Graduate Program

Counseling (School or Clinical Mental Health)

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2009

Thesis Director

Heidi Larson

Thesis Committee Member

Regina Nganga

Thesis Committee Member

Angela Yoder

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceptions of the school counselor's role from the perspectives of at-risk middle school students. The principal researcher conducted one-on-one interviews with the sample population in order to better understand the way in which they regarded and perceived the school counselor's role and function. Analysis of the student responses allowed for the identification of emergent themes and commonalities. Several conclusions were drawn from this study's findings. The findings indicated that students denote individual counseling as the primary duty of the school counselor. Further, students believe school counseling is important within their educational experience and they feel positively about school counseling as a whole. The findings also suggested that students maintained various misperceptions regarding the school counselor's role before they met individually with the school counselor. Students expressed that the majority of their meetings with the school counselor were arranged due to a parent or teacher referral. These students also believed that school counselors should do more to increase their visibility within the school environment as well as focus on the comfort level experienced by students in regard to counseling. Suggestions for future researchers and current school counseling professionals are included within the discussion.

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