Post-Secondary Perceptions of the Secondary School Counselor and Their Functions at the High School Level

The purpose of this study was to investigate post-secondary students' perceptions of the role and functions of their high school counselor. One hundred seventy-three students currently attending a community college in a suburban area of a large metropolitan city participated in this study. The participants were asked to complete a survey developed by the researcher. Five research questions (listed below) guided this study. 1) Do post-secondary students perceive that high school counselors are performing the functions outlined by the American School Counselor Association (see Appendix B and C), and are there gender and ethnic differences? 2) How are perceptions of services rated as "very" important by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 3) How are perceptions of services rated as "often" performed by post-secondary students, and are there gender and ethnic differences? 4) What are post-secondary student's perceptions of the importance with which specific counseling functions are performed as compared to perceptions of frequency? 5) What is the level of unmet need for counseling services perceived as "very" important by post-secondary students? The results indicated that only two percent of high school counselors performed all functions identified on the questionnaire, however the majority of participants indicated counselors performed nearly one-third of the functions. The functions were noted as academic, career, or personal/social domain. The most important function and the most often performed function rated by participants was discussing graduation requirements and the least important as well as the least performed function was identified as assistance with relationship issues. In general, there was not a significant difference between gender and ethnicity. The percentage of participants who indicated a function was "very" important, however was "seldom" or "never" performed was above 50% for most functions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Counselor Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Stower, Catherine J.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Madison-Colmore, Octavia D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• King, Rosalyn
• Lichtman, Marilyn V.
• Lalik, Rosary V.
• Maat, Mercedes ter

• Counselor Education
• Functions
• Role
• Secondary School Counselor
• American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
• Perceptions

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-04232003-083307

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/27160