Assessing the Issues of Multiracial Students on College Campuses

This is a preliminary study that focuses on multiracial college students' attitudes regarding the challenges they experience on campus. Results of this study highlight counseling issues that affect multiracial college students, and how college counselors' perceptions of diversity need to be broadened in order to accommodate the rapidly growing multiracial and multiethnic student population.     

Young girls in science: Academic ability,perceptions and future participation in science

Given the lack of information in either the school counseling or the gifted education fields on how school counselors and educators of the gifted work together, research into how individuals from both professions collaborate to serve gifted students and their families becomes important. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine gifted teachers' and coordinators' experiences working with school counselors. Fourteen participants, serving in a variety of K–12 settings, engaged in interviews regarding their different experiences working with their school counselors. Five primary themes resulted from these participants' reported experiences, including educators'/counselors' training and preparation, meeting gifted students' needs through service delivery, school counselors' perceptions and beliefs, systemic barriers and facilitators of collaboration, and teacher and counselor collaborative efforts. These findings are discussed with regard to current literature on gifted education, school counseling, and professional collaboration.     

College Counselors' Perceptions of Working With First‐Year Students With Chronic Illnesses

Despite increased interest in college students' success, there has been little research regarding students entering college with chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, and cancer. This qualitative study examined 15 college counselors' perceptions of working with first‐year students with chronic illnesses. Four themes emerged from the findings: counseling preparation, interactions, counseling interventions, and needs of students. The authors discuss implications for college counseling training and practice and directions for future research.     

Adjustment in University Students Admitted by High School Recommendations as Compared with Their Classmates

ABSTRACT

Adjustment in university students admitted based on their high school counselors' or advisors' recommendation is an issue for revealing the appropriateness and fairness of the nontraditional admissions procedure. The newly-issued admissions procedure in Hong Kong has not been subject to empirical investigation. To evaluate the procedure, the present study surveyed 21 new students admitted by high school principals' recommendation and 29 of their classmates admitted by traditional means. They generated 93 cases from three waves of surveys over one year. Analysis of the data controlled for all available background and academic factors and random disturbances due to students and their groupings with their classmates. It revealed no significant effect due to nontraditional admissions on the student's grade-point-average, attachment, and adjustment in academic, social, and personal-emotional aspects. Moreover, detailed analysis discovered only a few significant differentials in the admissions effect due to background and academic factors. Thus, the nontraditional admissions procedure appears to be effective and fair.     

Counseling after Dark: Evening Students' Perceptions of Counseling Resources

Abstract

Community colleges have traditionally emphasized the role of educational-vocational counseling for students, although in recent times community college counselors seem to desire more involvement in personal-emotional counseling and to be more therapeutically oriented. This study assessed how evening community college students perceive various professional resource personnel and students' likelihood of consulting these professionals for assistance with diverse kinds of problems. Evening students' perceptions were discussed in comparison to perceptions held by day students and by students attending 4-year colleges and universities. Implications for training and the professional identity of community college counselors were also noted.     

MARKETING THE PERCEPTIONS OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S POSTSECONDARY ENROLLMENT OPTIONS PROGRAM

A vast majority of colleges and universities have provisions for admitting high school students to special college programs (Robinson & Noble, 1992). These postsecondary enrollment options programs are vital because they link local higher education to the community by actively involving high school personnel, students, and parents in planning for college. Establishing and maintaining this link presents unique challenges to educators because it must meet the needs of a diverse population. The purpose of this study was to assess how students and parents perceived a suburban community colleges’ postsecondary enrollment options program. Basing marketing strategies on these perceptions provides colleges and universities an effective means to maintain the established community link.     

Professional Development Schools: New Opportunities for Training School Counselors

The authors examine how counselor educators can become involved in professional development schools to create enhanced training opportunities for school counseling internship students. The benefits of collaboration between university and public school faculties are explored, and research opportunities are discussed. Counselor educators' expertise in research and program evaluation, combined with school counselors' pragmatic experience in dealing with real‐life issues, may promote best practices in the schools and improved training for school counselors and can set the stage for collaboration as an educational team at the preservice level.     

Relationships of Leadership Style and Burnout to Counselors' Perceptions of their Jobs,Themselves, and their Clients

Professional burnout and factors related to the burnout phenomenon are issues that frequently appear in the current literature. Empirical studies to establish the relationships between perceived burnout and pertinent personal or organizational characteristics are difficult to find, however. This exploratory study sought to investigate relationships between counselors' felt degree of burnout and their perceptions of school leadership style, themselves, their job, and their clients. It was found that leadership style in the school was related to counselor's perceptions of themselves and their jobs, but not to their views of their clients or their own potency. Further, it was found that self-reported burnout was strongly related to counselors' perceptions and that self, job, and clients were all perceived more negatively as burnout increased.     

Perceptions of School and Aspirations of Rural Students with Learning Disabilities and Their Nondisabled Peers

This study examined the school perceptions and educational aspirations of 6,599 rural high school students, a sample that included 428 students with learning disabilities (LD). Regardless of disability status, rural high school students who had negative perceptions of school had less well‐defined postsecondary educational plans and less often aspired to complete college or pursue an advanced degree. Compared to nondisabled youth, rural students with LD were more likely to have negative perceptions of school and lower postsecondary aspirations. However, students with LD who had positive perceptions of school more often planned to pursue postsecondary education and aspired to complete college or an advanced degree. Implications for research and interventions pertaining to the educational attainment of students with LD are discussed.     

Good or Bad? Peer Influences on Latino and European American Adolescents' Pathways Through School

Drawing on Sociocultural and Bridging Multiple Worlds models, this article reports 2 longitudinal studies of peers as resources and challenges for students' school performance and future planning. Study 1 examined European American and Latino students' perceptions of peers' emotional support, academic guidance, and companionship from elementary to junior high school. In both school years, most students had at least 1 friend who provided each resource. Links between resources and grades were stronger in junior high than in elementary school. As predicted, students' perceptions of peers' overall encouragement or discouragement of school were linked to English and math grades. Study 2 examined peers as challenges and resources for youth in a community college academic outreach program. Participants saw peers as both challenges and resources in reaching career goals and as greater challenges than families. High school youth in 1 cohort saw peers as greater challenges than did younger youth. Reported peer challenges and resources were modestly related to math pathways. Taken together, the studies illustrate the significance of peers as both resources and challenges to adolescents as they navigate the crucial years that will determine their college eligibility and career options.     

Community College Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Climate and Fundamental Engineering Skills

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine community college engineering students’ perceptions of their classroom climate and how these perceptions are related to fundamental skills in engineering. The study was guided by the following research question: How are community college engineering students’ perceptions of their fundamental engineering skills related to their perceptions of classroom climate? Data from a 2009 National Science Foundation sponsored project, Prototype to Production: Processes and Conditions for Preparing the Engineer of 2020 (P2P), which contains information from students in 15 pre-engineering community college programs, were examined. Measures of classroom climate and fundamental skills related to engineering were first established through an exploratory factor analysis. In order to explore differences in student perceptions by individual characteristics and by institution, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used. Results indicated that for community college engineering students, a warmer perception of classroom climate was associated with a higher perception of fundamental engineering skills. At community colleges, class sizes are generally smaller, especially compared to introductory courses at universities, and may provide a warmer climate for students considering beginning their engineering degrees. Given the diversity within community colleges, these institutions may provide an important pathway for underrepresented groups in engineering.     

Advisee‐advisor communication: An exploratory study examining interpersonal communication variables in the graduate advisee‐advisor relationship

The objective of this study was to investigate graduate students' perceptions of their graduate advisors' communication (competence, credibility, and nonverbal immediacy), and how these perceptions impact advisees' perceptions of learning, effectiveness of the advisee‐advisor relationship, and advisors' degrees of mentoring. Advisee perceptions of her or his advisor's competence and caring/goodwill accounted for 43% of the variance in advisee cognitive learning. Advisee perceptions of her or his advisor's caring/ goodwill accounted for 39% of the variance in advisee perceptions of the effectiveness of the advisee‐advisor relationship. Lastly, this study noted that the linear combination of advisee perceptions of advisor credibility and communication competence accounted for 55% of the variance in an advisee's perception of the amount of mentoring an advisee received from her or his graduate advisor.     

A Feminist Approach to Working With Internalized Heterosexism in Lesbians

This article addresses counselors' calls for more training on internalized heterosexism. Through a synthesis of the research on lesbian internalized heterosexism, the author discusses how the integration of a feminist approach can enhance college counselors' work with lesbian clients, describes 3 core feminist therapy principles, uses these principles as a framework within which to discuss relevant research on internalized heterosexism, and provides practical suggestions and clinical examples to illustrate the application of both research and feminist theory to counseling with lesbians.     

Responding to Sexual Assault Victims: Considerations for College Counselors

College counselors need to be informed of effective interventions when counseling students who have been sexually assaulted. This article applies research and theory from the general literature on counseling sexual assault victims to college counselors' work with this population. An overview of the effects of sexual assault is followed by specific implications for counseling students who have been sexually assaulted.     

The relationship between perceptions of a Chinese high school's ethical climate and students' school performance

This study examined the relationship of school ethical climate and students' school performance within the context of a Chinese high school. Gender and grade‐level differences in ethical climate perceptions were also explored. Survey data on perceptions of school ethical climate based upon the dimensions of student‐to‐teacher, student‐to‐student and teacher‐to‐student interactions and relationships were obtained from 754 students. Results of the study showed that students' perceptions of their high school's ethical climate were related to academic achievement, gender and grade level. Students' involvement in extracurricular activities and student leadership generally did not seem to relate to their perceptions of ethical climate. Based upon these findings, the school's moral education intervention programs should increase their focus on the area of teacher‐to‐student relationships and interactions and the subgroups of male students, students in higher grades and students with lower academic achievement. Implications for future research on school climate are also discussed.     

Pathways to Teaching: Latino Student Choice and Professional Identity Development in a Teacher Training Magnet Program Special Issue: Partnering for Equity

This paper reports on one component of a school-university collaborative in El Paso, Texas, to create pathways to college and the teaching profession for Latino and Latina high school students. As part of the Institute for Educational Inquiry's “Diversity in Teaching and Teacher Education” initiative (1997–2000) at The University of Texas—El Paso, the authors developed a program of mentoring, professional development, college socialization, and research activities with high school students and teachers at Riverside High School's Socratic Institute (SI), an innovative, predominately Latino teacher training magnet school. This article reports on a part of the school-university collaborative that brought university faculty and Latino doctoral students into contact with high school SI students in organized research. Through surveys and semi-structured interviews, Socratic student participants reveal what they know about teaching, how they assess and make sense of teaching practice, and how they take on and articulate their identity and emerging teaching personae. Responses reveal why these Latino students choose teaching as a career, and point to the Socratic Institute as an important pre-pre-service model for the recruitment of Latino/a students to the teaching profession and college.     

School and community factors involved in Chilean students’ perception of school safety

Identifying and understanding predictors of school safety perceptions is important due to its consequences for students. However, it is not clear what school‐related factors most contribute to explaining students’ perception of school safety, and how they relate to community‐related factors such as neighborhood safety. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors associated with Chilean elementary and middle school students’ perceptions of school safety. We used a sample of 5,455 students from low socioeconomic status public schools, and analyzed the predictive value of peer physical and verbal victimization; teacher and school staff victimization; teacher's social support; and perception of safety in the students’ neighborhoods on perceptions of school safety. Findings showed that although different forms of school violence, particularly peer physical victimization and physical and sexual victimization from teachers and school staff, contribute to students’ perception of school safety, the highest contribution came from students perceiving their neighborhoods as unsafe. In contrast, teacher social support contributed to increased levels of perceived school safety. We discuss the need for school‐based interventions that address physical victimization and engage teachers in prosocial and less punitive approaches to foster a positive and safe school climate, and in fostering school–community partnerships.     

The Banneker History Project: Historic Investigation of a Once Segregated School

The Banneker History Project was a service learning project in which students investigated the history of the Benjamin Banneker School, a segregated school that operated from 1915–1951 in a Midwestern college community. This article discusses the research these students conducted and the perceptions they adopted as a result of their work.     

THE IMPACT OF A DIFFERENTIAL SOCIAL POWER SYSTEM ON LATINOS' ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HIGH SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

The perceptions of Mexican American students’ school attitudes toward the community college and high school experiences were examined in relation to a high‐USPI (unequal social power influence) environment (higher percentage of Anglos than Mexican Americans) and a low‐USPI environment (lower percentage of Anglos than Mexican Americans). A three‐factor analysis of variance indicated significant differences in attitudes and school experiences.     

Dating Violence Among College Students: Key Issues for College Counselors

The authors present a review of literature examining dating violence among college students. They describe 6 key issues related to dating violence among college students that affect college counselors' work. These key issues relate to the incidence and prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in college students' dating relationships, risk factors and relationship dynamics associated with dating violence, and counseling issues—including related psychological symptoms and college students' reporting of dating violence to professionals.