Educational counseling

This study aimed to understand the relationship between School Counseling Site Supervisors’ (SCSS) characteristics, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) training, cultural humility, advocacy competency, and SDOH competency (n = 69). SDOH refers to the factors that inform an individual’s physical and mental health. Cultural humility refers to an innate openness and curiosity about individual experiences, perspectives, and culture. Advocacy competency refers to the ability to implement advocacy efforts within an individual’s community. Having competency with addressing SDOH in schools, practicing cultural humility, and advocacy competency can help SCSS improve supervision practice within school communities.
This study followed a non-experimental, correlational survey research design. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to measure the strength of the relationships between the variables. The data supported statistically significant relationships between SDOH-based supervision training (F(12,51) = 2.59, p < .05, R2 = .38), cultural humility (F(1,67) = 6.17, p < .015, R2 = .08), and advocacy competency (F(1,67) = 9.7, p < .003, R2 = .13) as predictors of SDOH competency.

In recent years, school counselors and education have faced an increase in mental health challenges, which has had adverse effects on school counseling (Marraccini et al., 2023). Seventy-six percent of state counseling coordinators report insufficient school counselors available to fill positions (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2023b). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023) estimates that 26,600 jobs per year will become available for school counselors, career counselors, and advisors over the next 10 years due to attrition and retirement from the profession.
This nonexperimental, correlational design explored the relationships between the volunteer school counselors’ (N= 56) developmental stage and perceived leadership behaviors, wellness, burnout, and turnover intention. The linear regression results revealed that school counselors’ years of experience predicted their leadership related to systemic collaboration and turnover intention. When exploring leadership behaviors, linear regressions found that counselors’ interpersonal skills predicted their perceptions of wellness and burnout, and systemic collaboration and resourceful problem-solving skills predicted a counselor’s level of burnout regarding their feelings of incompetence. Also, the participants’ professional efficacy predicted wellness and incompetence. Finally, social justice had a statistically significant relationship with incompetence and devaluing clients. The results of this study show moderate to strong relationships amongst select variables. The results, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

A sense of belonging is instrumental to an individual’s mental health. The American School Counselor Association outlined that school counselors are responsible for helping students manage emotions and apply interpersonal skills. The school setting plays an integral part in the development of student’s social and emotional competencies. Approaches to school counseling, such as Advocating Student-within-Environment (ASE), are pivotal in efforts to help students expand their social/emotional skills. This study examined the phenomenological experience of sixth grade students who participated in an ASE-influenced counseling program. One objective for this study was to advance the current literature regarding school counseling’s efficacy in promoting greater connectedness among students and their school environment. The study was conducted using the Student Success Skills (SSS) small group intervention, led by a school counselor already trained in the program. The research questions under investigation were: What is the phenomenological experience of middle school students’ participation in an ASE-aligned evidence-based guidance curriculum? Does the phenomenological experience of middle school students’ participation in an ASE-aligned evidence-based guidance curriculum translate to connectedness among the students in the intervention? Does the phenomenological experience of middle school students’ participation in an ASE-aligned evidence-based guidance curriculum lead to coregulatory relationships among students and school faculty?

The purpose of the current study was to examine differences in multidimensional perfectionism, help-seeking, negative affectivity, and social-emotional well-being between grade 9 to 12 early college high school students who received the modified version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Perfectionism (CBT-P) small group counseling intervention (Egan et al., 2014a) and grade 9 to 12 early college high school students in the comparison group who did not receive the intervention. Masters-level counselors in training (CIT) implemented CBT-P with early college high school students after being trained in the use of the program and other study-related procedures. The study followed a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent pre-post design and employed various self-report measures (DASS-21, SEHS-S, CAPS, and GHSQ). A series of ANCOVA analyses were conducted to determine statistically significant differences between the treatment and comparison groups. The researcher reported partial eta squared ŋp2 effect size for each independent variable. Results of the study revealed a statistically significant difference in negative affectivity and self-oriented perfectionism between the treatment and the comparison group. However, no statistically significant difference, by treatment condition, was found regarding participants’ socially prescribed perfectionism, help-seeking intentions, or social-emotional well-being. The modified CBT-P treatment has found large effects (ŋp2 = .219) in reducing negative affectivity as measured by the DASS-21 and medium to large effects (ŋp2 = .115) in reducing self-oriented perfectionism. This study provided clinical support for using the modified CBT-P small group intervention (Shafran et al., 2002) in early college high schools to decrease negative affectivity and perfectionism in students. Furthermore, the study further supports the importance of building social-emotional wellness to improve students’ mental health. Finally, it highlights the need for future research to determine the impact of perfectionism and small group interventions on early college high school students’ mental health, wellbeing, and help-seeking behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to develop and explore the factor structure of the Student Engagement in Social–Emotional Learning Skills (SE-SELS) survey, a newly designed assessment that assesses students’ knowledge and use of five social–emotional learning skills (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making) aligned with the framework of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. The SE-SELS survey includes 20 items and takes approximately 5 min to complete. Participants were 359 students in Grades 6–8 at one university-affiliated laboratory school serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The instrument was explored through exploratory factor analysis, which determined that the strengths of relationships among variables was satisfactory and that the model overall had strong internal reliability (α = .90). All items were retained for the final SE-SELS survey (.41 ≤ α ≤ .75). Items linked to the relationship skills component and the self-management component were merged to create a four-factor model, which ABSTRACT was a better fit for the data overall and retained all five components addressed by the SESELS survey. There is at present a lack of reliable and valid instruments that measure the effectiveness of interventions and student outcomes related to social–emotional learning. The SE-SELS survey can thus help school counselors and other educators to determine the impact of social–emotional learning interventions and provide baseline and growth data for students. Follow-up studies are needed to support the reliability and validity of the SE-SELS survey.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the Student Success Skills
(SSS) classroom intervention on grade 5 African American students’ self-regulation, test
anxiety and school attendance. This study analyzed pre-existing, non-identifiable student
data collected by school counselors at 30 elementary schools in South Florida. A
multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to determine differences in
self-regulation, test anxiety, and school attendance between the students who participated
in the SSS classroom intervention compared to those students who did not participate.
Statistically significant differences were found between groups in all three factors and
support the use of SSS classroom school counseling intervention with grade 5 African
American students. Effect size estimates were reported for each of the measures.

The purpose of the current outcome study was to investigate the difference in grade 9 completion rate and student engagement between grade 9 students in the treatment group who received the Student Success Sills (SSS) classroom program (Brigman & Webb, 2010) and grade 9 students in the comparison group who did not receive the SSS classroom program. The sample consisted of grade 9 students enrolled in Intensive Reading classes, a required course for all high school students in the state of Florida who are below reading proficiency. School A served as the treatment group (n=98) and School B served as the comparison group (n=99). Certified school counselors in the treatment group implemented five, 45 minute SSS lessons and three booster lessons after being trained in the manualized use of the program and other related study procedures. A quasi-experimental pretest posttest research design was employed to
examine the impact of the SSS classroom program on grade 9 completion rate and student engagement. The unit of analysis was individual grade 9 students. Grade 9 completion rate was measured by academic credits. Student engagement was measured by attendance rate and the Student Engagement in School Success Skills (SESSS) instrument.

This study measured the impact of a gender-specific school counseling curriculum,
“Girl Talk” on: relational aggressive behaviors, pro-social behaviors, student
connectedness, cohesiveness, and social self-efficacy. The “Girl Talk” program consists
of five sessions and was delivered as part of a comprehensive school counseling program. Fifth grade girls in four elementary schools (N=151) from one large, Southeastern school district participated in the study. Girls at two elementary schools received the “Girl Talk” program (treatment group; n=85) and their peer counterparts (comparison group; n=66) at the two remaining schools received their regular school counseling program. A series analysis of variance and an analysis of covariance test, using an alpha level of .05, was conducted to determine if statistically significant differences existed between participants' posttest scores by group condition on the Peer Relations Questionnaire (Rigby & Slee, 1993b), My Class Inventory–Short Form Revised (Sink & Spencer, 2005), the Peers and Friends subscales of the Hemingway Measure of Pre-Adolescent Connectedness (Karcher, 2005), and the Social self-efficacy subscale of the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (Muris, 2001). Statistically significant differences were found in the areas of relational aggressive behaviors, pro-social behaviors, student connectedness, cohesiveness, and social self-efficacy. Partial eta square effect sizes were reported for each measure. The results support the positive impact that school counselors can have when using a systemic, gender-specific classroom guidance curriculum for reducing relational aggression among pre-adolescent girls.

This study focused on evaluating the impact of a school counselor-led program,
Ready for Success (RFS), on the academic achievement of third grade students. The
research questions that were investigated in the study were: (a) Does participation in the Ready for Success Program, a counselor-led classroom intervention, increase reading scores among 3rd grade African American, Hispanic, and White students as measured by the FCAT third grade reading test? and (b) Does participation in the Ready for Success Program, a counselor-led classroom intervention, increase reading scores among third grade African American, Hispanic, and White students as measured by the SSSDT reading test? The significance of the study lies in its focus on the need for more outcome research linking school counselor-led interventions to student achievement. The importance of counselor-led research based interventions in positively affecting student achievement addresses a national mandate delineated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which calls for evidence-based interventions in education. The population for this study included male and female, third grade, general
education students from diverse backgrounds, from one large school district located in
south Florida, herein referred to as Pineapple State School District. A standardized
objective statewide assessment instrument, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and the school district generated standardized test, Sunshine State Standards Diagnostics Test (SSSDT), were used to measure academic achievement. Analysis of the results in this study was done using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with Pretest scores on the SSSDT 3rd grade reading (2010-2011) as covariates on the dependent variables to account for differences at pretest.

This study sought to measure the impact of an evidence-based school guidance counseling curriculum. Student Success Skills (Brigman & Webb, 2010),on : (a) wellness factors for early adolescences, (b) engagement in school success skills, and (c) grades in core subject areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, reported at nine-week intervals. ... The results of this study provide a link between the collaboration between school counselors and teachers when delivering classroom guidance interventions on wellness behaviors in adolescents. More research in needed on the impact of school counseling curriculum programs on early adolescent wellness, engagement in school success strategies, and improved academic achievement.