Book Description

A clear understanding of the school counselor's exact responsibilities has been sought for years. Most recently, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has attempted to provide counselors and other school personnel with more precise guidelines as to what tasks are within the school counselor's training and job description. However, even with a national, comprehensive model of school guidance counseling, perceptions of school counselor's responsibilities and effectiveness are greatly debated. This research was conducted to determine teacher perceptions of the role of the school counselor in Wisconsin and to offer recommendations to school counselors regarding best practices in serving students while engaging in a dual role. A total of 33 teachers responded. A modified version of the Classroom Teacher Survey a/School Counselor Effectiveness (Beesley, 2004) was used to evaluate teacher perceptions. Results indicated the teachers' overall adequacy ratings were not affected by the number of additional responsibilities held by the school counselor. The only outcomes that were statistically significant were supervision and substituting for others. Results indicated teachers whose school counselors had two or more additional responsibilities rated their counselor higher in supervision and substituting for others than did those teachers whose counselor had no or only one additional responsibility. Future research is needed to examine the links between multiple roles and school counselor effectiveness.