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I‘ it?“ W237 :1: ’5 : 52‘ .333“! ":1 3‘ 9211'! .133. “ - .ggiiiig . I 3'5" {3- m: . . .,._ an.» -n. :3: 333:5” {5‘31“ v u»-....>_.--~ ~ v» w- < . .. _ . ..‘ . ’. ' . - ‘4 " _..,._.:m M . - --._ ”r. .-..~ , -. .—__.. . .‘ M :7. ¢ ~.-n.- .. _~‘g_— ~ am . .A‘ . .- - -v. __. "_- ‘7§§% - l L THELSlS Illiliillllllllllll'lllllllllllllllll 3 1293 01691 4636 This is to certify that the thesis entitled DESIGNATED HELPER: COUNSELOR ROLE IN AN URBAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL presented by Lonnetta E. Wade-White has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph. D. degree in Counseling, Educational Psychology: and Special Education :Zagépfl. vaéq/ Major professor Date %uer r??? 0-7639 MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution LIBRARY Mlchlgan State Unlverslty PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due." DATE DUE DATE DUE MTE DUE use cm.mu Co DESIGNATED HELPER: COUNSELOR ROLE IN AN URBAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL By Lonnetta E. Wade-White A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education 1997 Ihis q Professional D (documents, c Personnel). P1: based C00p6ra' leanling in sch. inclusion and c Sites- This exc effectiveness “ ABSTRACT DESIGNATED HELPER: COUNSELOR ROLE IN AN URBAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL By Lonnetta E. Wade-White This qualitative study examines and describes counselor role in an urban Professional Development School (PDS) using the voices of counselor role definers (documents, counselors, administrators, teachers, students and parents, and PDS personnel). PDS is an education reform scheme, described in its literature to be research based, cooperative, and collaborative. Its ultimate goal is to improve teaching and learning in schools through these shared processes. Contrary to the PDS philosophy of inclusion and collaboration, counselors are not included as integral participants at PDS sites. This exclusion occurs even though empirical research substantiates counselor effectiveness with students. This study found that, without exception, all categories of counselor role definers look to counselors for a variety of help, assistance, support, and aid. The list of roles is long, diverse, and in some cases contradictory. To describe and summarize the role of a counselor in an urban PDS the term “ designated helper” was coined for the purposes of this study. It is intended to communicate summarily the shared vision that counselor role definers have of counselors. To cl School mode that permit 1 organization: of education. to include co learning in sc To clarify counselor role within the framework of the Professional DeveIOpment School model, it is recommended that steps be taken to examine the fimdarnental issues that permit and support counselor role conflict; to acquire the commitment and support of organizations and institutions, such as counselor professional organizations and colleges of education, to assume leadership and responsibility to clarify school counselor role; and to include counselors as collaborative partners in research efforts to improve teaching and learning in schools. Copyright by LONNE'I'I‘A E. WADE-WHITE 1997 To my grandmother, Ardella Wade November 25, 1899 - August 5, 1992 Thank I exter encouraged m My sin Richard Prawa Gmgs-Mor Be“? wEider. th gratefuL lappi Finally! Mimi and n ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank God. I extend genuine and heartfelt gratitude to my family, friends, and all who encouraged me and helped me realize my goal. My sincerest appreciation to each member of my committee: Doug Campbell and Richard Prawat, dissertation committee co-chairs; Gloria Smith, adviser; Sonya Gunnings-Moton; Richard Houang; and Dozier Thornton. To my parents, Lonnie and Betty Wade, the fountain and source of my confidence and strength, I am indebted and grateful. I appreciate and cherish their love, encouragement, and faith and pride in me. Finally, to my husband Mitch, a very special thanks for his love, support, patience, and indestructible optimism. vi List of Tabl List of Figu CHAPTER I The 1 Back Rese; Sigm‘ Oven CHAPTER II IIltrod Ed 11sz TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables List of Figures CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The Problem Background Research Questions Significance of Study Overview CHAPTER II: RELATED LITERATURE Introduction Education Reform and PDS Agenda in an Urban Setting School Counselor Role in Urban Settings School Counselor Role: Definition and Theory CHAPTER III: METHODS AND SETTING Research Methods Site Access Data Collection and Analysis Research Questions Caveats Setting vii pg OOOOO-hN 11 ll ll 17 22 27 27 30 32 39 39 40 CHAPTER, Intro . Role I [kmu COUD: CHAPTER V C OUHSI School CHAPTER IV: STUDY FINDINGS I Introduction Role Definers Documents American School Counselor Association State School Counselor Association District and MXMS Mission Statements PDS Document Needs Assessment Counselors A1 Jones Ms. Green Summary CHAPTER V: STUDY FINDINGS II Counselor Audiences District Administrators Executive Director, Middle School Curriculum School Administrators Principal Deputy Principal Assistant Principal Teachers Mrs. Melrose Ms.’ Tap Mr. Banks Mr. Sims Students and Parents Sean Clark Mr. Clark Helen Henry Ms. Henry Niles Midland University PDS Personnel Teacher Education Department Chairperson PDS Coordinator/Cluster Leader MXMS-PDS Building Coordinator PDS University Collaborator PDS Counselor Study Group Coordinator Graduate Students Summary viii 49 49 50 51 52 53 55 57 59 60 62 67 73 74 74 75 75 77 77 80 82 88 88 91 93 95 96 99 100 101 102 102 106 107 110 112 114 117 119 121 CHAPTER I Sumr Discu Refler GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRA CHAPTER VI: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND REFLECTIONS Summary Problem and Need Purpose Research Survey Research Methods and Setting Findings Discussion and Recommendations Reflections GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 127 127 128 129 132 134 137 141 144 146 | MXR Non-(_ COUI'I: COUR: Couns Docun COUng COURSC COWS: Docum COUnse PelSOnr alid Stu LIST OF TABLES MXMS Professionals Non-Guidance Counselor Duties Counselor Roles According to Documents Counselor Roles According to Counselors (and Documents) Counselor Role According to Administrators (and Documents and Counselors) Counselor Roles According to Teachers (and Documents, Counselors, and Administrators Counselor Roles According to Students and Parents (and Documents, Counselors, Administrators, and Teachers) Counselor Roles According to Professional Development School Personnel (and Documents, Counselors, Administrators, Teachers, and Students and Parents Ii 46 56 61 72 86 97 104 122 LIST OF FIGURES Organizational Chart for MXMS Counselors xi This perceptions a Professional how role defi audiences per d0. and what EXCepn'Om “ll 311d Support to and funCIlOns. Chapter I INTRODUCTION This qualitative study is a collection, description, and analysis of expressed perceptions and definitions of the role of school counselors in a Midwestern urban Professional Development School (PDS). The main purpose of this fieldwork to describe how role definers such as relevant documents, middle school counselors, and their audiences perceive, define, and articulate who and what school counselors are, what they do, and what they are expected to do in an urban PDS. This study found that without exception, when acknowledged, school counselors were expected to provide assistance and support to those with whom they interact. If recognized and allocated any role, counselors were explicitly. seen as helpers. This helping role was described in countless, sometimes unrelated, and even contradictory terms as counselor responsibilities, duties, and functions. I coined the term ambiguous “ designated helper” to capture this concept. I used the adjective “ ambiguous” to communicate the unclear, inconsistent, and even conflicting nature and characteristics of documented perceptions of counselor role in a Professional Development School. The Professional Development School is a collaborative model for research based education reform. Designed by a national consortium of deans of colleges of education, the Holmes Group, PDS was proposed and designed to 12), and colI improve tea preparation. involvement PDSs. “hilt improve teac integral pamg problems “iii Role d IOday, as mum oyemhelming and explanatim c0111115101] and M0“ Strategje Specific, Group RCpOns CO 0r 2 designed to be a cooperative partnership between schools (kindergarten through grade 12), and colleges of education (Tomorrow’s Schools, 1990). The main goal was to improve teaching and leaming in schools. With its emphasis on research teacher and preparation, there has not been much attention to school counselors. Counselor involvement in and contributions to the education of students is ignored and neglected in PDSs. While the Holmes Group emphasizes a cooperative and collaborative model to improve teaching and learning in our nation’s schools, counselors are not included as integral participants in this vision. This is both an indication of and contributor to problems with the counselor role in the schools. The Problem Role definition has historically been a problem for school counselors. Even today, as numerous education reform plans and programs abound, and in spite of overwhelming student needs for counselor services, the dilemma persists. Perceptions and explanations of school counselor roles and responsibilities are vague and riddled with confusion and inconsistencies that result in ambiguities. In spite of a wealth of school reform strategies, plans, and programs, research on this topic is wanting. Specifically, in their discussions of and agenda for education reform, the Holmes Group Reports, Tomorrow's Teachers (1986), Tomorrow's Schools (1990), and Tomorrow’s Education (1995) mentioned nothing about the roles and functions of school counselors in Professional Development Schools (PDS). No PDS partners, collaborators, or researchers have seriously addressed this topic. Yet current conditions of low academic achievement, and increased incidences of substance abuse, violence, and prc Cdu and] 3 economic, social, and emotional problems for students-especially in urban schools (Comer, l988)-verify the need for change in the roles and functions of school counselors. Even though counselor roles and functions have been the most frequently researched topics in the field of school counseling and guidance (Dietz, 1972; Pine, 1975), there has been no link between the need for research on this topic and education reform efforts. Research findings have consistently and convincingly shown the roles and functions of school counselors to be confused (Lee, 1982), vague (Aubrey, 1982), contradictory (Peer, 1985; Podemski & Childers, 1987), and threatened with extinction (Berger, 1983; Herr, 1986). In spite of the fact that role ambiguity is a well documented professional dilemma for school counselors and those with and for whom they work, there is a lack of expressed interest on the part of researchers about knowledge and specific information related to counselor roles and functions in education reform situations like the PDS setting. This study specifically addresses counselor role definition in an urban PDS, a setting where research is said to be a basic driving force. One researcher, Hohenshil (1987), explored responses to the question: What does education reform mean to school counselors? He specifically looked at the 1986 Holmes Group Report, Tomorrow's Teachers and its implications for the education, training, certification, and employment of school counselors. While Hohenshil corroborated the wealth of literature that emphasized the need for change in the role of school counselors, be overlooked a more basic and fundamental question about perceptions and definitions of counselor roles and functions within schools designated as PDSs. Before the design and launching of a strategy or agenda for change, there is a need to know and understand 4 how current conditions and situations are perceived, described, and expressed within a particular environment. Sarason (1990) warned educational reformers that their plans and strategies for change should connect past, present, and future. Therefore, the well- documented history of the problem of school counselor role ambiguity calls for a contemporary examination and explanation of its dynamic composition and manifestations before attempting to impact or alter its future in the context of school reform. The ultimate goal of this fieldwork study was to describe the express perceptions and definitions of the roles and functions of middle school counselors in a Midwestern urban PDS, using the voices and verbiage of school counselors and their audiences. Background The critical situations of urban school counselors and their students validate the need for this study. For ethical, legal, and practical reasons all educators, especially urban school counselors, need to be concerned about clarifying the counselor role. Counselors need to be included in reform efforts to improve teaching and learning in schools, especially urban schools. Because of high concentrations of unemployment, poverty, and crime in many urban communities, students, mostly African American and Hispanic, are described as vulnerable, disengaged, devalued, troubled, at risk, unprepared, and disadvantaged (Richardson & Colfer, 1990; Steele, 1992; Witherspoon, 1987). Their chances for vocational, economic, and academic success are threatened and limited. "The National Commission was right when it declared that all of us have a role to play in reforming our schools and our society” (Passow, 1984). Therefore, it is imperative that 5 school counselors be active role players in the design and implementation of school reform. The collaborative and cooperative aspects of a model such as PDSs demands counselor involvement and participation. Both education reform leaders and counselors are obligated to insure that counselors are included in research to improve teaching and learning in schools. As certified professional educators and responsible members of educational communities, urban school counselors have professional and ethical obligations to counsel, consult, and collaborate with students, parents, teachers, and administrators (American School Counselor Association, 1990). Sherrer and Sherrer (1980) warned that malpractice suits could be filed if school counselors did not acknowledge the fact that "Q students have legal rights to be treated in accordance with increasingly higher ethical and professional standar ” (p. 3). The American School Counselor Association: Ethical Standards for School Counselors (1984) stated that counselors have many responsibilities to all pupils. In the ASCA's Role Statement (1990) a reference to program design spelled out the school counselor's duty to "help g1 students develop their educational, social, career, and personal strengths." The need for school counselors to work with and assist all students is well documented by law and counselor professional organizations. Researchers have substantiated the claim that students, particularly those in urban areas, need the support and assistance of school counselors to improve their chances for survival and success. Urban students, mostly African American and Hispanic, are less likely than their suburban counterparts to meet with a school counselor, and therefore less likely to receive academic, vocational, or personal guidance (Lee & Ekstrom, 1987). Students who are the recipients of academic counseling are more likely to improve their fie prc ho 6 academic achievement (Gerler, Kinney, & Anderson, 1985). Empirical research has also demonstrated positive effects of school counseling on student attitudes (Gerler, 1985), self-esteem (Herr, 1982), self-identity (Lee, 1982), and behavior (Cobb & Richards, 1983). That school counselors can make a difference in teaching and learning is well documented. But, for some reason there is a lack of documented involvement of urban school counselors in education reform efforts. There is a strong case that cooperatively improving teaching and learning in urban schools and improving the implementation of the PDS model can be well served by clarifying counselor role and by including counselor voices in education reform. Looking at the counselor role through a cooperative and collaborative lens allowed me to see the shared nature of the problem of counselor role definition. The public in general, and school counselor audiences in particular, share in perpetuating this problem by assigning to school counselors a number and variety of expectations, duties, and responsibilities (Olsen & Dilley, 1988). There is a need to focus on the counselor role in order to clarify and better understand what they do and are expected to do. This fieldwork study took a cooperative look at expressed perceptions and definitions of roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities of urban middle school counselors in a PDS. Both counselors and those responsible for school-wide education reform programs, such as PDS collaboration teams, have needs and obligations to understand how counselors can be active participants in strategies and plans to change schools. Without progress on this, we are left with a picture of exclusion and occupational suicide for school counselors. In an era of recession, dwindling resources, and budget cuts, school counselors have an occupational survival need for change. For very practical 7 reasons school counselors, especially urban school counselors, need to act responsibly and assertively to communicate and establish unique roles as caring, effective, accountable, and capable professional members of their educational community. The PDS design and agenda is a significant opportunity for counselor participation. In fact, if it adheres to its philosophy, principles, and goals, the PDS movement has a pronounced obligation and need to facilitate school counselor involvement in efforts to reform education and restructure roles (Holmes, 1986; 1990). References to “ collaborative efforts,” “learning communities,” and “ adults as learners” substantiate the necessity to recognize and include a; members of an educational community in any and all efforts to change and improve it. In order to establish and maintain theoretical and philosophical integrity, PDSs ELSE include and involve counselors. The theoretical fi'amework for this case study of the role of counselors was based on the coupling of Barker's (1968) theory of ecological psychology and Allport's (1961) role theory as adapted to school counselors by Ivey and Robin (1966). Barker's principles describe humans as social beings whose behaviors shape, and are shaped and determined through, interactions with their environment. Allport's theory explains role as complex, learned, and shared. It is a culturally determined set of actions and reactions that consists of role expectations, role conception, role acceptance, and role performance. A more detailed discussion of these concepts and their relationships are presented in Chapter II and in the glossary. For the purpose of this empirical study, the role of an urban school counselor in a PDS was approached and perceived by role definers, through the collection of relevant documents, observations, and accounts of shared interactions between specific urban middle school counselors and their professionally significant others. A COL' 8 fundamental assumption was that the role of an urban middle school counselor in a PDS could be understood only as well as counselor behavior and interactions were understood within that educational setting. Another assumption was that clearer understandings and perceptions of counselor role are preferred and for use in enhancing counselor efiiciency and effectiveness. Research Questions Given the PDS philosophy and goals, and the history and current status of counselor role ambiguity the following research questions guide this study. What are expressed definitions and perceptions of the roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities of middle school counselors in an urban PDS? 1. Within a specific urban Professional Development middle school, what are the articulated roles and functions for a school counselor? How are roles and functions defined and expressed in relevant documents, by counselors, and by their professionally significant others? 2. What are school counselor duties and responsibilities? A. What do school counselors do? B. What are school counselors expected to do? Significance of Study These research questions are important in theory and practice. Because of the collaborative and cooperative nature of PDS and the widespread contacts and interactions that school counselors have with all members of their education community, answers to these questions are crucial for the theoretical integrity of the conceptions of counselor role. In the specific urban community where this research was conducted, the role of the 9 counselor was examined, not in isolation, but cooperatively and collaboratively, in terms of the basic communal beliefs that define and determine counselor role. This study’s findings of this study are significant to counselors, their school (faculty, students, and parents), the school district, and the PDS relationship between the school and its university partner. There are also implications for colleges of education and their counselor training programs. Another significant aspect of this research is its indirect effect on the community in which it was conducted. As mentioned earlier, the most frequently researched aspect of counselor role is its ambiguity (Dietz, 1972). According to Podemski and Childers (1987) this ambiguity contributes to underutilization and misuse of the unique professional knowledge, skills, and abilities of school counselors. This study draws attention to the myriad perspectives and interpretations of counselor role within a specific setting. Logically then, the findings of this descriptive study can bring attention, and through its articulation, clarity, understanding, and more appropriate use of some specific urban middle school counselors' skills and expertise. The data, assertions, and implications of this study address the need defined in current literature to investigate and examine the role and function of school counselors. Some of the literature acknowledged criticisms that PDS activities are exclusively devoted to non-minorities (Grant & Gillette, 1987) and to classroom teachers, disregarding the involvement of, necessity for, contributions of, and importance of other members of the education community (Hohenshil, 1987). This study responds to this criticism, and so is significant for both theoretical and practical reasons, and particularly 10 for school counselors and all others who are committed to the Holmes Group goal to improve teaching and learning in schools. Overview The first chapter of this work introduces the study and its approach to the problem. Chapter II is a review of related literature. In Chapter III the research methods and the setting, are explained. The fourth and fifth chapters are presentations of data and findings. The sixth and final chapter is a summary of the research findings and conclusions, recommendations for future research, and my reflections. Chapter II RELATED LITERATURE Introduction This chapter is a three part literature review of the essential aspects of the focus of this study - counselor roles, firnctions, duties, and responsibilities in an urban Professional Development School (PDS). The three parts survey the following tepics: 1. education reform and PDS agenda in an urban setting, 2. school counselor role in urban settings, and 3. school counselor role: definition and theory. Education Reform and PDS Agenda in an Urban Setting Urban education, and therefore urban education reform in this country reflects the culture and politics of its setting. Historically, the impetus for education reform in urban areas has been and continues to be a function of politics and economic hard times, and thus reform tends to seek alleviating student and teacher problems as they are perceived by those in power (Passow, 1984; Reese, 1986; Warren, 1990). The initiation of urban public schools in this country was a prime example of education reform. Between 1820 and 1860 urbanization took place at a uniquely fast pace (Jones-Wilson, 1986; Tyack, 12 1974). With industrialization as an impetus, reformers strove to provide common institutionalized experiences for children from a variety of European ethnic groups. School was a means of indoctrinating a literate working class citizenry while propagating and perpetuating political ideology, as well as cultural and societal rituals, values, and traditions (Tyack, 1986). Politically motivated reform was an integral part of the genesis and foundation of urban education. From its beginnings urban education was a kind of reform that was reactionary and top-down . Today proposals, plans, and programs for education reform in urban schools continue to be reactionary and top—down. The Holmes Group PDS model is an example. Even though it optimistically claims to encourage bottom-up participant cooperation and collaboration, the Holmes Group acknowledged a top-down infrastructure (Pasch & Pugach, 1990). This reality suggests a need to review PDS agenda. An agenda and strategy for education reform, the PDS concept has been advertised to be a process of partnership and collaboration between public schools and research oriented colleges of education across the country (Sedlak, 1987). Created and designed by the deans of such colleges of education, known as the Holmes Group, the PDS was designed and intended to provide a means for higher education authorities to plan and facilitate exemplary schools and opportunities for effective teaching and learning. The partnership is meant to simultaneously serve the universities' need to better prepare individuals to be teachers and public schools’ need to better teach its students. The Holmes Group published three reports: W (1986), Tomorrow's Schools (1990), and Tomorrow’s School of Education (1995). Published estab; l COHegeS imPFOI'ir. that 50110 13 first, Tomorrow's Teachers (1986) proposed the following guidelines and principles for university and school partnerships: 1. mutual and shared involvement in research and practice; 2. agreement and commitment to explore and research new ideas; and 3. commitment to respect and respond to needs of diverse student populations. Tomorrow's Schools (1990) outlined and discussed principles for the establishment and organization of PDS sites. These ideas included: 1. 2. understanding as the central goal of teaching and learning; the establishment and maintenance of an atmosphere and facilities that encourage and support learning; . respecting, acknowledging, and nurturing all students' ability to learn; viewing and treating all members of the educational community as learners; seriously conducting longitudinal studies of teaching and learning processes; and structuring and improving relevant and effective educational organizations. (9-7) As the title suggested Tomorrow's Schools of Education (1995) described how colleges of education should model commitment to education reform by changing and improving educator preparation philosophies, methods, and techniques. It recommended that schools of education assume a more responsible attitude and 1. become more accountable to their students and the education communities that their students service; make research and development a priority; serve as a liaison between K to 12 schools of education, educational communities, and educational leaders in these communities; . acknowledge commonalties of purpose, needs, strengths, and weaknesses among students of education; on his for cor no tear Ssh lice and CQF I4 5. make schools of education models of effective teaching and learning; 6. consistently focus on producing educators who display quality professional knowledge and skills; and 7. articulate and act on goals to contribute to education policy. (pp. 12-15) These principles represented the mutual efforts of the Holmes Group, a consortium of deans of colleges of education from almost one hundred universities committed to reform education for teachers and students throughout the country. While there is widespread agreement with respect to the needs articulated by the Holmes Group, there are a number of criticisms surrounding its commitment, sincerity, motivation, and ethics. Cuban (1987), Grant and Gillette (1987), Zeltin, Harris, MacLeod, and Watkins (1992), and Hohenshil (1987) evaluated the Holmes Reports. They looked at these works and (PDS) principles and philosophies for PDS, through a critical and discriminating lens. Cuban (1987) was critical and accusing, yet optimistic in his assessment. He believes that education reform is an appropriate concern and project for colleges of education, however, be criticized the Holmes Group reports for conveniently ignoring important details and "politics of change." For example, there was no recognition of the role of administrative authority and power as determining factors of teacher behavior. A great deal of teacher behavior is determined and influenced by school and district level administrators. Cuban also noted a profound and significant need for inclusion of references to political representatives responsible for reform laws and regulations related to teacher certification. Another Cuban criticism pointed out inconsistencies in the PDS metaphor that compares the teacher preparation component of PDSs with a medical school model. 15 Cuban found the most blatant contradiction was the lack of similarity between patients in teaching hospitals and students in PDSs as recipients of services. The claim to respect and nurture all students was forgotten or disregarded in his opinion. Students, unlike patients in teaching hospitals, are unable to chose a facility or site; they are required to attend school and usually at a designated location. Compulsory school attendance for public school students in PDSs is just one feature that made this comparison inappropriate for Cuban. He wrote, Students are compelled to go to school; you choose to enter a teaching hospital. In a teaching hospital, the emphasis is as much on doctor’s learning as it is on providing services to patients. Sick people with exotic illnesses and terminal diseases encourage use of experimental treatments. Resident and intern doctors, under the supervision of both clinical and research faculty, run the basic services, learning from their errors in treatment and incomplete knowledge. In all cases, however, patients who voluntarily enter must give permission for nonstandard treatments. Public schools differ. Compulsory attendance produces a unique set of expectations and obligations encased in judicial decisions about what teachers and principals can and cannot do. Awareness of this seems to be missing from the report [Holmes Group Report]. (p. 351) Another criticism was Cuban's concern with the ethical implications of experimenting with students who may already be disadvantaged. This is particularly true in urban schools. The need for a more detailed strategy for change, disregard for power in school culture, and a wanting medical analogy weakened Cuban's support of, and belief and confidence in the Holmes Group Reports and PDS strategies. Grant and Gillette (1987) questioned the sincerity and commitment of the Holmes Group. Looking through a lens sensitive to minority issues, these authors concluded that PDS ideas for education reform were not committed to engaging in planned changes in education with and for minority individuals. They supported this conclusion by drawing attention to the amount of space devoted to the discussion of minority issues, situations, l6 and concerns in the Holmes Group Reports. It was quite limited. Another telltale omission was illustrated by the fact that no specific plan was mentioned to increase the numbers of minority teachers with necessary credentials. In fact, quite the contrary, the financial burden of matriculating is financially prohibitive for minority students, who constitute a larger percentage of the poor than their majority classmates. As it is, minority students are finding it difficult successfully to complete current, less expensive, time consuming, and restrictive programs. Add to this the elimination of affirmative action and an even smaller number of minority educators can be expected to be available in urban schools. One explanation for this lack of attention to minority issues, situations, and concerns may be that no provisions were made to include the voices of colleges responsible for training about 80 percent of the African American teachers in this country - traditionally Black colleges. Grant and Gillette (1987) believe the Holmes Group was insincere in its claims to implement meaningful and effective changes in urban public school education because efforts to incorporate the perspectives and concerns of minorities were omitted. Because the overwhelming numbers of residents in urban areas are minorities, this has specific implications for urban PDSs. Hohenshil's (1987) criticisms focused on the Holmes Group Reports as examples of the neglect of school counselors' involvement and participation in plans and programs for education reform. His survey of literature supported his claim that there were very few references to counselors and that efforts to improve educational communities in this country. He recommended the American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD, now the American Counseling Association, ACA) gain representation on the l7 Holmes Group committee and other education change agencies; that individually, school counselors become active and accountable partners in education reform; and that school counselors assume responsibility for engaging in efforts to improve education for _al_l educators as well as all students in this country. Urban public schools continue to be examples of education reform. A contemporary strategy for education reform, the Holmes Group's PDS doctrine promised partnership, collaboration, and opportunities for local concerns and talents to be acknowledged and included in reform strategies in urban schools. However, according to Herr‘s (1984) criteria, even with shared opportunities for improvements, there are still some "missing ingredients" in plans and proposals for change. According to Herr one of the missing ingredients is school counselors. He asked, what was the role of counselors in urban schools? The next part of this chapter reviews the literature that responds to Herr's question. School Counselor Role in Urban Settings Initially the role of urban school counselors was clear and specific. The inception and early goals and growth of the school guidance movement paralleled the development, advancement, and identification of needs of urban communities and schools (Armor, 1969). Paying particular attention to goals, roles, functions, duties and responsibilities of the school counseling profession, this section of the literature review focuses on the evolution of school counselors’ roles in urban settings. Relatively speaking, school counseling, referred to as guidance in its early days, is a young profession. Around the turn of the century conditions surrounding the Industrial 18 Revolution set the stage for its introduction in urban areas. Farming problems coupled with a large influx of immigrants and technological innovations resulted in sizable growths of urban cites and populations. Between 1870 and 1930 the number of workers in this country increased from 13 to 49 million, while the number of manufacturing and mechanical jobs went from 2.6 to 14 million (Armor, 1969). Industrial expansion created urban centers along with a wealth of opportunities for employment. The responding work force needed information, training, and assistance in order to adapt, adjust, and be successfully employable in these competitive urban centers. Public schools addressed academic and social needs while vocational guidance provided help and assistance with information and decisions about employment. F our economic and political conditions contributed to the marriage of vocational guidance and urban schools: 1. division of labor, 2. growth of technology, 3. democratic government, and 4. extension of vocational educational. (Brewer, 1942) Frank Parson, often referred to as the father of guidance, founded a private agency, the Vocation Bureau, for just these reasons. His innovative organization was "intended to aid young people in choosing an occupation, preparing themselves for it, finding an opening in it, and building up a career of efficiency and success" (Brewer, 1942, p. 304). As a part of the Vocation Bureau staff, the first guidance counselors' goals were explicit--to use their professional training and knowledge of individual assessment and information about occupations to help young males choose suitable jobs. 19 As urban centers grew, so did schools and their cuniculum. Students' enrollment, educational goals, and accomplishments also rose. High school diplomas became a popular standard, and in turn, more students attended colleges and universities. School guidance changed to meet growing societal and students' needs. Guidance counselors' roles evolved as they helped students with an increasing variety and number of problems. Adding to their goal of matching students' vocational strengths and weaknesses with appropriate jobs, counselors assumed responsibilities for helping students with other important decisions about school, such as courses of study, schedules, and college careers. Thus, the task of academic counseling was added to vocational counseling. This was only the beginning of role changes for school counselors. The first and second World Wars also impacted and contributed to school counselor functions and roles. Changes in counselor role reflected changes in political events, developments, and policies. Tests measuring intelligence, general ability, interests, and aptitude were developed first for the military, then later adopted by school guidance counselors for their work with students (Armor, 1969). “ [T]esting became one of the first bodies of codified knowledge upon which the young [counseling] profession was based” (Armor, 1969, p. 33). Others were to follow. From a clinical perspective, self-concept concerns and the philosophy that individuals who know and accept themselves make better decisions about their lives brought a third major function of school counselors, social-emotional counseling. When school counselors assumed this responsibility they also added personal counseling to their growing list of roles, firnctions, duties, and responsibilities. Guidance models in urban schools originated with a single focus on matching new careers with students' vocations, 20 and quickly grew to include academic, social-personal, and clinical foci (Shertzer & Stone, 1981). While the primary goal never changed—to help students-foci proliferated, and therefore counselors’ roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities increased dramatically as urban schools and students changed. Semantics also changed. Contemporary school guidance is more often than not called counseling. It was described by Shertzer and Stone (1981) as a "constellation of services" because ideally it focuses on a spectrum of developmental issues. However Berlin (1963) was less romantic and more critical when he wrote about school counselors and what their jobs entail: Among the most troubled, overburdened, and perhaps most unappreciated group of people in a school are its counselors... As a group, counselors are expected to be all things to all people within the school, and of all the professional people in the school system their jobs are most poorly defined and most subject to constant change in emphasis, depending upon the pressures then current in a particular school system. (p. 409) In fact, according to the literature there are a number of problems with school counselor role. Berlin (1963) felt a poorly defined role for school counselors inhibited their credibility and effectiveness in the school setting. Aubrey (1982) and Donigian (1974) wrote about omissions. Aubrey said that the absence of, but a definite need for, a clear sense of mission was a critical problem for counselors in schools. Donigian (1974) observed that in many school districts counselors did not have direct contact with a professional counselor role model and worked for an individual (principal or assistant principal) who "typically had not the slightest notion of the counselor's role” (p. 316). Berger (1983) and Aubrey (1985) also felt that many students, parents, teachers and administrators saw school counselors as ancillary staff, and therefore dispensable. According to Peer (1985), counselors handling student discipline was an example of 21 counselor misuse because it is M a counselor task. He referred to this as “ role mutation” and claimed that these kinds of role shifts “ seriously damaged the professional image of school counselors” (p. 181). Donigian (1974) described counselor education programs as preparation and training to be reactors, not actors. This early inappropriate training, he felt, contributes to counselors being seen in an unfavorable light. Evraiff (1963) concluded that “A lack of clarity about his functions is one of the major difficulties confronting the school counselor.... Thus, the clarification of guidance functions and responsibilities is an essential first step in enabling counselors to do some effective counseling” (pp. 2-3). As the counselor role evolved, it also lost focus, clarity, and definition. Recently a cooperative approach to urban school and student needs redefined counselor role. Comer (1986) soundly supported an active and preventive role for school counselors in urban education reform. His School Development Program (SDP) was first introduced in 1968 in urban schools. This process was based on a comprehensive, developmental, holistic, and humane approach to schools and students. The three basic components of the SDP are: 1. School Planning and Management, 2. Mental Health Team, and 3. Parents Program. Counselors are members of the Mental Health Team (MHT) along with psychologists, social workers, special education teachers, and other related support services staff (Anson, Cook, Habib, Grady, Haynes, & Corner, 1991). The team's responsibilities are prevention, assistance, and implementation. Members of the MHT are expected to work 22 to prevent problems, assist the entire school staff to understand and act on principles of child development and interpersonal relations, and implement parts of the school plan that pertain to them. Corner's SDP recognized and incorporated school counselors in a collaborative plan to change multiple aspects of urban education. This paradigm shift takes full advantage of the unique professional knowledge and skill that school counselors have, and expects them to perform as educators as well as mental health specialists. This collaborative model has been successful in improving teaching and learning in urban educational communities. But, by definition and theory, what is counselor role? The next section these aspects of the role of school counselors. School Counselor Role: Definition and Theog According to the Role Statement: The School Counselor (1990) fi'om the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), "The school counselor is a certified professional educator who assists students, teachers, parents, and administrators." A school counselor's services include counseling, consulting, and coordinating. Shertzer and Stone (1965) noted that role is "what one does or is expected to do." In lh_e Counselor's Role Bentley (1968) expanded this description to include specific references to culture and society. He postulated that role is a position that an individual occupies in a culture. Each position is accompanied by a set of rights and duties determined by that society. Shertzer and Stone (1967) equated counselor role with occupational identity. A school counselor's role is the sum total of his/her professional attitude, demeanor, beliefs, feelings, and behavior. In a 1981 publication they described school counselors as a part of a system responsible for helping students to develop, adjust, and grow socially and 23 intellectually. Along the same lines, Armor (1969) saw school counselors mainly as professional change agents who work with students helping them learn to make decisions. This means the role of a school counselor is to work with students to facilitate the acquisition of problem solving skills. Pietrofesa and Vriend (1971) believed school counselors are educators with unique responsibilities to help students become fully functioning, social individuals capable and willing to perpetuate their culture. By definition then, a school counselor is an educator who is expected to work with students, professional colleagues, and parents to facilitate student development and intellectual, social, and emotional growth. Theories about the counselor’s role is as complex as its definition. Drawing on Allport's theory (1961), I see the counselor role as a multifaceted concept which is reciprocal and inclusive, and which consists of four elements: role expectations, role conceptions, role acceptance, and role performance. To say that the counselor role is reciprocal and inclusive refers to the process by which norms and expectations for counselor behavior are jointly established. Through interactions with professionally significant others, standards and rules for appropriate and acceptable school counselor behaviors are negotiated within a given setting. Role performance, expectations, conceptions and acceptance constitute and contribute to the counselor's role, profession, occupation, and identity. Originating collectively from sources external to the counselor, role expectations are the societal and culturally specific mores associated with counseling. They are a collection of what the counselor's audiences or publics want and expect. These ...l 24 expectations or demands can vary from one culture to another and, within a given culture, from one audience to another. Role conception is the collective perceptions that the counselor has of counseling, along with what he or she believes counselors should be and do professionally. Role conception determines the internalized yardstick by which counselors measure their professional accomplishments, effectiveness, and success. Role acceptance is the attitude of the school counselor vis-a-vis the cognitive schema for "school counselor. " It reflects professional self-esteem and job satisfaction. It answers the following question: To what extent is the school counselor satisfied that what he or she is doing is worthwhile and rewarding? Role performance is what the counselor does. To study how a school counselor performs role is to examine job related behaviors, and tasks, and how time is spent in the professional setting. These terms have been used throughout this study to refer to and describe examples of specific counselor role constructs. Problems or deficiencies with counselor role may be explained using this theory. Ivey and Robin (1966) used the term "counselor role conflict" to explain aspects of counselor role that are systematically contradictory or paradoxical. Similarly in relationship to how counselor role constructs interact and relate, Boy (1962) used the term "counselor role dilemma." Boy's term described situations where school counselors are expected to be proverbial educational "jacks-of-all-trades." When the elements of counselor role disaffrrm each other or when there is some other role contradiction, role conflicts result and cause problems, complications, and dilemmas for counselors and their 25 audiences. Day and Sparacio (1980) contended that what counselors do in schools many times differ fi'om what professional organizations, documents, and job descriptions proclaim. This disparity also results in school counselor role conflict. When there is disagreement between or within groups of role definers or the perceptions and definitions of counselor role, the result is role conflict. Researchers have documented role conflict. Darley (1953) reported that teachers say they see counselors as school administrators instead of as counselors. Similarly, Martyn (1957) and Purcell (1957) claimed administrators describe counselors as clerks and quasi-administrators. But, students and parents, on the other hand, see counselors as scheduling experts and/or individuals who are sometimes helpful with student vocational and personal problems (Bergstein and Grant, 1961). Trying to arrange, manage, and prioritize time for the role performance of all of these counselor roles often results in role conflict, role dilemma, and role mutation. Ivey and Robin (1966) offered a means to a solution. They recommended that future research on counselor role address the issue of "dynamic interaction as opposed to static perception." In other words, these theorists believed it worthwhile and important to investigate ongoing issues surrounding the forming and reforming of relationships among and between the concepts of the counselor role. To me, that suggested the active qualitative research procedures of interviewing, participant observation, and analytic induction data analysis. It was important and relevant to study not only when, individuals say is important, but also to collect data that describes, represents, and reflects the dynamics or the activity and processes peculiar to these perceptions. Dynamic research methods and procedures enrich data by adding to its scope and depth. 26 Chronicling, describing, and explaining schools and education; PDS philosophy, goals and strategy; and counselor role in urban settings furnished background and support for my study of the role of school counselors in an urban PDS. The next chapter presents the methods by which I conducted this study. Chapter III METHODS AND SETTING This chapter provides a discussion of how and where this study was conducted. There are two main parts. The first is a description of the research design, methods, and procedures used to conduct this fieldwork study. It includes discussion of the following topics: research methods; site access; data collection and analysis; research questions; and caveats. The second part describes aspects of the dynamic physical and social setting, as the context in which data for this study were observed and recorded, and it introduces the participants in this study. Research Methods Qualitative research methods were used in this study. In a discussion of qualitative methods Erickson (1986) put the following descriptors in the same category as qualitative research: participant observational, ethnographic, interpretive, phenomenological, and case study. Likewise, Bogdan and Biklen's (1982) definition of qualitative research listed a set of features and characteristics. They used 27 ide her as Spec to ti and abor The}- 28 qualitative research as an umbrella term to refer to several research strategies that share certain characteristics. The data collected is rich in descriptions of people, places and conversations, and not easily handled by statistical procedures. Research questions are not framed by operationalizing variables; rather, they are formulated to investigate in all their complexity, in context. While people conducting qualitative research may develop a focus as they collect data, they do not approach the research with specific questions to answer or hypotheses test. They are concerned with understanding behavior from the subject's own frame of reference. They tend to collect data through sustained contact with people in settings where subjects normally spend their time. (p. 2) Research methods used for this study can also be described using Yin's (1984) ideas about qualitative research. He claimed that a qualitative study is an empirical study that explores and examines a given set of current non-laboratory experiences. In this case, with the general topic of school counselors in mind, I identified and described a specific set of dynamic conditions and individuals in a particular urban setting. Related to this, in their discussions of ethnography and qualitative research in education, Goetz and LeCompte (1984) used the term "educational ethnography" (pp. 12-13). They talked about analytic descriptions or reconstructions of intact cultural scenes and groups that are simultaneously product and process... and that recreate for the reader the shared beliefs, practices,... and behaviors of some group of people (p. 2). The purpose of educational ethnography is to provide rich descriptive data about the contexts, activities, and beliefs of participants in educational settings. (p. 17) They listed the following characteristics of educational ethnography: 1. Strategies elicit phenomenological data; they represent the world view of participants being investigated, and participant constructs are used to structure the research; 2. Strategies are empirical and naturalistic; participant and nonparticipant observation are used to acquire firsthand, sensory accounts of phenomena as they occur in real world settings ...; 3. Research is holistic; [researchers] seek to construct descriptions of total phenomena within their various contexts and to generate complex interrelationships (that explain the phenomena); and 4. Data collection is multimodal or eclectic; researchers use a variety of research techniques to amass data. (p. 3) orb.- incl had Jun Pser coll: obse into: reSp, Used thed 29 Similarly, this study of counselor role focused on how informants at a particular urban school expressed definitions and descriptions of counselor role. These informants included not only school counselors, but a number and variety of persons who typically had contact and professional interactions with them. For one semester (January, 1992 to June, 1992), using an assortment of techniques and procedures, I collected firsthand data fi'om a number of sources. Sites for data collection included the following locations: * Malcolm X Middle School (MXMS) * Campus of Midland University * MXMS students’ homes " MXMS parent's workplace "' Automobile (during travel between Midland and MXMS) "' Various sites for Citywide Counselor Meetings Pseudonyms are used here to protect the privacy of research participants. These locations are described in more detail later in Chapter III, and in Chapters IV and V. Data collection was eclectic and included a number of techniques and strategies such as observations, interviews, and document review. As I planned and conducted this study I incorporated strategies and procedures that best elicited a variety of information responsive to my research questions. Following Hammersley and Atkinson (1983), I used data source triangulation as a safeguard against misinterpretation in the analysis of the data: In social research, if one relies on a single piece of data there is the danger that undetected error in the data-production process may render the analysis incorrect. If, on the other hand, diverse kinds of data lead to the same conclusion, one can be a little more confident in that conclusion... Data source triangulation involves the comparison of data relating to the same phenomenon but deriving from different phases of the fieldwork, different points in the temporal cycles occurring in the setting, or, as in respondent validation, the accounts of different participants (including the ethnographer) involved in the setting. (1983, p. 198) 30 I also used data technique triangulation in order to insure a more complete, and accurate account and interpretation of data. This meant I used a variety of techniques and procedures to collect data about the same topic(s) (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983). Comparisons and reconciliation of descriptions, interpretations, and analysis helped to verify, refine, and confirm research findings. Site Access Before collecting data, I had to gain entry to the site. The following describes how I gained knowledge of and access to the site for this study. A casual summer afternoon conversation with one of my former professors, Dr. Carr, was my introduction to the concept of PDS. Enthusiastically she told me about her position and experiences as a building coordinator at a school in an urban community about fifty miles fi'om the university campus. Our first conversation about PDS occurred during a time when I was exploring materials and ideas related to counseling in preparation for conducting dissertation research. I wondered how counselors were involved in a PDS. I suspected their experiences were different fiom those of a school counselor in a non-PDS setting. I asked myself how they might be different. After a number of questions and conversations with Dr. Carr, 1 accompanied her during a visit to MXMS, the PDS she coordinated. I was even more intrigued alter my initial visit. My introductory visit to MXMS was pleasant and informative. I met university faculty and graduate students, as well as some middle school faculty. I even attended a PDS collaboration meeting. There I began to acquire an awareness and understanding of how the MXMS faculty and its university partner communicated about PDS activities and 3 1 projects. My first visit and unofficial observation increased my interest. Later I read the Holmes Group Reports, Tomorrow's Teachers (1986), and Tomorrow's Schools (1990). I was fascinated by what I perceived to be a strong philosophical resemblance between the Holmes Group Reports and school counseling. In my mind the Holmes Group Reports echoed counseling concerns, priorities and goals. Ironically though, I found neither reference to, nor specific mention of, school counselors in this or any other PDS literature. While disappointing, this discovery fed my determination to learn more about counselors in PDSs. I saw the lack of PDS-counselor literature and research as a challenge to explore what I perceived to be a potentially promising and rich research topic. By fall when university classes began, I had inquired at MXMS and the university about opportunities for conducting dissertation research at MXMS. By the beginning of the second semester, I had obtained the necessary university and school approval to conduct a study of the counselors at MXMS. Dr. Dale, a former classmate, was the university coordinator for the PDS Counselor Study Group at MXMS. She introduced me to the counselors with whom she collaborated. It was at her suggestion that I first approached MXMS's only male counselor, Mr. Jones, to request his participation in this study. Dr. Dale's suggestion that I approach Mr. Jones was consistent with recommendations from other PDS personnel and MXMS administrators. With some caution and apprehension, Al Jones agreed to act as a focal informant for a qualitative study of the role of a school counselor in an urban PDS. 32 “ Al Jones” is a pseudonym. In order to respect and protect their privacy, fictitious names have been used for all informants, locations, and documents. The other informants were selected at first by recommendations from my contacts at the university; later decisions were made based on needs to develop, fortify, complete, cross-reference, and confirm data previously received. Data Collection and Analysis This section defines and discusses qualitative research data and fieldwork. It also defines and details specific strategies and procedures I used to collect and analyze data for this study. Finally, it addresses issues related to me and my role as a researcher or research tool. The term "data" has a variety of meanings. As Goetz and LeCompte (1984) explained data are any "potentially verifiable information obtained from the environment” (p. 107). Connecting data to data analysis, Bogdan and Biklen (1982) wrote, Data refer to the rough materials researchers collect from the world they are studying; they [data] are the particulars that form the basis of analysis Data are both the evidence and the clues. Gathered carefully, they serve as the stubborn facts that ground you to the empirical world. (p. 73) Data provided the details and meanings needed to make sense of focal informants, their dialogue, and environments in this study. The discussions that follow indicate my data are the verifiable information from a studied, natural, and real environment that the informants and I deemed to be noteworthy. 33 Fieldnotes are the building blocks of which research findings are made. They are the backbone of qualitative research, according to Bogdan and Biklen (1982). They are the researcher’s recorded data and are "the written account of what the researcher hears, sees, experiences, and thinks in the course of collecting and reflecting on the data in a qualitative study” (p. 74). In this study fieldnotes permitted and encouraged a variety and wealth of data that for the most part, and in the final analysis, depended on me for inclusion and placement. As the researcher and principal research tool, I was the medium through which all data passed as it was recorded (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984). Therefore, before continuing with descriptions of data collection, analysis, strategies, and procedures, I will discuss my preconceptions, professional experiences, and other researcher related characteristics that might have influenced the data collection, analysis, and consequently findings of this study. I am an African American woman with over twenty-five years of professional experience--all in education, both in and outside of the classroom. As an undergraduate I chose teaching over nursing. Even as a child I aspired to those vocations usually categorized as the helping professions. My most pleasant and rewarding professional memories and experiences have been working with secondary students rather than younger children or adults. After being a secondary classroom teacher, school counselor, administrator, and consultant, I wrote this study as a full time graduate student at Midland University majoring in Counselor Education. Educated in urban schools, I was somewhat familiar with and quite comfortable in the setting for this study. Who I am and how I see myself and my environment influenced my approach to and expressions of this study. The choice of topic is an indication of my personal and professional concerns about 34 school counselors, especially in urban areas. I believe they are a valuable yet misused resource. With this information the reader may frame this study in the context of my professional history and biases. In fact, Goetz and LeCompte (1984) wrote about the advantages of recognizing the subjective aspects of ethnography. They claimed that the researcher, unlike machines such as cameras and videos, is capable of making immediate responses to and interactions with informants and other sources of data. There is the opportunity to probe, clarify, and confirm suspicions, assertions, and theories. I took advantage of these opportunities. To capitalize on this feature and in the true spirit of ethnography I used a number of data collection strategies and procedures. To gather data for this study I used interviews, observations, and document review. Unofficially, the study began with my summer aftemoon conversation with Dr. Carr. Officially, however, it began with an ethnographic interview with a focal informant, MXMS counselor, Al Jones. The interview with Mr. Jones was reflexive (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983), a kind of social interaction that was simultaneously structured by me and Mr. Jones. Without composing exact questions ahead of time, but with specific issues and concerns in mind, I posed a variety of questions to Mr. Jones. Some questions were open-ended and some sought specific information. All were at first intended to explore and cultivate Mr. Jones' perceptions of his role and audiences, and later to clarify and verify information and tentative assertions. Most interviews were private and tape recorded in his office. Then they were transcribed; others were recorded in handwritten fieldnotes. These fieldnotes were recorded during or immediately following each interview, noting specifics like date, 35 location, and time of the interview, as well as the informant's name, gender occupation, attire, and demeanor. Most interviews took place at MXMS in offices, classrooms, the library, cafeteria, and community room. Other settings included offices and a conference center at Midland University, MXMS students’ homes, a parent's workplace, and the library of another middle school in Centerville. Due to environmental conditions most interviews lasted no longer than a class period, about an hour. However, some were longer. Final interviews with each of MXMS’s counselors were over an hour. As you might suspect, there were more interview sessions and observations with the key informants, or the counselors, than with other informants. My contacts with counselors averaged more than two a week, lasting fiom a few hours to an entire school day (8 am. to 2:30 pm, or later on collaboration days). Most interviews were scheduled. Whether with a counselor or a member of counselor audiences, all interview topics and questions were at first intended to cultivate the inforrnant’s trust and then to explore their perceptions of their own role at MXMS, and finally their relationship with and perceptions of the counselors at MXMS. Both open ended and closed questions were used. One part of the interview contained word association prompts where the interviewee was asked to provide quick, short responses to verbal prompts. The following is an example of a word association section of a student interview: 0 Malcolm X Middle School... 0 Centerville... 0 Midland University... 0 Mr. Brown... (MXMS’s principal) 36 Mr. Lace... (MXMS’s deputy principal and disciplinarian) Mr. Charles... (MXMS’s assistant principal) Mr. Jones... (MXMS counselor) Ms. Green... (NDCMS counselor) PDS... (Name of interviewee), the student These prompt were given orally. It was explained that there were no “ correct” or “ incorrect” responses. Anything that came to mind was a “ correct” response. Throughout the interviews, but not in the midst of the word association exercise, probes were used to provide clarity, elaboration, explanation, and confirmation for unclear responses and my tentative assertions. At the same time interviewees were instructed to ask any questions they might have. Another data collection strategy used in this study was participant observation. This entailed gathering data while accompanying informants as they went about their daily or usual schedule or routine. Participant observation is a popular qualitative research technique in which ...the researcher enters the world of the people he or she plans to study, gets to know, be known and trusted by them, and systematically keeps a detailed written record of what is heard and observed. (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982, p. 2) Some examples of participant observations were citywide counselors' meetings, PDS institutes and meetings, counselor study group meetings, MXMS Open House, and MXMS Chapter I Parent Group meetings. At these gatherings I accompanied MXMS counselors, paying particular attention to seating arrangements, dialogue, comments, and gestures. I also made nonparticipant observations, that is, observations where I did not participate or interact with the informants. An example of this was a Student Assistance the cor hea 1116i inte: rese. Will me. 110 h.‘ prelii Consi role" 37 Program (SAP) meeting that I observed. Within earshot and while seated in the comer of the Community Room, I observed individuals enter the room, greet one another, seat themselves, and participate in a SAP meeting that lasted about thirty minutes. F eigning concentration on papers on the table in front of me, I took fieldnotes on what I saw and heard. There was no direct interaction between me and the educators involved in that meeting. In addition to interviews and observations, document review was used as a data gathering technique for this study. As a procedure, document review difl‘ers from interviews and observations in that the resulting data was not produced by me, the researcher. In this study I composed, conducted, analyzed, and interpreted all interviews. Without exception, fieldnotes of observations were recorded, analyzed, and interpreted by me. By contrast, while I determined which documents were reviewed for this study, I had no hand in writing any of them. I made the decision for document inclusion after preliminary analyses of interviews and other fieldnotes were completed. After considering the perceptions of informants, I wanted to define and describe "counselor role" from a variety of official perspectives. Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) referred to official documents as "written communications" produced by schools and other bureaucratic organizations. In this study reviewed documents included those produced by national, state, and local organizations representing professional school counselors; MXMS and its school district where data for this study was collected; and PDS literature and reports. As suggested by Hammersley and Atkinson (1983), this data gathering technique tended to reveal written rules, regulations, and chains of command, as well as lines of power and authority. In some cases the omission of these concepts was noted. 38 The official documents reviewed for this study clearly stated the traditional, theoretical, and ideal role for school counselors from a number of perspectives. These data collection techniques gave me a wealth of fieldnotes. The voyage from "rambling pages of description" (Bogdan and Biklen, 1982) to a concise, logical, and succinct interpretation of gathered information is called data analysis. It was the process of systematically searching and arranging the interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and other materials that [I] accumulated to increase [my] own understanding of them and to enable [me] to present what [I] have discovered [It] involves working with data, organizing it, breaking it into manageable units, synthesizing it, searching for patterns, discovering what [story to tell]. (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982, p. 145) This process was ongoing and began with "pre-fieldwork" ideas and information gathering. It involved a "funnel structure" scrutiny which resulted in a more focused view of the data, data relationships, and meanings (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983). In this particular study the voyage was launched when my pre-fieldwork interests met enthusiastic accounts of a previous instructor's experiences at an urban PDS she was coordinating. Readings and firsthand interactions and observations at that site narrowed my focus from school counselors in an urban setting to school counselors in an urban PDS. Interviews and additional experiences and observations drew my attention to the ROLE of school counselors in this setting. Even when curiosity and blind faith were my only navigators, I continued to collect, review, and analyze data, from time to time speculating about my destination. Reflecting on this "progressive focusing" process I can now see the "gradual shift" referred to by Hammersley and Atkinson (1983). While consistently focusing on urban school counselors, one shift of focus occurred for me when I moved fiom a preliminary interest in counselor perceptions of and participation in education reform to expressed PT! fe Piling ins, 39 descriptions and definitions of the role of a school counselor in an urban PDS. The categories and patterns I saw at first permitted, and later compelled, me to conclude that an overarching expressed role and duty of a counselor at MXMS is “designated helper.” Research Questions Just as the focus of this study changed, so did the research questions. At first my questions sought to uncover how a school counselor in a particular setting envisioned and felt about education reform. This inquiry evolved into the following questions: What are expressed descriptions and perceptions of the roles and functions, and duties and responsibilities of a middle school counselor in an urban PDS? 1. Within a specific urban Professional Development middle school, what are the articulated roles and functions for a school counselor? How are roles and functions defined and expressed in relevant documents, by counselors, and by their professionally significant others? 2. What are school counselor duties and responsibilities? A. What do school counselors do? B. What are school counselors expected to do? QM There are some features of this study that may be considered limitations. Time was a limitation because site access, data gathering, compiling, analyzing, and interpreting required a great deal of time. Most observations and fieldnotes were done during the second semester of a school year. Ideally, I would have collected data over a period of time beginning before PDS entered Malcolm X and continued through the first full school year that counselors became actively involved in PDS activities designed obs l'CSI aut im] dlSI 4o specifically for them. Counselors' schedules were demanding and limited time for observations and interviews. The fifty miles that separated me from the principal research site was also a limitation. By design, this case study was limited to one school, its counselors, their audiences and the university partner with which the school was involved. Equally as important as the informants is the location where this study took place. Next is a discussion of this setting. 3.93192 A setting is a named context in which phenomena occur that might be studied from any number of angles; a case is those phenomena seen from one particular theoretical angle. Some features will be given no attention at all, and even those phenomena that are the major focus will be looked at in a way that by no means exhausts their characteristics. (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983) This part of the chapter looks at the dynamic contextual ingredients that contributed to this study. It begins with a discussion of the geography and demographics of the city and state, the macro-setting. Then, there are depictions of the school as a social and physical entity, and finally, verbal sketches of some of the physical and organizational characteristics of the counselor environment at MXMS. Centerville, the urban city and school district where data for this study were collected, is located in the center of a midwestem state. MXMS is in the northernmost section of this economically depressed city. Once world renowned for its prosperity as the second largest manufacturing city in the state, Centerville's current population of less than 140,000 is steadily declining. The closing of many of its factories during the 1970's and 1980's was blamed for increases in unemployment, school closings, and other signs ofec whil 1036 will your stati: all-”i051 ha 41 of economic crisis in and around what was once a thriving town. From 1970 to 1990, while the state and county populations steadily increased, Centerville lost almost one- third of its inhabitants. What's worse, in March, 1991, the city's adult unemployment rate rose to an all time high of 22.5 percent - almost twice that of the county and state in which it is located. Similarly, statistics showed changes in the lives of Centerville's children and youth. During the 1980's the youth suicide rate increased by 135 percent. The city's statistics for children being raised in single parent households increased dramatically, and was twice that of the state. There were also increases in teen drug and alcohol use, adolescent crime, and numbers of school leavers. The number of students served by Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) increased. During school year 1991-92 thirty-one percent of the student population at MXMS were AFDC recipients. Between 1960 and 1990, in comparison to county and state statistics, disproportionate changes in the city’s' racial composition accounted for the claim that Centerville experienced "white flight." During this thirty year period the total number of inhabitants declined drastically, but the number of white inhabitants declined 43 percent, while the number of Black inhabitants increased almost 200 percent. Other phenomena contributed to dramatic social and economic changes in Centerville. Factory closings and national and local civil rights conflicts during the sixties and seventies were blamed for "white fligh " and used to explain the city's contemporary ethnic composition. African Americans were 28 percent of Centerville's population in 1970. This figure jumped to 41 percent in 1980. By 1990, 48 percent, almost half of the citizens in this city, were African American. The ethnicity of the north: studei percer In a re: barred access 1 them in Street or Shares it. Iban a m in is vi School's c @5515 are 42 northernmost section of Centerville was indicated by the racial makeup of MXMS's student body. During the school year that this study was conducted (1991-1992), over 99 percent of the 834 students at Malcolm X were Afiican American. The professional staffs racial distribution was 48 percent African American, and 52 percent white. Information about the MXMS facility contributes to the profile of this setting, too. In a residential area, nestled among small, and mostly neat one and two story burglar- barred bungalows, MXMS is located on a virtual cul-de-sac. Because of the parking lot's access to two roads, drivers bringing students to school in the mornings and retrieving ' them in the afternoons used the driveway to the school's north parking lot as a connecting street or thoroughfare. One of the city's four middle schools, this brown brick, single story building shares its south parking lot with one of MXMS's feeder elementary schools, and is less than a mile from the community's high school. A brightly colored red and white wooden sign is visible from the west side of this sprawling building. The sign displays the school's colors as well as a caricature of its smiling animal mascot. Students, faculty, and guests are encouraged and expected to use the main entrance on the north side of the building, as other external building doors are usually kept locked. In order to discourage vandalism and to monitor activities on the corridors and in and around the building, one of three adult hall monitors or the school's police liaison is usually seated at a desk immediately inside MXMS's main entrance. Corridor walls nearest this entrance and throughout the building are covered with neatly scripted colorful posters and banners of axioms and mottoes encouraging and challenging students to respect themselves and each other, act responsibly, and do well in school. Bulletin boards directly outside of classr speci: from grade the car corndc comfor course Chopra adITIlIil: Other. ' ErliflSpa OCCUR 43 classrooms closest to the main entrance neatly and proudly display the work of their special education students. Further into the building, strategically located signs hang from the ceiling in corridors announcing the names and grades of each seventh and eighth grade team: This middle school is organized around seventh and eighth grade interdisciplinary teaching teams working with groups of about 130 pupils. The middle school concept has been in place in the district for approximately five years and the team approach seems to be a significant feature ...(Carr, 1991-1992, p- l) The counselor offices were located off corridors across from and on either side of the centrally located school library. They were immediately accessible from the main corridors, but had no reception room, or area where students, parents, or teachers could comfortably wait if a counselor was not immediately available. Offices adjacent to counselor offices were occupied by, in one case, the PDS secretary; in another, the Chapter I secretary; and in another situation (Mr. Jones' office) there was an assistant administrator in charge of student discipline on one side with the social worker on the other. While the walls separating counselor offices from the corridor were made of transparent glass, none permitted direct and full view of counselor office interiors and occupants. Contact paper, fumiture, and posters obstructed most of these views. Whether counselor, secretary, administrator, or social worker, in each office on a ledge near the door, or just above the door, a small black name plate with white printed letters identified each office's occupant. The counselors' positions or locations on a district organization chart were even less logical than the location of their offices (Figure 1). In the district's central office the following persons were part of MXMS's counselors' line of supervision and authority: 44 [CENTERVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINIENDENT DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM MIDDLE SCHOOLS l MALCOLM X MIDDLE SCHOOL l PRINIIPAL r—-DEPUTY PRINCIPAL —ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ~——> COUNSELORS ‘ ORGANIZATIONAL CHART FOR MXMS COUNSELORS FIGURE 1 l l the CV. con Din elen the b It is c Raine 45 Director of Middle School Curriculum, Deputy Superintendent, and Superintendent. At the school or building level the responsibility for MXMS counselor supervision and evaluation was delegated by the MXMS Principal to the Deputy and Assistant Principals. It was the central office’s Director of Middle School Curriculum who cohosted monthly “ citywide" counselor meetings for Centerville's public middle and high school counselors. She shared planning and chairing responsibilities for these meetings with the Director of Secondary Curriculum. There were no counselors at Centerville's public elementary schools. In terms of lines of power and authority, MXMS counselors were at the base of a two tier structure with the superintendent of schools at the apex (Figure 1). It is clear that no where in the counselor leadership chain is there any professionally trained or experienced counselor. The social environment at MXMS was as dynamic and complex as its physical environment. Because counselors were the focal informants of this study, this section of the setting is devoted to counselors' perspectives. With less than three members, 4.59%, counselors were the smallest MXMS faculty subgroup (Table 1). Not classroom teachers (but former teachers) who work out of offices (but not administrative offices), counselors were physically separated from other members of their faculty and felt isolated. One counselor talked about a perceived need for counselors to maintain a certain noncommittal social position. When asked about social affiliation or cliques, the counselor said, "I stay away from them I don't try to get in with the cliques. I try to stay neutral." When I probed and asked if it was important for a counselor to stay neutral, the counselor pensively repeated the question before responding, "Well, I guess it's F. MM «\c go l‘ t_ 46 Table 1 MXMS Professionals [ Faculty Position Administratgg Principal Deputy Principal Assistant Principal Counselors 7th/8th 8th Classroom Teachers Mathematics Social Studies Language Arts Science Sflialg Teachers Alternative Education Program Instrumental Music Computers - Business Emotionally Impaired Learning Disability Educable Mentally Impaired Home Economics - Physical Education Art Chapter 1 Math Chapter 1 Reading Vocal Music Support Staff Librarian School Psychologist Social Worker (Special Education) Speech Therapist Social Worker (Chapter 1) Community Education Agent Teacher Consultant (Special Education) Communi Liaison I Number I 3 1 l 1 18 o—Au—tu—ou—nr—tu—‘NbN—du—ag flfi—fip‘p‘flfi—lfle 54.5 Percent 5.50% 4.59% 40.37% 33.03% 16.51% 100.00% no” hoontnl la [1'on stay o lo [h particular se questioned a‘ personal facr his the pero needed carer” counselor ta] professional Q0lllBelor 1h. Professional debilitating ; closely mon license the machers‘ ill: lhe: Howey“ tl Midland Ur Cerlierl'llle. melll o Edam-On is 47 important for anybody who has to deal with this many people-a lot of personalities, to try to stay neutral” (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 9). In this case "neutral" meant not socially involved with or committed to a particular set of individuals or subgroup of the professional staff. In fact, when questioned about intra-faculty friendships, all counselors claimed to have no close personal faculty fiiendships at MXMS. Other data substantiated this observation. There was the perception that in order to facilitate their professional effectiveness, counselors needed carefully to monitor their social contacts. This was evident when another counselor talked about some MXMS teachers who were unable to "separate social and professional camps and beliefs” (fieldnotes, 6/29/92, p. 6a). In other words, this counselor thought that at least a few MXMS faculty unilaterally lent or withheld their professional mt! personal support based on social affiliations. In order to avoid a debilitating and restrictive allegiance, counselors limited their social interactions and closely monitored their social contacts and relationships at their work site. Ironically, because they did not want to limit their credibility and ability to communicate with teachers, they made a conscious effort to be socially non-committal. There were a variety of settings where data for this study were collected. However, the majority of observations and interviews were conducted at MXMS or Midland University. MXMS was described above. Located about fifty miles from Centerville, Midland is a sizable land-grant institution, founded in 1855. It has an enrollment of over 42,000 students. Its Teacher Education program in the College of Education is well known and immersed in Professional Development projects and r!— 48 activities throughout the state. University faculty and graduate students collaborate with groups of MXMS faculty in efforts to explore, change, and improve the quality of teaching and learning at Malcolm X Middle School. Because the settings for the majority of the data collected for this study were MXMS and Midland University they have been mentioned and described here. Throughout this study other settings are detailed and described as they are mentioned. This chapter detailed the research methodology and setting for this study. It is a description of the physical and social dynamic environments and individuals from which data were observed and perceptually extracted in order to answer questions about the roles, functions, duties and responsibilities of a middle school counselor in a specific urban PDS. The answers I now have to my research questions will be presented in Chapter 4. Chapter IV STUDY FINDINGS I Introduction For purposes of this study, school counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were determined and collectively given meaning by the words and interactions of relevant official documents, counselors, and counselor audiences. School counselors at the urban Professional Development School where this study was conducted were uniformly and consistently described by their role definers as sources of various and numerous kinds of assistance, services, information, and support. Findings for this study will support my conclusion that counselors were assigned the role of “ designated helpers. ” Findings were categorized by source of data and grouped into two chapters. Chapter IV, contains findings based on data from selected national, state, and local documents and flour the MXMS counselors. Chapter V discusses findings based on data from other MXMS professional personnel, parents, students, and PDS university personnel. Where appropriate in these chapters, data and findings were paralleled to similarly focused literature and research. 49 50 This descriptive study sought responses to the following research questions: What are expressed descriptions and perceptions of the roles, functions and duties and responsibilities of a middle school counselor in an urban PDS? 1. Within a specific urban Professional Development middle school, what are the articulated roles and functions for a school counselor? How are roles and functions defined and expressed in relevant documents, by counselors, and by their professionally significant others? 2. What are school counselor duties and responsibilities? A. What do school counselors do? B. What are school counselors expected to do? In keeping with these research questions, Chapters IV and V focused on meanings given to counselor role in a specific urban PDS. Each chapter first identifies the role defrners and then describes and explains how they expressed their perceptions and definitions of counselor roles in this urban school. Memes: Ivey and Robin (1966) used the term "counselor role definers" to mean "the deterrniners of the role of the school counselor in the social structure of a school” (p. 31). These role definers interact and influence each other as they give meaning to the dynamics of who and what a school counselor is in a particular setting. In this study the counseling profession’s official expectations were represented by documents which included the following official texts and informal literature: 3915 MW (ASCA, 1990); the 1992 State School Counselor Association's State Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Progm (here “ State” was substituted for the actual name of the state in order to conceal the true identity of the [— 51 research site and participants); district and building mission statements governing MXMS; a 1991-1992 PDS end of the year report about the Counseling Study Group at MXMS; and the results of an MXMS (1991-1992) informal needs assessment. Additional sources of data included interviews with informants, fieldnotes, and observations of other role definers mentioned by Ivey and Robin (1966), in other words, "administrators, teachers, students, and the counselors themselves" (p. 31). PDS university partners were not mentioned by Ivey and Robin, but in the spirit of the definition, and because some of them had regular, direct, and specific interactions with school counselors, I included Midland University PDS personnel as role definers and sources of data. Documents There are no comprehensive, nationally recognized, accepted, and applied Legal definitions for "counseling" that include school counselors (Day & Sparacio, 1980). However, there are documents that are relevant to the role of a school counselor. As role definers within the MXMS education setting, the documents mentioned above assign specific meanings, purposes, and behaviors to the notion of school counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities. When school counselors are mentioned or referenced in these official documents, descriptions strongly and repeatedly dictate and imply an image, function, and responsibility for counselors to attend to, assist with, and support the following: 1. individual and group academic, personal, and vocational counseling and guidance for all students; .1;- 52 2. consultations with professionally significant others; 3. participation in studies and research related to school counseling; 4. planning, implementation, evaluation, and revision of counseling and guidance programs and curriculum; 5. when necessary, referral of students to community agencies; 6. involvement in school activities; and 7. membership and participation in professional organizations; and involvement in professional development programs and activities. Collectively these documents claim that through programs of counseling, consultation, and coordination, school counselors are expected to work with and help students, parents and caregivers, teachers, administrators, and each other. An overall program goal for school counselors is to help students develop to be productive and responsible citizens who were personally, emotionally, socially, and vocationally capable. American School Counselor Association In its most recent Role Statement: The School Counselor ASCA (1990), a national affiliate of ACA, defines counseling: Counseling is a complex helping process in which the counselor establishes a trusting and confidential working relationship. The focus is on problem-solving, decision-making, and discovering personal meaning related to learning and development. (p. l) ASCA also describes counselor audiences, role expectations, and professional requirements for school counselors: The school counselor is a certified professional educator who assists students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Three generally recognized helping processes used by the counselor are counseling, consulting, and coordinating School counselor interventions have sometimes been referred to as functions, services, approaches, tasks, activities, or jobs. They have at times, been viewed as roles themselves, helping to create the image of the counselor. In a comprehensive developmental counseling program, school counselors organize their work schedules around the following basic interventions: individual C0ll A SI counselors Cor spel coo help loo for 1 wor The priorioanc l0 : pro. Am Cor 33 5 COU As lmltsslor he use 0 hill/mg is heeord'm Supponix "lama: U f llll Gui L if / r a» p 9r)“ 53 counseling, small group counseling, large group guidance, consultation, and coordination. (pp. 1-3) A section entitled "The Preparation of School Counselors" explains how counselors should be trained and prepared to use their skills: Counselors are prepared to use the basic interventions in a school setting, with special emphasis on the study of helping relationships, facilitative skills, brief counseling; group dynamics and group learning activities; family systems; peer helper programs, multi-cultural and cross cultural helping approaches... They know when and how to refer or involve other professionals. They are accountable for their actions and participate in appropriate studies and research related to their work. (p. 3) The closing words of the ASCA Role Statement: The School Counselor stresses a priority and professional responsibility: To assure high quality practice, counselors are committed to continued professional growth and personal development. They are active members of the American Association for Counseling and Development [currently American Counseling Association] and the American School Counselor Association, as well as state and local professional associations which foster and promote school counseling. (p. 4) As a nationally recognized and accepted mouthpiece for school counseling professionals, ASCA clearly and emphatically places a great deal of emphasis on helping. The use of the actual word and a number of synonyms support this. For the ASCA, helping is an integral part of the intended role, function, and job of a school counselor. According to ASCA another very important part of school counselor role is active and supportive membership in and allegiance to all appropriate affiliates of their professional organizations. State School Counselor Association Likewise, at the state level, the 1992 State Guidelines for Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Proms list the following items as "Major Job 54 Responsibilities" or "Key Duties" in a sample job description for middle or junior high school counselors: 1. 2. Implement the middle/junior high school guidance curriculum. Guide and counsel small groups and individual students through the development of educational and career plans. . Counsel small groups and individual students with specific needs. Coarsult with teachers, staff, and parents regarding the developmental needs of stu ents. . Refer students as needed to appropriate community resources in consultation with their parents. Participate in, coordinate, or conduct activities which contribute to the effective operation of the school. Evaluate and revise the building guidance and counseling program. Pursue professional growth. (State School Counselor Association, 1992, p.101) These guidelines are meant to benefit school counselors by: Providing a clearly defined role and firnction; reducing non-guidance frmctions; offering the opportunity to impact 100% of the students; and outlining clearly defined responsibilities for specific student outcomes. (State School Counselor Association, 1992, p. 6) More specific than its national counterpart, this state level document particularly mentions middle school counselors. Acknowledging the existence of counselor role ambiguity, there is advice to reduce "non-guidance firnctions" in order to alleviate this situation. To clarify the roles and functions of school counselors even more, this document defines and lists "non-guidance duties" that are oftentimes erroneously assigned to counselors in schools. It notes "there are some common duties a counselor must share as a school staff member, where eveg member takes a turn” (p. 28). But, there are some limits to counselors serving as helpers. The following are listed as illegitimate or non-guidance duties: 55 Supervisory duties: * DevelOping and monitoring school assemblies * Hall duty, cafeteria supervision, bus loading and unloading supervision, and rest room supervision * Chaperoning school functions and athletic event supervrsron * Substitute teaching Clerical duties: * Selling lunch tickets * Collecting and mailing out progress reports and deficiency notices " Maintaining permanent records and handling transcripts * Calculation of grade point average (GPA), class rank or honor roll * Developing and updating student course guides "' Schedule changes and related paperwork Special programs and services: "‘ Class, club and special program sponsorship "' Coordination and administration of school testing programs including individual testings * Responsible for Individual Education Plans HEP) Administrative duties * Master schedule development "' Principal for the day * Discipline * Schedule changes. (pp. 28-29) In conflict with State guidelines, MXMS counselors performed over eighty percent of these “illegitimate or non-guidance duties (Table 2). A check (I ) indicates a non-guidance counselor duty that MXMS counselors actually perform. This data alone verifies counselor role conflict for MXMS counselors. While counselors are expected to provide help and assistance, there are limits according to State Guidelines. But in the case of the MXMS counselors these limits were disregarded. District and MXMS Mission Statements The District Mission Statement and Goals (1992) and the Malcolm X Middle School Mission Statement and Goals (1992) are strikingly different from counseling IQ!) rm I9." 56 Table 2 Non-Guidance Counselor Duties W School assemblies Hall duties Bus duty Restroom duty Chaperoning Substitute teaching 9mm Lunch tickets Progress reports Permanent records Transcripts GPA Class rank Honor roll Student course guide Schedule changes WW Class, club sponsorship Testing - IEP MW Master schedule Principal for the day Discipline Schedule changes Key \/ = role for MXMS counselors —— = not role for MXMS counselors («4(44 <44. «('4 57 ACA and ASCA professional organization documents. Neither mission statement mentions nor directly references school counselors. The district document is a general articulation of the local board of education’s expectations for all of its schools. There is no mention of parties responsible for providing "quality education for children and adults." (MXMS District 1992 Annual Report, p. 1). Similarly, the MXMS document mentions no specific professional(s) responsible for implementing its six goals. References to "staff" imply shared duties and responsibilities. While this idea of shared responsibility is reinforced by the statement "Staff will collaborative[ly] develop strategies and techniques for enhancing teaching and leaming," the word "counselor" appears nowhere. This means neither mission statement articulates specific counselor role expectations; nor does either even acknowledge the existence and/or presence of school counselors. This omission renders school counselors professionally and vocationally nonexistent and vulnerable. At the local level "the counseling profession finds itself without an agreed-upon structure of beliefs, objectives, practices, and roles with which to defend against possible extinction” (Pine, 1975). This is a well documented contemporary threat (Hohenshil, 1987) to the continued existence of school counselors. Even so, what remains clear in this case is a shared responsibility to be helpers - in this case, undocumented helpers. PDS Document In sharp contrast to the mission statements, the text of a report about MXMS counselors' PDS study group involvement clearly indicates recognition of not only the existence, but also the needs of MXMS school counselors. Dr. Dale, an Afiican 58 American psychologist, was the Midland University PDS faculty collaborator and coordinator for the Counselor Study Group at MXMS. She prepared an end of the year report for the school year during which data for this study was collected. More precisely, this report articulates Dr. Dale's expectations that counselors should ac_tually be practicing mental health specialist doing "therapeutic, strategy-based intervention" both with individual students and small groups of students. In her Mlmg' Study Group End of me Year Rpmrt for 1991-1992 Schml Year, Dr. Dale wrote, This proved to be a challenging year as the Counseling Study Group attempted to form our own identification. Several lessons were learned about our role (perceived vs. reality) as counselors. As we established a working agenda for the approaching academic year, it became increasingly apparent the “long haul” we have before us. Our lessons learned are described as follows: 1) The institutionalized role of counselors conflicts with our intended role as practitioners. In essence, school counselors don't get to do much therapeutic, strategy-based intervention. In fact, there is a move toward having "counseling related services delivered by "outside" social service agencies. 2) Related to this, the current work load of counselors does not facilitate the providing of direct counseling services to students to the extent needed. Many students at MXMS are in need of individual and group counseling intervention (preventive and responsive). However, other responsibilities attributed to school counselors makes this an impossible demand to meet. This is no news to those of us who have studied the actual roles and responsibilities of school counselors as they relate to our current educational systems. (p. 4) This document refers to counselors as providers of services, another clear aflirmation of expectations for help. Unlike previously analyzed documents, this locally composed report can be classified as a descriptive needs based document. Written by a mental health professional who was also a PDS consultant, it describes the need for MXMS counselors to assume roles as therapeutic, strategy based helpers and interventionists. As a PDS consultant, Dr. Dale saw herself, and was seen by others, to be a change agent. .11.: 59 Her report drew attention to her perceptions of difl'erences in counselor role as they were perceived by MXMS counselors and "the institution." According to her report, these perceptions were in conflict. There was agreement that a counselor’s role was to serve and help. The conflict had to do with what tasks should be included. Needs Asgssment An informal needs assessment project was conducted by a group of Midland University PDS personnel. MXMS students and staff were randomly selected and interviewed. When asked what would make their school better, they voiced a number of concerns. Some students and staff suggested changes in counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities. A written two-page report of these suggestions contains the following recommendations for counselors: Help students get jobs; Counselors who are able to see and talk with students; Have a male and female counselor for each grade; Counseling services for students who need it; Career information or classes available; and Students need to know there is one person they could go to if they need help. (2/26/92, pp. 1-2) Once again help is the central concern here. These suggestions are similar to Dr. Dale's report in that both were locally generated and focused on counselor role defmers' needs. An important difference between them, however, is perspective. Rendered by a professional educator and mental health specialist, Dr. Dale's report reflected her occupation and role conception. On the other hand, the needs assessment results were the 60 expectations and words of a middle school faculty, and student body in an urban community where unemployment was rampant. Students saw themselves as direct recipients of counselor services and wanted counselors to help them resolve their daily problems, and find employment. As role definers, the documents reviewed in this study expect school counselors to be certified, professionally trained teachers and helpers who have expertise as counselors, coordinators, and consultants; to implement, evaluate, and revise guidance curriculum; to work with students, teachers, administrators, and parents; to do therapeutic, strategy- based intervention; and to pursue professional development and growth- in other words, to act as helpers (Table 3). mm This next section looks at counselor role based on how urban counselors described themselves and their functions and duties. According to the two full-time counselors in this study, counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were numerous and all- encompassing, and they differed drastically from what counselors actually do. In their opinions, counselor role performance was quite different from documented or official counselors duties and responsibilities. Day and Sparacio (1980) noted that often counselor role performance differs from document definitions of their roles and functions. This study was no exception, because regardless of the intended and ideal expectations expressed in official documents, these counselors believed their audiences wanted them to interact with virtually evepyone in their school setting, and with regard to some aspect of evemhing that occurred there. 61 Table 3 Counsglor Roles According to Documents COUNSELOR ROLES a Administer and interpret standardized tests and inventories X Advocate X Certified professional X Collaborator X Consultant X Contact for referrals X Coordinator X Counselor X Counselor for regular education students X Counselor for special education students X Facilitator X Former classroom teacher X Guidance curriculum implementor, evaluator, and reviser X Irnplementor of guidance curriculum X Member of professional organization X Participant in school activities X Research participant X Service deliverer X Student advocate X Key a = documents This perception was congruent with Wrenn's (1968) view that in many schools counselors are expected to "take up the slack" (p. 105) of any needy school program or educational undertaking. In this study the counselor informants said they felt the scope and span of their work and audiences were gargantuan. They perceived themselves working with "everybody," doing "a little bit of everything"-counseling, consulting, and coordinating, as well as monitoring student testing sessions and non-classroom behavior; substituting 62 for classroom teachers; gathering and maintaining student records; planning and Chaperoning field trips and other student activities; recommending actions for student suspensions, promotions, and retentions; and communicating with administrators, and parents or guardians about their counselees' academic progress and behaviors. They were expected to help everyone. Al Jones Mr. Jones said his roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities as a counselor at MXMS were varied, numerous, and defined and determined by his interactions with members of his audiences, i.e., professionally significant others. At the close of school year 1991-1992, over a week after what should have been the end of his school year, Mr. Jones summarized his responsibilities and work. Last minute assignments and delegated tasks from administrators were finally complete when we had our final interview. Untypically, this year Mr. Jones and the other Malcolm X counselors were required to complete work on student files, records, and schedules _a_ft__er the contractual end of their school year, and without remuneration. Within only a few days to the official close of school counselors were assigned tasks which required additional days to complete. From September to June the corridor outside of Mr. Jones' office always hustled with the animated and energetic sounds and movements of students going from one class to another, but on this day, at the end of June, the entire campus was calm and quiet. Mr. Jones and I sat in his office with the door open. When I asked him to tell me about his job as counselor at Malcolm X, he was more relaxed and reflective than usual. He took a 63 long, deep breath, exhaled quickly, and paused a few seconds before responding. He leaned back in his chair and gazed toward the ceiling as he spoke. Actually what I do - is a little bit of eve 'n ; but basically my duties are - scheduling students; counseling stu ents; wor ing with parents; working with administrators; interpreting some tests fi'om time to time. We also work with special ed students from time to time. Sometimes it's expected of me to take over a classroom in the absence of a teacher - In the event that they have an I.E.P.C. (meeting); if there's a shortage of subs, we're sometimes, - we're asked to do that, to take over classrooms. There are several programs that we have here in the building that we're involved in. We have the -- ohhh - I just forgot another of those acronyms. We have the SAP program which is Student Assistance Program. We have the crisis team - program. Just about every - I could say EVERY, just EVERY program that is initiated here in the building, counselors are involved with in one way or another. (recorded interview, 6/29/92, pp. 1 and 2) Other data substantiated additional counselor duties and firnctions. All faculty- and counselors are no exception-were administratively assigned certain duties. The following items included these and other tasks which were Mr. Jones' jobs: Daily, during one of three student lunch periods, and on the corridors during the changing of classes, Mr. Jones monitored student behavior (fieldnotes, 12/5/91; 1/28/93); from time to time he represented his department and school on committees, and at professional meetings, workshops, and institutes (fieldnotes, 1/31/92; 2/11/92; 2/12/92; 2/27/92; 6/8/92); on occasion be arranged and chaperoned student field trips (fieldnotes, 4/9/92)); at least twice a year he planned and conducted student orientation programs for new students and their parents (fieldnotes, 2/25/92); and at least quarterly be updated computer stored student records. (fieldnotes, 12/5/91) He also distributed report cards to parents and guardians during Open House; requested, received, alphabetized, and maintained files of student academic progress reports; consulted with those counselees (and their parents or guardians) who received multiple deficiency progress reports or notices of failure; consulted with teachers and administrators about students; verified computer calculated grade point averages (GPA), class standings, credits earned, promotions, and retentions; 64 from time to time administered standardized tests; monitored and updated student cumulative files; received referrals for and consulted with counselees who were chronically tardy and/or absent; telephoned parents or guardians of chronically tardy and/or absent students; arranged and facilitated parent-teacher conferences; and met with feeder elementary and high school faculties to facilitate student promotion, transfer and placement. (fieldnotes, 6/29/92) Accepting the role of helper, assistant, facilitator, consultant, monitor, planner, and consultant, but wanting to change the focus of his current set of behaviors, Mr. Jones said he needed structure and order to maximize his productivity and role acceptance or job satisfaction as an urban middle school counselor. Mr. Jones reviewed his priorities. He said, "My job is primarily working with students" (fieldnotes, 2/25/92, p. 87). He described the ideal counselor as a professional, well respected educator who effectively and efficiently manages and balances his time, duties, and responsibilities; who can identify each of his counselees by name, as well as know some unique and personal information about him or her; who intervenes with teachers and administrators on behalf of his counselees; who helps his counselees to change their behavior; who is able to help his counselees resolve and bring closure to their personal, academic, and vocational problems; and who is knowledgeable about, and active in his educational community (fieldnotes, 1/28/92; 2/4/92; 3/5/92; 4/29/92; 6/29/92). During one interview Mr. Jones compared his former classroom teaching experiences to counseling. He described aspects of his role acceptance or job satisfaction. This observation was the first time I saw Mr. Jones when classes were not in session and there were no students in the building. We were in his office. He was different-wmore 65 relaxed, and fiiendlier than usual. He smiled, joked, laughed, initiated verbal exchanges, and was more animated than usual. Otherwise he was the same-neatly attired in a color coordinated sports outfit of slacks, long sleeve dress shirt, tie, sweater, and dark leather shoes. While Mr. Jones seemed tired (he removed his glasses, sighed, and rubbed his face) he was not too busy or tired to talk. When asked about his day, he cautiously commented that it could have been worse. Remembering this time last year, he added that he was glad the plan to pre-enroll 17 students coming from elementary schools was implemented. It allowed new students to be in classes right away and freed counselors to resolve other second semester scheduling problems. Something about this conversation permitted Mr. Jones to transition to a conversation about his professional "first love," teaching woodwork. He compared a former position teaching woodwork to his current counseling job. He missed doing wood projects with his students. Reminiscing, Mr. Jones described woodwork as an activity he enjoyed structuring, planning, and teaching. His inability successfully to import and incorporate these controls into his work as a middle school counselor in an urban setting was often a source of frustration for him. He described the pleasure of seeing students acquire and demonstrate woodwork skills. At the end of a few weeks students would have a product they could keep and take home to show their parents. Mr. Jones said he liked helping students bring closure to their projects. Even if students did not finish their projects, they had physical proof of their efforts. However, as a counselor Mr. Jones emphasized that he seldom, if ever, knew if or when he had really helped a counselee. He speculated about closure in conjunction with counseling, comparing it to his teaching woodwork. He wondered when and how a student or school counselor could determine if 66 a goal had been accomplished and closure achieved, especially in personal counseling. He thought aloud. In a ym few cases ypa_r_s passed before he saw or heard from a thankful and mature counselee. Lately, sometimes closure came in the form of a funeral. Pensively, Mr. Jones told me that the next day he planned to attend the funeral of a sixteen year old former student (fieldnotes, 1/22/92). A1 Jones was a task oriented professional who engaged in quantitative self assessments. Success was determined by how often and how many activities, efl’orts, or tasks he completed or could help his students complete. He saw counseling as an outcome, rather than a process. Based on his counselor role conception (internalized perceptions and definition of school counselor), he was not satisfied with his professional success. Role acceptance, or job satisfaction was low. In spite of all of his efforts to help, Mr. Jones was unable to validate his effectiveness. On other occasions Mr. Jones spoke about times when he was frustrated by not being able to bring closure to a counseling duty or task that was consuming a great deal of his time, patience, and energy. He said sometimes he just stopped whatever he was doing to take on an activity that he could control and complete in a relatively short period of time, for example cleaning his desk, returning telephone calls, or organizing and updating a few student files. At these times he chose tasks that had clear and discernible parameters, over which he had power and control, for which he could set accomplishable goals, and, like the woodwork projects, provided immediate physical proof of the fruits of his labor. Mr. Jones even purchased a daily planner and organizer, but claimed it was a waste of money. With an air of despair, frustration, and disappointment he claimed that 67 no matter how hard he tried, attempts to plan and organize his work day were hopeless. There was no correlation between what he wrote in his planner and how he spent his time at work, he said. While he believed direct services to students was a priority responsibility and duty, Mr. Jones was frustrated by an inability to control and focus his time, attention, and skills. In this case help is defined in terms of services. Because Mr. Jones felt powerless and did not control the conditions under which his services were disbursed, there was frustration on his part. The marked differences between his real and ideal role conception negatively impacted his role acceptance. The bottom line once again was that counselor duties, functions, and responsibilities were defined, determined, and delegated by others. Ms. Green Another full-time member of the Malcolm X Counseling Department, Ms. Green, gave her occupation as "guidance counselor." (fieldnotes, 3/5/92, p. 1) When asked to list her professional roles, ftmctions, duties, and responsibilities, her response projected a counselor role conception similar to Mr. Jones'. She mentioned the following activities: primarily scheduling. We also counsel the kids on behavior, classroom behavior. We have to see the kids for tardiness, personal problems and, liaison between school and home. We do some academic as well as occupational counseling, guidance, whatever - whatever has to be done making referrals; - visiting classes, - introducing myself to students, telling them my role here; - setting up for parties; - having to speak on careers; - meetings; attending some after school (student and staff) activities; field trips; Chaperoning school functions; making recommendations for Iifis. " (tape recorded interview, 6/29/92, p- 2) [If a student is lifted, s/he is sent to the high school even though s/he has not completed middle school academic requirements. The lift occurs because of the student's advanced age and/or other extenuating circumstances]. (fieldnotes, 4/1/92) 68 Ms. Green's words and body language communicated an attitude of frustration as she raised her hand and let it fall on her desk when she said "whatever - whatever has to be done." For Ms. Green her role performance, what she actually did as an urban middle school counselor, was determined more by role expectations (what others prescribed) than role conception (what she had internalized and believed she should do). With regard to her audiences, Ms. Green said, "In a counseling position we have to interact with evegbody - administrators, staff, parents, students” (tape recorded interview, 6/29/92). She believed counselors were expected and obligated to work with Q faculty and students in their education setting. The use of the words "have to" communicated a sense of obligation, duty, and responsibility. She saw counselor roles and functions as all encompassing and impossible to complete. No matter how hard she tried, Ms. Green believed she could not help everyone who requested, expected, requested, commanded, and needed help. Similar to Mr. Jones, Ms. Green compared her previous classroom experiences as a teacher to those of counseling. In the end, she preferred the autonomy of the classroom. I asked Ms. Green if she would make the decision to leave the classroom again, knowing what she knew at the time of our interview. After a slight pause she slowly said, Knowing what I know now I would, but I enjoyed the classroom more than I did counseling, really. I knew my kids better when I was in the classroom. And, I could work one-on-one with them. And, I guess I knew their capabilities. I knew how to counsel them. But there, as a teacher I had one hundred forty kids, and I got three hundred forty kids right now. (recorded interview, 3/5/92, p. 19) This statement by Ms. Green is an example of incompatible role conception and role conflict. For both Mr. Jones and Ms. Green, ideal role conception (how they saw themselves as counselors), and therefore role acceptance (their job satisfaction), were 69 connected to and depended on their rapport, relationships, and interactions with students. It was their desire to focus on these aspects of working with students that caused them to leave teaching to become counselors. Yet, in their efforts to spend more time concentrating on helping students they found themselves working harder and having fewer one-on-one contacts with students than they had as classroom teachers. Ms. Green preferred teaching because it provided more and better opportunities to counsel students. Emphasizing her willingness to cooperate, Ms. Green also described herself as "one who tries to work within the system" (recorded interview, 3/5/92, p. 18). Yet, if given the power and opportunity to make her job situation ideal, she said, "I would change the entire system" (recorded interview, 3/5/92, p. 11). The counseling leadership changes she mentioned included the addition of building and district level personnel: 1. an Assistant Principal in charge of counseling in every school in the district — elementary, middle, and high school; and 2. a central office coordinator for guidance. According to Ms. Green, "counseling background" would be a requirement for the professionals hired to fill these positions. At the school level counselors would work with the same counselees throughout the students' stay in that building. Other changes included less paperwork for counselors; more time to engage in direct contact with counselor audiences, for example, one-on-one work with counselees, visiting classrooms, observing and working with teachers and students; and working with policy and rule making groups to facilitate consistency, continuity, and fairness in the design, creation, and enforcement of school policies and rules (p. 12). 70 The obvious difl‘erences within Mr. Jones' and Ms. Green's real and ideal counselor role performance were cause for counselor role conflict and counselor stress. Ibrahim, Helms, and Thompson (1983) concluded that role conflict and ambiguity affect school counselor stress levels. A different perspective by Olsen and Dilley (1988) speculated that school counselor "stress is not so much a frmction of conflict between roles that are differentially endorsed by different publics as it is of the sheer number of roles that are strongly endorsed by all" (p. 196). When given the opportunity to idealize her current environment and position as counselor in an urban school, Ms. Green talked about changing issues and aspects of leadership, performance, and policy. Like Mr. Jones, she believed direct contact and a helping relationship with counselees was a priority. Ironically, comparing teacher and counselor experiences, both Mr. Jones and Ms. Green preferred aspects in the classroom, but felt current role expectations dominated and competed with their own counselor role conceptions. Except for certification requirements, these counselors were unaware of documents that defined and outlined their role as school counselors. For them the most immediate, credible, and influential role definers were counselor audiences - the most powerful of whom were building administrators. While the counselors in this study did not see PDS as a primary and predominant counselor role definer, they did recognize its dynamic potential indirectly to impact a valuable resource, time. When asked how the school year would have been different without the presence of PDS, one counselor replied, "It would have given me more time to do some other things with the kids. It took me away from other responsibilities, especially the kids" (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 4). Unfortunately, PDS was not seen 71 as an opportunity to explore new ways of using resources (including time). Instead it was seen as another demand on an already depleted resource, time. On another occasion the other full-time counselor's response to the same question was similar. Weighing time spent in PDS meetings against observable positive changes and student outcomes, this counselor felt that counselor role performance had suffered. Both of these urban middle school counselors saw PDS as a demand on their time-another example of how they were expected (designated) to do something with every organization or group affiliated with their school. As represented and articulated by Mr. Jones and Ms. Green, the counselor’s role is all-encompassing and, in their words, “ a little bit of everything” and “whatever has to be done.” These direct quotations communicate perceptions and attitudes that counselor duties, functions, and responsibilities are too varied and numerous to count, and out of counselor control. Their role acceptance was low, which meant professional self-esteem and job satisfaction were low. These counselors felt that their role definers had the ultimate power to determine counselor duties, functions, and responsibilities. I chose the term “ designated” to communicate the idea that these counselors were not only expected to help, assist, facilitate, substitute, coordinate, consult, support, advise, aid, serve, and inform, but they were expected to do this at the desire, command, specification, expectation, and pleasure of the members of their audiences. Here “ designated” meant chosen, called upon, pointed out, and in some cases commanded. Table 4 symbolizes those functions, duties, and responsibilities that MXMS counselors saw when they looked at themselves and their roles in an urban Professional DeveIOpment School. These counselor roles are added to those designated by the relevant doctunents. 72 Table 4 Counselor Roles According to Counselors (and Documents) COUNSELOR ROLES Administer and interpret standardized tests and inventories Advocate Arrange and conduct parent conferences Arrange field trips Certified professional Change students’ Schedules Chaperon field trips Collaborator >4 Compile, verify, and distribute report cards Conduct student orientation ><><><><>< ><><><><><><><>< Disciplinarian “ Everything” Facilitator >< Feeder school visitor File clerk Former classroom teacher GPA calculator ><><><>< ><><><><>< Guidance curriculum implementor, evaluator, and reviser Irnplementor of guidance curriculum ><>< Interventionist Liaison between home and school Maintain copies of report cards Manage and distribute progress reports Member of professional organization Monitor students during non-classroom times Open house host Organizer and conductor of student orientation Participant in school activities PDS participant Problem-solver ><><><><><>< ><><><>< 73 PDS participant Problem-solver Processor of student progress reports Research participant Schedule students Service deliverer Source of school information Student advocate Substitute or part time administrator Substitute teacher Teacher helper ><><><><>< ><><><><>< Key a = documents b = counselors As role definers, relevant documents and the counselors themselves agreed. School counselors ought to be, are expected to be, are trained and willing to be identified and recognized as individuals to whom those in their school setting have a right to turn for help, services, support, and assistance. Mr. Jones and Ms. Green were designated to help, assist, and serve their professionally significant others, or audiences. In the next chapter the examination and analysis of data collected from counselor audiences Summm reinforced my assertions that the expressed roles and functions, and duties and responsibilities of a middle school counselor in an urban PDS were to be a “ designated helper.” Chapter V STUDY FINDINGS II Counselor Audiences This chapter continues the presentation of research findings with a discussion of the third and final role definer category, counselor audiences. The first role definer category, documents, represented the counseling profession, “ school district,” and PDSs written definitions and descriptions of official, ideal, and other articulated role expectations for school counselors. The second category, the counselors themselves, contributed actual counselor-articulated perceptions, behaviors, and experiences. In this chapter, data from counselor audiences provides descriptions of a variety of role expectations from professionally significant others. Groups of administrators, teachers, students and parents or guardians, and university PDS faculty and university students were included to represent a full range of significant others. Counselor audiences' definitions and perceptions of counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities varied and were colored by the inforrnants' conceptions, roles, and interpretations of their own roles and needs and their perceptions of the needs of others in this research setting. 74 75 Eight Administrators In the hierarchy of counselor audiences administrators were perceived to have the most authority. Administrators included in this study were the central office coordinator for middle school counselors and MXMS's school principal, deputy principal, and assistant principal. Executive Director Middle School Curriculum. Mrs. Stokes, an experienced, assertive, confident, and assured African American veteran central office coordinator and supervisor, gave her job title as "Executive Director, Middle School Cuniculum." As the coordinator for middle schools, she interviewed, hired, and collaborated with building level administrators to place middle school counselors in her district. With her high school counterpart, she also coordinated joint monthly citywide meetings for district school counselors. She explained the circumstances under which she inherited responsibility for middle school counselors: About seven years ago or more, we used to have a position at the central office that worked for us to help coordinate the activities of counselors. However, that position was eliminated. And naturally, since I was the direct supervisor I took on that assignment. (recorded interview, 6/2/92, pp. 4-5) Given the current structure of central office personnel, it was logical to Mrs. Stokes that she coordinate the staffing, training, and professional development of middle school counselors in her district. However, none of her professional training or experience was in the field of school counseling. In Mrs. Stokes' opinion, the work lives of middle school counselors were saturated with paperwork. She would have rather seen them involved in direct contact with students, teachers, and parents. Thinking aloud, she talked about creating a position 76 for a counseling secretary. This position would be initiated at Malcolm X and other schools in the district. Schools would share the services of someone trained to handle counseling department clerical duties and responsibilities, thus freeing counselors to increase direct contact time with their audiences, especially students. This was an example of how role conception impacted the way counselor audiences conceptualized counselor role. Because Mrs. Stokes saw herself as an "executive director," her proposed solution to the problem of counselors having little or no time for direct contact with their counselees was an executive action redefining counselor roles, firnctions, duties, and responsibilities to exclude clerical tasks. The creation and addition of secretarial positions would insure support for the assumption, and then provide time for completion of tasks abandoned by counselors. This proposed executive action was an administrative resolution to give counselors more time to help students. Mrs. Stokes' image of the ideal middle school counselor was an individual who would be well trained, experienced, innovative, and motivated; one who would be well acquainted with all the members of his or her educational community-all counselees, teachers, and parents as well as community resources and needs. She would have liked all middle school counselors to meet these expectations, so they could successfully and completely carry out all duties and responsibilities assigned to them by their building supervisor. The emphasis here was on successful completion of designated tasks. For this middle school district administrator, it is important for a counselor to serve his or her building supervisor in any capacity that the building administrator deems necessary and 77 important. In other words a counselor should be a multitalented and multiskilled “ designated helper” ready to help students follow directions. School Administrators MXMS's administrative team was composed of two Afiican American males and one Caucasian male. Collectively their careers represented over seventy-five years of experience in urban public schools. Their perceptions and definitions of counselors' jobs depicted a variety of administrative role conceptions, counselor role expectations, as well as preferred styles of management and supervision. The lens through which each observed school counselors was personalized and tinted by his articulated career goals and experiences. Principal. While it was unusual for a curriculum specialist to coordinate school counselors, it is quite common for principals to be involved in counselor supervision and evaluation. In this schoolthe principal was Mr. Brown. He is an Afiican American. Theoretically he was the ultimate voice responsible for what counselors did and ought to have done at MXMS. His responsibilities to supervise and evaluate counselors were delegated to his deputy and assistant principals. Of his role, Mr. Brown said, I think I serve as a facilitator for the staff and I also serve as a person that the students can come to and talk if they would like to; and I work with parents here at the school The daily routine is basically working with students, teachers, parents, and sometimes after school activities, Parent Council, and we have some things after school we have to attend, but that's basically my full day. (recorded interview, 4/7/92, p. 1) Being accessible to his audiences was important to this administrator. About time spent in classrooms, he said, "I volunteer time to teams if they want me to come in. I mean, there's no problem to go in and talk to students about different issues." (p. 3) 78 These were the words of an administrator whose work ethic was "You get out of anything what you put in it. Sometimes this means working past five o'clock. I wouldn't ' be where I am now, if I hadn't had that work ethic" (p. 5). Mr. Brown saw himself as a task oriented, hard working, easily accessible leader. He used his perceptions of his performance as a yardstick for counselor assessment and evaluation. He believed his position as principal was difficult and demanding. He said, "There's al_v_v_ay_s_ pressure for me I don't have time to relax" (p. 12). When he compared himself to counselors, Mr. Brown said of counselors, "There's no pressure for counselors - not here - at least that's what I think" (p. 12). Mr. Brown saw his job as principal as more demanding and stressful than counseling; therefore he expected counselors to do more than he did in some areas. For example, he felt counselors should spend at least as much time visiting classrooms as he. His perception was that they did not. Describing the ideal counselor, Mr. Brown said he "would want someone who is really dedicated, who's able to communicate with students I don't want someone who feels like they're overworked; that don't have time to deal with students because they're doing a lot of paperwork" (p. 2). Mr. Brown's ideal counselor had a work ethic and effective communication skills similar to his, and was satisfied with his or her roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities as defined by Mr. Brown (or his designees). Ideal counselors didn't complain about their jobs; they did what was expected of them, and what they saw needed to be done. Mr. Brown said, "You shouldn't have to ask counselors or teachers to do things they feel should be done" (p. 2). I asked, "What's the most important thing a counselor can do?" Mr. replied, 79 Communicate with their counselees. Not being out there just programming those kids and seeing them only once a year. Make an effort to see them and [talk to them]. I feel that counselors should participate in AA (Advisor-Advisee) sessions; they should make sure that they get around they should visit every homeroom at least once and do an AA for a homeroom teacher (he repeats) if I were a counselor I think I would set up where I would go to each of my homerooms at least once during the school year and do an AA for the homeroom teacher. (p. 3) Some students feel that the only time they see some of these counselors is when they are in trouble. (4/7/92, p. 8-9) The Advisor-Advisee Program is a Centerville Public Schools mandated program addressing middle school students' counseling needs that exceed counseling resources by designating a one-hour class per week as a time when teachers serve as “counselors” on issues requiring conflict resolution, problem solving and decision making, and career development. (Carr, 1990-1991, p. 22) A controversial program, it was easy to see how teachers and counselors at MXMS interpreted AA as a misguided program that expected homeroom teachers to interact with students in ways that were more characteristic of counselors than teachers. Neither teachers nor counselors proposed, endorsed, or were committed to this central- offrce-mandated program. However, Mr. Brown strongly promoted it. For him, this was an example of how counselors could and should spend more time with their counselees in classrooms. More time with students in the classroom was important to Mr. Brown, but there were mandatory counselor responsibilities this principal felt were even more important. He said, They HAVE TO schedule, you know that. That's a part of their job (chuckle). There's no choice on that they should really try to advocate different types of electives for students they should visit their feeder schools, meet with sixth graders, let them know what to expect at Malcolm X and let them know what subjects they'll be taking bring students to the auditorium and just talk to all of them about things unrelated to their promotions. (recorded interview, 4/7/92, p. 4) Mr. Brown believed the primary roles, ftmctions, duties, and responsibilities of a counselor were regularly to assist and work with students and teachers. That is, to help students with enrollment, scheduling, academic planning, and personal problems; and to help teachers with AA. One of his expectations was that counselors would spend more 80 time in classrooms with students than he did. He expected counselors to be available to support classroom teachers. A priority and non-negotiable counselor job was student scheduling and all of its subtasks as far as Mr. Brown was concerned. Dgpug Principal. Next in the counselors' supervision and authority chain was the deputy principal, Mr. Lace. He also was Afiican American. He described his current position as deputy principal as one which had been "90% counseling." His explanation of how it was he did so much counseling: particularly in discipline problems - I counsel young people into changing their behavior, modifying their behavior and being more successful in school - in a sense that is counseling. (recorded interview, 2/5/92, p. 67) Mr. Lace equated his role as disciplinarian with counseling. This was consistent with his expectation that counselors discipline students. However, this did not agree with what the principal, Mr. Brown, said. This discrepancy was another opportunity for counselor role conflict as it revealed inconsistent administrative information and perceptions about counselor functions and duties. Mr. Brown, the principal, claimed Mr. Lace, his deputy, was disciplinarian for seventh graders and supervised and evaluated counselors for that grade too. At no time during our interview did the principal say anything about counselors as disciplinarians. When asked to confirm his position and responsibilities as disciplinarian, Mr. Lace said he preferred not to think of himself as a disciplinarian or "Bad Guy," but rather, as someone who guided students through preadolescence and adolescence toward being successful adults (p. 65). Mr. Lace equated disciplinarian with "Bad Guy." If disciplining was counseling, and a disciplinarian was a "Bad Guy," were counselors "Bad Guys" in his opinion? Perhaps this was not so much an attempt to describe counselors as "Bad Guys" as it was for him (Mr. Lace) to escape 81 that title and image by identifying with counselors. This latter assertion was more consistent with what seemed like role confusion on his part when coupled with his earlier remarks about a reluctance to accept the title of disciplinarian. If this conjecture was accurate, projecting his role confusion onto counselors would explain Mr. Lace's inconsistent description of their roles. This theme of role confusion continued. When asked if he supervised and evaluated counselors, Mr. Lace said, Ah - sort of. I guess yo_u could say that. I don't. I don't see that as one of my basic functions, but when you say - "overseeing" the counselors - is that what you said? "Oversee?" I guess that I have a problem putting myself in a position of overseeing anyone. I like to see myself as working v_vr_'_t_1h_ counselors to make sure that anything that has to go in the computer gets done, or anything that has to do with course numbers or curriculum gets done. We work together in that fashion to make sure that things get done (p. 69). Admitting that he had trouble defining his relationship with MXMS counselors, Mr. Lace substituted "oversee" for "supervise." He said he expected counselors to "work with" him to bring closure to duties and responsibilities be assigned to them. Counselors were his “ designated helpers. ” This was the second time that Mr. Lace rewarded descriptions of his role as deputy principal with regard to counselors. This was another indication of some role confusion on his part. Like Mrs. Stokes, the central office administrator, and Mr. Brown, Mr. Lace had no training or experience as a school counselor. Mr. Lace said he expected the ideal counselor to be "a caring person whose main interest is the youngsters" (p 61). In his mind, the ideal urban middle school counselor also guided youngsters into "correct classes" and talked to them about how to be successful (p. 61). ."ll 82 Addressing the needs of students in urban schools, Mr. Lace believed that urban kids come to school with problems and because of this, counselors at a school like MXMS have to be able to adjust and adapt. This means counselors needed to be able to put students and their families in contact with community resources for help and assistance. Counselors could also be helpful as facilitators and mediators in the resolution of differences and misunderstandings that involved students, he believed. The principal's and deputy principal's ideas about counselor role differed. The principal saw counselors as subordinates, while the deputy tended to speak about them more as peers, especially when he talked about working with counselors to make sure tasks (tasks he designated) were completed. Another indication that the deputy principal wanted to relate to counselors as peers was when he defined his role as disciplinarian in terms of counseling. Although he identified with counselors, when asked if he ever aspired to be a school counselor, Mr. Lace said no. The deputy principal perceived school counselors to be non-classroom educators whose roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were quite similar to his own. This was an example of how a vocationally confused and unsure administrator (a reluctant leader) contributed to role conflict for those counselors with whom he worked. He saw counselors as helpers. They helped others by helping him (deputy principal). Assistant Principal. The building administrator who was third in charge was the assistant principal. His career in education spanned almost thirty years. Mr. Charles was the school's only white administrator. He believed all adults who work in a school are teachers; and students can learn from every adult with whom they come in contact. He explained, 83 I really believe we're all teachers with different responsibilities - veterans of many wars with special assignments. (recorded interview 6/11/92, p. 1) Teacher certification was a requirement for school counselors in the state in which this study took place; and so every counselor was, in fact, a certified teacher. Mr. Charles talked about two categories of counselor roles: traditional and idea]. He said, One of the problems we have traditionally, counselors have not been counselors. They've been programmers and that's not their fault - numbers don't permit students and counselors to know each other We're really misleading the public when we say we have counselors. What we really have are academic advisors. You can't know kids; kids can't know you if you are responsible for so many students. You can deal with academic problems only. (recorded interview, 6/11/92) At another time during his interview, Mr. Charles referred to counselors as "second-line-adrninistrators” (p. 2). He said a substantial number of their duties and responsibilities were delegated to them by administrators and related to administration. When asked what counselors spend their time doing, Mr. Charles slowly repeated the question before responding: What-do-counselors-spend-most-of-their-time-doing?--A ton of things: attendance, problems with parents, youngsters with academic problems, class changes, program schedules, PGR (Promotion-Graduation-Requirements) stuff, certification, records, - I don't see counselors sitting around - teachers are starting to use counselors more for personal kinds of problems than they use to. This is what counselors actually do. (recorded interview, 6/11/92) For this assistant principal, school counselors are not counselors. They are a subgroup of the many groups of adults with whom students are in touch, and from whom they could learn. Counselors are also administrators-once-removed, or quasi- administrators. According to Mr. Charles, much, if not most of what counselors do is delegated to them by an administrator. 84 In contrast, Mr. Charles' ideal counseling program would be similar to one that existed about twenty years ago in every high school in the district. Each school had a student services drop-in center. By Mr. Charles' standards, they were "tremendous." These centers were examples of "counseling in action, with the real life feature of selecting who you want to see" (p. 4). Mr. Charles talked about the specific needs of students in an urban environment. He said, The role of the counselor is to provide an atmosphere where kids can feel comfortable for many of our kids, school is the safest place they can be. Each student services drop-in center would have a counselor who has tremendous rapport with kids, and if you had sexual problem, drug problems, family problems, academic problems - you could go there and expect to be helped. It was almost like a sanctuary It was good, EVERY part of it was good! If I had my way, that's the way counseling would be - a nice area where kids would want to come, and drop in, and read a magazine and think about something, and share whatever they wanted to, or be by themselves if they wanted. (recorded interview, 6/11/92, p. 6) Like other building administrators, the assistant principal compared some aspect of counselor role to his administrator role conception. He said counselors do not counsel. Mr. Charles described counselors as teachers and quasi-administrators. This quasi- administrator description was often used to portray counselors who found themselves with roles and responsibilities that were defined and assigned by administrators and other non-counselors (Boy, 1968; Hargens & Gysbers, 1984; Podemski & Childers, 1987). Contrasting his actual perceptions of counselor performance with the ideal, Mr. Charles talked about the need for school counselors to return to a role they assumed about twenty years ago in the district when they had more autonomy and were coordinated, supervised, and evaluated by counselor trained administrators. This counselor trained supervisor notion resembled Ms. Green's ideas. Mr. Charles remembered counselors as 85 quasi-parents and caregivers. He saw them provide urban students with a safe and nurturing environment within the school setting. School was a place a student could come and expect to find a helpful, accepting, and nurturing counselor. This was a third vision of school counseling. A common thread was the basic premise that a priority and essential aspect of counselor role was to be helpful and provide support to students as per administrative directives be a “ designated helper” as defined by the building administrator(s). In this study administrators saw counselors as non-classroom educators who resemble teachers and administrators; who carry out administrative directives; and who have roles subordinate and ancillary to administrators (Table 5, column c). According to administrators some counselor tasks are academic adviser, teacher, advisor-advisee participant, disciplinarian, and schedule maker and changer. As the individual with the most authority in the counselors' direct line of authority, Mrs. Stokes, the central office administrator saw counselors as subordinates whose responsibility it is to work directly with students carrying out the principal's directives. The principal, on the other hand, spoke about job related pressures, and accessibility to teachers and students. The deputy principal described his methods of disciplining students as counseling. While the assistant principal saw counselors as teachers, clerks, quasi-administrators, and pseudo- parents, his description of the ideal counselor was more detailed and less traditional than his administrative peers. Even though they were consistently designated to be helpers, counselors were destined to experience role conflict because the actual forms and meanings of the “ help” varied extensively. .ilhlulplu. ..LlLlLll. _ ..LlnhiithL, l . w L .Ilflclli _ l . l .-ILIH L ”I . I; .IinIILul Ti . ~ . Lin. 5.1 7... a l 53.5 ...s l x l \ l \..i..\ 86 Table 5 Counselor Role According to Administrators (and Documents and Counselors) COUNSELOR ROLES a b Academic adviser Administer and interpret standardized tests and inventories X X Administrator-once-removed Advisor-Advisee advocate Advisor-Advisee participant Advocate X X Arbitrator Arrange and conduct parent conferences ><>< Arrange field trips Caring listener Certified professional X Change students’ Schedules Chaperon field trips Classroom visitor Collaborator Compile, verify, and distribute report cards >4 xxx xx Conduct student orientation Consultant Contact for referrals Coordinator Counselor Counselor for regular education students ><><><><><>< Counselor for special education students ><><><>< Disciplinarian Decrunent conferences Effective communicator >< “Everything” Facilitator X Faculty representative Family counselor Feeder school visitor File clerk Former classroom teacher X XXXX GPA calculator Guidance curriculum implementor, evaluator, and reviser X Homeroom visitor Honor roll manager ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Mediator Member of educator team Member of professional organization Monitor and/or document deviant student behavior Monitor and report chronically truant students Monitor students during non—classroom times Open house host Organizer and conductor of student orientation Paperwork Participant in school activities PDS participant Problem-solver Processor of student progress reports ><><><>< ><><>< Pseudo administrator Quasi administrator Record keeper Representative to various committees Research participant Role model Schedule students >< ><><><><><><><><>< ><><><><>< ><><><><><><><0 Service deliverer Source of school information Staff facilitator Student advocate Substitute or part time administrator Substitute teacher Teacher Teacher helper >< ><><>< >< >< >< Teacher trainer ><><><>< ><>< Key a = documents b = counselors c = administrators Teachers Just as administrators talked about counselors in terms of administrative roles and responsibilities, teachers talked about counselors in terms of teacher role conceptions. All MXMS counselors were former classroom teachers. Each was recruited to school counseling while teaching in one of the district schools. Therefore, in the minds of both teachers and counselors there was a real and logical connection between these counselors and classroom teachers. This section is a presentation and analysis of data fi'om four teachers on of the MXMS faculty. It contains their perceptions of what counselors do and what counselors were supposed to do. Mrs. Melrose. A conversation with Mrs. Melrose, a white special education teacher at MXMS, contained a description of counselor duties and responsibilities important to her and her students. She talked a great deal about counselor-conducted small group sessions her special education students used to attend. Counselor services, and therefore duties and responsibilities, are and should be different for special education students than they are for regular education students, according to Mrs. Melrose. She remembered a special education counselor who came to Malcehn X weekly to work exclusively with special education students. Due to budget cuts, that service was discontinued four or five years age, and much to her disappeintrnent had never resumed. Mrs. Melrose was convinced the need for that service not only continued, but had increased. Her expectation was that at least one of the "regular" counselors conduct counseling sessions designed specifically for special education students. But, "regular" counselor role performance does not meet or satisfy her expectation of weekly counseling services for her special education students. For this special education teacher, MXMS 89 counselors are ultimately responsible for providing counseling for Q students in their building. Wanting to focus on Mr. Jones and current conditions, I asked Mrs. Melrose, "Under what circumstances do you interact with school counselors poiv?" She replied, Really, not a lot. Issues directly related to scheduling, - we deal with them. They deal with us when they get calls from parents as far as kids being suspended for periods of time and they need homework and so they’ll come down and inquire about homework from specific teachers. Let's see, there's not a 19_t of interaction. On occasion I - not frequently - I refer kids to go see their counselors for any particular issue scheduling special ed kids can be difficult, so sometimes they (counselors) ask for our input as far as what we want to teach, when, and how, what's the best arrangement for this particular kid That's about all of my contact with the counselors. (recorded interview, 6/5/92, p.2) In Mrs. Melrose’s Opinion, counselors are responsible for student scheduling, facilitating communication between school and suspended students' homes with reference to homework assignments, and interacting with special education teachers to arrange schedules for their students. I asked Mrs. Melrose, "Tell me about a time this school year when you referred a youngster to his or her counselor for counseling services." Her reply revealed she thought our ideas about "counseling services" might difi‘er. She answered, Ah - probably not for counseling services per se. Not what you would say, for counseling services, but for scheduling - questions, and that kind of thing. (recorded interview, 6/5/92, p. 5) This explanation indicated that for Mrs. Melrose scheduling was not exactly a counseling service. Somehow scheduling and counseling were different. Urging her to explain, I asked her to tell me about that distinction. The following was her response: 90 I don't know what the counseling staff offers here as far as counseling for kids and booking kids up to services that they need. It (clears her throat and pauses) I haven't this year, but in the past - if I know that a kid needs clothes or something, I will usually stop and talk with them [counselors] first, and they can connect me with the right group. Last year we had some conversations about kids going to different summer programs. So I had talked to Mr. Jones about trying to hook some kids up to - going to Midland University for some writing programs and stuff. So he was very instrumental in that. But as far as, like group work or sessions, when kids get together, I'm not familiar, or I guess I'm not aware if they have those things available for kids too - In the past, groups just kind of fizzled out. (recorded interview, 6/5/92, pp. 2- 3) Mrs. Melrose admitted her lack of knowledge about what counseling services were available for her special education students. The extent to which her knowledge about counseling services and information at MXMS was current and accurate impacted the precision and reliability of the information about counselors she gave her students. This was an example of how intra-counselor audience communication might impact counselor role expectations. In this case, special education students' perceptions of school counselors were dependent on their teacher's perceptions. What Mrs. Melrose perceived and defined school counselors to be was the lens through which her students saw counselors. Regardless of their accuracy, Mrs. Melrose's perceptions contributed to the list of expected counselor roles and functions as far as her students were concerned. Mrs. Melrose believed counselors should not only provide regular counseling experiences for special education students, but should also provide information about, and be able to communicate with service agencies and organizations in the greater school community. In this urban school, she expected counselors to help by assuming the role of school- community liaisons; to access and communicate with social service organizations and other community resources; and to make her and her students aware of opportunities for academic and social enrichment. 91 Ms. Tap. An original and enthusiastic PDS advocate, Ms. Tap was a White regular education teacher. Unlike Mrs. Melrose, Ms. Tap had established a comfortable relationship with a school counselor. She described Mr. Jones, the counselor assigned to the students to her team: He really feels, and I do too, that he spends a lot of time with paperwork and scheduling most of his work has been paperwork kinds of things it keeps him from doing what he believes he was trained to do. (recorded interview 4/28/92, p. 1) Ms. Tap felt a large amount of Mr. Jones' time was spent dealing with things, rather than people-paperwork and scheduling instead of members of his audiences. She acknowledged this aspect of his perception of role conflict. Colleague and confidant are also counselor functions according to Ms. Tap. She told me that she depends on Mr. Jones to be a trusted and nonjudgemental listener. She said, He has a way of being able to sit down with me and help me see [things] that maybe I didn't see. They [counselors] have a different perspective sometimes, especially when it comes to what' 5 going on in schools“ .sometirnes it' s important for faculty to be able to go to him and say, "What do you think about this?" or "I have this situation with this child," or whatever. (fieldnotes, 4/28/92, p. 2) Ms. Tap took advantage of the accessibility and skills of a colleague whose role and function it is to be an expert and confidential listener. Qualifying comments about teachers confiding in and seeking advice from counselors, Ms. Tap added, "Too much of that is not good, but I think if you want to get something off your chest, and you want to talk, I think a counselor is a great person to go to" (recorded interview, 4/28/92, p. 12). Comparing Ms. Tap's assertive and optimistic attitude about school counselors with the more reserved and vague perceptions of Mrs. Melrose, it is easy to see how their 92 students-while in the same school and assigned to the same counselor-might have different, if not contradicting, perceptions of school counselors based on information they receive from their teachers. I asked Ms. Tap to explain how she determined which students should be referred to counselors. She said she handled some student difficulties and physical needs herself, but those involving emotions or situations with which she was not comfortable, she referred to Mr. Jones. She said, Mostly, if I feel the children have emotional needs. I can take care of some of the physical things - I take care of their broken glasses and get those fixed for them, or whatever - but, if it's some kind of abuse, or like death in the family - hp [Mr. Jones] can talk to kids about this, Mr. Jones, has experience with that, and is much better with that. I deal with children not being able to get along - that's the biggest thing. I deal with that all the time, but if it's some kind of abuse, or something that's more severe than what I feel comfortable handling, then I would go to him. Or if it's a scheduling problem. If you have a child that's in a rotation of students that really shouldn't be in it, or would be better off in another class because of who they are, I would do that, because he's very helpful in that way. Sometimes I just go to him with my own concerns. (recorded interview, 4/28/92, pp. 10-11) Ms. Tap also said she thought of school counselors as knowledgeable and expert arbitrators and mediators. - She spoke about more than one occasion when Mr. Jones intervened to assist in the resolution of misunderstandings betrveen students, between students and teachers, and even between parents and teachers. Ms. Tap noted a pseudo-administrative counselor role or function when she described occasions when parents prefer to speak with a counselor, rather than an administrator. In her opinion, some parents find counselors, though less powerful, also less intimidating, and more suitable and approachable than administrators. In some cases parents categorize counselors as administrators (fieldnotes, 3/4/92, p. 5). 93 Ms. Tap believed Mr. Jones and his counseling colleagues are school resources because they help students, faculty, and parents. They help students with schedules and severe emotional problems; they are preferable faculty representatives for parents who feel intimidated by administrators; they serve as sounding boards for teachers who have a need to discuss confidential professional dilemmas and concerns; and they help resolve disagreements and issues of conflict among students, between students and faculty, and between parents and the school. Mr. Banks. Mr. Banks, an African American teacher, was more critical of school counselors than either Mrs. Melrose or Ms. Tap. A teacher union representative, he discussed counselor roles from a point of view that considered contract cencems. Contractually, in many respects counselors are teachers-especially in this district where counselors have no job description. Like building administrators, Mr. Banks compared himself to counselors. I come in contact with one hundred twenty kids a day. What counselor can say that? (fieldnotes, 5/14/92, p. 157) Mr. Banks expected counselors to have more face to face daily time and communication with their counselees (than be perceived they have). He determined counselor effectiveness by a feature very important to him and other classroom teachers--the number of students for which an educator is responsible and interacts with daily. On the other hand, Mr. Banks compared the amount of time available to counselors with the time that would be necessary to work with over three hundred counselees. He said, "Counselors don’t always have time to give kids the counseling and guidance they need" (fieldnotes, 5/14/92, p. 159). There are other priorities. 94 A self-described strong disciplinarian, Mr. Banks was critical of teachers who do not handle their own discipline problems, but instead refer them to counselors with an expectation of instant changed behavior. Mr. Banks' perceptions and descriptions of counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were very connected to memories of the " good teachers" be had in the all Black schools and colleges he attended during the fifties and sixties in the South. There were no counselors. When asked to describe the ideal counselor, he said, someone who is "truly interested in all students, capable of working with a_ll students to prepare them for college, nurturing, like mother used to be, and capable of helping kids to develop values" (fieldnotes, 5/14/92, pp. 159-161). Mr. Banks wanted and expected counselors to be personable, nurturing, accepting, caring, and skilled professionals concerned about the total development of their counselees. He thought counselors should help students with their academic and emotional problems and their moral development. He felt that regular (more than once or twice a year) contact with students is necessary to accomplish this. Based on his personal history, and perceptions and assessment of students' needs, Mr. Banks believed counselors' roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities should be student-centered, and determined and driven by student needs. Because of a recognized shared ethnicity, Mr. Banks referred to this factor when he spoke of students' needs. While he did not imply that counselors need to have the same ethnic background as their counselees, he did seem to think that a knowledge and appreciation of that background would be helpful. 95 Ms. Sims. Like administrators and teachers in this study, Ms. Sims' perceptions of school counselors' role were related to her role conceptionuhow she saw her own professional role. She coordinated a remedial program for students whose reading and math skills are significantly below grade level. A strong sense of ethnic and community pride motivated her work with urban students and their families. In addition to counselor role expectations mentioned by other educators, this Afiican American former regular classroom teacher said she expected counselors to help students to "address sexual and family issues, and emphasize doing well so that they [students] can come back [after college] and help their families and the community” (recorded interview, 5/20/92, p. 3). Ms. Sims contrasted this ideal description to what she actually saw at MXMS. "[T]he major portion of their [counselors'] job is scheduling," she said (recorded interview, 5/20/92, p. 3). And while Ms. Sims saw scheduling as an important counselor responsibility, she felt counselors spend more time than necessary or required on it. In her opinion, counselors use "insufficient time" as an excuse for not meeting other, more important counselor role expectations. Ms. Sims said, "Counselors even say that they don't have time to do" things that constitute effective student counseling (recorded interview, 5/20/92, p. 5). Ms. Sims' perceptions of counselors roles, frmctions, duties, and responsibilities were filtered through and consistent with her strong sense of community and ethnic pride. Ms. Sims and Mr. Banks saw school counselors as members of their education community whose duty it is to help students develop a solid sense of ethnic and community responsibility and pride. With student outcomes as a barometer of success, they also expected counselors to see more students, more often; to do more work with 96 students; to manage their time more efficiently; and to be more productive and accountable-«Le. cause student outcomes to improve. Similar to Mr. Jones' earlier comments, student outcomes are important and criteria for determining success. As a group these teachers said that counselors do student scheduling, discipline, and many paper work jobs. They felt counselors should work with and assist all students, whether in regular or special education programs. The black teachers said they wanted counselors to assume responsibility for the moral development and needs of students, and to instill a sense of ethnic pride and social responsibility to family and community. There was the expectation that counselors should establish and maintain contacts with community service agencies as well as with institutions that offer enrichment opportunities. At least one teacher assumed that counselors could be colleagues and cenfidants. There was also the desire for counselors to increase their face to face time with students by seeing them individually and in small groups. Table 6, column d is a summary of the roles assigned to school counselors by teachers at an urban PDS. Students and Parents Students and parents were the only role definers and informants in this study who are not professional educators. They are consruners of counselor services - many for the first time because this school district had no elementary school counselors. They saw school counselors as report card distributors, substitute or part time administrators, monitors of students' behavior, disciplinarians, record keepers, resources for information about careers and higher education, teachers, communication links between school and home, caring listeners, and problem-solvers. This section analyzes student and parent 97 Table 6 Counselor Roles According to Teachers (and Documents, Counselors, and Administrators) COUNSELOR ROLES a b d Academic adviser Administer and interpret standardized tests and inventories X X Administrator-once-removed Advisor-Advisee advocate Advisor-Advisee participant Advocate X X Arbitrator Arrange and conduct parent conferences ><>< Arrange field trips Caring listener Certified professional X Change students’ Schedules ><>< Chaperon field trips Classroom visitor ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><0 Collaborator X X College counselor ><>< Community member Compile, verify, and distribute report cards ><>< Conduct student orientation Consultant Contact for referrals Coordinator Counselor Counselor for regular education students ><><><><><>< Counselor for special education students ><><><>< ><><><>< >< Disciplinarian Document conferences Effective communicator >< “ Everything” Facilitator X Faculty representative ><>< Family counselor Feeder school visitor ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< ><>< File clerk 98 Former classroom teacher GPA calculator >4>4 Guidance curriculum implementor, evaluator, and reviser Homeroom visitor Honor roll manager Implementor of guidance curriculum Interventionist Liaison between home and school Like-mother Maintain copies of report cards Manage and distribute progress reports >4>4 >4>4 Mediator Member of educator team Member of professional organization Monitor and/or document deviant student behavior Monitor and report chronically truant students Monitor students during non-classroom times Open house host Organizer and conductor of student orientation Paperwork Participant in school activities PDS participant Problem-solver Processor of student progress reports >4>4>4>4 >4>4>4 Pseudo administrator Quasi administrator Record keeper Representative to various committees Research participant Role model Schedule students >4 >4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4 >4>4>4>4>4 >4>4>4>4 >4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4 School resource >4>4>4 Service deliverer Source of school information Staff facilitator Student advocate Substitute or part time administrator Substitute teacher >4>4>4 >4 Teacher >4>4 >4>< Teacher confidant X Teacher helper X X Teacher trainer X Teaches values X Key to a = documents b = counselors c = administrators d = teachers expressed perceptions of what school counselors do and ought to do with and for them. In many cases counselor role expectations are synonymous with counselor role performance. Counselors are expected to do what it is they are seen doing. Sean Clark. It is a common practice at MXMS for counselors to distribute report cards to parents on Parent Visitation Days. Sean, an academically successful thirteen- year-old Afiican American seventh grader, mentioned this counselor duty when he told me "report cards is another reason to see your counselor. You gotta go there to get your report card" (recorded interview, 4/7/92, p. 1). Sean saw himself as a good student, and report cards as a reward. He happily associated his counselor with report card distribution. On the other hand he had seen misbehaving classmates sent to their counselor's office, and "get kicked out" (suspended from school). Responding to the question, "When and why do students see their counselor?" Sean mentioned the following counselor firnctions: "talking to" students who misbehave or violate some school rule; telephoning parents of student's who have been suspended; and changing student schedules. Because Sean saw himself as a good student, he was 100 very proud to say he had not had to see his counselor once since he came to middle school. Sean's perceptions of counselor duties and responsibilities supported the image of counselor as disciplinarian, or at least as someone whose duty and responsibility it was to work with misbehaving and troublesome students. Sean's experiences confirmed the image and role expectation that counselors in his school work more with misbehaving and troubled students than with cooperative, productive, and successful students. Mr. Clark. When Mr. Clark, Sean's father, was asked to describe what counselors do, he emphasized a different aspect of counselor responsibilities. Based on his experiences, counselors should be sources of information about vocational training and careers. During a taped recorded interview (5/29/92), Mr. Clark said, "I think counselors should tell you things that you could do, like at the Skills Center (district vocational training center) " (p. 3). Currently unemployed and a graduate of Malcolm X himself, Mr. Clark wanted his son to have the educational and vocational opportunities that be (Mr. Clark) did p91 have. Mr. Clark was convinced that racial discrimination was the reason he was not given information about an option to attend the Skills Center when he was Sean's age. It was important to Mr. Clark that Sean's counselor help Sean to be in a position to secure gainful employment upon completion of his formal education. Mr. Clark felt strongly that counselors at Malcolm X have an obligation to give their counselees inforrnatien about vocational training and opportunities. This is an example of how counselor role expectations are shaped, molded, and passed fiem one generation to another. Mr. Clark's memories and perceptions of his experiences with his school counselors had been transposed to his son's counselor. This parent wanted and expected 101 school counselors to do for his son what he wished his school counselor had done for him. Helen Hem. Another seventh grader, Helen, was an honor roll student who aspired to be a lawyer or doctor. This African-American thirteen-year-old said, "Counselors are like principals. When the principal ain't in, a counselor takes his place." She explained that counselors "do a lot of stuff." They "do field trips, change your classes, keep your records, and do your referrals" (recorded interview, 6/14/92, p. 2). These are the jobs she had seen or heard that counselors do. When asked to explain referrals, Helen said, "Where you get in trouble - like talk back to the teacher, be fighting or anything - just wont be quiet; laughing and stuff" (6/14/92, p. 3). In her classes Helen had noted that students who displayed these behaviors had been "referred" to a counselor's office. Asked who she would go to see if she had a problem, Helen explained she would go to see the principal. Asked if school counselors are important, Helen immediately nodded her head and said yes. "They keep your records and all that" (p. 4). Helen's sister, a high school student, had a problem with her middle school transcripts. Her middle school counselor helped her resolve that problem. Knowledge of this counselor assistance contributes to Helen's perception of counselor's role. She saw counselors as handlers of student records, as clerks. Helen's meetings with her counselor had only involved discussions about her schedule, but like Sean, she had heard of classmates who have been "kicked out" by their counselor. For Helen, unless there was trouble or questions about a schedule or some other school record, the school counselor is not a person she wanted or expected to see. 102 She had been told that counselors have the power and authority to suspend and expel students from school. For this African American thirteen-year-old honor student who said she loved school and doing school work and who had dreams of becoming a lawyer or a doctor, a referral to a counselor means trouble, and is an allegation of misbehavior. Counselors help to rid schools of misbehaving students. Ms. Hem. A single mother of two daughters (Helen, and a high school freshman), Ms. Henry was very active in the schools that her daughters attended. She knew all of her daughter Helen's teachers and counselor by name. When asked what counselors do, Ms. Henry spoke about her most recent experience with Al Jones, Helen's counselor. She was not in agreement with Mr. Jones' recommendation that Helen go on an overnight field trip to a local university. She supported Helen’s decision to stay home and celebrate her thirteenth birthday instead. Ms. Henry realized that counselors do many things. She said they work a lot with kids who are in trouble and having problems -- like fighting. While experiences with Mr. Jones had been pleasant for the Henry family-- arrangements for field trips to a university, and schedule changes-there was an awareness that the majority of counselor responsibilities and duties deal with record keeping and kids who misbehave and/or have been referred to them. N_i_1_g_s_. Additional student comments about counselor roles and firnctiens were made by Niles, a thirteen-year-old African American special education seventh grader. When asked why students go to see their counselors, Niles shyly answered that he didn't know. But, within a few seconds he quietly added, "To get a job, or if they have a problem. They need help or are ready to go to another school" (recorded interview, 103 6/8/92, p. 1). This sounds like Niles expects counselors to help him with problems and troubles, to find employment, and to transfer from MXMS to another middle school or high school. In his unsuccessful search for employment, Niles had been told to see his counselor. After more questions about his counselor, Niles explained that he (Niles) met regularly with the school social worker. He added emphatically, "I don't talk to no counselor" (recorded interview, 6/8/92, p. 2). Wondering about Niles experiences with school counselors, I asked if he had ever been referred to his counselor. He answered, "Oh yeah. Probably [for] talking - I got kicked out" (p. 3). Niles expected to be sent to his counselor if he was in trouble. But, if he wanted help with a problem and someone to listen to his side of the story, he went to see the school's social worker. Through interactions with his counselor and school social worker, Niles believed counselors to be disciplinarians and record keepers. While he had been told that school counselors could help him secure employment, he questioned this role, because his counselor had not yet helped him find a job. For students and parents, counselor role expectations are closely related to counselor role performance. Counselors' roles are generated from what they were seen or somehow known to do, Table 7, column e. Students and their parents see school counselors as disciplinarians, record keepers, substitute administrators and teachers; potential sources of information about jobs for students, careers, and higher education; and planners and chaperones for field trips. They have knowledge about school "stuff," and are accessible, versatile ancillary school personnel whose responsibility it is to orchestrate communication between "the school" and its consumers (students and Table 7 Counselor Roles 104 According to Students and Parents (Documents, Counselors, Administrators, and Teachers) COUNSELOR ROLES b Academic adviser Administer and interpret standardized tests and inventories X X Administrator Administrator-once-removed Advisor-Advisee advocate Advisor-Advisee participant Advocate Arbitrator Arrange and conduct parent conferences Arrange field trips >4>4 Caring listener >4>4 Certified professional Change students’ Schedules Chaperon field trips >4>4 Child advocate Classroom visitor Clerk Collaborator >4 >4 >4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4 >4>4!5 College counselor Community leader Community member Community resource Compile, verify, and distribute report cards Conduct student orientation >4>4 Consultant Contact for referrals Coordinator Counselor Counselor for regular education students Counselor for special education students >4>4>4>4>4>4 Disciplinarian >4>4>4>4 >4>4>4>4 >4 Document conferences Effective communicator “Everything,’ >4 Expel students >4 >4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4 Facilitator 105 COUNSELOR ROLES Faculty representative Family counselor >4>4G- Feeder school visitor File clerk F orrner classroom teacher >4>4>4>4 GPA calculator Guidance curriculum implementor, evaluator, and reviser Homeroom visitor Honor roll manager Implementor of guidance curriculum Interventionist Liaison between home and school Like-mother Maintain copies of report cards Manage and distribute progress reports >4>4 >4>4 Mediator Member of educator team Member of professional organization Monitor and/or document deviant student behavior Monitor and report chronically truant students Monitor student academic performance >4>4>4 Monitor students during non-classroom times Open house host Organizer and conductor of student orientation Paperwork Participant in school activities >4>4 >4>4>4 >4>4 >4>4>4 >4>4 >4>4>4>4 >4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>4>46 PDS participant Principal Problem-solver >4>4 Processor of student progress reports >4>4 Pseudo administrator >4>4>4 Pseudo-parent Quasi administrator Record keeper Representative to various committees Research participant >4>4>4>4 Role model Schedule students >4 School resource >4>4>4 Service deliverer Source of school information 106 COUNSELOR ROLES Staff facilitator Student advocate Substitute or part time administrator Substitute teacher >4>4>4 Suspend students Teacher Teacher confidant Teacher helper Teacher trainer >4>4 >4 >4 >4>4° Teaches values Vocational/career/job counselor Key a = documents b = counselors c = administrators d = teachers e = students and parents parents). The specific nature of that communication varies with students and parents' experiences. Midland Universig PDS Personnel At the time of this study the school and university were in the third full year of their professional development partnership. Faculty and students from MXMS and Midland University claimed to be working together to improve teaching and learning at MXMS. In this final section on role definers and counselor audiences, there is data from Midland University faculty and graduate students who were affiliated with MXMS during the time of this study. 107 For purposes of this study, the university PDS staff included the chairperson of Midland’s Teacher Education Department, area and building coordinators, faculty, and graduate students from the College of Education engaged in PDS efforts at MXMS. Their perceptions and definitions of counselor roles and functions, and duties and responsibilities were seen through lens that accentuated and supported teachers concerns and interests. Teacher Education Department Chaimrson. Dr. Arbor was the chairperson of the Teacher Education Department at Midland University. In terms of proximity to the informants of this study, her interactions were mainly with Midland University faculty and graduate students. She had few, if any, interactions with faculty, students and parents from MXMS. When asked about MXMS counselors, she said she imagined they perform traditional duties, like scheduling, personal and academic counseling, and worked with students who have severe problems. However, these are not the jobs she felt they could and should do. She said, "Counselors haven't been able to do the job they're prepared to do in schools" (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 1). Here prepared meant "trained" as well as "ready." As an administrator responsible for educating educators, Dr. Arbor talked about counselor roles in terms of relationships and consistencies between counseling theory, training, and practice. Her perception and explanation of the problems facing school counselors exemplified her specific professional interests as chair of the Teacher Education Departrnent--the problem with counselors is that they are not doing what it is they have been trained to do. 108 On one hand, Dr. Arbor claimed, I've been one of the people who has encouraged the involvement of counselors in Professional Development Schools because I think they can have a tremendous impact. I think that their involvement needs to be different from the traditional role of counselors. (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 1) On the other hand, she said, "I've felt for a long time that teachers, perhaps, would be among the best counselors" (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 1). These ideas seemed inconsistent or conflicting at first, but Dr. Arbor rendered them compatible with her suggestion for a compromise. A team approach to working with students was her recommendation to best meet the counseling needs of students like those in MXMS: I see counselors being members of teams, working with teachers and professionals as teachers, I mean - regular education teachers and counselors are working together with a set of youngsters I would imagine the counselor can help work with the children an_d with the teacher. (recorded interview, 6/29/92, p. 1) Dr. Arbor proposed this practice as a means of addressing the problem of the large numbers of students for whom counselors are responsible. With a caseload of about 350, "there's no way that you can get to know those youngsters teachers with 150 students probably get to know those students better because they at least get to see them every day" (p. 4). A recommended counselor-student ratio is between the ideal 1:100 and the maximum 1:300 (ASCA, 1988). This teacher educator's resolution of what began as a school counselor's dilemma evolved to a solution that incorporates teachers. This is an example that supports the notion that for the chairperson of Teacher Education, an important aspect of the role of a school counselor was to not only work with students, but to work with adults who work with students, especially teachers. 109 The following dialogue shows Dr. Arbor's frank ideas about the need for change in what school counselors do: (I = Interviewer, A = Dr. Arbor) I: If tomorrow there were no counselors at any schools, what would be the greatest loss? A: Right now? 1: Right now. A: From the outside, I don't think it would be a great loss. While qualifying her opinion (as a non-school level educator), Dr. Arbor said that as they currently perform their roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities, the disappearance of school counselors from schools would be no great loss. The thought here is that whatever counselors are doing in schools is of little or no consequence or significance. This line of thinking is critical, condemning, and fatal. It has been mentioned in the literature by Hohenshil (1987) and Kaplan and Geoffrey (1990). They discussed the ramifications of the exclusion of school counselors from the current education reforrn movement. These authors discussed the need for counselors assertively to address certain topics like accountability. School counselors need to publicize their role potential and role performance. In other words, they need to inform their audiences about what it is they are capable of doing. When asked what the role of school counselors could and should be, Dr. Arbor enumerated characteristics of school counselors whom she had known and found to be effective. She said they were "helpful, fiiendly, and caring, available and accessible, 110 advocates, mediators, mentors, who went that extra mile. They also delivered services to teams of educators and students" (recorded interview, 6/29/92, pp. 2-4). Based on previous experiences, expectations, and goals for teachers Dr. Arbor discussed teacher-centered definitions of the roles and functions of school counselors. She felt that current roles and functions of school counselors are ineffective and need to change. Her discussion of ideal school counselor roles included an emphasis on a team approach to the delivery of services to students and teachers in keeping with PDS philosophy and goals. She suggested that counselors work with teachers to lower the ratio of adults to students to implement "counseling" interactions. PDS Coordinator/Cluster Leader. Next in the University PDS partnership hierarchy was Dr. Joseph. Professor, PDS coordinator, and cluster leader were descriptions that she used to describe her professional responsibilities and involvement at the University. She described PDS as an opportunity to explore change when she said, It can be a place for counselors to push on our stereotypes about all of this separation and to talk seriously about how we might work together and actually have an impact on each other and our students. (recorded interview, 6/18/92, p. 5) This concern about teacher-counselor separation was an affirmation that for Dr. Joseph there is some sense of competition or at least separation For Dr. Joseph, an important part of the roles and functions of school counselors is to be actively involved in PDS activities and to use a team approach to work with and help students. Dr. Joseph admitted, "I don't know what counselors at MXMS do" (p. 7). But, traditional counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities as she described them include scheduling kids, dealing with student crises through remediation and intervention, lll making decisions and recommendations for placement of students, and implementing programs designed to change student behavior. One of Dr. Joseph's criticisms of the traditional counselor role was that they separate and isolate counselors from teachers, and ironically fiom large numbers of their students. She said, I think school counselors ought to take a position and say what they have to contribute counselors are like teachers in a sense. They've got to redefine their roles. But, there is no one in the schools advocating for them. I don't think that they [don't] want to do things differently - they [don't] have the leadership at the district or at the school levels to provide support for doing anything I think they need to assert themselves to get into other roles and not just make suggestions about scheduling and things like that - really take some positions about being a high paid clerk. (recorded interview, 6/18/92, pp. 3-4) Ideally then, counselor roles and functions are not only to work with members of their school setting to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning, but also to advocate for themselves. In keeping with the PDS expectations, Dr. Joseph said counselors need to "somehow build a scholarly position" (p. 7) to support arguments for support of changes in their roles. Dr. Joseph emphasized the need for counselors to assert themselves in efforts designed to improve their status, reputation, image, working conditions, effectiveness, accountability, and professional future. Both Drs. Arbor and Joseph saw themselves as teacher advocates and educators. Beth saw a need for counselors who support the idea of counselors as members of teams working with teachers and other education professionals to deliver services to students. Dr. Arbor talked about how this arrangement would allow counselors to help teachers and students. She said nothing about benefits for counselors. However, Dr. Joseph's description of teacher-counselor team efforts included language that emphasized mutual benefits. She talked about counselors and teachers working "together and actually 112 hav[ing] an impact on each other and our studen " (p. 5). Both saw counselors as helpers, but, if their examples are indicative of perspective, Dr. Joseph was more broadly focused than the Dr. Arbor. Dr. Arbor was singularly focused on teachers, while the Dr. Joseph considered teaming as an opportunity for mutual benefits for teachers app counselors. Transposed to perceptions and definitions of the role of school counselors, there are two interpretations: 1. school counselors as teacher helpers, trainers, and facilitators; or 2. school counselors as coworkers, coplanners, and cobeneficrarres in tearnrng experiences with teachers. MXMS-PDS Building Coordinator. The PDS building coordinator for MXMS, Dr. Carr is an Afiican American. She saw her role as "irnplementor of PDS activities bringing resources together, serving as a facilitator in the community to carry out plans and ideas related to PDS" (recorded interview, 3/3/92, p. 4). Even though she visited MXMS regularly, Dr. Carr seldom interacted directly with members of MXMS's counseling department. Her perceptions and descriptions of their roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were shaped and influenced by previous experiences with school counselors, by her observations of MXMS counselors, and by counselor visibility and participation during PDS meetings and activities. Other sources of information were remarks Dr. Carr heard from other PDS personnel, and school faculty, staff, students and parents. Dr. Carr described counselors as faculty members who "interact with kids, teachers, and teacher educators" (p. 12). They "can be resources for information about the community, are trained to work with people in terms of social-emotional 113 problems," and sometimes are "called on to accompany teachers on trips with kids" (fieldnotes, 2/20/92, pp. 1-3). In her opinion, school counselors separate and isolate themselves. Even so, she believed they care about and can and usually do work well with kids. They also handled student programs/schedules and enrollment changes. Too much counselor time is devoted to doing student schedules, she felt. She said a great deal of counselor time is spent "dealing with kids that are disruptive in class and kids who have referrals" (p. 3). No, or limited, interactions with school counselors is the trend for these University PDS faculty. Related to this, each felt counselors isolate or separate themselves fi'om members of their audiences. In counselor-counselee audience relationships these university PDS administrators placed the onus for initiating interaction on counselors. Their role expectations for counselors were based on how their perceptions of traditional counselor skills could be used to respond to and alleviate the needs of counselor audiences, especially teachers. Dr. Carr's counselor role expectations illustrate this. She expected school counselors to: 1. be more helpful to others to resolve problems and see things differently; 2. assist learning that's going on in school; 3. help to create a positive school environment; and 4. be more involved in PDS. She saw increased counselor participation in PDS programs, plans, and activities as a means to accomplish these goals. Her ideal school counselor assertively facilitates education reform in his or her school. Once again, even though there are areas of counseling that needed attention and improvement, school counselors are expected to 114 help, assist, and support others. Dr. Carr felt the counselors could help themselves by helping others. PDS Universig Collaborator. While Drs. Arbor and Joseph interacted mainly with university based PDS personnel, Dr. Long's involvement was with both school and university faculty and students. Formerly a high school teacher, Dr. Long, a white professor at Midland University, led subject matter teams of seventh and eighth grade MXMS faculty and graduate students in innovative explorations to improve teaching and learning. During an afternoon interview in her office on campus, Dr. Long was pleased to have the opportunity to reflect aloud about her perceptions and experiences. Assuming a relaxed posture, she smiled and said, "How often does anybody come and ask us what we think" (recorded interview, 2/17/92, p. 1)? Dr. Long was surprised when she heard her name as a prompt during the word association part of the interview. After a quick "Oh God!" she smiled; made a few rhythmic sounds with her month, an audible open-mouthed sigh; and softly smacked her lips before she spoke with reflective deliberation: I guess - thinking about my role as educator in the context of PDS and being a teacher collaborator - I think there are some things that I know - that I can help teachers who are curious. (recorded interview, 2/17/92, p. 5) In other words, Dr. Long saw herself as an experienced and knowledgeable resource for teachers who are inquiring about some aspect(s) of their professional lives. Other conversations with Dr. Long emphasized her belief that until educators have questions and are curious about some aspect of their profession, change and therefore improvement can not occur--and that professional curiosity may take a while to deve10p. 115 She said she did not feel she had seen that curiosity in MXMS counselors. On more than one occasion during our interview, Dr. Long indirectly compared counselors and teachers by extending theories and perceptions she held about teachers to school counselors. Before this interview, Dr. Long acknowledged that she had given very little thought to MXMS counselors and their roles. Engaging in a conversation about them piqued her curiosity. She said, "I'd be curious to know how they see themselves" (p. 4). By her own theory, this interview laid groundwork for Dr. Long to experience a change of perception and or opinion about school counselors. Because Dr. Long's interactions with MXMS counselors were limited, her perceptions of counselor roles and ftmctions were restricted. There were two sets of diametrically opposed criteria she used to describe school counselor: 1. those she respected and those for whom she has lost respect; and 2. those who were helpful to teachers, and those who got in the way of what teachers would have liked to have done. Dr. Long gave a stereotypical description of the school counselor for whom she had lost respect. He or she had exchanged a restrictive and bothersome classroom for the freedom and stress-free working conditions of counseling: no predetermined daily schedule or duties such as teaching classes, or monitoring halls and lunch rooms; arriving at school late and leaving early with no student work to evaluate after school hours; drinking coffee, reading newspapers, and doing crossword puzzles at will; arranging a conference period immediately before or after lunch in order to have leisurely off-campus midday meals; and never responding to teachers' requests for information about students. 116 Her description of intended counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities were generated from characteristics of respected, helpful counselors, who, she said, 1. do more than scheduling; 2. are compassionate as they respond to and serve students and teachers; 3. are well acquainted with their counselees; 4. conduct individual and group therapeutic counseling sessions; 5 . treat students holistically, dealing with the whole range of aspects of adolescent life; 6. have the expertise to work with families; and 7. conduct vocational and career counseling. (pp. 4-5) Dr. Long expected school counselors to be humanely responsive to the needs of both students and teachers. Her descriptions of counselor role represented a mixture of her professional roles and experiences of classroom teacher and teacher collaborator. In these roles she saw the need for counselor intervention to enhance teaching and learning. As a group, the University PDS faculty viewed its counselors through a PDS lens. That lens was sensitive to and supportive of attitudes and behaviors that directly connected with and supported teachers, as well as recognized, promoted, and contributed to PDS philosophy, goals, and growth. In essence, the roles and firnctions of MXMS counselors are to work with all members of the educational community as indigenous facilitators and community and cultural resource persons. There are also expectations for school counselors to be enrissaries, that is, to facilitate, mediate, and arbitrate communication between university and school members, as well as assertively initiate communication between themselves and all of their role definers and members of their audiences. 117 PDS Counselor Study Group Coordinatpr. An Afiican American Assistant Professor at Midland University's College of Education, Dr. Dale was a practicing psychologist, the coordinator of the Counselor Study Group at MXMS, and PDS building coordinator at two elementary schools which fed into MXMS. If Dr. Long was a teacher collaborator, Dr. Dale was a counselor collaborator. Dr. Dale's descriptions of the roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities of school counselors supported her claim that "there is a threat of extinction with school counselors" (recorded interview, 5/13/92, p. 13). In her Counseling Study Group End of the Year Report for 1991-1992 School Leap, she discussed two pairs of categories of counselor roles: 1. real and ideal; and 2. institutionalized and intended. (p. 4) "Real and ideal" referred to counselors' actual and exemplary roles, while "institutional and intended" referred to school district expectations, and those expressed in literature representing the counseling profession. In her mind, Dr. Dale saw counselors' real roles as managers, clerks, record keepers, and technicians. On one occasion she said, The services that they [counselors] provide have a lot more to do with management kinds of things as it has impressed me, than they do with actual counseling services. More technical kinds of things, more - to be specific, handling student schedules; handling student records; problem solving. They are more in a disciplinary responsive kind of responsibility. (pp. 4 - 5) To create the ideal school counselor, Dr. Dale would "remove all clerical and technical kind of work" (p. 14) in order to "change the roles and responsibilities of counselors" and to "facilitate counselors being counselors to children and not [doing] 118 paper and schedule kinds of tasks" (p. 12). She added, "We are so entrenched in a responsive mode that we don't have time to dedicate ourselves to present systemic kinds of things" (fieldnotes, 6/17/92, p. 36). She explained, I have been very concerned about the fact that education, especially those of us in urban education, go to great length to try to bring support services there to the school for kids. But, for some reason or another, we have not shifted out of the paradigm that we have individuals already in the school who can provide some of those services. And yet we don't restructure ourselves to allow them to do that. We would prefer to keep them doing the kinds of tasks we have them doing, whether or not it is related to their own discipline. And bring other individuals in, and other kinds of services in, and that's not to say that counselors alone can handle all of the support service the kids need in the school. By no means. No. But they are a tremendous resource, and I do not think that we are maximizing them, and that we are using them to their greatest advantage. I think it is a great loss. (recorded interview, 5/13/92, pp. 10-11) Literature supports these ideas. Herr (1986) supports these ideas in his discussion of four indices that suggest a bleak future: 1. literature, 2. reduced numbers of school counselors, 3. professional organizations ignoring school counselor lay-offs and reductions in forces, and 4. comments of those in and out of the field. In spite of their conclusions that school counselors' unique skills are widely and commonly ignored and overlooked, Podemski and Childers (1987) optimistically advocated an examination and definition of counselor role as a problem solving approach. Dr. Dale's definition of counseling reflected her role conception and was consistent with her expectations for counselors. She said, "Counseling is facilitating individuals in their own change process" (p. 8). She described an ideal role for urban school counselors by saying they ought to be "individuals who provide mental health services to school children" (p. 8). As far as Dr. Dale was concerned, the intended roles and functions for counselors include being proactive mental health practitioners, child 119 advocates, school counselor advocates, community leaders, as well as participants in professional development activities. Graduate Students. A number of graduate students fi'om Midland University's College of Education worked as collaborators and consultants in the classroom with MXMS faculty. This section is a compilation of data about some of their perceptions and definitions of school counselor role. Because none even knew MXMS counselors' names, their perceptions were not solely based on criteria from experiences and interactions with MXMS counselors. One graduate student was a high school teacher, in addition to being a parent and a PDS consultant. If the order in which she mentioned her PDS responsibilities is any indication of how she prioritized her roles, being a PDS consultant and graduate student took precedence over being a high school teacher and parent. Another explanation was that this individual was responding to the setting of the interview and recency of experiences. The interview took place on campus of Midland University, ending just minutes before this student had to attend a class. She acknowledged her lack of direct contact and experience with MXMS counselors. Her opinions and comments about school counselors were based on peer interactions at her high school work site and on observations at MXMS. Based on her experiences with coworkers, friends, and acquaintances who were counselors, she concluded that school counselors do not do much of anything. This assumption was in agreement with Dr. Arbor. In this graduate student's words, I know that counselors I've dealt with in high school where I teach - I talk with them about actually doing some counseling with kids that I find are troubled in classes and think, "Well, can you take them [students] aside and talk with them? Give them a place to go with some of their stuff?" And all too often the response I get is, "I wasn't trained for that. I don’t know how to do that." and I don’t know whether they are or not. (recorded interview, 2/ 12, p. 4) 120 Counseling students is an important aspect of this teacher-and graduate-student's perception of counselor functions, duties, and responsibilities. When her expectations were not met, she questioned counselor efficiency, accountability, competency, and ethics. Her experiences with high school colleagues had influenced and prejudiced her perceptions of all counselors, even those at MXMS, with whom she admittedly had limited first hand experiences and knowledge. The one most often mentioned topic related to counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities was scheduling. F or example, one graduate student said that when she wanted to locate a MXMS student, she went to a counselor's office. She said she knew counselors are responsible for making and keeping student schedules (fieldnotes, 2/10/92). Another graduate student who had grown up in Centerville saw very little difference between what school counselors do during the time of this study and what they did when she was a junior high school student. Remembering her days as a junior high school student, she said scheduling was a priority for counselors "back that many years age, and I think it hasn't changed" (recorded interview, 2/19/92). A third graduate student put student scheduling in a category with other kinds of student records--report cards, progress reports and PGR data. She suggested this work could be done by a receptionist, so that counselors could be counselors (fieldnotes, 1/24/92). All informants who were graduate students said the traditional role of school counselors included a great deal of "paperwork," "record keeping," and "paper shuffling." All graduate students in this study admitted having limited knowledge of and interactions with school counselors at MXMS. Their perceptions and definitions of 121 school counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities often included references to issues of isolation and comparisons of school counselor duties and functions to those of administrators and teachers. Some graduate students thought counselors intentionally isolate themselves, while others share a part of the responsibility for meeting and getting to know fl MXMS faculty. Based on an ideal role characteristic, Evaraiff (1963) strongly suggested counselors initiate relationships with members of their audiences. Regardless of who initiated the relationship, many times perceptions and definitions of counselor role were influenced by introductory encounters and experiences. Carey and Garris (1971) described this as "preconditioned counseling role" (p. 323). That is, due to some early set of experiences and perceptions an individual determines all counselors to function similarly and have the same or similar role conception and performance. Whether complimentary or critical, PDS personnel perceived counselors in an urban Professional Development School to be “ designated helpers” in that they wanted counselors to help teachers (to help students), help students, and empower themselves. Table 8, column f summarizes some of these counselor roles as record keepers, advocates, teacher helpers, schedulers, problem solvers, high paid clerks, and managers. Summg The expressed roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities of school counselors in a specific urban PDS middle school were diverse and numerous. In this study informants' perspectives and role conceptions directly contributed to how counselor role was described, that is, how role expectations and role performance or behavior were perceived 122 Table 8 Counselor Roles According to Professional Development School Personnel (and Documents, Counselors, Administrators, Teachers, and Students and Parents) ROLES a b d e f advisor tests inventories X X Administrator Advisor-Advisee advocate Advisor-Advisee Advocate Arbitrator and field listener Certified ><><><><><><><><><><>< field Child advocate Classroom visitor Clerk Collaborator counselor leader member resource , and distribute cards Conduct student orientation Consultant Contact for Coordinator Counselor Counselor education students Counselor education students Creator school environment X X ><><><><><>< ><><><><><><><>< Document conferences Effective communicator “E 1 students Facilitator F Fam counselor Feeder school File clerk Former GPA calculator ><><><>< ><><><><><><>< 123 COUNSELOR ROLES , evaluator, Homeroom visitor Honor of Interventionist home and school Like-mother cards and Mediator Member of Mental Mentor Monitor and/or document deviant student behavior Monitor and truant students Monitor student academic Monitor students non-classroom times house host and student orientation PDS Problem-solver Processor Pseudo administrator Record to Research Role model Schedule students School resource Service Source school Staff facilitator advocate or time administrator teacher eacher eacher confidant eacher eacher eacher trainer ><>< ><><><><>< ><>< l24 COUNSELOR ROLES T interventionist V V Key a = documents b = counselors c = administrators d = teachers e = students and parents f = PDS personnel and reported or portrayed. The three counselor role definers-documents, counselors, and counselor audiences--shared the basic assumption that a school counselor was a faculty member who should be a "designated helper." All informants felt counselors could be more effective and efficient as educators. But, all agreed that the ideal role of a counselor in a PDS is to be supportive, facilitative, helpful, and assist in the complex process of teaching and learning. Based on former experiences, perspective, and orientation of the role definer this moniker was translated differently. Examination and review of relevant national, state, and local counselor professional documents, school district and building documents, as well as PDS reports, clearly revealed that a counselor in this specific urban setting is expected, on one hand to counsel, consult, and coordinate with students, parents, and school faculties in order to help educate students. On the other hand, the absence of local documents like a counselor job description, and failure to mention counselors in district and building missions statements, paved the way for a number and variety of interpretations of 125 counselor role. Another example of documentation omissions was the absence of references to counselors in the Holmes Group Reports (1986, 1990), even though the local PDS counseling study group reported detailed findings about roles for school counselors. Documentation of what counselors did and ought to have done depended on the referenced document. In this study school counselors saw themselves as professionals expected to help everyone to do some part of everything that occurs in their school community. For each counselor informant or role definer, role conception differed from role performance. Informants described role conceptions that are more ideal than real role performances. Role conception focused on proactive direct services for students, whereas, role performance was more varied, reactive, and many times focused on non-counselor tasks. This distinction resembled Wrenn's (1968) counselor role categories of (1) counselor as specialist, and (2) counselor as generalist. The counselor specialist concentrates mainly on the student in individual and group situations. The counselor generalist is "widely available to the total school population and attempt[ed] to possess some knowledge of the total school program” (p. 108). The third and final role defmer for this study was counselor audiences. As a group administrators, teachers, students and parents, and PDS personnel saw counselors as resources and tools they could use to accomplish their goals. To administrators counselors, are managers, clerks, and quasi-administrator; to teachers they are substitutes, former cohorts, and disciplinarians; for students and parents they are substitute administrators and teachers, a bridge connecting school and home, and sources of information about vocational and academic opportunities for students; and for PDS 126 personnel counselors are emissaries, either real or potential links to the entire school setting and community, as well as real or potential supporters of and participants in PDS efforts to restructure and improve teaching and learning. Chapter VI SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND REFLECTIONS Chapter VI contains a synopsis of this study of counselor role in an urban Professional Development School. This is followed by recommendations for future related research and practice. Lastly, I discuss my own reactions to and droughts and feelings about the process, findings, and conclusions of this study. Summa_rv_ Problem and Need Role definition has historically been a problem for school counselors. In urban areas throughout this country some particularly life threatening situations and conditions have called attention to a critical need for a clearer understanding of school counselor roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities. Even so, today as numerous education reform plans and programs are initiated, and in spite of overwhelming student needs for counselor services, the problem is allowed to persist. Educators, colleges of education, and educational researchers have ignored exploring the lack of clarity associated with the role of school counselors. There have been few efforts to link research to education l27 128 reform in order more clearly to explain and define counselor role, even though it is the most frequently researched and documented topic in the field of counseling and guidance. The lack of clarity associated with the role of school counselors has been and continues to be a persistent dilemma for counselors and their professionally significant others. This study specifically addressed these issues. we The main purpose of this study was to examine and describe expressed perceptions and definitions of counselor role in an urban Professional Development School (PDS). As a model for education reform the PDS scheme was a particularly appropriate component for this study because of its focus, principles, and philosophy. Theoretically, PDS is an inclusive and collaborative research based plan that seeks to include all members of an educational community to improve teaching and learning in schools. It was designed and implemented by the Holmes Group, a national consortium of deans of colleges of education. In order to communicate its priorities, goals, philosophy, and principles, the Holmes Group published three reports: Tomorrow’s Megs in 1986, Tomorrow’s Schools in 1990, and Tomorrow’s Schools of Education in 1995. The following are some of the principles detailed in these reports: 1. create effective learning communities and partnerships, 2. commit to equity in education for all, 3. promote learning for all persons in PDS partnerships and learning communities, 4. connect colleges of education to K-12 schools, 129 5. conduct longitudinal studies to improve teaching and learning, 6. promote teaching and learning for understanding for a_l_l children, 7. invent research based solutions to education related problems, 8. contribute to education policy, 9. make colleges of education accountable to the educators they train and the publics the educators serve, and 10. improve the effectiveness of colleges of education. In spite of, and contrary to, these very clear and concise principles, PDS researchers have avoided recognizing and addressing the existence of school counselors and their problems with role clarity. There is no mention of the role of school counselors in PDS strategies, research, or literature. This study used the Holmes Group precepts as a framework to research the perceived role of a counselor in an urban Professional Development School. The fundamental assumption of this empirical research is that counselor role can be understood only as well as the dynamics fi'aming and shaping it can be understood. Another assumption is that a clear, or concise, and more structured understanding of the role of an urban school counselor is preferred, related to, and can facilitate and inform less ambiguous descriptions and definitions of counselor role. It is also assumed that ultimately these research findings can positively impact teaching and learning in schools. W There were three lenses, or research survey perspectives, which determined the focus of this study: I30 1. education reform and PDS agenda in an urban schools, 2. school counselor role in an urban setting, and 3. school counselor role: definition and theory. As far as education reform is concerned the Holmes Group’s PDS ideas are consistent in many ways with previous strategies for urban education and reform in this country. They are political and reactionary. On the other hand, there are principles which claim to encourage and support participant cooperation with opportunities for collaborative input from all concerned individuals. Through the years, regardless of articulated philosophical differences, at least one outcome and practice have remained the same. School counselors have been omitted from plans for reform or change in urban settings, and there has been little mention of the role of school counselors in PDS strategies, research, or literature Historically the impetus for education reform in urban areas has been reactionary and a function of politics and economic hard times. The Holmes Group’s Professional Develop School model is no exception. While not new ideas, the PDS principles promise collaboration and partnership, very attractive features in urban problem-stricken education communities. Theoretically the PDS model is designed and intended to provide means for higher education authorities and public school faculties simultaneously to plan and facilitate exemplary schools and opportunities for effective teaching and learning for teachers as well as students. The Holmes Group’s three reports outline and enumerate principles, models, visions, priorities, and goals to make this happen. The needs mentioned in the Holmes Group reports are generally accepted; however there are some questions and criticism about the commitment, sincerity, l3l motivation, and ethics of the authors. In particular, Hohenshil (1987) writes about a noticeable absence of attention to school counselors in PDS literature and research. Counselors seldom mentioned and never specifically included in Professional Development School research. Another author, Herr (1986), refers to school counselors as the “ missing ingredients” in plans for education reform. Interestingly, urban schools are examples of education reform. The school guidance movement and urban education are closely connected and characteristically similar. One of the first settings for both education reform and the guidance movement was urban schools. The Industrial Revolution demanded changes in educational goals in this country. From an initial role of helper, focused on appropriate career information and decisions, to today's multidimensional demands for a constellation of assistance, school counselors have wanted and continue to strive to be seen as sources of information, support, and assistance for students, faculty, parents, and others. Through the years the most noticeable change in school counselors' roles has been the variety and number of duties and functions they have assumed. The literature claims that at the inception of their professional careers, school guidance workers began by mainly helping students with vocational information and decisions, but today school counselors are expected to handle the full scope of responsibilities and records for student academic, personal, and clinical counseling. This more recent variety and number of roles and functions has contributed to counselor role ambiguity, confusion, mutation, and even conflict. Next is a survey of relevant definitions and theories for the term "counselor role." Professional and theoretical explanations indicated that school counselors and their 132 roles and functions have been described and defined in terms of the services, assistance, support, and help they provide,as well as their environment, training, professional organizations, and professionally significant others. For purposes of this study counselor role was equated with occupational identity, and theoretically defined as a dynamic, cultural-specific, multifaceted, and reciprocal concept that has four components or constructs. The four components of role are 1. role conception (what the counselor believes he or she should do), 2. role expectation (societal and cultural mores), 3. role performance (what the counselor does professionally), and 4. role acceptance (counselor job satisfaction). (Allport, 1961) When these components or constructs are inconsistent or incompatible, role conflict results. Research Methods and Setting Qualitative research methods were used for this study. Observations, interviews, and document reviews were the procedures used to collect data fi'om three categories of role definers: relevant documents, the counselors themselves, and counselor audiences. Data were initially collected and analyzed in search of patterns about the role of a school counselor in an urban PDS. As the study progressed a shift to a more focused set of research questions evolved. The fundamental research question for this study was What are expressed perceptions and descriptions of the roles, functions, duties and responsibilities of a middle school counselor in an urban Professional Development School? 133 In other words, what are counselor roles? What do they do, and what are they expected to do? The setting or milieu for this study was the dynamic physical and social milieu of a midwestem US urban city that until the 1970's was a thriving manufacturing center. At the time of this study, however, the city was economically depressed with a declining population. The specific school site for this study was a PDS middle school with a 99 percent Black student body. The over-fifty member faculty was headed by one white male and two black male administrators. The faculty had almost an equal number of black and white teachers. The two full time counselors in this study were a male and female Afiican American. In the city/school district where this study took place, individuals responsible for district and building counselor leadership and supervision had neither the professional counselor training, experience, nor job titles that implied or warranted direct responsibility for or authority over school counselors. The university with which this urban middle school was in partnership was located about fifty miles away. It had an enrollment of over 40,000 students and a well respected college of education. Data were collected from a variety and representative numbers of documents and informants. Initially referrals determined selections, later decisions were made based on needs to fortify, complete, cross-reference, and confirm data previously received. Pseudonyms were used to respect the privacy and protect the identity of research participants. I34 Findings This study found that counselors were described by their role definers using a wealth of terms. These terms are presented by role definer categories in Table 3, (pages 127-130). Each column displays the role expectations of one of the six categories of the role definers used in this study. This table illustrates the number, variety, and wide diversity of roles assigned to counselors. Without exception, counselors were described using terms that denote a wide variety of service providers. These terms were similar in many respects, but varied in others. While “help” is a common thread that connects these perceptions and expectations, role definer needs and perceived power are elements that characterize and differentiate them. “ Help” varies and is dependent on the perceived needs of the role definer. Therefore counselor role is voluminous, varied, diverse, and at times, in conflict. Official documents such as ASCA's Role Statement: The School Counselor (1990) and the 1992 StateSchool Counselor Association's State Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Progra_rn defined counseling as a complex helping process. Here again school counselors were described as helpers. Documents referred to them as certified professionals, counselors, coordinators, and consultants who worked with and assisted students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other school counselors. Membership in professional organizations such as the ACA and appropriate affiliates was included as expectations for school counselors. While the state level document discussed and enumerated major job responsibilities, key duties, and even non-guidance duties for school counselors, a generally articulated goal in all documents was that school counselors should help students develop into productive and responsible citizens who are personally, socially, and vocationally capable. Other texts reviewed for this study included applicable school district and building mission statements; a 1991-1992 PDS end of the year report; and the summary of an informal needs assessment conducted during school year 1991-1992. Where mentioned, school counselors were described as helpers and as sources of information, assistance, and support. The district and building mission statements made no specific mention of school counselors. In contrast, the PDS end of the year report and the needs assessment report explicitly described what was expected of Malcolm X Middle School (MXMS) counselors. This is just one example of role conflict. The lack of a written school level perception of counselor role meant that the counselor role is out of compliance with, or validation of, any and all other articulated perceptions, regardless of the author or source. Parameters for counselor role were sometimes defined by omission. In these cases definitions and details about their roles are left unprotected, undefined, and therefore susceptible to the interpretations, needs, demands, and requests of counselor audiences. The absence of a counselor job description and failure to mention counselors in district and school mission statements permits an unbridled conglomeration of expectations and interpretations of counselor role at MXMS. These expectations are not always consistent and compatible. For example, on one hand, the Holmes Group Reports ignored school counselors, but on the other hand the PDS sponsored counseling study group reported detailed expectations about the school counselor role. In this study, I36 documentation of meaning for the role of school counselors varied within and between categories of role definers, and depended on the referenced document. The school counselors in this study saw themselves as identified helpers, that is, they expected to be called on for some kind of assistance from everyone and with everything that was a part of their school. In terms of role components, role expectations or counselor audience demands are numerous and varied; role acceptance or job satisfaction is low; role conception or counselors' internalized professional values and goals for themselves are diffuse, but student centered, and more proactive than their role performance; while role performance or counselor behavior covers a wide range of behaviors and is reactive. There is a striking conflict of focus and time. In other words, counselors’ time is not spent completing tasks they felt are priorities. For counselor audiences--administrators, teachers, students and parents, and PDS personneluschool counselors are ancillary tools and resources, useful as means to accomplish their own (counselor audience) goals. Perceptions and descriptions of counselor role depend on the role conception and goals of the counselor audience member. Administrators described counselors as managers, clerks, and quasi- administrators. Teachers described school counselors as substitute teachers, former cohorts, counselors, colleagues, confidants and disciplinarians. To students and their parents or primary caregivers, school counselors are quasi-administrators and teachers, liaisons between school and students’ home, and sources of vocational and academic information. Midland's PDS personnel saw school counselors as emissaries to the MXMS faculty and Centerville community at large, as well as latent mental hygienists. 137 Whether a description in a document, in a self-description, by another counselor, or by members of their audiences, counselors are expected to aid, assist, improve, relieve, substitute for, and serve. In a word, they were seen as helpers who are expected to provide assistance. I chose the term “ helper” to summarize and communicate this concept. Because this concept was so widely held and imparted to counselors, I chose “ designated.” It appeared that school counselors’ audiences had uniformly determined counselors are naturally earmarked to serve the members of their community in any school related matter. I use the term “ ambiguous” to communicate the inconsistencies, lack of clarity, confusion, and even contradictions that are evident within and between groups of counselor role definers’ perceptions and articulations. “ Ambiguous designated helper” is the term I created summarily to characterize the documented descriptions and articulated perceptions of counselor role in a specific urban Professional Development School setting in the Midwest. The findings of this study emphatically support the conclusion that within this specific urban setting, school counselors were categorically perceived, described, and expected to be “ helpers,” therefore the term “ designated helper.” The interpretation of this researcher-ascribed term varied and was connected to role definers' role conceptions or perceptions of their own roles and needs. Discussion and Recommendations The shared expectation that school counselors are “designated helpers” evokes a series of issues for counselors and their role definers. To clarify and resolve this situation, further inquiry and examination are necessary. Counselors are designated as 138 helpers because fl role definers, including counselors themselves, agree - through their actions and interactions -- that counselors can, in fact, be expected to help all role definers. This is neither professional nor possible and impedes counselor role clarity. "Counselors cannot be everything to everybody and expect to bring some professionalism to their work" (Boy, 1968, p. 224). In their frantic effort to respond to their audiences' multitude of diverse cries for help, support, and assistance school counselors potentially abdicate their professional status and power, if they react impulsively instead of selectively intervening. A reactionary stance means trying to respond to a_ll demands and requests for assistance, even those which are in no way related to their professional training and expertise. Consequently, school counselors taking this position perform and are described as quasi- and pseudo- professional educators instead of as professional school counselors. Neither they nor their audiences are satisfied with the outcomesuan indication of a need for change. How can counselors clarify their roles? The concept of school counselors as “designated helpers” has a number of implications. Given the results of this study, what are some of the problems? School counselors cannot continue to permit their role performance to be defined solely by their audiences. In order to be effective and accountable professionals, they must help themselves and assume leadership positions and roles in the orchestration of a meaningful reform process. Change is inevitable. If school counselors are to secure and maintain professional positions in schools of the future, they too ms; change. My intention is not to blame counselors for the current problems with their role, but instead to encourage those in PDSs to use their skills and leadership in a potentially 139 opportunity-rich environment to join in plans and activities as a way to insure they have a voice in what changes occur in their schools. There are many reasons why the PDS can be an ideal vehicle to transform and clarify school counselor role. Basically, the Holmes Group Reports’ emphasis on collaboration, partnerships, sharing, viewing all members of an educational community as learners, and establishing improved teaching and learning as a priority goal acknowledges, endorses, and supports inclusion. If genuine and sincere, PDS leaders must rethink implementation of the Holmes Group Reports and include all educators, not just classroom teachers. To insure integrity of the Professional Development School plan, it is imperative that actions be taken to measure compliance of PDS site leadership. It is important that PDS site activities exemplify and comply with the Holmes Group Reports -- their principles, philosophy, theory, and goals. “ Designated helper” is not a description of an effective professional educator. To resolve this situation we need to think seriously about questions, policies, practices, and programs that will clarify counselor role. Two fundamental questions are: What are the basic and fundamental issues that permit and support counselor role conflict? How can counselor role be clarified? To begin, we need to think seriously about the following questions: Generally, I. Are school counselors generalists or specialists? What are their role priorities and parameters? 2. How can “ designated helpers” help themselves to clarify their role? fee». 14o ,- . How can school counselors collaboratively redefine and restructure their roles so that their roles are more clear and meaningful to their audiences? . The counselors in this study viewed their professional efforts and involvements (role performance) through a time-sensitive lens. How can plans and strategies to reform counselor role be implemented so that they are perceived as investments and opportunities to access valuable resources, and not as additional demands on their time? To organizations and institutions: 1. Are counselor education programs, training, roles, and functions consistent and compatible with each other and with the ASCA Role Statement? . Is the ASCA Role Statement (and other counselor documents) realistic and relevant for all school counselors? In colleges of education, are counselor education and training appropriate and sufficient (vis-a-vis the diverse educational settings in this country)? Definitively, 1. What is effective school counselor leadership in a collaborative educational setting such as a PDS? 2. What is the PROFESSIONAL role of a school counselor in an urban PDS? These are only a few of the important, but unanswered questions that are related to counselor role clarification in a Professional Development School. There are some school counselor variables which are not specifically mentioned in this study, but which, if considered, could affect and complement the focus and content of these findings. The following items are recommendations for action: 1. Colleges of education involved in PDS activities should investigate and brainstorm how they can facilitate truly holistic and collaborative approaches to education. 141 2. The Holmes Group needs to reconsider and revise its limited focus on classroom teachers. 3. Professional organizations which represent school counselors should assume assertive leadership positions and outline collaborative plans to research school counselor role, function, duties, and responsibilities. 4. District and building level mission statements for school counselors are needed. Collaboratively written documents would facilitate communication and commitment to clarify and reform counselor role. 5. "We tend to think of the core activity of schools as instruction” (Pallas, Natriello, & Riehl, 1991 , p. 24). This assmnption singularly focuses on teachers and has the tendency to isolate educator efforts to help students. A more cooperative and holistic approach to education and schools should be fostered by colleges of education when they train students to educators. An important aspect of the Holmes Group Report that can facilitate clarification of counselor role is its feature of linking research to reform. With this in mind, the following research projects may be considered: 1. Dietz (1972) found that counselors were not involved in research because they did not understand it. A research project could investigate this presumption in a PDS setting. 2. Koch (1972) found that the trouble with counselors is “ counselors don’t counsel.” This premise as a basis for research could look at the relevance and importance of accountability in clarifying counselor role. 3. This study duplicated in different setting (suburban or rural PDS) would address the issue of the generalizability of its findings and conclusion. r42 1 Reflections I will use the final part of this report to present my responses to a set of questions that were important to me. They framed my involvement with and contributions to this study. The following inquiries were a part of my effort to self-debrief. Specifically, I asked myself, 1. Why and how did I chose the topic of this study? 2. What did the process and product of this study mean to me? What did I learn about myself and the topic? 3. What is a logical next step? An enormous amount of me is invested in this study. The study of school counselor roles and functions is symbolic of my professional and personal interests and commitments. I was sincerely intrigued, yet frustrated, by what I perceived as widespread misuse of school counselors, especially in view of the catastrophic and life threatening conditions in urban schools. I felt compelled to intervene. This study represented my efforts to intervene at an academic level. My understanding and interpretation of PDS philosophy and principles made it particularly attractive as a vehicle or strategy for school counselor role reform. I imagined a Tomorrow's School Counselors a nationally organized and endorsed collaborative strategy to restructure school counselors' roles so they truly are focused and clearly defined “ designated helpers” and not quasi- and pseudo-educators. The process and product of this study had specific personal and professional significance for me and my family. As a final requirement for an academic degree, the completion of this study helped to bring closure to a longtime goal. Lessons learned were 143 j ‘ many—patience, fortitude, perseverance, and some measure of tolerance. I forced myself to deal with the two-sided coin that had enthusiasm and commitment on one side and bias on the other. The sincerity and excitement which invigorated and sustained my physical and emotional energy and commitment to pursue the collection and analysis of data simultaneously fueled my biases. For example, the enthusiasm that energized my participation in interviews and fieldnotes turned to discounting mistrust when informants criticized members of my chosen profession, school counselors with whom as individuals I strongly identified ethnically and professionally. Repeated and concerted efforts to listen dispassionately to tapes and read transcripts allowed me to focus on context as well as content, hopefully enriching analyses and findings. Triangulation came alive. Encouragement from the director of my dissertation to chronicle my emotional reactions gave me permission to acknowledge, record, and process how my biases impacted my participation in this study. Given the extent to which perceptions and descriptions of counselor role differ and vary, a logical next step is a similarly focused study that would examine and investigate counselor role conflict. Needs and counselor role conflict problems are evident. Research is needed to illuminate details so that proposed problem-solving solutions address, attack, and dissolve school counselor role ambiguity. GLOSSARY Designated helper Holmes Group Professional Development School Role Role acceptance Role conception a a“ “at... Glossary term coined specifically for this study to capture and communicate the researcher’s summary of role definers’ perceptions of the role of a school counselor in an urban PDS; counselor from whom a large number and variety of sometimes unclear or contradictory assistance and support is expected, requested, and demanded. national consortium of nearly one hundred research universities intended to collaborate with local educational communities to establish professional development schools; partnership goals include implementing research based improvements in teaching and learning. (PDS) collaborative model for research based education reform designed and implemented by the Holmes Group; a process intended to be cooperatively determined by a set of university educators with the members of the specific Professional Development School. identifying social function; what one does or is expected to do; normative multifaceted concept that is learned, reciprocal, and inclusive; consists of four elements: role expectations, role conception, role acceptance, and role performance. attitude of the school counselor vis-a-vis the counselor’s cognitive schema for “ school counselor”; reflects professional self-esteem and job satisfaction. collective perceptions that the counselor and others have of counseling, along with what each category of role definer believes counselors should be and do professionally. 144 Role conflict Role definer Role expectation Role performance 145 inconsistencies and/or contradictions within and between four elements of role: role expectation, role conception, role acceptance, and role performance. anyone or anything which gives meaning to, identifies, or determines role. societal and culturally specific mores; collection of what the counselor and his/her audiences or publics want and expect. what the counselor does; job related behavior and tasks; how time is spent in the professional setting. 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