Dissertation Defense Announcement

Allison Grabias

September 25, 2019 at 10:30 AM Ball Hall Room 301

Advisor: Stephen Zanskas

The Role and Function of School Counselors in Charter Schools

ABSTRACT: Charter schools have become a mainstream educational reform over the past two decades. Charter schools are public schools, but have autonomy to make decisions independent of local school boards. School counselors across the country use the American School Counselor Association National Model to create and evaluate their comprehensive school counseling programs. Charter schools are based on the idea of innovation and educational reform. Consequently, job roles are frequently redefined. Charter school counselors have been absent from the research. The purpose of this study was to explore the role and function of school counselors in charter schools and examine if their role and function aligns with the primary components of the American School Counselor Association National Model. Using a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, survey design, data was collected from charter school counselors in Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. Eighty-seven charter school counselors participated in the study, completing a demographic questionnaire and the School Counselor Ability Rating Scale. Descriptive statistics were used as well as ANOVAs to analyze between group differences. Findings include: 1) There is a significant difference between the Actual and Prefer SCARS scales 2) School counselors reported performing tasks related to the ASCA National Model rarely to occasionally 3)There is a significant difference between licensed and unlicensed school counselors working in charter schools 4) There is a significant difference between Elementary, Middle, and High school counselors 5) A comparison of program implementation between states found significant differences in two subgroups, curriculum and coordination 6) Program evaluation was reported to be done rarely to occasionally. Impacts of the results on the school counseling profession, professional organizations, and counselor education programs were further discussed.