School counselors' interest in professional literature and research.

Although school counseling has existed in some form since the late 19th Century (Paisley & Borders, 1995), it did not attain the status of a true profession until the middle of the 20th Century. Hallmarks of a profession include the existence of a professional organization and the publication of professional journals that provide members of the profession with scholarly and relevant information about current issues, best practices, and research in their field. For school counseling, the establishment in 1952 of the American School Counselor Association, the fifth division of the newly organized American Personnel and Guidance Association (Schmidt, 1999), marked its emergence as a distinct profession. Two years later, The School Counselor, the first journal specifically dedicated to professional school counseling, began publication. A second journal, Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, was inaugurated in 1967. In 1997, these two journals were merged, and the flagship journal of the organization, Professional School Counseling, was introduced. One of the purposes of the journal is to communicate to members of the profession current research of interest to school counselors.

Research has been described as "the backbone of guidance and counseling theory and practice" (Campbell, 1986, p.2). Cramer, Herr, Morris, and Frantz (1970) stressed that research is necessary for the counselor's own protection, so that assumptions can be supported and false generalizations avoided. Greising (1967) warned that the lack of scientific research presented a threat to the field, and Hoyt (1967) urged the profession to settle ongoing questions such as the appropriate role for elementary school counselors, using "sound research procedures" (p. 92). The inaugural issue of Professional School Counseling began with an editorial urging school counselors and counselor educators to "see research as an ally" (Fall & VanZandt, 1997, p. 2), recognizing that schools need research both for assessing student needs and current programs, and for raising issues to be considered in future planning. Schools and universities were encouraged to collaborate in conducting and reporting research. Sink (1999) indicated that Professional School Counseling would seek a balance between research and application-oriented manuscripts.

If research is to be valued by practicing school counselors, it is essential that university counselor education programs accentuate the importance of research. To establish an emphasis on research and to determine a relevant direction, a research team composed of a faculty member, three doctoral students, and two master's students was formed in an educational psychology department with a newly established master's degree program in school counseling. In an effort to create a research agenda that would also be of interest to practicing school counselors, the team decided to examine Professional School Counseling to determine the type of material this flagship journal has included. We were interested in learning whether there was evidence of the collaborative endeavors recommended by Fall and VanZandt (1997).

We decided to expand this exploratory inquiry by also surveying school counselors in the local area regarding their research interests. The team was interested in discovering the research topics that are of greatest interest to practicing school counselors and identifying the most widely accessed sources of research information for this group.

Our research questions addressed three areas of interest. First, we investigated school counselors' experiences with the professional literature with the following research questions: (a) What proportion of school counselors read the professional journals in that specialty? (b) Are there differences in the titles of journals read and number of journals read by years of school counseling experience and by work setting? and (c) Which journals are perceived to be most relevant to the work of school counselors? We hypothesized that the current journal, Professional School Counseling, would have a wider readership than the two previous journals, Elementary School Guidance and Counseling and The School Counselor, and that the Journal of Counseling and Development, which is directed toward a broader professional audience, would be consulted less frequently than the journals that specialize in school counseling. We expected that newly graduated school counselors would be more likely to read the professional literature, due to their temporal proximity to graduate education, than their more senior colleagues. Finally, we expected that school counselors in all work settings would be equally interested in the professional literature.

Second, we examined the articles in Professional School Counseling to answer these research questions: (a) What proportion of articles reported research? (b) What affiliations were identified by authors in this journal? and (c) To what extent are school counselors contributing to the school counseling literature in general and with respect to empirical studies? Finally, we considered the research topics of interest to school counselors. Our questions were: (a) Which research topics are of highest interest to a sample of school counselors? (b) How well do these interest coincide with the topics of articles in the journal? We hypothesized that research topics related to school violence would be the most often selected, due the prominence of this subject in the current media.

Method

Participants

Of the 129 counselors who completed the survey used in this study, 77% (n = 99) were female and 23% (n = 29) male. One respondent did not indicate gender. Participants identified their ethnic group membership as follows: 61% (n = 78) were Caucasian, 23% (n = 29) were Hispanic, and 3% (n = 4) were African American. American-Indian and Asian-American participants each comprised 2% (n = 2) of the sample, and 1% (n = 1) indicated biracial or bi-ethnic. Ethnicity was omitted by 10% (n = 13) of the participants. Of the participating counselors, 37% (n = 47) listed their present work setting as elementary school. An assignment split between elementary and middle school was indicated by 2% (n = 3) of the participants. Middle school counselors represented 23% of the sample (n = 30), while 27% (n = 36) worked in a high school setting. Two individuals listed their work setting as both middle and high school.

Years of experience as a school counselor were distributed in the sample as follows: 30% (n = 39) had less than 4 years of experience, 13% (n = 17) had 4 to 6 years experience, 14% (n = 18) had 7 to 10 years, 10% (n = 13) had 11 to 15 years, 16% (n = 21) had 16 to 25 years, and 7% (n = 9) had more than 25 years of experience. Nine percent (n = 12) did not report years of experience. Age ranges of participants were: 21-30, 3% (n = 4); 31-40, 17% (n = 22); 41-50, 33% (n = 42); 51-60, 43% (n = 56); and 61 and over, 2% (n = 3). The median age range was 41 to 50, with the mode at 51 to 60. Age range was missing for two participants. An undergraduate major in education was reported by 57% (n = 74) of participants, while 9% (n = 11) indicated a major in psychology. Two percent (n = 3) of the participants listed a double major in education and psychology, and 24% (n = 31) majored in other fields. Undergraduate major was missing data for nine participants.

Survey

A pilot form of the survey was administered to 140 school counselors at a district-wide counselors' meeting of a Southwestern school district. Seventy-eight surveys (56%) were completed. Based on the pilot administration, the survey was revised to improve format, wording, readability, and spacing. Demographic items were added in a check-box format (including age range, gender, ethnicity, years of school counseling experience, and work setting), and no personal identifying information was requested. An item was omitted from the revised survey that asked participants how important it was to them that programs or techniques they use be based on research.

There were three sections on the survey in which participants made selections by checking, circling, or writing in numbers as appropriate. In the first section, participants were asked to check all journals they read, have read, or consulted in the past. The journals listed were Professional School Counseling, Journal of Counseling and Development, The School Counselor, Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, and the newsletter of the Arizona School Counseling Association. This newsletter was included in the list, as it had frequently been added under "Other journals" by respondents on the pilot survey. As in the pilot survey; space was provided so that other journals could be listed. The next section asked respondents to rate the articles in each of these five publications as to relevance to their work using a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all relevant) to 5 (very relevant). The final section presented a list of 35 potential research topics, which were grouped by three typical foci of school counselors' efforts (academic, personal/social, and career). There were 10 academic topics listed, 19 personal/social topics, and 6 career topics listed. Respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which each topic was important to their work, with ratings from 1 (not important) to 3 (very important). Each section of topics included a space in which respondents could add topics not on the list. The final part of the survey provided space in which respondents were invited to write specific research questions of interest to them, to indicate how they might wish to be involved in research studies, and how they might be contacted if a project related to their interest were to be developed.

Procedure

The survey was distributed at a Counselor Appreciation Breakfast given during School Counselor Week for counselors and other personnel from six school districts in a mid-sized Southwestern city. University tee-shirts were offered as an incentive for participants, whose names, separated from the completed surveys, were entered in a drawing. Of the approximately 300 counselors in attendance at the breakfast, 129 completed the survey, resulting in a return rate of 43%. The low response rate may be partially explained by the erroneous perception of some counselors in the district where the survey had been piloted that they had completed the survey previously and could not do so again.

To answer questions related to Professional School Counseling, the first author examined all articles (other than editorials and resource reviews) in volumes one through four of the journal and recorded the number of authors and type of article. Author affiliations were tabulated for the first through third authors.

Results

School Counselors' Experiences with the Professional Literature

A tally of the journals checked by survey respondents revealed that 97 respondents checked at least one publication. The most widely read of the listed publications was the newsletter of the state school counseling association, which was checked by 58% (n = 74) of participants. Of the national journals, the most widely read was Professional School Counseling, endorsed by 40% (n = 51) of respondents. This was followed by The School Counselor, read by 38% (n = 48); Journal of Counseling and Development, read by 32% (n = 40); and Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, read by 17% (n = 21). No journals were indicated by 22% (n = 29) of respondents.

Because The School Counselor and Elementary School Guidance and Counseling ceased publication in 1997, and may, therefore, be less familiar to school counselors who entered the profession since that time, the previous percentages were re-calculated omitting those respondents with less than 4 years of experience. Of the participants with at least 4 years of school counseling experience (n = 78), the state newsletter remained the most widely read, selected by 68% (n = 52) of respondents. Of the national journals, The School Counselor was checked most often, with 53% (n = 40) indicating they read it, followed by Professional School Counseling with 44% (n = 34), the Journal of Counseling and Development with 39% (n = 30), and Elementary School Guidance and Counseling with 22% (n = 17). Table I presents the percentages of the sample that selected each journal by years of experience.

Respondents also rated each journal read from 1 to 5 by degree of relevance to their work, with 1 indicating "not at all relevant" and 5 "very relevant." These ratings, as expected, are ranked in the same order as that of the frequency with which each journal was read. Means, frequencies, and standard deviations for each journal are shown in Table 2.

In order to determine if the number of journals read varied by years of school counseling experience, a correlation coefficient was calculated between experience level and total journals checked. Observations with missing data were excluded from the analysis. Although the correlation coefficient (r = .30) was significant at the .01 level, the relationship is weak. An ANOVA comparing the mean number of journals read by years of experience was significant, (F(1,5) = 3.29, p < .008) with years of experience accounting for 13% of the variance in the number of journals read ([R.sup.2] = .13). Means and standard deviations for each level of experience are shown in Table 3. Post hoc analysis using Tukey's HSD revealed that differences were significant between those with less than four years of school counseling experience, and the groups with 11 to 15 and 16 to 25 years of experience, with the latter groups reading more journals. Mean differences between the group with less than 4 years of experience and those with 11 to 15 years and 16 to 25 years, with respective significance levels, are 1.38 (p = .02) and 1.19 (p = .03).

A similar procedure was used to examine the relationship between work setting and number of journals read. For this analysis, respondents who listed a split assignment were included with the higher level. Observations with missing data were excluded from the analysis. An ANOVA found no significant differences between the means of the three levels, F(1,2) = 1.45, p = .24.

Articles in Professional School Counseling

Of the first authors of articles published in the first four volumes of Professional School Counseling, 21% (n = 48) gave their affiliation as a K-12 school setting. This percentage includes four authors who listed a dual affiliation, one of which was a K-12 setting. In contrast, 76% (n = 176) of first authors had a university affiliation. School affiliations were listed for 17% (n = 25) of the 145 second authors and for 18% (n = 9) of the 51 third authors, while 77% (n = 111) and 80% (n = 41), respectively, were affiliated with universities.

Of the 232 articles in the first four volumes of Professional School Counseling, 25% (n = 57) reported empirical research. Of the 57 research articles, 79% (n = 45) reported quantitative research and the other 21% (n = 12) qualitative research. At least one author with a school district affiliation was found in 28% (n = 16) of articles describing empirical research, with 19% (n = 11) of first authors of research articles listing affiliation with a school district. Second authors were listed for 45 of the research articles, of whom 6% (n = 3) listed school affiliations. School district affiliations were listed for 19% (n = 4) of the third authors of the 21 research articles with third authors. Joint authorship by university and school-affiliated contributors was found in 19% (n = 44) of the 232 articles in the journal.

Research Topics of Interest to School Counselors

The 10 potential research topics most frequently rated "very important" are presented in Table 4, which includes the percentage of respondents rating the topic as "very important." In addition to rating the list of topics, respondents were invited to list specific research questions that were of interest to them. Some of these responses provided specific questions regarding listed topics, while others identified topics that had been omitted from the list. Examples of questions edited for clarity and organized by topic are presented in Table 5.

The first four volumes of Professional School Counseling were examined to see how often the topics considered most relevant by the sample of school counselors were the subject of articles in the journal. Of the 10 topics most often rated "very important," articles related to divorce and family issues received the most coverage in the journal with 12 articles, one of which described a case study. This number includes articles about parent education programs in addition to articles about working with children with those issues. Next most frequent were articles related to aggression/violence/gangs, with eight articles. Many of these appeared in a special issue devoted to school violence. Five of those were research articles, making this the best-researched topic on the list. Closely related was the subject of bullying, which was the topic of four articles. Death, loss, and grief issues were covered in five articles, and substance abuse was the subject of three articles, one of which described research. One article dealt with concerns related to children with ADD, and one focused on school dropouts. No articles were found dealing with peer pressure or depression.

Discussion

Despite the urging by Sink (1999) that Professional School Counseling find a balance between research and application articles, only 25% of articles in the first four volumes focused on research. The balance in this journal is still tipped in the direction of application articles. The fact that only 21% of the lead authors of those research articles were affiliated with K-12 programs suggests that restrictions of time and/or education may limit the amount of research that practicing school counselors can reasonably undertake. Despite these barriers, it is imperative that the school counseling profession develops a strong research tradition.

It is notable that school counselors are represented among the contributors of research articles, in that almost one third of those articles included at least one author with a school district affiliation. In addition, one fifth of first authors of empirical articles were associated with K-12 programs. There are two implications of these data. The first is that school counseling is still in need of a stronger emphasis on research. In the current climate in education, accountability is a watchword, and accountability for counselors cannot be demonstrated without data. The second implication is that although conducting and publishing research is unlikely to be in the job description of school counselors, some are nevertheless engaging in such endeavors. It is well known that university professors must "publish or perish," but such incentives are not typically present for school counselors. Button, Ponticell, and Johnson (1996) observed that cultural differences between schools and universities are reflected in the allocation of time for research at universities while research in the schools is not considered to be part of the job. The fact that any school counselors are conducting research, most likely without any time allotted to such pursuits or reward forthcoming, is laudable. It is important that professional school counselors educate others regarding the importance of this aspect of their work. If, in fact, counselors are conducting research but not disseminating this information, this is unfortunate, as others do not benefit from the fruits of their labor. Again, if this is to improve, school districts must provide incentives to counselors for preparing their research for publication.

Perhaps Fall and VanZandt's (1997) observation that research "typically evokes emotional reactions of fear, anxiety, and even disdain" (p. 2) is one explanation for the lack of emphasis on research. If so, counselor education programs need to demystify the process of research and engender a greater understanding of the value of research to practitioners in the field.

Regarding the survey of counselors, we were not surprised to find that Professional School Counseling was the most widely read of the national journals. We were, however, surprised to find that only 40% of our sample of school counselors read or consulted the flagship journal of their profession. Even the state counseling organization newsletter, which would be likely to contain articles of particular local interest, was only endorsed by 58% of the sample. Of further concern, 22% of respondents did not read or consult any of the school counseling literature; and of the 24 respondents who read only one journal, almost half (46%) read only the newsletter. Newsletters typically do not include reports of research, so as a group, the school counselors in our sample are not likely to be well informed about current research in their field. It may be that the numerous demands placed on school counselors consume their time and energy to a degree that reading professional publications becomes a low priority. If this is the case, it is unfortunate, because many of the tasks school counselors do could perhaps be done more efficiently and effectively if information in the journals were utilized. Counselors would be in a better position to justify their practices if they could demonstrate that research has found them to be effective.

It was surprising that the more experienced counselors were the ones who were more involved with the professional literature. We would speculate that perhaps with experience school counselors are better time managers and/or have attained sufficient credibility to take more control over their time and include some for professional reading. It may also be the case that these more experienced counselors have found useful articles frequently enough over the years to be more interested in remaining current in the journals. Several of the areas of most interest to the counselors in this sample were absent from the journals. Newer counselors seeking information on topics of high interest, and not finding them, may conclude that these journals are not relevant to their work.

Schmidt (1999) discussed the difficulty school counselors have had establishing their specialty as a legitimate profession. His text devotes little space to research, and does not list research as one of the essential services to be provided by counselors. Another widely used textbook in school counseling has only one paragraph devoted to research (Baker, 2000). However, in discussing the importance of accountability to school counselors, both Schmidt and Baker mentioned accountability and the importance of gathering data to both assess program needs and evaluate program effectiveness. This is research, and it is essential to the survival and credibility of the profession.

Limitations

Some limitations of this research must be noted. Many of the articles in the journal concerned professional issues, and our survey did not specifically inquire about interest in such articles. Our low response rate limits the generalizability of the results. It may be that large gatherings of counselors, with many agenda items and distractions, are not the best environment in which to conduct survey research. The survey listed a limited number of journals, those most closely aligned with a school counseling agenda. Although space was provided to write in other journals, a more extensive list of publications, including those in education and psychology, may have provided a more complete picture of the professional literature read by school counselors.

Further studies should consider a wider range of professional literature in understanding the sources of research information for school counselors. Future research should also endeavor to understand the research attitudes and interests of school counselors, including their perceived levels of competency to read and conduct research and their perception of its importance to the field. Perhaps a deeper understanding of these issues will allow the profession to build the solid research base recommended early in the profession's development, and to promote and foster research interest and skills in professional school counselors.

Conclusion

Although it is probably the case that at present only a small minority of school counselors actually conduct research, it is imperative that all school counseling professionals be wise and diligent consumers of research that impacts their field. The importance of research should be stressed by graduate programs for school counselors, and school districts might consider providing some recognition of those counselors who engage in research activities. Professional journals are the most credible and accessible sources of information about current research. We hope to see an increase in the number of school counselors publishing and reading about research, and we believe that this will strengthen the profession.

Table 5. Research Questions Submitted by School Counselors

Topic                      Questions

Peer pressure              How can school counselors assist young
                           (K-2) children with their understanding
                           of peer pressure, media literacy, and
                           decision-making?
                           How does peer pressure affect grades and
                           attendance?
                           What role does peer pressure have in
                           eating disorders in elementary school?

Divorce and family issues  Are schools doing a good job of
                           helping children of working parents?
                           How can the schools most help single
                           parents?

Aggression/Violence/Gangs  What is the correlation between leadership
                           style and aggressive or violent behavior in
                           students?

Bullying                   What is the relationship between
                           bullying and socioeconomic status?
                           What are parental attitudes towards the
                           recommendation to "stick up for yourself?"

Substance Use and Abuse    What works in preventing teen drug use?

Depression                 How does depression affect elementary
                           students?
                           What is the relationship between
                           bullying and depression?

ADHD                       What is the co-mordibity of mental health
                           issues (e.g., ADHD and OCD) and what is
                           their influence on education?
                           Are medical diagnoses in children
                           increasing?
                           How effective are methods other than
                           medication with ADHD?
                           What techniques are useful in accommodating
                           504 students in the classroom?

Resiliency                 How can resiliency be created/fostered
                           in a person?
                           How does resiliency relate to cultural
                           differences?

Transitions                What physical/emotional issues are impacted
                           by the transition to middle school,
                           especially in boys?
                           How can leadership skills enhance the
                           transition from elementary to middle
                           school?
                           How well is high school success predicted
                           by quality of work in middle school?

Graduation requirements    What is the future state support and
                           stand on requirements for graduation from
                           high school?

Test anxiety               How is language development related to
                           test anxiety, especially for
                           Spanish-speaking students?

Academic success           How is learning about preferred learning
                           styles related to motivation and success in
                           school?
                           How effective are science learning
                           experiences in motivating and challenging
                           students to stay in school?
                           What are the effects of relaxation training
                           on student behavior and performance?
                           How is school performance affected by
                           student mobility and poverty?
                           How do parental attitudes towards
                           teachers affect student performance?
                           How do year-round school schedules affect
                           student performance?

Professional Issues        How effective is CCBG, comprehensive
                           competency-based guidance?
                           How does the loss of curricular time to
                           CCBG relate to results of high-stakes
                           testing?

References

Baker, S. B. (2000). School counseling for the twenty-first century (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Button, K., Ponticell, J., & Johnson, M. J. (1996). Enabling school-university collaborative research: Lessons learned in professional development schools. Journal of Teacher Education, 47, 16-20.

Campbell, P. B. (1986). Using, abusing, and understanding research: A guide for counselors [Brochure]. Newton, MA: Women's Educational Equity Act Publishing Center.

Cramer, S. H., Herr, E. L., Morris, C. N., & Frantz, T. T. (1970). Research and the school counselor. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Fall, M., & VanZandt, C. E. Z. (1997). From the special issue editors. Professional School Counseling, 1(1), 2-3.

Greising, R. A. (1967). A pilot program in elementary school guidance: A study of teacher reactions. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 1, 126-139.

Hoyt, K. B. (1967). Some thoughts on elementary school guidance. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 1, 91-102.

Paisley, P. O., & Borders, L. D. (1995). School counseling: An evolving specialty. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 150-153.

Schmidt, J. (1999). Counseling in the schools: Essential services and comprehensive programs (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Sink, C. A. (1999). Professional School Counseling in transition. Professional School Counseling, 3(1), ii-iii.

Sheri Bauman, Ph.D., is an assistant professor, Jason T. Siegel and April Davis are doctoral students, and Lia D. Falco and Karen Seabolt are master's degree students in the Educational Psychology Department.

Gerald Szymanski is a doctoral student in the Higher Education Department. All are in the College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson. E-mail: [e-mail].