Counseling the linguistically and culturally diverse student: meeting school counselors' professional development needs.

This study used qualitative methods to investigate the challenges and professional development needs of elementary and secondary school counselors who work with linguistically and culturally diverse students and families, and their perceptions of the impact of a 9-month professional development program focused on improving school counselors' multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill.

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In schools across the United States, linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) students face dilemmas stemming from racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious discrimination; language barriers; and stereotyping. Incongruities between LCD students' home cultures and values and those of the school can result in these students disengaging from school and eventually dropping out. Linguistically diverse students may also experience academic problems due to language barriers and lack of academic preparation in their native language. Though school counselors are called on to address the diverse needs of LCD students, they frequently do so without support or the requisite educational preparation. Professional development is one means of providing school counselors with the knowledge and skill necessary to counsel LCD students, parents, and other family members effectively.

An important consideration in designing effective multicultural professional development programming is counselors' perceptions of the challenges they face in their work with diverse students. Despite its importance, we know very little about counselors' perceived challenges in this area. Nor do we know the kind of professional development school counselors believe they need to help them meet the challenges they face in counseling LCD students. Finally, assessments of professional development efforts designed to address the challenges counselors face in their work with LCD students and families are critical. Studies that address these three areas will contribute to the development of a knowledge base on which inservice multicultural professional development programs for school counselors can be premised.

A primary purpose of this study is to describe the challenges and professional development needs of school counselors who work with linguistically and culturally diverse students in K-12 public schools. A second purpose is to describe the school counselors' perceptions of the impact of a 9-month multicultural professional development effort.

CULTURALLY COMPETENT COUNSELING: CHALLENGES FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS

Research in the area of multiculturalism and school counseling has focused on counselors' perceptions of their own multicultural competence. Five underlying factors appear to be influential in school counselors' perceptions of themselves as multiculturally competent practitioners. These factors are an understanding of racial identity development, facility with multicultural terminology, multicultural awareness, multicultural knowledge, and multicultural skills (Holcomb-McCoy, 2000). Additional research indicates that school counselors feel competent in multicultural awareness and understanding of multicultural terminology, but perceive themselves as incompetent in racial identity development and multicultural knowledge (Holcomb-McCoy, 2001). Lack of knowledge of racial identity development is particularly problematic because "racial identity development has been linked to interpreting student behaviors and interactions" (Holcomb-McCoy, 2001, p. 199). Findings from these studies point to the importance of ensuring that information on racial identity development and development of multicultural knowledge are included in multicultural training.

In addition to their work with individual students and families, school counselors are frequently asked to assume responsibility for creating culturally accepting environments in their schools. Research undertaken to determine how well school counselors promoted and provided students with opportunities to develop multicultural awareness found that though most schools set aside special days to expose students to various cultures, there were not many ongoing programs to promote multicultural awareness. School counselors can be instrumental in developing and implementing ongoing school-wide programs that advocate tolerance and multicultural knowledge among faculty, students, and parents (Johnson, 1995).

A primary motivation for school counselors to seek multicultural training is the support they believe it provides in encouraging academic achievement among minority students. Counselors viewed multicultural training as important in helping them know how to prevent minority student dropout and to motivate minority students academically (Carey, Reinat, & Fontes, 1990). They also felt that multicultural training should address ways of working more effectively with families from different cultural backgrounds and improving cross-cultural communication skills and racial awareness. Counselors believed that multicultural training should also help them address their own stereotypes, cultural values, and biases (Carey et al.).

The literature on school counselors' perceptions of multicultural competence and the needs and challenges they face in their work with LCD students and families highlights general areas that multicultural professional development should address. The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC), a framework developed by Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis (1992) for professionals engaged in cross-cultural work, can also inform multicultural professional development efforts for school counselors. The MCC address three distinct dimensions (beliefs and attitudes, knowledge, and skills) of three domains (awareness of our own worldview, awareness of the other's worldview, and appropriate interventions).

Most of the research findings in this area, including the studies cited here, used structured questionnaires that rely on a predetermined set of choices. What is lacking is an understanding of school counselors' perceptions of their work as multicultural counselors from their own perspectives and in their own words. Additionally, research is needed on school counselors' perceptions of the effectiveness of inservice multicultural professional development efforts.

METHODS

The essential questions that framed this study were:

1. How do school counselors perceive the challenges they face in counseling linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) students and families?

2. How do school counselors define their professional development needs in the area of counseling LCD students and families?

3. How do school counselors, who work with LCD students and families, perceive the effectiveness of a 9-month, multicultural professional development program?

Researchers used a qualitative approach to explore, capture, and analyze participants' viewpoints relative to the three research questions posed above. The qualitative method used to address these three research questions and how data were analyzed are addressed below.

Sample and Participant Selection

Qualitative data were gathered through individual interviews with 13 of the 35 counselors who participated in a multicultural professional development program that consisted of seven monthly sessions during the 2001 to 2002 school year. The interviewees were selected from the pool of those program participants who had attended five or more of the seven sessions. The participants in this study were predominantly female, with the exception of one male participant. The majority (9) ranged in age between 40 and 60 years. The mean for age was 48 years. All participants had obtained at least a master's degree. Of the 13 participants, 10 were European American, two were Hispanic, and one was African American.

Participants' professional experience in school counseling was very heterogeneous. Forty percent of the participants had significant experience (10 to 20 years) working as a school counselor, while another 40 percent had less than 5 years of experience. The overall mean was 10 years of experience in school counseling.

Other than school counseling, the majority of the participants (9) had between 0 and 10 years of experience in education. The overall mean of the sample was 10 years of educational experience. Areas of expertise included teaching in K-12 education and special education.

The majority of the participants (7) had significant experience working with LCD students. This experience ranged from 15 to 20 years. Two participants had more than 25 years of experience. The mean for all participants was 15 years of experience working with LCD students. Four participants were bilingual counselors; three were fluent speakers of Spanish; and one was fluent in French. All 13 participants came from schools in a large, highly diverse, suburban school district.

Multicultural Professional Development Program

The school counselors in this study participated in seven interventions over the course of 9 months. Each of the interventions consisted of a didactic professional development session along with an interactive and processing component. The researchers facilitated five of the sessions and counselor educators, who specialize in multicultural counseling, conducted the other two sessions.

For each of these sessions, specific methods, group dialogue, and instructional materials were used in order to address and meet specific multicultural counseling competencies. Several of the 31 multicultural counseling competencies were integrated into each professional development session. These outcome-based learning objectives were used to assess the awareness, knowledge, and skills obtained by the participants. The sessions were conducted in this fashion to educate the participants to be more culturally competent and enable them to apply the knowledge and skills acquired.

The first professional development session was designed to address the first set of multicultural competencies, which addresses counselors' awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases. The session began by viewing a student-developed videotape from The State University of New York. It depicted a family crisis caused by a situation in school dealing with a young girl, her teacher, and her counselor. The film addressed cultural biases coupled with ineffective counseling techniques, which created serious unresolved problems. After watching the film presentation the participants were ask to react to the way the situation was handled. This resulted in a very lively discussion about the insensitivities of the teacher and the counselor towards the student and her family. Other examples of this kind of bias were shared and many suggestions were made about how that situation could have been handled with a greater understanding of the student's cultural background.

The second professional development session focused on the multicultural competencies of understanding the worldview of culturally different clients. This session entailed processing case studies of LCD students in which participants were asked to apply a framework to the cases in order to examine the factors, variables, and processes school counselors need to consider when assessing, diagnosing, and treating diverse clients. The participants worked in groups of three or four people and each group was given a different case study to process. After much discussion, the individual groups made brief presentations describing the case study situation and discussing the alternative approaches to the presenting problem. At which point, all the participants were encouraged to dialogue and provide feedback and suggestions regarding each case study. The overall evaluation of the session indicated that the participants received practical ideas about how to handle each situation. Several of the participants commented that the case studies illustrated very common situations in the schools and that the discussion had been helpful. As one counselor stated, "We never have time at school to talk to our colleagues about many of these situations that come up, and so we never get feedback on whether we handled the problem appropriately or not."

The third and fourth sessions consisted of half-day workshops conducted by a counselor educator who specializes in multicultural counseling. Both professional development sessions were designed to focus upon the multicultural competencies that develop appropriate intervention strategies and techniques to work with the LCD client. Specifically, in the third session, Dr. Patricia Arredondo addressed how in light of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, multicultural competencies for counselors can provide a strong platform for comment and interventions. She encouraged participants to examine their own beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices since this tragic event. She also provided an overview of the skills that are necessary and fundamental to becoming an efficient multicultural counselor and educator of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This session was a precursor to the more in-depth training that followed in the fourth session. In the fourth session, the multicultural competencies were discussed in light of their applicability for practice. The first part of this session dealt with discussing and learning about emotional reactions toward other racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups within a counseling setting. The second part of the session focused upon how ethnicity, culture, and race affect counseling and teaching and how our own worldviews impact our work with students and clients. The final part of this session provided hands-on practice in utilizing the multicultural competencies in counseling and teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students.

The fifth session addressed the multicultural competencies of understanding the worldview of culturally different clients. This session was comprised of a panel presentation conducted by three women. Each of these women came from different cultures and talked about their experiences with their children in the schools. After all these women had spoken, there was an open question and answer session in which the participants were able to ask additional questions of the panelists. The differences in each culture were interesting to hear about, but the issues were very similar. The lack of open communication seemed to be the biggest issue for all of them and as one panelist commented, "If the teacher or counselor had just called and told me what was happening with my child I could have explained why they might be upset." The participants' evaluation of this session indicated that hearing directly from these three parents was extremely helpful and insightful for them.

The sixth session focused upon developing appropriate intervention strategies and techniques to work with the LCD client. In this session, participants were given an opportunity to have an open dialogue regarding their frustrations and issues around multicultural issues. They discussed the challenges of dealing with multiple cultures and not having enough information about any of them. They voiced serious concerns about their own ability to be able to respond appropriately to a variety of different situations. They shared some of their personal stories in which they felt they had not done all they needed to do. The issue of time or lack of time came up again and again. There seemed to be a consensus among the participants that many of these multicultural issues required more time than they had to give. However, in the final analysis they seemed to be grateful to have such diversity in their schools and saw the value for everyone involved. The written evaluations after this session indicated that having a chance to talk about participants' frustrations and concerns was helpful and reassuring in that it confirmed that they were doing a good job in spite of the time constraints.

The seventh session focused upon the multicultural competencies pertaining to counselors' awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases. The session provided an opportunity for each participant to share with the rest of the group their experiences in their individual schools during this professional development program. Participants shared anecdotes about experiences they had with students and families from diverse cultures in their schools and how they handled these situations differently as a result of the training. Participants also reflected on new insights they gained regarding their own beliefs and behaviors and how these may impact their work with students from other cultures.

Data Source

A standardized open-ended interview protocol was used to generate the data source. Open-ended interviews allow researchers to obtain data from the participants' perspectives and thus contribute to understanding how participants understand and make sense of their world (Fontana & Frey, 1994). The common interview protocol was used to ask the same questions in the same order for all participants, thus reducing interviewer effects and bias (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993). Development of the protocol occurred in three stages. First, each member of the research team who had also developed the professional development program wrote interview questions separately. Next all questions were pooled into one set and reviewed by the team for overlap, consistency, and relevance to the areas of inquiry. A final set of questions was decided on and reviewed again, both by the team and by the independent interviewer, a doctoral student in counseling. After final revisions, two members of the research team met with the interviewer to review the protocol and discuss interview technique.

The independent interviewer who conducted all 13 interviews was not part of the research team that provided the professional development program. Each interview lasted from 30 to 45 minutes. All interviews were audio taped, then transcribed.

The interview protocol questions and accompanying probes can be divided into four areas and involved 15 distinct questions. The first set of questions asked for background information on the interview participants. These questions pertained to number of years working in counseling and education, the number of years working with linguistically and culturally diverse populations, and information on prior multicultural training received in their counselor preparation programs.

The other three areas pertained directly to the research questions. All questions consisted of a main question and a set of probes to elicit further discussion and exploration of the topic. Three questions were designed to collect data on the participants' perceptions of the challenges they faced in working with LCD students and families. One question asked participants to describe how their work involved multicultural counseling, then asked them to describe a specific multicultural counseling experience, how they felt about that experience, what went well, and what they would have wanted to happen differently. A follow-up question then asked them to describe the most challenging aspects of counseling diverse students and families. Finally, participants were asked about the influence of culture, ethnicity, and race on their comfort level in counseling LCD students and families.

Four questions elicited information on the participants' perceptions of their professional development needs relevant to counseling LCD students and families. One question asked them to discuss why they decided to participate in the multicultural professional development program. They were also asked to describe ways other than the professional development program they developed their capacity to counsel diverse students and families, and what skills and knowledge they most needed to develop in this area. They were also asked to provide recommendations for future multicultural professional development.

Two open-ended questions and one structured question (the only such question in the protocol) were used to understand how participants perceived the professional development program. One question asked about the activities/speakers that had the most impact on their developing awareness, knowledge, and/or skill in counseling LCD students and families, and the other asked about any perceived changes in their practice that resulted from any of the program's activities or speakers. The structured question asked participants to rate the professional development on a scale of one to five on the overall contribution of the program to their capacity to counsel LCD students and families.

Data Analysis

Cross-case analysis was used to determine recurring themes across the 13 individual interviews. To aid analysis, data were first chunked into those segments that pertained to the research areas of inquiry and clustered by question. Numbered codes that identified respondents were attached to the data chunks so that data could be retraced to the original respondents. Each team member independently analyzed the data by defining and tallying data according to dominant themes within and across protocol questions that pertained to the three areas of inquiry. Dominant themes were those that had numerical preference in the data.

The research team met to discuss emerging themes on several occasions and to discuss any inconsistencies in theme development. As patterns emerged, the researchers came to agreement about deleting, collapsing, and redefining thematic categories. Data were then re-ordered so that they were clustered according to theme and by dominance within the overall set of data for each research question. The data were then reviewed a final time by the research team, and subsequently used for final interpretation and discussion of results.

RESULTS

Challenges

Achieving a certain comfort level and competency in working with the families of linguistically and culturally diverse students and understanding cultural differences in students across a variety of cultures were the two areas that respondents indicated were most challenging in their counseling work in diverse elementary and secondary schools. These two areas are discussed below.

Counseling linguistically and culturally diverse parents and families. Prior to discussing the specific challenges the respondents face in their work with LCD families, it is important to understand how they define their work in this area. Most of the school counselors in this study were concerned with acculturating LCD students and families to the dominant school culture. Many described their work as helping newly arrived immigrant families "figure out the hurdles or differences they encounter here." The respondents understood that differences between the U.S. school system and the school systems of other countries created difficulties for immigrant families and that an important counseling role was to help families "interpret" the U.S. school system. Others discussed their work as "making school more welcoming for multicultural families." They developed programs to bring LCD families into the schools and means for disseminating information to these families.

Finally, most participants felt that working with LCD parents and families was more complex than working with LCD students and required specific understanding of family dynamics and family structure across different cultures. For example, one respondent indicated that most of her work involved parents and "dealing with parents is different than dealing with children. The children here ... they know the rules, and they know the teacher, and they know how things work. But when parents come in they don't have to abide by certain rules."

Specific challenges the respondents encountered in their work with LCD parents and families included insecurities about the cultural appropriateness of their interactions with parents and families; helping parents understand and interface with an educational system that views school and parental responsibilities differently than the educational systems in their home countries; language barriers; and assisting families with economic challenges they encounter in a new country.

A majority of the respondents conveyed some discomfort in their work with LCD parents and families. Most of this discomfort stemmed from feeling unsure about whether certain actions, mannerisms, questioning behaviors, and interventions were culturally appropriate. One respondent described her discomfort in the following manner:

      I feel uncomfortable sometimes when I ask
   parents a lot of questions about things to get
   background, I feel like I'm prying--being
   aware that I am speaking to parents of a different
   culture. I'm not sure how I come off to
   them, and that's something that I am still not
   sure of because I know internally I have the
   best intentions and I want to help them and I
   want to help their child, but I'm concerned
   that sometimes in my comfortableness with
   that fact that I overlook the things that I can
   do to set them at ease that are culturally
   appropriate for them and for their child.

Most of the respondents believed they lacked sufficient knowledge of the cultural views and beliefs of many LCD parents and families. Recent influxes of immigrant students from various Middle Eastern and African countries have brought counselors face to face with cultures previously unknown to them. Of the respondents who gave examples of cultures other than their own, with which they felt most or least comfortable, most mentioned feeling least comfortable counseling individuals from the Middle East. On the other hand, they felt most comfortable with individuals from Hispanic cultures. In their comments, the respondents indicated that their lack of knowledge of and personal and professional experience with individuals from Middle Eastern cultures were partly responsible for their feelings of insecurity in working with Middle Eastern parents.

Though most of the school counselors in this study felt it was their responsibility to help LCD parents and families acculturate to mainstream U.S. culture, and particularly the educational system, they experienced difficulty in helping parents understand the school's role in educating children and its expectations for parents. "Parents from other countries often believe that the school has such authority and so they come to us to redirect their children. They want us to deal with issues that we in our culture consider parenting issues, not within our job."

A related challenge for the counselors in this study was addressing the dissonance that arises between parents and their children when the home culture and the dominant U.S. culture collide. One participant commented:

      The kids have connected very much to the
   culture here and want to be able particularly in
   a social way to do what other students do.
   They want to be able to date and go to parties
   and things like that, and that's just not an
   acceptable part of the parents' culture and that
   becomes a real problem for the kids and for
   the parents. In a couple of cases the students
   have just reached the point where they have
   run away from home to avoid the conflict.

A third area of challenge for the counselors in this study was language. Many respondents expressed frustration over the language barriers they experienced in working with LCD parents and families. When working with non-English speaking parents or family members, respondents felt frustration at not being able to directly communicate in the native language. Other frustrations included not having ready access to translators or having no access to translators for less-commonly spoken languages. One counselor described variations in how translators interacted with the counselor and the client. "Some translators do very good and just do translating. Other ones take on the counselor role, and they want to be the ones to be real involved, so that becomes a problem."

At times, counselors were dependent upon the child to translate. Those who discussed this situation felt that using the child as a translator was entirely inappropriate, but when emergencies occurred, and they needed an immediate line of communication with parents or family members, they relied on the child to translate. Many counselors expressed a need to learn another language or to become more proficient in a second language; however, they also expressed concern that learning another language would not alleviate the need for translators since their school served students from many different language backgrounds.

Finally, several respondents discussed the challenge of working with families who were experiencing both acculturation difficulties along with economic challenges. Tied to the issue of working with families who have economic difficulties is the challenge of helping them feel comfortable enough to seek help from other agencies where they can get the counseling/guidance they need.

Understanding cultural differences in students across a variety of cultures. The second major area of challenge expressed by the counselors in this study was understanding and working with students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Respondents described their work within this challenge area as "being aware of differences in multicultural children" and helping students who are "trying to live in two cultures." As with their descriptions of their work with LCD parents and families, the respondents indicated that their role was to help LCD students adjust and transition to the educational system in this country. Interestingly, only one respondent felt it was her role to help mainstream students understand and "be sensitive to LCD students." Specific challenges the respondents encountered in attempting to understand and work with students from a variety of cultural backgrounds included feelings of insecurity about working with students from varying cultural backgrounds and finding time to learn about different cultures.

Feelings of insecurity in working with LCD students surfaced on a number of occasions in the interviews. One counselor's response sums up this challenge:

      I don't understand all of the cultures as
   comfortably as I feel with the Hispanic
   groups.... I'm not always sure I'm reaching
   them [students from other cultural backgrounds],
   and I'm not always sure I should
   reach out as much as I do to some groups,
   because I'm not really sure it's appreciated.
   That's what's challenging--I'm not sure. I'm
   not really sure.

When working with LCD students, counselors found it difficult to distinguish characteristics and behaviors that might be due to cultural differences from those that might be due to individual differences. One respondent remarked about the difficulty of "keeping it all straight, walking that fine line between this might be a cultural thing, I need to check on that and clarify versus that's a 10-year-old boy thing." For several of the respondents, part of the challenge was being able to "step outside" their own cultures. Respondents realized that a first step in understanding other cultures was awareness of their own cultural values and biases.

Finding the time to learn about other cultures was overwhelming for many of the respondents in this study. One respondent stated, "There's just so much to learn, to know, and there's not enough time to do any of it." Another respondent felt that she would be a better counselor and the students would benefit more "if we had more time to really get to know more about the culture and understand. But in the school setting it's brief. The kids come in and out and we have to help them as much as we can." In summary, the major challenges school counselors in this study faced related to assisting culturally and linguistically diverse parents and families and attempting to understand and work with students from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

School Counselors' Professional Development Needs

The respondents' expressed professional development needs corresponded to the challenges they faced in their multicultural counseling work. The two areas in which the respondents expressed the most need for professional development were working with LCD parents and families and increasing their knowledge of specific cultures.

In the area of working with LCD parents and families, participants' major concern was learning how to communicate to LCD parents the importance of their involvement in the educational system. One respondent commented, "Over the years we've been ... trying to figure out how can we get these parents to buy into the importance of being a partner in their child's education." Respondents also wanted to develop skill in determining the needs LCD parents have for their children. "It's very easy to assume that what I think their kids need is what they think their kids need." This counselor viewed professional development that enhanced her skill to balance LCD parents' needs for their children with those of the school as important.

The other area in which respondents expressed a need for professional development was increasing their knowledge of specific cultures. Several respondents said that professional development focused on providing specific information on different cultural groups would enable them to feel more comfortable interacting with students and families from these groups. Some counselors specified cultures they wanted to learn about. These included various Middle Eastern cultures, African immigrant cultures, African American culture, and North and South Asian cultures.

A number of respondents specified the kind of understanding they wanted about different cultures and the types of activities that would allow them to explore issues relevant to different cultural groups. One respondent suggested that professional development should focus on how personal experiences "fit in with the culture at large and the history." Another suggested that professional development provide not only information about different cultural groups, but also particular culture-based counseling strategies. Several respondents indicated that they would benefit from guest speakers who represent different cultures. Another indicated that not only were guest speakers important, but that "opportunities to interact with people from the cultures and have them talk more from a personal basis" were critical.

Respondents also expressed a need for professional development that allowed them to share experiences with one another. Participants in this study asked for opportunities to interact with counselors from different schools to share their experiences working with LCD students. Also important were opportunities to more formally share their collective knowledge of counseling LCD students, parents, and families by designing presentations, role plays, and forums for disseminating resources.

In sum, counselors in this study voiced a need for professional development in areas directly relevant to the primary challenges they believed they face in their work with LCD students, parents, and families. Specifically they requested guidance in "translating" the culture of the U.S. school system to LCD parents in a culturally appropriate manner. They also requested guidance in understanding and relating to specific cultures, and they had specific suggestions for the kinds of cultural information and skill they believed would be helpful. Finally, they provided insight into methods of transmitting that information and skill that would be most meaningful.

Perceptions of the Effectiveness of a Multicultural Professional Development Program

Overall the participants in this study rated the multicultural professional development program highly. On a scale of one to five, with five being high and one being low, all participants rated the program at a level four or above. In terms of the type of activity used, most participants felt the guest speakers who represented and spoke about their own cultures were the most useful component of the program. Several participants also commented positively on the use of case studies. One respondent remarked that taking a framework [supplied by a guest speaker] and applying it to cases helped her think more "intellectually rather than intuitively about situations."

Participants were also asked to discuss the impact of the multicultural professional development program on their awareness, knowledge, and skill in working with LCD students, parents, and families. Overall respondents believed the program impacted their knowledge and skill more so than their awareness. They described the training as providing a "bank of information" and as influential in "causing me to think about things differently." One respondent said she was more conscious of the "academic, social, and emotional pieces of the LCD students." She also felt that she would be more "proactive as opposed to reactive" in her work with diverse students. Others commented about their increased levels of confidence in counseling diverse students.

Several participants discussed how the program had impacted how they work with LCD students. One participant described how she modified a mediation session for students, based on what she had learned in the professional development program: "It made me decide that instead of just starting with mediation, I'm going to start with where the problems occur and have them look at cultural differences among them and then look at where their similarities are." Another participant indicated that she had used activities from materials provided to all participants at the start of the program. In sum, the study participants believed the multicultural professional development program had a greater impact on their knowledge and skill than on their awareness.

The next section of this paper examines the results of a pre- and post-survey designed to assess the impact of the program on participants' multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill. These results are compared with the self-reports of the program's impact provided in the above section.

Extent of Increases in Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills: Survey Results

A paired-samples t-test was performed to learn if the 9-month professional development program had a significant impact on the counselors' perceptions of their own multicultural competencies. Means scores from the MAKSS were analyzed for the pre-test and post-test phases. Paired samples t-text revealed that the group as a whole (n = 15) achieved statistically significant gains in knowledge, t(14) = 3.25, p < .01, and skill t(14) = 2.37, p < .05. Since we were not able to establish reliability for the awareness subsection of the survey, the nonsignificant results in this subsection, t(14) = .09, p < .924, are inconclusive. However, the fact that the paired samples t-test revealed significant gains in knowledge and skill allows us to say that professional development efforts such as the one employed for this study can have a significant impact on school counselors who are interested and actively engaged in building their multicultural competencies to a higher level.

DISCUSSION

The results of this exploratory study indicate that practicing school counselors who work in diverse school environments need professional development focused on the dynamics and structure of linguistically and culturally diverse families and the implications of these differences for counseling such families within the U.S. educational system. Inherent in this expressed need is professional development that enhances counselors' understanding of educational systems that differ from the U.S. system, the expectations these systems hold for families and students, and how these expectations differ from those of the U.S. educational system. Results also indicate that counselors need ongoing opportunities to learn about the backgrounds, cultures, and language systems of immigrant students from less familiar regions of the world (i.e., various Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries). Respondents' perceived inadequacies in these areas might be one factor responsible for their feelings of uncertainty about their effectiveness in counseling certain LCD families and students.

The fact that the respondents in this study seemed less concerned with sensitizing "mainstream" students to the cultural and linguistic differences of LCD students than with assisting LCD students to adjust to the mainstream school environment should be of concern to both providers of professional development for school counselors and institutions of higher education that prepare school counselors. School environments that value diversity are created, in part, by helping mainstream students understand and learn from those whose cultural and linguistic knowledge differs from their own. In this era of standards and accountability, much of the educational community's attention is directed toward preparing the LCD student to meet high standards and perform well on high stakes assessments. However, research has shown that when the school environment, which includes all students' perspectives and behaviors, values diverse languages and cultures, LCD students' opportunities for academic success are improved (Collier, 1995; Cummins, 1996). The school counselor has an important role to play in creating a school environment that educates mainstream students about their LCD peers.

Findings from the interviews appear to indicate that the participants in the 9-month professional development program felt that their participation improved their knowledge and skill in counseling LCD students. Respondents discussed the type of knowledge they believed they had acquired and how, as a result, they were thinking about and reacting differently to their work with LCD students. These findings support the premise that the type of professional development provided in this project, if provided on an ongoing basis, can enhance school counselors' knowledge base and their perceptions of their skill in working with LCD students. As with all professional development efforts, it is difficult to assess the true impact of the program on participants. The extent to which participants will translate their newly acquired competencies into practice is difficult to measure. Future research efforts should examine how school counselors apply new learning gained through professional development to their work with diverse students and families.

There are several limitations of this study. Generalizability of the findings is limited both by the nature of the inquiry and by the geographical restrictions of the sample. Qualitative interviewing provides rich data on participants' perceptions of a given condition; however it limits the findings to comparable contexts and comparable participants. Furthermore, because the counselors who participated in the program were volunteers and indicated interest in multicultural issues prior to the training, we cannot determine whether a program of this sort would have a similar impact on counselors not as predisposed to multicultural issues as the study participants. Second, because the participants self-selected into the professional development program, generalizability is limited to those who seek professional development in multicultural counseling. Third, the study participants worked in highly diverse schools in a large suburban school district on the U.S. east coast. Data obtained from counselors in urban schools or in schools in other parts of the country might not corroborate this study's findings. Fourth, because the study's methods involved self-report, the participants may not have expressed their actual beliefs and opinions. The nature of the professional development program, the types of interactions among the participants in the program and between participants and providers is difficult to replicate in other settings. Other professional development programs, even if they attempted to replicate this program, would involve a different set of dynamics among participants that could result in alternate results. Finally, that while the researchers took precautions to avoid bias; it is possible that bias did exist due to the fact that the researchers participated in conducting the training.

IMPLICATIONS

This study's findings highlight the importance of providing ongoing, in-depth professional development for school counselors on multicultural counseling issues. It also identifies the kind of professional development counselors similar to those in this study would find most useful. Such professional development should focus on developing counselors' knowledge and skill in working with diverse families and on providing counselors' with knowledge and skill in working with specific cultural groups. An important implication of this study is that those responsible for providing professional development for school counselors conduct needs assessments to determine the type of professional development most useful for counselors in their school or district.

The expressed needs of counselors concerning their work with LCD students and families are critical to designing useful professional development. However, professional development should also address the larger issue of the school counselor's role in creating a school environment that values diversity. Counselors should be competent not only in helping the LCD student adjust and acculturate, but also in sensitizing all students to the cultural and linguistic diversity of their peers. The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et al., 1992) are an important resource, along with an ongoing needs assessment, in developing multicultural professional development that meets the needs of school counselors and helps them achieve the larger goal of preparing all students for their roles in a diverse society.

References

Carey, J. C., Reinat, M., & Fontes, L. (1990). School counselors' perceptions of training needs in multicultural counseling. Counselor Education and Supervision, 29(3), 156-169.

Collier, V. P. (1995). Acquiring a second language for school. Washington, DC: The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Ontario, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education.

Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (1994). Interviewing: The art of science. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 361-374).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Holcomb-McCoy, C. C. (2000). Multicultural counseling competencies: An exploratory factor analysis. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 28(2), 83-97.

Holcomb-McCoy, C. C. (2001). Exploring the self-perceived multicultural counseling competence of elementary school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 4, 195-201.

Johnson, L. S. (1995). Enhancing multicultural relations: Intervention strategies for the school counselor. School Counselor, 43, 103-113.

McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (1993). Research in education: A conceptual introduction (3rd ed.). New York: HarperCollins College.

Sue, D., Arredondo, P., & McDavis, R. J. (1992). Multicultural counseling competencies and standards: A call to the profession. Journal of Counseling Development, 70, 477-486.

Pat Schwallie-Giddis, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Counseling and director of Graduate Programs. E-mail: [e-mail] Kristina Anstrom, Ed.D., is assistant director for the Center for Excellence in Education; Patricio Sanchez is a doctoral student and research associate; and Victoria A. Sardi, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of Counseling and Human Services; all are with The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Laura Granato, Ph.D., is a private consultant in the Washington, DC area.