Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Watson, Joshua C.

Committee Member

Palmer, Charles

Committee Member

Gainer, Donna

Committee Member

Underwood, Joe Ray

Committee Member

Hall, Kimberly

Date of Degree

8-15-2014

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Student Counseling and Guidsnce

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology

Abstract

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

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/21109

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