The Impact of Elementary School Counselor Self Efficacy and Career Development Practices

Virginia Counselors Picks: The Most Effective career Development Practices for Grades K-5Dr. Michele Goodman Seibert

1-a significant part of the career development process-a lifelong process that includes early childhood-a process that occurs from early childhood throughout the life span Elementary Career Development

2Virginias College and Career Ready Initiative (2010) VDOEPresident Obamas Educate to Innovate campaign (2009)American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009- progress toward college and career ready standardsVirginias State School Counseling Standards (2004)How is it relevant today?3Goal for grades K-5: Students will investigate the world of work in order to make informed career decisions.Virginia Counseling Standards

4Created a national model as a framework for school counseling programs in 2004Includes career development standards for all students in grades K-12Virginia uses the career development standards from the ASCA national standardsAccountability is considered by ASCA as one of the four components of school counseling programs

5Statement of the Problem6Purpose of Study7Purpose of Study8Implications9Implications10Research Questions114.What is the relationship, if any, between school counselor career development practices and the level in which each counselor believes he or she is meeting Virginia Elementary Career Development school counseling standards?.5What is the relationship, if any, between the number of school counselor career practices and counselor self efficacy scores?Research Questions12What was used?Instrumentation-21 Question Survey combining the following:Florida School Counselors Survey 2000DemographicsAssess specific career development activities and practicesChosen because it was successfully used in previous studies( Osborn & Baggerly, 2004)

School Counselor Self Efficacy ScaleAdapted from the Academic/Career subscaleMeasure school counselor self efficacy related to elementary career developmentSCSE could be used as an outcome measure for School Counseling Education Programs(Bodenhorn & Skaggs, 2005)

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Public Elementary School Counselors across the state of Virginia106 of 133 city and county divisions were contacted1,083 schools1,178 email addresses were obtainedWho was surveyed?14Electronic web based survey1,178 elementary school counselors contacted through emailSurvey Monkey Gold Plan with enhanced security (SSL)

Procedures

15Data AnalysisNon experimental design

Survey approach

Answers limited to the counselors personal perspective

16Questions 1-6(Demographics)

Frequency Counts and Percentages were reported to summarize demographic information including:GenderEducation levelEthnicityLocation of school (area description)Regional location of school (8 regions of Virginia)*Practicing elementary school counselor in 2010-2011 school year* Elimination Question

Data Analyses- Section 1: Elementary School Counselor Demographics and Background Information17Questions 7-14 (Demographics & additional information that could be used in future analysis)

Frequency Counts and Percentages were reported to summarize demographic information including:Grade Levels counselors worked withNumber of years of experience as an elementary school counselorTraining on elementary career developmentProfessional development in elementary career developmentTraining Counselor education program trainingTime needed for elementary career developmentTotal hours spent on elementary career development (K-3) & (4-5)

Data Analyses- Section 1: Elementary School Counselor Demographics and Background Information18

Who responded?-1178 emails were sent March 2012-6 bounced back (incorrect email address) (.51%)-19 (1.62%) opted out of receiving emails-729 did not respond (63.23%)-424 did respond (36.77%)-387 met the criteria for the survey Criteria: Part time or full time elementary school counselor for 2010-2011 school year19Data CleaningMissing data: Item non response (Graham, 2012)-Respondents completed part of the survey & left individual questions or parts of questions blank-Data cleaning procedures were applied for specific data types for each individual question

20Who answered? Demographics21Demographics: Education22Demographics: EthnicityEthnicityPercentageNumberCaucasian82.10%345African American15.50%65Asian1.00%4Biracial0.70%3Hispanic0.20%1Native American0.20%1Not Listed0.20%1* Four participants skipped the question23Demographics: School LocationN=119N=73* Skipped by 1 participantN=624Demographics: School RegionSchool RegionNorthern VA36.60%142Central VA14.69%57Tidewater13.66%53Western VA11.09%43Valley9.80%38Northern Neck6.45%25Southwest5.93%23Southside1.81%7Skipped8.49%36Total of 388 answered/ 36 skipped (8.5%)-considered NMAR25

421 answered the question and 3 skipped the question (.71%) total eligible to complete the survey n=387

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Range =330-336 (87.5%-89.1% largest difference =1.6%.Grade levels appeared to be equally represented. 27Experience: # of years as a practicing elementary school counselor377 Responded Range 1-35 yearsMean 11.30 yearsMedian 10 yearsMode 5 years (n=27)

2 Skipped Question At this point in the survey 377 counselors responded 10 skipped the question8 of the 10 that skipped stopped the survey completelyAdjusted total 379

28Basic Demographics & Additional InformationQuestions 9-14 Training (Time and Types)Professional Development ActivitiesTraining in Counselor Education Programs

Frequency Counts and Percentages were reported

29How often have you attended training on elementary career development within the past 4 years?30Elementary Career Development Training activities completed within the past year31Question 11: In order to be more effective at my school more training could be helpfulAnswer OptionsResponse CountResponse %Yes, a lot7720.5%Yes, some22760.5%I have enough4812.8%Yes, very little143.7%No, none92.4%32Training received on elementary career development in counselor education program.33Would more time be useful to implement career development?Answer OptionsResponse CountResponse %4-5 hours/class184.88%2-3 hours/class7420.06%1 hour /class 10628.73%Not sure8823.85%No, all time was provided8322.50%369 responded 10 Skipped34Total hours spent on career development grades K-3Outliers: 126, 200, 420 hours/ 319 responded and 60 skipped the question35Total hours spent on career development grades 4-5Outlier: 200 hours/ 327 responded/52 skipped36Research Question 1:What practices of career development were currently being implemented by school counselors in Virginias Elementary schools in the 2010-2011 school year?Grades (K-3)Grades (4-5)

37Research Question 1: What practices of career development were currently being implemented by school counselors in Virginias Elementary schools in the 2010-2011 school year?

Questions 15 (18 practices listed)Counselors selected yes or no to indicate if a specific activity was conducted to facilitate career development with studentsA frequency distribution of the career development materials and activities marked as conducted was prepared for a descriptive data analysis Career activities/materials were identified in rank order38ResultsResearch question 1: What career development practices are currently being implemented by Virginia Elementary school counselors? 39Results3 practices used the least Research question 1: What career development practices are currently being implemented by Virginia Elementary school counselors? 40Career Development activities in rank orderActivity% yesClassroom Career Exploration90.59%Print Materials84.21%On line Career Exploration Programs66.76%Completed a Career Search w/students62.33%Introduced Career Clusters61.22%Guest Speakers52.08%Hands On Career Exploration Activities50.14%Individual Career Exploration 48.76%Distributed Community Career Related Materials42.94%Activity% yesProvided career exploration materials to parents41.83%Career Day or Career Fair39.62%Informed parents of career development school counseling standards37.68%Informed teachers of ways to incorporate career development in the classroom35.74%Student Career Dress Up Day30.75%Involved parents in a career exploration activity with students26.87%Career Exploration Field Trips21.9%Career Exploration CD ROMs17.46%Job Shadowing Opportunities for students6.65%41Research Question 2:Survey question 16Over the 2010-2011 school year, to what extent do you believe that you met the Virginia Counseling standards:For grades K-3 career development? Answers were assigned using a 5 point Likert scale including a not applicable optionMost of the standards were met-37% n=133All of the standards were met-33.1% n=118*357 counselors responded/ 22 skipped 42Research Question 2:Survey questions 16 & 18Over the 2010-2011 school year, to what extent do you believe that you met the Virginia Counseling standards:For grades 4-5 career development?Answers were assigned using a 5 point Likert scale including a not applicable optionMost of the standards were met 31.8% n=111All of the standards were met 36% n=127351 responded/ 28 skipped the question43School Counselors Beliefs about the use of career materials meeting the Virginia Career Development Standards for grades K-3 (EC1-EC6) and 4-5 (EC7-EC10) Scale 1-not at all 5 completely met standard Question 17 & 19School Counselor Career Development StandardsRating Avg.EC1: Understand the concepts of job and career3.98EC2: Understand that behaviors such as punctuality, courtesy, proper dress and proper language are essential to current and future success, 3.71EC3: Understand the relationship of individual effort, hard work, and persistence to achievement,4.12EC4: Understand the importance of teamwork in working towards a common goal,4.16EC5: Demonstrate the decision making process,4.03EC6: Demonstrate goal setting,4.04EC7: Recognize the benefits of both individual initiative and teamwork,4.10EC8: Recognize that the changing workplace requires lifelong learning,3.79EC9: Identify hobbies and interests, and4.18EC10: Identify career choices through exploration.4.0544Research Question 2:Over the 2010-2011 school year, to what extent do you believe that you met the Virginia Counseling standards: Grades K-3357 responded / 22 skipped the question45Research Question 2: Over the 2010-2011 school year, to what extent do you believe that you met the Virginia Counseling standards: Grades 4-5351 Responded / 28 skipped the question46Research Question 3:Are specific career development practices related to the level of counselor self efficacy in regard to meeting Virginia Elementary Career Development Standards?School Counselor Self Efficacy Scale used 7 activities representing academic and career planning standards.Score 1-5 (not confident highly confident)Scores could range from 7- 35

47Research Question 3: AnalysisA general statistical analysis was performed for each of the 7 elements listed including:Frequency Counts & Mean Scores Table 14Mean, Variance, Standard Deviation, Std. Err. Mean Table 15Median, mode, and range Appendix R

48Research Question 3:Determined through the School Counselor Self Efficacy Scale: (Avg score 1-5) Top 4 listed below:4.19- Foster an understanding of the relationship between learning and work4.05- Teach Students to apply problem solving skills toward their academic, personal, and career success;3.99- Deliver age appropriate programs through which students acquire the skills needed to investigate the world of work.3.95- Teach students how to apply time and task management skills49Research Question 3:Determined through the School Counselor Self Efficacy Scale: (Avg score 1-5) Bottom 3 listed below:3.81- Offer appropriate explanations to students, parents, and teachers of how learning styles affect school performance.3.70- Use technology designed to support student successes and progress through the educational process3.65- Implement a program which enables all students to make informed career decisions

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Research Question 3: AnalysisDependent variable: SCSE scoreIndependent variable: career exploration practices and materials T- Tests were conducted for each participants self efficacy total score compared to each of the 18 listed activities.Based on assuming unequal variances with a significance level of 0.0551Research Question 3: AnalysisTest of statistical significance was conducted to estimate the relationship between counselor self efficacy and the use of specific career exploration materials and practices exists and is not merely a result of chance.P-value (primary index of statistical significance) was used to determine the chance of error and if previous findings were valid.

52Research Question 3: ResultsActivities showing a p value < .0001*Table 16School Counselor Self Efficacy Scores compared to the Use of Specific Career Development Materials and Activitiesp>[t] valueUsed online career exploration programs