Student Perceptions of School Counselor Roles and Functions

Abstract

The Education Trust, a non-profit organization that works towards the high achievement for all students, emphasizes the importance of five transformed school counselor roles: leader, advocate, collaborator, counselor and coordinator, and data utilizer. This study examined high school students' perceptions of the roles of school counselors and the functions associated with those roles. A 20 item questionnaire was administered to students at two urban high schools. The questionnaire instructed the students to rate the importance of 15 school counselor functions based on the five school counselor roles. Furthermore, the students rated the importance of five noncounseling functions that school counselors often perform (e.g. test administration, registration). Overall, the students rated the five school counseling roles as important, indicating that students perceive the transformed roles as significant. However, the students also rated a few noncounseling functions as important, demonstrating that misperceptions of the school counselor's role still exist.