Nationwide, rural students enroll in and graduate from college at lower rates than their non-rural peers. Closing this gap in rural college access matters because individuals with a college education experience higher average earnings and lower rates of unemployment relative to their peers without a college credential. State financial aid programs…

School social workers play the main role in the Hong Kong local school mental health system. Recent research has indicated that Hong Kong school social workers experience burnouts with long working hours. Moreover, the two years of remote learning due to COVID-19 had a significant impact on Hong Kong students, affecting their academic performance,…

College and career readiness programs are critical for vulnerable student populations, including low-income, economically disadvantaged students, and students of color, because these students have been historically and consistently identified as not college and career ready. Many factors contribute to the culmination of readiness that goes beyond…

As the demand for bilingual psychotherapists rises, understanding the effects of language and bilingualism on psychotherapy becomes increasingly important. The literature, mostly focused on the client's experience, suggests that the language used in the therapy room has an impact on the therapeutic process and relationship. This qualitative study…

School psychologists, among other educators, experienced a rapid transition to online educational service delivery in response to the Coronavirus-19 pandemic and related stay-at-home orders in March of 2020. Students and educators experienced significant difficulties throughout the pandemic, including increased mental health needs. Educators and…

School counselors play a vital supportive role in schools. As the needs of students and diverse populations in urban schools surge, the need to improve understanding of school counselors' experiences facing social justice issues also increases. Framed through the lens of Rawls's social justice theory, the focus of this generic qualitative study…

The purpose of my research was to understand LAUSD counselors' perceptions related to professional development around crisis response before and during COVID. The goal of this project was to learn how we can best support prevention efforts for students. I learned about counselors' understanding of the suicide preventative measures the district…

Social workers have an ethical obligation to challenge systemic oppression. Within the context of Latinx college students, there are many systemic barriers that negatively impact their mental health. Previous research focuses on identifying individual characteristics among Latinx students that promote academic success and psychological wellbeing.…

The purpose of this study is to better understand why a school avoidant student has a difficult time staying attached to a school community. For a school avoidant student, the school environment is too challenging to manage resulting in an emotional and physical disengagement from school. A school avoidant student will seek to protect themselves…

The number of first-generation college students has steadily increased, with 56% of college students identifying as first-generation college students (Center for First-Generation Success, n.d.). First-generation college students are a unique subgroup of students who often face unique stressors, including being of underrepresented status and coming…

Professional development and career advancement are essential elements of a satisfying experience as a working professional. The purpose of this study was to examine: (1) the effectiveness of methods of professional development for student affairs professionals, (2) factors influencing career advancement for student affairs professionals, (3) the…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the phenomenon of school counselors as leaders, who work in school districts in the state of Arizona. The American School Counselor National Model and the Distributed Leadership Model served as the conceptual framework for this study. The three research questions of…

As the population of the United States becomes increasingly diverse, multicultural competency in school psychological practice grows in salience and importance. Based on previous work done by Malone et al. (2015), the expanded School Psychology Multicultural Competence Scale (SPMCS-E) is intended to give researchers, practitioners, trainers, and…

Self-compassion and self-care are challenges for leaders, including school psychologists who are especially vulnerable to burnout, which could cause harm. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between the self-efficacy of school psychologists as caregiving leaders and their self-compassion and self-care. Specifically, the…

The close partnership between school counselors and principals suggested that their work together can influence student learning and school culture. Their roles, while different in nature, could be conducive to collaborating in an effective manner to help achieve their respective goals and the objectives of their employment responsibilities.…