Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study examined the self-efficacy of school counselors’ college knowledge in the college process. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five characteristic factors: school counselors’ knowledge related to the college application process, systems advocacy, direct services with disadvantaged populations, direct service with special populations, and coordination of college access events. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both school counselors’ individual characteristics (e.g., years of experience, race/ethnicity, time engaged in advising, conducting lessons, and using technology and data) and ecological factors (e.g., school level, rate of college-going culture) were significant predictors of school counselors’ self-efficacy for promoting college knowledge. We discuss implications for equity and school counselors’ training.

Keywords

college knowledge college process college readiness school counselor school counselor self-efficacy secondary school counseling

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American School Counselor Association. (2014). ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College and Career-Readiness Standards for Every Student. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/MindsetsBehaviors.pdf

American School Counselor Association. (2017). The school counselor and career development. ASCA position statements. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/PositionStatements/PS_CareerDevelopment.pdf

American School Counselor Association. (2019). ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.).

Bandura

(1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191

Bandura

(1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37(2), 122–147. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.122

Bandura

(1995 ). Self-efficacy in changing societies. Cambridge University.

Bodenhorn

Wolfe

E. W.

Airen

O. E.

(2010). School counselor program choice and self-efficacy: Relationship to achievement gap and equity. Professional School Counseling, 13(3), 165–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X1001300304

Bridgeland

Bruce

(2011). 2011 National Survey of School Counselors: Counseling at a crossroads. College Board Advocacy Center. http://www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/counseling_at_a_crossroads.pdf

Bryan

Moore-Thomas

Day-Vines

N. L.

Holcomb-McCoy

(2011). School counselors as social capital: The effects of high school college counseling on college application rates. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89(2), 190–199. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2011.tb00077.x

10.

Bryan

Young

Griffin

D. C.

Henry

(2015). Preparing students for higher education: How school counselors can foster college readiness and access. In DeVitis

J. L.

Sasso

(Eds.). Higher education and society (pp. 149–172). Peter Lang.

11.

Carnevale

A. P.

Smith

Strohl

(2013). Recovery: Job growth and education requirements through 2020. https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/tll0zkxt0puz45hu21g6

12.

Cervoni

DeLucia-Waack

(2011). Role conflict and ambiguity as predictors of job satisfaction in high school counselors. Journal of School Counseling, 9(1). http://jsc.montana.edu/articles/v9n1.pdf

13.

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Erlbaum.

14.

Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. (2015). 2016 CACREP Standards. https://www.cacrep.org/for-programs/2016-cacrep-standards/

15.

Curry

J. R.

Milsom

(2017). Career and college readiness counseling in P–12 schools (2nd ed.). Springer.

16.

Dynarski

Scott-Clayton

(2013). Financial aid policy: Lessons from research (No. w18710). National Bureau of Economic Research.

17.

Engberg

M. E.

Gilbert

A. J.

(2014). The counseling opportunity structure: Examining correlates of four-year college-going rates. Research in Higher Education, 55(3), 219–224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-013-9309-4

18.

Fitzpatrick

Schneider

(2016). Linking counselor activities and students’ college readiness: How they matter for disadvantaged students. Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED567227

19.

George-Jackson

Gast

M. J.

(2015). Addressing information gaps: Disparities in financial awareness and preparedness on the road to college. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 44(3), 3.

20.

Gibbons

M. M.

Woodside

(2014). Addressing the needs of first-generation college students: Lessons learned from adults from low-education families. Journal of College Counseling, 17(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1882.2014.00045.x

21.

Hair

J. F.

Anderson

R. E.

Babin

B. J.

Black

W. C.

(2010). Multivariate data analysis: A global perspective (Vol. 7). Pearson.

22.

Holcomb-McCoy

Gonzalez

Johnston

(2009). School counselor dispositions as predictors of data usage. Professional School Counseling, 12(5), 343–351. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X0901200504

23.

Holland

M. M.

(2015). Trusting each other: Student-counselor relationships in diverse high schools. Sociology of Education, 88(3), 244–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1647582

24.

Hooker

Brand

(2010). College knowledge: A critical component of college and career readiness. New Directions for Youth Development, 2010(127), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.364

25.

Hoxby

Turner

(2013). Expanding college opportunities for high-achieving, low income students ( Discussion paper 12-014). Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. https://siepr.stanford.edu/research/publications/expanding-college-opportunities-high-achieving-low-income-students

26.

Larson

L. M.

Daniels

J. A.

(1998). Review of the counseling self-efficacy literature. The Counseling Psychologist, 26(2), 179–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000098262001

27.

Lee

R. T.

Perez

A. D.

Boykin

C. M.

Mendoza-Denton

(2019). On the prevalence of racial discrimination in the United States. PLoS ONE, 14(1), 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210698

28.

Montalto

C. P.

Phillips

E. L.

McDaniel

Baker

A. R.

(2019). College student financial wellness: Student loans and beyond. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-9593-4

29.

Morgan

L. W.

Greenwaldt

M. E.

Gosselin

K. P.

(2014). School counselors’ perceptions of competency in career counseling. Professional Counselor, 4(5), 481–496. https://doi.org/10.15241/lwm.4.5.481

30.

Mullen

P. R.

Lambie

G. W.

(2016). The contribution of school counselors’ self-efficacy to their programmatic service delivery. Psychology in the Schools, 53(3), 306–320. https://doi.org/1002/pits.21899

31.

National Association for College Admission Counseling. (2010). School counselors contribute to college access and success. http://www.nacacnet.org/issuesadvocacy/LegislativeNews/Documents/SchoolCounselorsCollegeAccess.pdf

32.

Newman

Wagner

Knokey

A. M.

Marder

Nagle

Shaver

Wei

Cameto

Contreras

Ferguson

Greene

Schwarting

(2011). The post-high school outcomes of young adults with disabilities up to 8 years after high school: A report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) (NCSER 2011-3005). U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20113005/pdf/20113005.pdf

33.

Nice

M. L.

Joseph

Kolbert

Hilts

Crothers

L. M.

Kratsa

(2020). Development of the school counselor efficacy for college knowledge questionnaire [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of Counseling, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

34.

Nienhusser

H. K.

Oshio

(2017). High school students’ accuracy in estimating the cost of college: A proposed methodological approach and differences among racial/ethnic groups and college financial-related factors. Research in Higher Education, 58(7), 723–745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9447-1

35.

Owens

Bodenhorn

Bryant

R. M.

(2010). Self-efficacy and multicultural competence of school counselors. Journal of School Counseling, 8(17), 1–20. http://jsc.montana.edu/articles/v8n17.pdf

36.

Paolini

A. C.

(2019). School counselors promoting college and career readiness for high school students. Journal of School Counseling, 17(2), 1–21. http://www.jsc.montana.edu/articles/v17n2.pdf

37.

Perna

L. W.

Finney

J. E.

(2014). The attainment agenda: State policy leadership in high education. Johns Hopkins University.

38.

Perusse

Poytnon

T. A.

Parzych

J. L.

Goodnough

G. E.

(2015). The importance and implementation of eight components of college and career readiness counseling in school counselor education programs. Journal of College Access, 1(1), 29–41. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jca/vol1/iss1/4

39.

Robinson

K. J.

Roksa

(2016). Counselors, information, and high school college-going culture: Inequalities in the college application process. Research in Higher Education, 57(7), 845–868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9406-2

40.

Roderick

Coca

Nagaoka

(2011). Potholes on the road to college: High school effects in shaping urban students’ participation in college application, four-year college enrollment, and college match. Sociology of Education, 84(3), 178–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711411280

41.

Sauermann

Roach

(2013). Increasing web survey response rates in innovation research: An experimental study of static and dynamic contact design features. Research Policy, 42(1), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.05.003

42.

Savitz-Romner

(2012). The gap between influence and efficacy: College readiness training, urban school counselors, and the promotion of equity. Counselor Education & Supervision, 51(2), 98–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6978.2012.00007.x

43.

Shamsuddin

(2016). Taken out of context: Piecing together college guidance information in urban high schools. Urban Review, 48(1), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-015-0347-4

44.

Stephan

J. L.

(2013). Social capital and the college enrollment process: How can a school program make a difference? Teachers College Record, 115(4), 1–39. https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=16915

45.

Welton

A. D.

Martinez

M. A.

(2013). Coloring the college pathway: A more culturally responsive approach to college readiness and access for students of color in secondary schools. Urban Review, 46(2), 197–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-013-0252-7

46.

Woods

C. S.

Domina

(2014). The school counselor caseload and the high-school-to- college pipeline. Teachers College Record, 116(110), 1–30. https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=17600

47.

Worthington

R. L.

Whittaker

T. A.

(2006). Scale development research: A content analysis and recommendations for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(6), 806–838. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006288127

School Counselors’ Self-Efficacy in Knowledge of the College Process

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References