School Leaders' Perceptions of School Counselors as Leaders as Part of the District Leadership Team and Impact on the District Wide Change Process

School Leaders' Perceptions of School Counselors as Leaders as Part of the District Leadership Team and Impact on the District Wide Change Process
Author: James S. Davis (Jr.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2013
Genre: Education, Secondary
ISBN:

This exploration focuses on school leaders' perceptions of school counselors as leaders and their involvement with district wide change. This study explores school counselorleadership, school counselors' role in district level change, and barriers to school counselor leadership. This is a qualitative study utilizing grounded theory design. Eighteen participants were interviewed that included schoolleaders and school counselors in urban, suburban, and rural school districts located in Upstate and Central New York. This study found that all school leaders in this study perceived school counselors as leaders. This study also found that school counselors are primarily involved in building level change and consulted with administration regarding district wide change as needed. Barriers to school counselors becoming leaders include internal, external, and organizational barriers. Barriers to school counselors serving on the district leadership team include membership in the teacher's union, little or no support from administration, and lack of flexibility due to amount of counselor job duties. This study concludes that school counselors would benefit from having more time in their schedules and flexibility in their role to function in a leadership capacity. School counselor leadership is determined more by the size of the school district than if the school is an urban, suburban, or rural school district. Finally, this study concludes that school counselors need to educate themselves and others on school counselor leadership. district level change, and barriers to leadership.

Administrative Leaders and School Counselors

Administrative Leaders and School Counselors
Author: Lisa A. Wines
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2023-09-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000937003

This practice-based text offers a roadmap to optimal collaboration for all school leaders – including counselors, superintendents, principals, and university faculty – to provide the best mental health outcomes for students. Administrative Leaders and School Counselors is a timely publication that creatively and cohesively authenticates the relationship between administrative leaders and school counselors. In order to systemically promote mental health consciousness and considerations for school counselors as practitioners and in training, collaboration among school leaders is essential for comprehensive school counseling programs, practices, funding, partnerships, and services designed for students. The first to feature perspectives from a diverse set of leadership positions in schools, the book provides individuals with exposure to educational leadership models and decisions that impact the roles of school counselors. The book will appeal to faculty who are teaching and training those who are or will ultimately be working as professional school counselors, counseling psychologists, or educational leaders such as principals, directors, department chairs, and superintendents.

Linking District Leadership to Teacher Leaders: The District Office - School Partnership for Teaching and Learning Improvement

Linking District Leadership to Teacher Leaders: The District Office - School Partnership for Teaching and Learning Improvement
Author: Kelly Ganzel Santos
Publisher:
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

This study strove to identify promising structural, relational, resource, communication, and ideological linkages between district leadership and teacher leaders in high school districts that are perceived by these instructional leaders to positively affect student outcomes. The study was qualitative in nature, focusing on the meaning, context, and process of how district leadership engages with teacher leaders in collaborative, non-hierarchical relationships. The study population consisted of two union high school districts located within the urban Los Angeles area, both of which served at least 90% minority students and demonstrated comparable English and mathematics proficiency rates. Essential to this study, both district offices were engaged in coordinated efforts to work closely with teacher leaders to develop strategic plans for improving teaching and learning districtwide. This study employed multi-case sampling of the two comparable districts, selecting the highest achieving and lowest achieving schools within each study district as focal points for all interviews and site-based observations. The research design provided for the collection of data through questionnaires, interviews, observations, and document reviews. Data was triangulated through thematic coding of the strengths and weaknesses of each district's critical linkages between district leadership and teacher leaders for the purpose of improving teaching and learning. The key findings of this study explicated how school-based teacher leaders brokered critical information between district leadership and teachers at large by serving as boundary spanners who bridged the organizational divide between school sites and the district office. Detailed analysis of each of these critical linkages clarified the specific role of teacher leaders in engaging teachers at large in instructional reform efforts, as well as of the means by which district leadership supported teacher leaders in this role. The key findings of this study also provided insight into the perceptions of district administrators, principals, and teacher leaders regarding districtwide instructional reform efforts that leverage teacher leaders as well as their impact on student outcomes. The promising practices revealed in this study may serve as a model for other districts to consider in their endeavors to work intentionally with teacher leaders to implement reforms designed to strategically improve teaching and learning districtwide.

Implementation of the American School Counseling Association National Model

Implementation of the American School Counseling Association National Model
Author: Susanna Capri Posey Brooks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

The researcher examined school counselors' and administrator's perceptions of the readiness level to implement the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Model. The researcher evaluated the differences in perceived readiness, between counselors and administrators, across in each of the 7 ASCA National Model District Readiness Survey indicators (i.e., community support, leadership, guidance curriculum, school counselor' beliefs and attitudes, school counselors' skills, district resources, and staffing/time use). The researcher also addressed certain school and position characteristics that could be predictors of the readiness level. The predictor variables included: highest degree of education, age, student-to-counselor ratio, years of total experience in schools, years of counseling and/or administrative experience, gender, ethnicity, grade level of school, and school role. The research provided evidence that school counselors perceived their district to be ready in the areas of School Counselors' Skills, and School Counselors' Beliefs and Attitudes indicators. The areas where school counselors indicated they perceived their school district as minimally ready were Leadership, Community Support, and Guidance Curriculum. In the areas of Staffing/Time Use and District Resources, school counselors reported perceiving their school district as being not ready. School administrators perceived their district to be ready in the areas of Community Support, Leadership, Guidance Curriculum, School Counselors' Beliefs and Attitudes, and School Counselors' Skills indicators. The areas where school administrators indicated they perceived their school district as minimally ready were Staffing/Time Use and District Resources. There were no areas in which administrators reported perceiving their school district as being not ready. Based on school counselor perceptions, the "overall" readiness level of their district was minimally ready to implement the ASCA National Model. Based on school administrator perceptions, the "overall" readiness level of their district was ready to implement the ASCA National Model. The school counselor and administrator perceptions were significantly different across all 7 readiness factors of the ASCA National Model District Readiness Survey. The classification of school counselors and administrator was determined to account for 30.4% of the variance in the overall perception of district readiness level to implement the ASCA National Model.

Developing and Managing Your School Guidance and Counseling Program

Developing and Managing Your School Guidance and Counseling Program
Author: Norman C. Gysbers
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2014-11-21
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1119026342

The fifth edition of this bestseller expands and extends Gysbers and Henderson’s acclaimed five-phase model of planning, designing, implementing, evaluating, and enhancing Pre-K–12 guidance and counseling programs. This enduring, influential textbook has been fully updated to reflect current theory and practice, including knowledge gained through various state and local adaptations of the model since publication of the last edition. Exciting additions to this new edition are increased attention to diversity and the range of issues that students present, counselor accountability, and the roles and responsibilities of district- and building-level guidance and counseling leaders in an increasingly complex educational environment. An abundant array of examples, sample forms, job descriptions, evaluation surveys, flyers, letters, and procedures used by various states and school districts clearly illustrate each step of program development. At the end of each chapter, a new feature called “Your Progress Check” functions as a tracking tool for growth at each stage of the change process. *Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com. *To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

Preparing School Counselor Leaders

Preparing School Counselor Leaders
Author: Anita Antoinette Young
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2004
Genre: Educational counseling
ISBN:

Abstract: This study examined the school counselor leadership perceptions and practices of graduates from a large Midwestern University. Specifically, this study examined how, and if, participation in The Ohio State University Transforming School Counseling Initiative (OSU-TSCI) program influenced graduates2 leadership perceptions and practices Qualitative research procedures were used to collect data and analyze findings. The purposeful non-random sample consisted of 19 graduates from the program. Field notes, structured individual interviews and a focus group provided the sources for data collection. A research team knowledgeable in qualitative research analyzed the data using assumptions of grounded theory procedures. Four major themes emerged and multiple sub-themes emerged. Findings indicated that participation in the OSU-TSCI program resulted in leadership perceptions and practices that brought about positive change in counseling services for the K-12 students the participants served.

Building Great School Counselor-administrator Teams

Building Great School Counselor-administrator Teams
Author: Tonya C. Balch
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781947604230

"In Building Great Counselor Administrator Teams: A Systematic Approach to Balancing Roles and Responsibilities, authors Tonya Christman Balch and Bradley V. Balch note the numerous, new challenges of the 21st century that administrators and counselors face in their day-to-day work. In recognition of these challenges, the authors advance purposeful collaboration as the necessary solution and advocate for a system of teamwork between administrators and counselors that places a powerful emphasis on open communication and commitment to the shared goals of school and team. As such, this book provides schools counselors and administrators with an understandable, systematic approach to building a strong system of collaboration. Using this book, readers will learn about the challenges currently facing administrators and counselors, as well as detailed strategies to build effective teams in order to confront and resolve those challenges"--

Evidence-Based School Counseling

Evidence-Based School Counseling
Author: Carey Dimmitt
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2007-06-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1412948894

This authoritative guidebook gives school counselors the tools to identify evidence-based practices and to use data in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs and interventions.

Exploring Relationships and Interactions Between District Leadership and School Leadership Teams

Exploring Relationships and Interactions Between District Leadership and School Leadership Teams
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: Educational leadership
ISBN:

Effective schools and district effectiveness studies have shown that high levels of student achievement are possible and more likely to sustain when a district and its schools coordinate and collaborate in the reform process. Much less research has been conducted to understand the linkages between districts and schools and how they may interact to build the social, human, and intellectual capital needed for school reform. Furthermore, district administrators often rely on principals as the primary communicator and implementer of district reform initiatives. Yet, there is growing recognition that the principal cannot lead alone and that school leadership teams are essential to the improvement process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the central office leader, the principal, and the school leadership team perceptions of ideological, structural, communication, resource, and relational linkages between the central office and schools. In addition, this study explored how these linkages may be supporting and/or constraining the district's efforts to build system capacity and capital. The study also provides a unique opportunity to examine in what ways providing professional development to a subset of school leadership teams facilitates district/school efforts to move the district's reform agenda forward by serving as a linkage between schools and the district. This embedded case study was conducted in one K-8 midsized urban fringe district, designated year-two program improvement for failing to meet the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) targets for its English-language learners and students with disabilities. In this case district, five school leadership teams are receiving six days of professional development a year for three years as part of a national study of an effective schools intervention design. Incorporating qualitative data sources as well as a quantitative source, this study presents first-year findings from 45 team members, 5 principals, and 10 central office leaders. Results suggest that the ideological linkage of a shared understanding about what constitutes good instruction may be essential to successful reform implementation. A trusting relationship (social capital) between the central office and schools appears to be a key linkage to supporting structural, communication, and resource linkages and in creating the collective knowledge and capabilities (intellectual capital) needed to move the district's reform efforts forward.

Exploring Relationships and Interactions Between District Leadership and School Leadership Teams

Exploring Relationships and Interactions Between District Leadership and School Leadership Teams
Author: Peggy E. Johnson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2008
Genre: Educational leadership
ISBN:

Effective schools and district effectiveness studies have shown that high levels of student achievement are possible and more likely to sustain when a district and its schools coordinate and collaborate in the reform process. Much less research has been conducted to understand the linkages between districts and schools and how they may interact to build the social, human, and intellectual capital needed for school reform. Furthermore, district administrators often rely on principals as the primary communicator and implementer of district reform initiatives. Yet, there is growing recognition that the principal cannot lead alone and that school leadership teams are essential to the improvement process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the central office leader, the principal, and the school leadership team perceptions of ideological, structural, communication, resource, and relational linkages between the central office and schools. In addition, this study explored how these linkages may be supporting and/or constraining the district's efforts to build system capacity and capital. The study also provides a unique opportunity to examine in what ways providing professional development to a subset of school leadership teams facilitates district/school efforts to move the district's reform agenda forward by serving as a linkage between schools and the district. This embedded case study was conducted in one K-8 midsized urban fringe district, designated year-two program improvement for failing to meet the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) targets for its English-language learners and students with disabilities. In this case district, five school leadership teams are receiving six days of professional development a year for three years as part of a national study of an effective schools intervention design. Incorporating qualitative data sources as well as a quantitative source, this study presents first-year findings from 45 team members, 5 principals, and 10 central office leaders. Results suggest that the ideological linkage of a shared understanding about what constitutes good instruction may be essential to successful reform implementation. A trusting relationship (social capital) between the central office and schools appears to be a key linkage to supporting structural, communication, and resource linkages and in creating the collective knowledge and capabilities (intellectual capital) needed to move the district's reform efforts forward.