1.
April
2010
|
Volume
67
|
Number
7
Reimagining
School
Pages
74-­‐79
Why
Guidance
Counseling
Needs
to
Change
Jean
Johnson,
Jon
Rochkind
and
Amber
Ott
Recent
surveys
of
young
adults
make
a
compelling
case
for
reinventing
high
school
guidance
counseling.
The
meeting
with
the
high
school
guidance
counselor
is
expected
and
routine—a
time
set
aside
for
students
to
talk
about
goals
and
plans
with
an
adult
trained
to
offer
advice,
options,
and
assistance.
At
least,
that's
the
goal.
Unfortunately,
the
reality
sometimes
falls
short.
One
young
man,
now
in
his
early
20s,
summed
up
his
experience:
"They'd
look
at
your
grades
and
then
say,
'Oh,
you
can
get
into
these
schools.'"
Such
meetings
are
impersonal,
perfunctory,
and
more
common
than
you
might
think,
according
to
a
2009
survey
of
young
adults
ages
22–30
conducted
by
Public
Agenda
for
the
Bill
and
Melinda
Gates
Foundation
(Johnson,
Rochkind,
Ott,
&
DuPont,
2009).
The
findings
from
this
survey,
along
with
several
others
we
have
conducted
in
recent
years
(see,
for
example,
Johnson,
Duffett,
&
Ott,
2005),
offer
one
clear
message:
As
education
focuses
its
attention
on
bringing
today's
high
schools
into
the
21st
century,
the
guidance
counseling
system
is
a
prime
candidate
for
innovation
and
reform.
A
Basic
Support
Structure
Some
of
the
results
of
these
recent
Public
Agenda
surveys
are
heartening.
The
vast
majority
of
young
adults
recognize
the
value
of
knowledge
and
know-­‐how
in
today's
world.
They
understand
the
financial
benefits
of
continuing
their
education
beyond
high
school.
Most
(77
percent)
say
that
their
parents
actively
encouraged
them
to
attend
college,
and
more
than
80
percent
say
that
even
if
they
knew
there
were
lots
of
good
jobs
for
people
without
degrees,
they
would
still
make
the
decision
to
go
to
college
because
what
one
learns
there
is
so
important.
The
results
also
suggest
that
educators
are
playing
an
important
role
in
inspiring
young
people
to
go
on
to
college
and
continue
learning.
Solid
majorities
of
young
adults
from
diverse
ethnic
and
racial
backgrounds
(75
percent
overall)
say
they
had
a
teacher
or
coach
who
"inspired
them
and
motivated
them
to
do
their
best."
Most
(67
percent)
report
that
they
had
a
teacher
who
"took
an
interest
in
them
personally
and
encouraged
them
to
go
to
college."
Moreover,
schools
seem
to
have
put
a
basic
system
in
place
to
offer
advice
and
guidance
to
young
people
leaving
high
school.
Only
3
percent
of
young
adults
who
graduated
from
high
school
report
that
they
didn't
have
a
high
school
guidance
counselor
or
never
met
with
one
to
discuss
their
postsecondary
plans.
1

2. For
N
Through
Z
Only
Yet
Public
Agenda's
most
recent
survey
shows
that
many
young
people
give
the
high
school
guidance
system
stunningly
poor
reviews
(see
fig.
1,
p.
76).
Among
young
adults
who
have
graduated
from
high
school
and
at
least
started
some
form
of
postsecondary
education,
a
surprising
6
in
10
give
their
high
school
guidance
counselors
ratings
of
fair
or
poor
for
helping
them
think
about
different
careers
they
might
want
to
pursue.
Sixty-­‐seven
percent
give
their
counselors
fair
or
poor
ratings
for
helping
them
decide
which
school
to
attend,
with
35
percent
giving
the
lowest
possible
rating
of
poor.
Figure
1.
Poor
Reviews
for
High
School
Guidance
Counseling
Source:
Adapted
from
Johnson,
J.,
Rochkind,
J.,
Ott,
A.
N.,
&
DuPont,
S.
(2010).
Can
I
get
a
little
advice
here?
How
an
overstretched
high
school
guidance
system
is
undermining
students'
college
aspirations.
New
York:
Public
Agenda.
Used
with
permission.
Respondents
give
similarly
low
ratings
for
how
much
counselors
helped
them
find
ways
to
pay
for
college,
with
33
percent
of
young
people
saying
their
counselors'
performance
was
actually
poor.
Although
the
ratings
are
marginally
better
on
helping
students
with
the
college
applications
process,
2

3. even
on
this
dimension,
more
than
half
of
the
survey
respondents
(55
percent)
assign
ratings
of
fair
or
poor.
In
an
episode
of
The
Simpsons,
Homer
recalled
his
visit
with
a
guidance
counselor
who
told
him
that
he
was
glad
to
help
any
student
whose
last
name
started
with
a
letter
from
N
through
Z.
The
show's
writers
latched
onto
a
common
perception
among
students—
that
guidance
counselors
do
not
see
them
as
individuals
and
regard
them
as
little
more
than
a
name
on
a
file
that
somehow
wound
up
on
their
desk.
In
the
Public
Agenda
study,
nearly
one-­‐half
of
young
people
(48
percent)
say
they
usually
felt
like
"just
another
face
in
the
crowd"
in
dealing
with
their
high
school
guidance
counselor—slightly
more
than
the
47
percent
who
say
that
their
counselors
really
made
an
effort
to
get
to
know
them
and
work
with
them.
In
focus
groups
conducted
as
part
of
the
research,
young
people
often
described
experiences
that
can
only
be
described
as
jarringly
bureaucratic
and
impersonal.
"We
had
to
take
a
test,"
one
young
woman
from
New
York
told
us.
"It
asked
about
all
these
scenarios
and
how
you
would
react
or
what
your
preference
was
on
a
certain
topic.
It
was
terrible
because
it
told
me
I
should
be
a
bus
driver.
They
looked
at
that
when
you
sat
with
your
guidance
counselor."
A
young
man
from
New
York
talked
about
how
his
guidance
counselors
prioritized
their
time
on
the
basis
of
who
they
thought
was
more
likely
to
go
to
college:
"My
guidance
counselors
didn't
care
about
me.
You
could
see
other
kids
getting
called
in
and
being
asked,
'What
are
you
going
to
do
after
high
school?'
Those
kids
would
come
for
college
day
with
suits
and
ties,
and
their
parents
would
come
with
them.
Then
there
was
everybody
else."
An
individual
from
St.
Louis
echoed
this
view,
saying
he
had
given
up
on
expecting
the
counselors'
help
because
"they
really
don't
care
about
you."
He
turned
instead
to
his
advanced
biology
teacher
because
"some
teachers,
they
care
…
you
can
just
tell."
Beleaguered
and
Overworked
These
are
harsh
judgments—perhaps
too
harsh—of
a
group
of
professionals
who
must
routinely
feel
besieged
and
overworked,
scarcely
able
to
keep
up
with
the
demands
and
expectations
placed
on
them.
The
American
School
Counselor
Association,
a
professional
group
representing
the
field,
recommends
a
student-­‐counselor
ratio
of
100
to
1
but
points
out
that,
on
average,
in
public
schools
across
the
United
States,
the
ratio
is
more
than
twice
that—265
students
for
every
counselor
(Clinedinst
&
Hawkins,
2009).
Some
states
have
much
higher
ratios.
In
California,
each
counselor
serves
nearly
a
thousand
students.
In
Minnesota,
Arizona,
Washington,
D.C.,
and
Utah,
the
numbers
are
above
700.
What's
more,
studies
have
shown
that
guidance
counselors
do
not
necessarily
spend
most
of
their
time
advising
students
(McDonough,
2004a,
2004b;
U.S.
Department
of
Education,
2004).
Much
of
their
day
is
devoted
to
administrative
tasks,
discipline
issues,
and
untangling
scheduling
snafus,
according
to
experts
on
the
profession.
Many
counselors
are
involved
in
overseeing
testing
programs,
along
with
lunch
duty,
attendance
monitoring,
and
substitute
teaching.
Under
the
current
system,
public
schools
often
seem
to
assume
that
counselors
can
juggle
a
whole
roster
of
duties
and
still
effectively
assist
hundreds
of
students
in
planning
their
futures.
This
kind
of
system
might
have
worked
reasonably
well
when
fairly
small
numbers
of
students
went
to
college
and
a
high
school
diploma
was
all
that
graduates
needed
to
find
a
good
job
in
manufacturing
or
to
enter
fields
like
firefighting
or
police
work.
But
such
a
system
is
almost
certain
to
misfire,
given
the
rising
numbers
of
students
pursuing
postsecondary
education
and
an
economy
in
which
the
vast
majority
of
good
jobs
require
some
college
or
some
kind
of
certification.
3

4. What
Happens
to
Students?
Many
students,
especially
those
with
college-­‐educated
parents,
will
get
plenty
of
advice
and
considerable
help
thinking
about
different
careers
and
different
kinds
of
postsecondary
education,
making
sure
their
high
school
coursework
positions
them
to
pursue
their
goals,
and
accumulating
the
financial
resources
they
will
need.
In
some
families,
planning
for
college
and
career
begins
the
moment
a
child
is
born.
But
not
all
students
come
from
families
in
which
college
attendance
is
routine.
Nearly
6
in
10
students
in
public
schools
are
from
families
in
which
neither
parent
has
completed
college
(U.S.
Department
of
Education,
2008).
How
does
a
less-­‐than-­‐optimal
counseling
process
affect
the
lives
and
prospects
of
such
students?
Many
factors
go
into
a
student's
long-­‐term
educational
success
or
failure,
so
it's
neither
fair
nor
accurate
to
blame
a
lack
of
good
counseling
for
student
disappointment
later
in
life.
Nevertheless,
analysis
of
the
Public
Agenda
study
of
young
adults
reveals
some
disturbing
patterns
that
warrant
a
closer
look.
These
suggest
that
students
who
don't
have
access
to
good
counseling
are
not
making
the
most
advantageous
choices
about
postsecondary
education
and
work.
For
example,
compared
with
young
people
who
say
their
counselors
really
made
an
effort
to
get
to
know
them,
those
who
say
they
felt
like
"a
face
in
the
crowd"
when
talking
with
their
high
school
counselor
are
• Less
likely
to
say
they
chose
their
college
because
they
believed
that
it
would
help
them
get
a
good
job
on
graduation
(48
percent
versus
64
percent).
• Less
likely
to
say
that
they
chose
their
college
on
the
basis
of
financial
aid
that
was
offered
to
them
(32
percent
versus
44
percent).
• More
likely
to
say
that
they
would
have
gone
to
a
different
college
if
money
were
not
an
issue
(46
percent
versus
35
percent).
• Less
likely
to
say
that
they
chose
their
college
on
the
basis
of
its
academic
reputation
(41
percent
versus
51
percent).
• Less
likely
to
go
to
college
directly
after
high
school
(39
percent
versus
54
percent).
A
Striking
Gap
in
the
System
Our
mission
in
reporting
these
results
is
not
to
bash
counselors,
who
in
many
cases
lack
the
support
or
time
necessary
to
assist
and
counsel
students
adequately.
Instead,
our
aim
is
to
focus
on
a
striking
gap
in
the
education
system—one
that
students
themselves
recognize
and
take
to
heart.
When
our
survey
asked
young
adults
to
rate
a
broad
array
of
different
ideas
that
might
help
them
successfully
complete
college
and
other
postsecondary
programs,
72
percent
said
that
"the
opportunity
to
talk
with
advisors
who
know
all
about
the
different
college
and
job
training
programs
so
you
can
make
a
good
choice"
would
help
a
lot.
Those
numbers
rise
to
91
percent
among
black
students
and
83
percent
among
Hispanics.
Among
reforms
and
proposals
that
could
help,
improved
advice
and
counseling
in
high
school
ranks
at
least
as
high
as
ideas
like
having
better
access
to
student
loans,
providing
daycare
for
college
students
who
are
parents,
and
improving
teaching
at
the
college
level
so
that
the
classes
are
more
interesting
and
relevant.
4

5. What
kinds
of
changes
are
we
actually
talking
about?
One
possibility
is
to
improve
student-­‐counselor
ratios
and
relieve
guidance
counselors
of
some
of
the
other
chores
they
now
assume.
Another
option
would
be
to
improve
the
preparation
and
training
of
counselors.
Research
has
shown
that
counseling
education
programs
do
not
include
instruction
or
coursework
on
how
to
help
parents
and
students
navigate
the
financial
aid
system
or
on
advising
students
about
college
selection,
apprenticeships,
or
other
postsecondary
options
(McDonough,
2004a).
Relatively
few
public
high
schools
require
ongoing
professional
development
for
counselors
(Clinedinst
&
Hawkins,
2009),
so
even
this
avenue
for
bolstering
counselors'
skills
and
knowledge
is
not
widely
available.
Asking
More
Fundamental
Questions
Perhaps
the
moment
has
come
to
ask
broader,
more
basic
questions
about
how
schools
help
students
plan
for
their
futures
and
what
roles
counselors,
teachers,
and
others
should
play
in
that
enterprise.
Here
are
some
questions
educators
may
want
to
consider:
• When
should
students
begin
thinking
about
their
overall
education
and
career
goals?
Is
high
school
too
late?
Or
is
it
actually
too
early
for
some
students?
• What
kinds
of
opportunities
should
we
provide
for
students
to
try
out
different
ideas
about
their
future
careers?
How
can
we
give
them
multiple
chances
to
reconsider
and
change
their
minds
as
their
skills
and
personalities
develop?
• Should
we
encourage
all
students
to
go
to
college?
What
do
we
actually
mean
by
"going
to
college"?
How
can
we
ensure
that
students
and
their
families
have
a
chance
to
understand
and
think
about
a
diverse
set
of
options?
• What
should
we
do
when
a
student's
academic
skills
simply
do
not
match
his
or
her
career
goals?
How
do
we
intercede
to
help
such
students
prepare
for
what
they
say
they
want
or
to
help
them
find
another
goal
that
will
also
lead
to
a
satisfying
and
productive
future?
Leaders
in
government,
business,
and
education
have
set
some
ambitious
college
completion
goals
for
the
United
States—
namely,
to
have
60
percent
of
high
school
graduates
complete
a
college
degree
or
other
certification
program.
(See,
for
example,
www.luminafoundation.org/goal_2005.)
But
what
do
public
schools
owe
to
the
remaining
40
percent
of
graduates?
Do
we
leave
them
to
navigate
their
entry
into
the
work
force
on
their
own?
Should
business
or
other
institutions
step
in?
And
what
about
the
profession
of
counseling
itself?
Perhaps
it's
time
to
reimagine
the
counselor's
role
as
one
that
extends
far
beyond
laying
out
a
menu
of
postsecondary
programs
for
students
to
pore
over.
Should
counselors
be
more
specialized,
with
some
focusing
mainly
on
short-­‐term
issues
like
preventing
students
from
dropping
out
of
high
school
and
helping
troubled
teens,
while
others
focus
on
helping
students
plan
their
future
education
and
careers?
What
can
the
profession
do
to
individualize
and
personalize
the
services
it
offers?
Needed:
Partners
and
Ingenuity
During
the
last
few
decades,
schools
have
repeatedly
taken
on
difficult
new
missions
that
range
from
assuming
responsibility
for
preschool,
afternoon,
and
summer
programs
to
fighting
child
abuse,
substance
abuse,
and
obesity.
Reenvisioning
the
counseling
process—in
fact,
reenvisioning
students'
transition
from
school
into
their
future
lives—is
another
difficult
challenge,
and
a
historic
one.
5

6. But
schools
don't
have
to
do
it
alone.
A
wide
range
of
allies
and
potential
hands-­‐on
helpers
exist—
families,
to
be
sure,
but
also
institutions
of
higher
education,
the
business
community,
professional
associations,
unions,
philanthropic
organizations,
and
community
groups.
(For
examples
of
integrated
efforts,
see
"Resources
for
Helping
Students
Transition
to
Higher
Education"
on
p.
77.)
The
difficulty
we
all
face
in
this
enterprise
is
letting
go
of
the
staid,
routine
rituals
of
high
school
and
garnering
the
ingenuity
and
resourcefulness
required
to
consider
a
dramatically
different
approach.
Resources
for
Helping
Students
Transition
to
Higher
Education
Admission
Possible,
www.admissionpossible.org
Admission
Possible
is
a
nonprofit
organization
that
provides
college
advising
services
to
more
than
1,400
low-­‐income
students
in
the
Minneapolis–St.
Paul,
Minnesota,
and
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin,
metropolitan
regions.
Recently
praised
by
President
Obama
for
having
sent
99
percent
of
its
2008
program
participants
to
college,
Admission
Possible
assists
students
in
the
college
application
process
by
offering
after-­‐school
programming
focusing
on
test
preparation
for
the
SAT/ACT
college
admission
exams,
intensive
support
in
preparing
college
applications,
help
in
obtaining
financial
aid,
and
guidance
in
the
transition
to
college.
The
majority
of
program
staff
members
are
AmeriCorps
members,
and
most
are
recent
college
graduates.
Talent
Search,
www.ed.gov/programs/triotalent
Talent
Search,
a
federally
supported
outreach
program,
identifies
disadvantaged
youth
who
have
the
potential
to
excel
in
postsecondary
education
and
provides
comprehensive
services
to
help
them
succeed
in
both
secondary
and
postsecondary
education.
Program
services
include
academic,
financial,
career,
or
personal
counseling,
including
advice
on
entry
or
reentry
to
secondary
or
postsecondary
programs;
career
exploration
and
aptitude
assessment;
tutorial
services;
mentoring;
information
on
postsecondary
education;
exposure
to
college
campuses;
information
on
student
financial
assistance;
assistance
in
completing
college
admissions
and
financial
aid
applications;
assistance
in
preparing
for
college
entrance
exams;
and
workshops
for
participants'
families.
KnowHow2Go,
http://knowhow2go.org
Launched
in
2007
by
the
American
Council
on
Education,
Lumina
Foundation
for
Education,
and
the
Ad
Council,
KnowHow2Go
is
a
comprehensive
multimedia
campaign
aimed
at
students
from
middle
school
through
12th
grade.
The
program
provides
interactive
tools
to
encourage
students
to
go
to
college
and
to
help
them
choose
the
right
college,
find
financial
aid,
and
get
help
from
adults
around
them
in
applying
to
college.
6

7. References
Clinedinst,
M.,
&
Hawkins,
D.
(2009).
State
of
college
admission.
Alexandria,
VA:
National
Association
for
College
Admission
Counseling.
Johnson,
J.,
Duffett,
A.,
&
Ott,
A.
(2005).
Life
after
high
school:
Young
people
talk
about
their
hopes
and
prospects.
New
York:
Public
Agenda.
Available:
http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/life_after_high_school.pdf
Johnson,
J.,
Rochkind,
J.,
Ott,
A.,
&
DuPont,
S.
(2009).
With
their
whole
lives
ahead
of
them:
Myths
and
realities
about
why
so
many
students
fail
to
finish
college.
New
York:
Public
Agenda.
Available:
www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem
McDonough,
P.
(2004a).
Counseling
matters:
Knowledge,
assistance,
and
organizational
commitment
in
college
preparation.
In
W.
Tierney,
Z.
Corwin,
&
J.
Colyar
(Eds.),
Preparing
for
college:
Nine
elements
of
effective
outreach
(pp.
69–88).
Albany:
State
University
of
New
York
Press.
McDonough,
P.
(2004b).
The
school-­‐to-­‐college
transition:
Challenges
and
prospects.
Washington,
DC:
American
Council
on
Education,
Center
for
Policy
Analysis.
U.S.
Department
of
Education,
National
Center
for
Education
Statistics.
(2004).
The
condition
of
education.
Washington,
DC:
Author.
U.S.
Department
of
Education,
National
Center
for
Education
Statistics.
(2008).
Parent
and
family
involvement
in
education,
2006–07
school
year,
from
the
National
Household
Education
Surveys
Program
of
2007–2008.
Washington,
DC:
Author.
Jean
Johnson
(jjohnson@publicagenda.org)
is
Director
of
Education
Insights
and
Director
of
Programs,
Jon
Rochkind
(jrochkind@publicagenda.org)
is
Vice
President
and
Director
of
Research,
and
Amber
Ott
(aott@publicagenda.org)
is
Research
Manager,
Public
Agenda.
7