Elementary and Secondary School Counselor Preparation Programs: How Different are They?

There is a paucity of current information on training programs for elementary school counselors. Also, criticisms about roles and the need for specialized training for this group are contained in recent literature. This article presents the results of a national survey that focused on the differences in preparation programs for elementary and secondary school counselors. Data on specific courses and number of required courses for elementary and for secondary counselors are included.     

Program Evaluation: A Potential Area of Expertise for Counselors

This article presents a rationale for including training in program evaluation in counselor education programs.     

Assumptions and Interpretations of the SOMPA in Estimating Learning Potential

Public Law 94–142 mandates that the assessment of handicapped students not be racially or culturally biased. A recent attempt to create a system of nondiscriminatory evaluation is the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA). Some constructs and aspects of this system, however, are highly controversial. This article focuses on one such construct, the Estimated Learning Potential (ELP). Implications for counselors' interpretation are discussed.     

A New Look at the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale

This study reexamined the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale (CERS) using confirmatory factor analysis. Results revealed a different factor structure when the instrument was self-administered.     

CACREP Accreditation Intentions

The authors discuss results of a national survey, conducted by the AACD Committee for Standards Review, of counselor preparation programs regarding their intentions related to CACREP accreditation. Programs were separated into four groups: Group 1—programs that held CACREP accreditation; Group 2—programs with definite intentions of seeking CACREP accreditation; Group 3—programs that were uncertain whether they would pursue CACREP accreditation; and Group 4—programs that did not anticipate seeking CACREP accreditation. Data were analyzed for patterns of response across groups. Size and type of program and reasons central to program decisions concerning accreditation provided focus for the study. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

博比的一毛钱

博比在他家后院的雪地里站着,感到越来越冷。他没穿长靴,他不喜欢那玩意儿,准确地说是他根本没有。他穿的胶底运动鞋已经破了好几个洞, 起不了多少保暖的作用了。博比已经在后院里呆了差不多一个钟头了。他绞尽脑汁也想不出该送什么圣诞礼物给母亲。他一边摇头一边想:“没用的,即使我有了好主意又能怎样,我哪有钱?”自从三年前他的父亲去世以后,这个五口之家就陷入了困境。不是母亲没有想办法、没有努力,可家里还是入不敷出。她在医院上夜班,但她微薄的薪水仅仅能维持家庭的基本开支。     

The longer‐term effects of reading interventions delivered by experienced teaching assistants

This study explored the responsiveness of children at risk of reading problems in Year 1 to a phonics intervention delivered by teaching assistants (TAs). Based on their non‐word decoding skills in the immediate post‐tests, 74 children were clustered together at the high end as ‘treatment responders’ (n = 49) and at the low end as ‘treatment non‐responders’ (n = 25) and were followed up at the end of Key Stage 1, 16 months after the intervention finished. The treatment‐responder group was superior in all areas of rated attainment and, unlike the non‐responders, achieved national averages in most teacher ratings of attainment. These results suggest that experienced TAs can help two out of three children at risk of reading difficulties.     

Counselling, Culture and Conformity: Some Implications for the Education of Counsellors and Others Involved in Pastoral Care

This paper seeks to explore some of the implications that recent critiques of therapeutic language have for counselling and Pastoral Care. Are we in the midst of a creation of a more caring and emotionally intelligent society or in danger of losing individual autonomy and political power by the inadvertent construction of a 'fragile self'? Does this apparent valorization of the emotional become an emotionalism that destroys autonomy and undermines our power to think and act rationally? What are the implications of the increased acceptance of the need for emotional expression: does this in turn become new conformity where the private space of the individual is policed by counsellors in the name of the state? This paper supports the observations that the new cultural trend towards giving primacy to emotional expression can have deleterious political and social effects but seeks to distinguish counselling and psychotherapy from the 'therapism' of popular culture.     

An investigation into the emotional reactions to inclusion of Ghanaian mainstream teachers

Literature is replete with evidence of considerable pressure that many mainstream teachers may experience in their bid to respond to the diverse needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities and to achieve ever better results. In this study, the results of 100 teachers from mainstream primary schools in three of the ten regions of Ghana were examined. The analysis involved five bi‐polar emotional reactions; namely: anxious/relaxed; encouraged/discouraged; confident/diffident; satisfied/dissatisfied; self‐assured/ worried. The results confirmed that in teaching children with SEN in the mainstream, teachers experienced psychological stress. On the basis of the findings, suggestions for more information about SEN, supply of resources and inter‐agency collaboration were made.