School counselors are mental health professionals who support students' emotional, academic, and social development. Numerous studies have documented outcomes to support the efficacy of school counselors. To excel in student support services, counselors should possess a diverse set of skills and attributes to successfully assist and guide…

High-quality career counseling is freely available at U.S. high schools. However, many students choose not to participate in career planning programs, despite being assigned to a school counselor for guidance. There is a projected increase in demand for school counselors; however, there needs to be more literature regarding whether high school…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experiences of professional counselors embedded in NCAA Division I athletic departments. Specifically, what are the pre-professional, educational, and professional experiences of licensed or license-eligible professional counselors who are/have been employed by or…

High school counselors have an opportunity to positively impact the lives of students and support their personal, academic, and career goals. With the increased attention on student's social and emotional learning, it is important not to overlook the wellbeing of school counselors who work with these students daily. Many studies have focused on…

This dissertation explores school psychologists' evolving roles and responsibilities, examining how their practices align with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) domains. This study utilized an online survey distributed via the snowball method; data was collected from 97 school psychologists across multiple states. The study…

The topic of principal-school counselor partnerships has been emerging over the last several decades. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) helped introduce and streamline counselor roles and responsibilities in 1952 and has been advocating for schools to have comprehensive school counseling programs since. Despite articles, research,…

A problem facing current school counselors is the lack of a licensed professional counselor (LPC) to be readily available for students who need intervention. In order to justify the LPC, counselors must agree to the need of a LPC. Adolescent psychological issues are a concern for school counselors because they are not adequately trained to deal…

Equity in education has become increasingly prioritized, due to the growing mainstream recognition of the inequitable practices that historically have and presently continue to exist in K-12 education. With the K-12 student population diversity continuously increasing in areas such as abilities, race/ethnicities, socioeconomic status, languages,…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education revised the statewide graduation requirement (Act 158) to include postsecondary preparedness effective with the 2023 graduation class. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was adopted to mandate schools to provide the resources to assist students to meet academic standards leading to career and college…

COVID-19 brought many changes to the world of education. It took a toll on schools, staff, students, parents and many others. The goal of this study was to discover what stressors lessen a school counselor's self-efficacy as measured through a demographic survey and semi-structured in-depth interviews using a sample of five counselors from…

There is a paucity of research on the experiences of rural school counselors' advocacy for and with marginalized students. Specifically, rural school counselors' advocacy experiences for and with students who identify as LGBTQ+ are not well known. The advocacy experiences of rural school counselors for all marginalized students are exigent, yet…

Contemporary research pertaining to the experiences of flow in education is scarce and that which does exist in the literature often focused on the teacher-student relationship. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive, phenomenological approach (IPA) study was to examine the lived experiences of secondary school counselors as related to…

This study examined the perspectives of K-12 school counselors and key stakeholders (i.e., school leaders, teachers, parents, and community members) on how they view the role of school counselors, specifically regarding their work responsibilities. I applied the theoretical framework of role conflict, defined as a disconnect between ideal roles…

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted educational systems worldwide, presenting unprecedented challenges for families, students, teachers, and professional school counselors (Akgul et al., 2021). Professional school counseling underwent changes as all attempted to adapt to new ways of reaching and supporting students (Anicich et al.,…

School counselors are being called to reestablish their roles as leaders, advocates, collaborators, and change agents. Unfortunately, several barriers hinder school counselors' advocacy, including limited instruction and training on advocacy during preparation programs, lack of knowledge or awareness of resources and policies, limited access to…