High school counselors struggle to complete the tasks assigned to them. Often serving more than 500 students, counselors must address requirements specified by the American School Counselor Association's national model. They must also perform duties required by state and local policy, as well as campus-designated priorities. Empirical studies of…

This study examined student, parent, and faculty perceptions of academic development needs and related comprehensive school counseling program services from four urban middle and high schools. Participants (n = 1,032) completed a survey designed to assist schools in planning and evaluating their career and college readiness programs, and exploring…

According to a survey by NACAC and IC3 (International Career and College Counseling) Institute, 88 percent of Indian high school counselors believe their administration understands the importance of a dedicated career and college counseling program, and 70 percent agree that their school culture is supportive of counseling. However, many…

Advocacy for all students is an important tenet in current school counselor literature and has been recognized as a vital component in student success. With the increase of students who attend high school online learning programs that do not require regular attendance at a school site, the role of the high school counselor to advocate for these…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of professional school counselors, and the comprehensive school counseling programs they implement, through the eyes of classroom teachers in schools that have received designation from the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) for actualizing a Recognized…

Between January and October of 2013, nearly 3 million Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 graduated from high school. By October of that year, just two-thirds had enrolled in college. This report uses recently released nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) data from Spring 2012 to examine American high…

This qualitative study explores career counseling and guidance services as provided to students engaged in career and technical education programs at three sites in the United States. The sites, consisting of high schools and community colleges, were part of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's 5-year studies of…

To be able to connect the school counseling program to standards-based reform, school counseling initiatives such as The Education Trust's Transforming the School Counseling Initiative and The American School Counseling Association (ASCA) have called for a paradigm shift in the understanding of the school counselor's role, from a service provider…

This study draws on data from descriptive case studies of 15 high schools, three in each of five states. The findings highlight constraints in the availability of college counseling, differences in the availability of college counseling across schools, and the influence of schools, districts, higher education institutions, and states on the…

A counselor's academic guidance is critical because student stress levels are high due to increased levels of expectations that they perform at their best (Campbell & Dahir, 1997; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000). In the last decade, education reform has moved towards more standards-driven curriculum/a, basic skills acquisition, and…

Describes a program in which the roles of guidance counselor and academic dean/disciplinarian have been successfully combined. (Author/IRT)

Describes how one energetic individual developed the role of guidance director in one high school. Describes some of the problems encountered in terms of students' needs and faculty resentment. (HMV)

Describes a successful teacher-advisor program that uses all professionals in the school building to improve the counselor-student ratio. (Author/IRT)

Describes improvements in the guidance program at one high school after three major changes were instituted to attain greater flexibility. The changes were: (1) allowing students to choose their counselors; (2) allowing counselors to arrange their own schedules; and (3) recruiting volunteers from the community to help with clerical duties. (HMV)