Leadership Practices Linked to Involvement in School–Family–Community Partnerships

Abstract

Using the School Counselor Leadership Survey and the School Counselor Involvement in Partnerships Survey, this study of 546 school counselors explored which of the 5 school counselor leadership dimensions were associated with involvement in schoolfamily-community partnerships. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the leadership dimension that predicted counselor partnership involvement was systemic collaboration along with self-efficacy and role perceptions about partnerships, collaborative climate, and principal expectations. The authors discuss practice and training implications for school counselors.

School Counselors’ Perceptions of Barriers to Implementing a RAMP-Designated School Counseling Program

“…In a recent study, one third of school counselors reported little involvement in school–family–community partnerships (Bryan, Young, Griffin, & Holcomb-McCoy, 2018). Self-efficacy regarding such partnerships has been found to be a significant predictor of school counselors’ engagement in them (Bryan et al, 2018), suggesting that school counselor preparation programs be more active in fostering students’ self-efficacy in this domain, given that self-efficacy tends to be context-specific (Lent & Brown, 2006).…”

Examining Ecological Factors that Predict School Counselors’ Engagement in Leadership Practices

“…For example, school counselors can assess and adapt their school counseling program’s mission and vision statements to include explicit verbiage around antiracism and equity and to ensure that their program’s actions are grounded in such philosophies (Stickl Haugen et al, 2022). School counselors also can serve as cultural brokers and take steps to forge partnerships with families and community members so that their programmatic decision making is more closely aligned with the needs of the broader community, particularly those who are historically marginalized (Bryan et al, 2017). Last, school counselors can review specific behaviors that fall under the broader umbrella of multicultural competence (Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013) and identify strengths and growth edges within each area.…”

Educating future leaders: integrating leadership into an introductory school counseling course

“…The newest edition of the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019) emphasizes how themes like leadership are "woven" into the four components. Indeed, researchers have connected leadership practice to the implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program (Shillingford & Lambie, 2010) as well as a variety of other school counseling-related activities (e.g., Bryan et al, 2018;Midgett et al, 2018;Ryan et al, 2011;Singh et al, 2010). Results from the SCSE indicate that students may have developed efficacy in multiple areas as well as leadership practice.…”

“…For example, school counselors who have collected data and taken appropriate action on identified areas of improvement use leadership skills in the Assess component (ASCA, 2019). Researchers have demonstrated how leadership skills are integral to other areas of school counseling work, such as political skills and intentional relationship building involved in advocacy (Singh et al, 2010), school-family-community partnerships (Bryan et al, 2018), and programmatic interventions (e.g., bullying prevention programs; Midgett et al, 2018). Leadership also plays a role in school counselors' use of data to manage school counseling programs (Sink, 2009), their implementation of school-wide interventions (Ryan et al, 2011), and their impact on student achievement (Young et al, 2013).…”