This article documents narrative experiences from alumni who participated in the GEAR UP program. The San Jose State University GEAR UP program, based on an intensive counseling model, is grounded in social capital and resilience theories, and is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in…

Positive school climate and supportive learning environments have a significant effect on a range of student outcomes. There are a number of assessment instruments that districts can use to measure school climate. These instruments are available from and recommended by national organizations that promote and support school climate interventions.

The role of an academic advisor is emphasized in this study. There is only one academic advisor in the School of Engineering at the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU). The academic advisor addresses the advising needs of more than 1,200 engineering students. The importance of professional advising and the need for higher advisor-student…

Small learning communities, an initiative to transform large struggling comprehensive high schools into smaller autonomous schools, are being empirically examined in the field of education to assess if transformation is actually occurring as seen by positive outcomes, such as increased academic achievement. There is an absence of literature on…

Collaboration between school counselors and principals is increasingly important in this accountability era. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the role of principal as perceived by professional school counselors and principals, both in training and practicing. While similarities were found in two categories: Managing School…

This survey research was the basis of the dissertation for the researcher's doctoral program at George Fox University, and was conducted at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). The purpose of this study was to measure the perception of faculty advisors and professional academic advisors in regard to the importance, responsibility for and…

This mixed methods study used an explanatory sequential design to examine what principals of high schools with large low-income and racial minority student populations view as appropriate roles for the school counselors in their buildings in raising student academic achievement and how those role perceptions align with best practices and with the…

An extensive international literature now supports the potential of parental involvement (PI) for improving children's academic achievements and social outcomes. This research also suggests that involvement which schools organize themselves is more effective than externally imposed PI programmes. It is therefore important to investigate PI…

School counselors should focus on helping underrepresented students access higher education in efforts to close achievement gaps. Limited information is available regarding how first-generation and ethnic minority students view school counseling efforts to promoting post-secondary opportunities. Participants in this study indicated school…

In the next decade, more than half of all new American jobs will require some postsecondary education, yet the current college attainment rate for the nation is 39 percent. The challenges appear well before students begin college: one in four public high school students fails to graduate on time, and of those who graduate, one-third need remedial…

The College Board, NASSP and ASCA believe that the principal-counselor relationship is a dynamic and organic relationship that evolves over time in response to the ever-changing needs of a school. The goal of an effective principal-counselor relationship is to use the strength of the relationship to collaboratively lead school reform efforts to…

Despite efforts to bridge the racial achievement gap, far too many school children continue to fare poorly in our nation's public schools. Oftentimes urban and low income students are negatively labeled as low-achieving, disadvantaged, and struggling. Because of this, such students frequently receive inferior or deficient information from school…

A study was conducted to determine if a disparity exists between the familial and occupational attitudes of women in typical and atypical careers. Questionnaire responses of 225 undergraduate women in three typical careers (home economics, nursing, and elementary education) and three atypical careers (engineering, pharmacy, and agriculture)…

The evaluation of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, K-12 Career Education Incremental Improvement Project consisted of five components: professional staff survey (PSS), student career maturity, career education program assessment, record of student career development, and academic achievement. PSS findings indicated that the seventy principals,…