Stakeholders' Perceptions of the Value of Elementary School Counselor Roles

The purpose of the study was to examine the value and comparative value that stakeholders placed on elementary school counselors' roles. Participants in this study were elementary school counselors, elementary school principals, elementary school teachers, and counselor educators (N=353). All participants completed the School Counselor Role Survey that was designed to assess stakeholders' perceptions of the importance of the school counselor roles advocated by the Education Trust and ASCA. The instrument combined the domains of TSCI and the content areas of the National Standards. ANOVAs were computed to compare the overall and each subscale mean for each of the stakeholder groups. Significant differences were found between stakeholder groups on four of the five TSCI domains: Advocacy, Teaming and Collaboration, Counseling and Coordination, and Assessment and Use of Data. Significant differences were also found on two of the three content areas: Career and Personal/Social. Significant differences for the domains and content areas were found most often between counselor educators and principals and between counselor educators and teachers. All groups believed the TSCI domains to be Somewhat Important. The results for the content areas indicated that the academic role should be included in school counselor training, but not at the expense of the personal/social role. The results of this study indicate that all stakeholder groups view elementary school counselors as mental health professionals first and foremost. This has implications for school counselors, counselor educators, and professional leaders.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Perkins, Gerra Wellman

Contributors dc:contributor

• Herlihy, Barbara
• Ballard, Mary
• Oescher, Jeffrey

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/420

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1441