, the counselor played a restricting role in the process of college selection.     

Guidance of the College-Bound

This paper discusses the paradox which exists between counselor education and counselor practice as related to counseling and guidance of the college-bound. Theory and research about higher education, the school counselor mandate concept, and implications for strengthening counselor education are explored. The position is taken that the gap between counselor education and counselor practice in guidance services for the college-bound is too great but that correctives exist which must be examined and implemented.     

Estimating Causal Impacts of School Counselors With Regression Discontinuity Designs

This article presents a causal regression discontinuity framework for quantifying the impact of high school counselors on students’ education outcomes. To demonstrate this method, the authors used data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Using high school counselor staffing counts and 4‐year college‐going rates collected through the SASS, the authors found that an additional high school counselor is predicted to induce a 10 percentage point increase in 4‐year college enrollment.     

Examining School Counseling Students' Multicultural and Sexual Orientation Competencies Through a Cross‐Specialization Comparison

Professional school counselors have an opportunity to directly address the educational, emotional, and social problems facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the multicultural and sexual orientation counselor competencies of school counseling students through a cross‐specialization comparison with community agency students. Results indicate that school counseling students had significantly lower self‐reported multicultural and sexual orientation counselor competency scores. The findings and their implications are discussed.     

The Relationship of School Climate Factors to Counselor Self-Efficacy

A survey of school counselors was conducted to measure the relationship of Bandura's (1977b) concept of self-efficacy with school climate, counselor roles, and a variety of demographic variables. Results indicated that supportive staff and administrators were the strongest predictors of high counselor efficacy expectancy. In addition, outcome expectancy for school counselor behavior was predicted by both a similarly high degree of support from staff and administrators and fewer nonrelated counseling activities performed by school counselors. Discussion of results and implications for research and practice are presented.     

PPS director: administrator or counselor educator?

What is the primary role of the director of pupil personnel services? Is he a general administrator or a counselor educator? The author of this article feels that there is a great need for more directors who are oriented toward counselor education, and he focuses on three areas in which this type of director can have a great impact on school counseling.     

Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Applied to School Counseling

Aspects of Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance were partially integrated with a Rogerian type of orientation to school counseling. Festinger's term “dissonance” was presented as complementary to Rogers' term “incongruence.” A number of counselor activities were derived from the two complementary orientations which, if employed, would seem to enhance the probability of a self-directed change occurring within the student. These included such activities as the school counselor attempting to: (a) provide an accepting non-threatening atmosphere; (b) assist students or counselees in developing sufficient dissonance; (c) have his counselees inform significant others (teachers, parents, or peers) of the outcomes or decisions they arrived at during the counseling process (public commitment).     

The School Counselor As Consultant: A Historical Review

This article contains a historical review of the school counselor in the role of consultant. Published articles that have appeared in four APGA journals during the past 21 years provided the basis for the review. General trends in each journal and a developmental history of the consultation movement are presented. The conclusion was that a serious gap exists between the theory and practice of consultation in schools. Specific needs must be addressed for the school counselor as consultant model to be fully realized.