Antiracist School Counseling: Antiracist school counseling requires actively disrupting systemic racism through advocacy, critical consciousness, and the creation of affirming school environments that honor Black students’ humanity, cultural identities, and lived experiences. Strengths-Based School Counseling: Strengths-based school counseling emphasizes identifying and cultivating students’ assets to promote agency, belonging, and well-being. For Black students, this approach counters deficit-oriented narratives by centering cultural wealth, resilience, and community-based strengths. The Antiracist Strengths-Based School Counseling (ASBSC) Framework, With Case Study: This article introduces the ASBSC framework, integrating antiracist praxis with strengths-based principles through four components: reframing student narratives, elevating cultural assets as strengths, affirming strengths through data-informed action, and activating strengths for collective empowerment. A case study of Malik, a seventh-grade Black student experiencing racialized discipline, illustrates how school counselors can apply the framework to reinterpret behavior, affirm identity, and challenge inequitable practices at both individual and systemic levels. Implications and Future Research: The ASBSC framework calls for school counselor preparation programs to embed antiracist and strengths-based training that emphasizes systemic analysis, culturally sustaining practices, and advocacy. Future research should examine implementation and outcomes of the framework, centering student voice and employing antiracist methodologies to assess impacts on student development and school climate. Conclusion: The ASBSC framework offers a cohesive, equity-centered approach for reframing narratives, affirming strengths, and advancing systemic change to support Black students’ success and well-being.
White school counselors increasingly work in racially diverse school settings. Although White racial identity development has been linked to multicultural competence and advocacy, less is known about how counselor preparation and professional experience shape White racial identity development or how it, in turn, influences school counseling practice. This study explored how school counseling preparation and professional experiences influence racial identity development among White school counselors and how shifts in racial identity development affect their work with students of color. using a constructivist grounded theory methodology. Twenty-eight White school counselors working in schools in the southeastern United State participated in semistructured interviews. Interview data was analyzed iteratively through constant comparison and line-by-line and focused coding. This process led to the development of a theoretical model of White school counselor racial identity development. Findings indicate that White racial identity development among school counselors is shaped by both preparation experiences and professional practice. These experiences contributed to a shift from color-evasive to color-conscious perspectives and increased engagement in broaching, advocacy, and trust building with students of color. Emotional experiences such as guilt, shame, and discomfort often functioned as catalysts for reflection and change. However, participants also experienced tension related to belonging and concern about backlash in their advocacy efforts. Overall, results suggest a bidirectional relationship between White racial identity development and school counseling practice, with implications for school counselors, counselor educators, and school leaders.
Background: School counselors are increasingly expected to engage in data-informed practices to design and deliver effective, evidence-based programs. The Evidence-Based School Counseling (EBSC) model emphasizes identifying student needs through data, implementing empirically supported interventions, and evaluating outcomes. Although existing sources of data can help school counselors identify trends, highlight opportunity gaps, and guide program and intervention planning, surveys are a valuable tool for collecting input from students, caregivers, and educators in their school communities. However, little direction exists on how school counselors can design and administer surveys ethically and effectively in K–12 settings. Framework for Survey Use in School Counseling: This conceptual article addresses that gap by offering research-informed guidelines for survey development. It specifies seven key steps for school counselors to efficiently use or develop effective surveys: (a) Define constructs, (b) define sample and demographic variables, (c) review potential existing scales, (d) write items and response scales, (e) write instructions, (f) choose format and timing of administration, and (g) pilot and finalize. Practice and Training Implications: Through this practical guidance, school counselors can be better prepared to collect meaningful data to support EBSC practices and provide responsive, comprehensive, and student-centered programs. A greater emphasis on survey design can also prepare trainees to enter the profession with the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in data-informed program development. Overall, the ability to use, design, and deliver surveys effectively and ethically is a professional competency that can be cultivated across school counseling practice and training.
Background: Supporting high school students’ career exploration, a critical aspect of college and career readiness, is a central concern for secondary school counselors. However, multilingual learners of English (MLs) face persistent barriers to participate in college and career readiness opportunities. Furthermore, research has reported that school counselors may require additional support and training on career exploration and working with MLs. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to examine how school counselors at a large urban high school provide career exploration experiences for MLs. Research Question: What systems, structures, and language-neutral policies supported or failed to support school counselors in providing career exploration for MLs in a large urban high school? Method: Drawing on critical ethnographic methods, I engaged in 10 months of fieldwork, which included recording fieldnotes, conducting interviews, and collecting documents and artifacts. Results and Conclusion: Drawing on theories of equity leadership, bureaucratic dysfunction, and language-neutral policy, I argue that three converging issues confounded school counselors’ efforts to provide career exploration opportunities for MLs: overwhelming caseloads, a lack of institutional knowledge about career exploration, and limited general support for MLs. Together, these systemic failures created a situation in which school counselors were unable to provide meaningful career exploration for MLs, despite their efforts. The article concludes with implications for school counselors around advocacy and addressing systemic issues that would better support their work with MLs.
Background: Adolescent mental health is a significant public health concern; 33% of adolescents experience anxiety disorders and 42% report depression symptoms, but only 60.2% of affected youth receive treatment (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022; Maternal & Child Health Bureau, 2020; Merikangas et al., 2010 ). These challenges disrupt academic achievement and strain school counselors, who frequently serve as the sole mental health professional in their buildings. Small-group interventions grounded in positive psychology offer an efficient, developmentally responsive approach to improving student well-being (Tejada-Gallardo et al., 2020). Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief positive psychology intervention (PPI) on secondary student well-being, mental health, and behavioral outcomes. Research Questions/Hypotheses: What are the effects of a brief, small-group PPI on well-being and behavioral outcomes among secondary students beyond baseline? We hypothesized that participants would show reductions in anxiety, stress, and depression, increases in overall well-being, and fewer discipline referrals. Methods: Twenty-four high school students participated in a 6-week small-group intervention. A multiple-baseline single-case research design (SCRD) was employed, with full analysis completed for 14 participants. Data were collected using the WHO-5, DASS-Y, and school discipline records. Results and Conclusions: The intervention produced the strongest effects for anxiety, with 78% of participants showing clinically meaningful reductions and 75% of students with prior discipline referrals reducing behavioral outcomes. Improvements in depression, stress, and overall well-being were modest. Despite a small, heterogeneous sample, the SCRD supports a functional relationship between the intervention and outcomes, providing evidence that PPIs can be effectively delivered to improve student well-being.
Background: Evidence-based school counseling emphasizes data-driven decision making and evaluation of interventions, yet many practicing school counselors lack practical models for implementing rigorous outcome research in applied school settings. Single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) offer a feasible methodology for evaluating individualized interventions while maintaining validity. Objectives: This study examined the feasibility and outcomes of a school-counselor-led, online, multiple-baseline design targeting middle school students’ perceptions of academic stress and classroom engagement, while illustrating practical SCED implementation. Research Questions: 1. Will participation in a weekly online school counseling intervention influence academic engagement and perceived academic stress? 2. Are any changes maintained at 3-week follow-up? 3. How do participants perceive the usefulness of the intervention? Methods: A nonconcurrent multiple-baseline across participants design was used with four middle school students. Weekly data were collected during baseline and intervention phases using teacher direct behavior ratings, school counselor systematic direct observations, and student self-report stress measures. Visual analysis and Tau-U effect sizes were used to evaluate change. Social validity and procedural fidelity were also assessed. Results and Conclusions: Results indicated generally stable patterns across participants, with minimal changes in engagement or perceived stress and small effect sizes. However, respectful behavior increased and disruptive behavior decreased for most participants. Social validity ratings were high, and procedural fidelity exceeded 90%. Findings suggest that SCED methodology is a practical and rigorous approach for school counselors to evaluate interventions in real-world contexts. Even when measurable outcomes are limited, SCED data can inform individualized decision making, intervention refinement, and evidence-based school counseling practice.
Background: Postsecondary enrollment has declined since 2010, with persistent racial and ethnic disparities in college access. Students of color face multiple barriers to receiving postsecondary preparation support, and school counselors are uniquely positioned to address these gaps. Yet limited research examines students’ direct experiences with high school counselors specifically regarding postsecondary planning, particularly across diverse demographic groups. Objectives: This study aimed to (a) investigate college students’ experiences with postsecondary preparation and school counselor support during high school, and (b) identify culturally responsive strategies school counselors can use to improve postsecondary access and equity for students of color. Research Questions: What do college students report were their experiences with postsecondary preparation and with their high school counselor during the postsecondary preparation process? Do experiences differ across demographic groups? What can schools and school counselors do to improve the postsecondary preparation process for all students? Methods: A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was employed with 404 undergraduate participants recruited through Qualtrics research panels. A 40-item survey included 24 Likert-scale questions across three conceptual sections and five open-ended questions. We analyzed quantitative data using ANOVA and qualitative data using thematic analysis. Results and Conclusions: Participants reported largely neutral perceptions of school counselor support and postsecondary preparation resources, with multiracial students reporting significantly lower comfort and perceived cultural understanding from school counselors. Findings underscore the need for culturally responsive, identity-affirming, and advocacy-driven school counseling practices to close persistent postsecondary opportunity gaps.
Background According to the American School Counselor Association, school counselors are tasked with supporting students’ holistic growth, including career development. Despite this professional responsibility, there is a limited body of career development interventions specifically designed for school counselors to implement. Furthermore, outcome-based research examining the effectiveness of school counseling interventions remains an ongoing need within the profession. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation and outcomes of a career-focused expressive arts small-group intervention facilitated by school counseling graduate students. Research Question What common themes emerge from students’ unique stories when analyzing their artwork and written reflections during an expressive arts intervention? Methods Using a qualitative narrative inquiry approach, we collected data from secondary students ( N = 33) who participated in a structured, small-group intervention led by school counseling graduate students ( N = 8). Data sources included expressive arts artifacts and student reflections created during the intervention. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify common themes. Results and Conclusions Four primary themes emerged: (a) personal values, (b) self-concept, (c) relationships and belonging, and (d) interests and creative expression. Findings suggest that expressive-arts-based career interventions may support identity development and meaning-making processes central to adolescent career exploration. The article discusses implications for school counseling practice and future outcome-based research.
Background: Youth mental health concerns have increased alongside the near-universal use of social media among adolescents. Although research has examined links between social media and youth mental health, little is known about school counselors’ perspectives. School counselors are key mental health providers in schools and are positioned to observe students’ digital experiences. Objectives: This study examined how school counselors conceptualize social media’s impact on youth mental health and identified shared patterns in their perspectives using Q methodology. Research Questions: How do U.S. K–12 school counselors perceive social media as affecting student mental health? Methods: We used Q methodology to examine subjective perspectives. Participants completed an online Q sort, ranking 31 statements about social media from −4 (least like my view) to +4 (most like my view). The sample included 50 U.S. school counselors with varied experience, school levels, and geographic regions. Data were analyzed using principal components analysis and varimax rotation in Ken-Q Analysis (Version 2.0.1) to identify shared factors. Results: Three factors emerged: (a) Heightened Concern for Social Media Harm, (b) Social Media Use and Psychological Vulnerability, and (c) Developmental Vulnerability and Structural Risk. These reflected different ways school counselors understand social media’s role in youth mental health, from broad, harm-focused views to more nuanced accounts emphasizing usage patterns or structural factors. Across factors, participants emphasized risks and placed less emphasis on benefits. Conclusions: Findings suggest school counselors view social media mainly as a risk context, although with variation in how harm is understood. Implications include strengthening practice and preparation.
School counselors are increasingly called to serve as leaders in promoting equity and systemic change, yet their leadership engagement can be shaped by both personal and contextual factors. This study examined whether resilience predicts school counselor leadership practices, above and beyond ecological variables such as caseload, school climate, and socioeconomic context. Using a cross-sectional survey of 260 practicing K-12 school counselors, results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that resilience significantly predicted leadership engagement, even after accounting for ecological factors. Mediation analysis further revealed that resilience partially mediated the relationship between school climate and leadership practices. These findings underscore resilience as a key intrapersonal resource for sustaining leadership in challenging school environments, highlighting the importance of both personal and systemic supports for developing and maintaining school counselor leadership.
Background : School counselors are expected to address systemic inequities in pre-K–12 settings, yet limited empirical research has examined how antiracist practices are enacted in rural contexts shaped by political resistance, professional isolation, and constrained resources. Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of rural school counselors who implemented or attempted to implement antiracist practices. Research Question : What are rural school counselors’ lived experiences with implementing and/or attempting to implement antiracist school counseling practices in pre-K–12 schools? Methods : The study used a critical phenomenological design guided by critical race theory (CRT). I conducted in-depth interviews with six rural school counselors across multiple U.S. regions. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’ phenomenological approach, adapted through a CRT lens to examine how race, power, and systemic inequities shaped participants’ experiences. Results and Conclusions : Four themes emerged: school counselor disposition, barriers, effective practices, and support. School counselors described how awareness and intentionality grounded their equity efforts, while systemic racism, insulated perspectives, reactive school cultures, and limited institutional backing constrained sustained change. Despite these barriers, participants engaged in advocacy, promoted student and family voice, and increased racial awareness through relationship-centered practices. Collaboration and continuity strengthened school counselors’ capacity to advance antiracist work. Findings highlight the need for rural-responsive counselor preparation, sustained professional networks, and policy supports that address sociopolitical realities. This study offers empirical insight into antiracist school counseling in rural contexts and underscores the importance of integrating evidence-based school counseling principles with equity-centered practice.
Background: The college recruiting period represents a developmentally significant and often stressful time in the lives of high school student-athletes, when their athletic identity is either affirmed or challenged based upon the interest of college coaches. Although school counselors and parents/guardians play critical roles in supporting student-athletes’ emotional well-being, current research offers limited guidance on how these groups can collaborate effectively. To support this collaboration, school counselors must understand how parents/guardians experience the recruiting process. Objectives: Through this phenomenological study, we sought to inform recommendations for collaboration between parents/guardians and school counselors by centering the perspectives of parents and examining how they navigated their child’s recruitment journey. Research Question: How did parents of student-athletes who verbally committed to play Division I lacrosse in college navigate the recruiting process? Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews of 14 parents whose sons verbally committed to playing Division I lacrosse in college. We analyzed the results through Moustaka’s (1994) adaptation of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen phenomenological data analysis. Results and Conclusions: Three themes emerged from the analysis: The Human Side of Recruiting (Expectations, Scarcity, Emotions), It’s a Business (Coaches Are Salesmen, Abrupt Communication), and Parents as Agents (Increasing Visibility, Addressing Uncertainty, Managing the Process). These findings inform recommendations for how school counselors could collaborate with parents/guardians: (a) helping parents/guardians navigate uncertainty, (b) normalizing emotional distress that comes when athletic identity has been threated, (c) seeking professional help when needed, and (d) strengthening parent/guardian supports.
During challenging sociopolitical times, equity-focused school–family–community partnerships are a powerful strategy that school counselors and other educators can use to provide equitable resources, information, and programs to meet their students’ academic, college and career, social/emotional, and mental health needs. Yet school counselors rarely evaluate these initiatives systematically, leaving an important evidence gap that this article addresses. Programs that are evidence based and demonstrate student success are harder to dismiss as ideological and more likely to be seen as legitimate educational interventions. This conceptual article provides a practical, evidence-based roadmap to help school counselors and other educators develop, implement, and evaluate school–family–community partnerships across supportive and restrictive climates, demonstrating impact and sustaining equity-focused work. The article builds on the seven-step Equity-Focused School–Family–Community Partnership Model, grounded in four pillars: democratic collaboration, empowerment, strengths focus, and social justice. School counselors enact these principles through liberatory praxis in supportive settings and subversive praxis in restrictive ones, generating resilience-focused social capital that connects students to protective resources and justice-focused social capital that empowers families to challenge inequitable structures. Evaluation is integral to partnership development. We describe needs assessment, formative, outcome, and summative approaches alongside culturally responsive tools, bilingual surveys, equity walks, family data cafés, and equity dashboards, adaptable across supportive and restrictive climates. School counselors can embed partnership steps within ASCA annual plans, and counselor educators can integrate the model across evaluation, supervision, and internship coursework. Future research should examine liberatory and subversive praxis across contexts and explore how emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, may expand family participation and strengthen equity-centered evaluation.
School counselors have an ethical obligation to provide culturally relevant and evidence-based services to students with disabilities. Yet school counselors continue to express concerns about their competence to serve students with disabilities, and researchers continue to identify gaps in disability-related content during preservice school counselor training. Missing from the professional literature is a close examination of the types of disability-related research available to guide the work of school counselors. The purpose of this study was to examine themes and trends in professional literature related to school counseling and students with disabilities over the past 25 years. How many and what type of peer-reviewed articles have been published in the past 25 years related to school counseling and students with disabilities? What topics have been addressed in peer-reviewed journals over the past 25 years related to school counseling and students with disabilities? We used content analysis involving a combination of an a priori codebook and inductive coding to examine peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2000 and 2024 related to school counseling and students with disabilities. Of the 109 total articles identified, just under half were empirical and few were classified as outcome or intervention studies. We categorized the articles into eight broad topic areas. A diverse amount of conceptual and empirical information related to school counseling and students with disabilities exists that could be integrated into school counselor education programs and used for school counselor professional development.
The 2025 Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference showcased a range of ways practitioners and counselor educators apply evidence-based school counseling (EBSC) in their work. Evidence-based school counseling is a three-step process of exploring what contributes to a given student issue in P-12 schools, investigating potential ways to address the situation, and then implementing a chosen course of action (Zyromski & Dimmitt, 2022). This introduction to this special issue of Professional School Counseling highlights some of the presentations regarding EBSC that were shared at the 2025 Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference.
Background: School counselors have an ethical responsibility to respond effectively to students’ religious and spiritual identities. However, many school counselors report feeling limited in their ability to do so when students’ spiritual and religious issues arise at school. Few resources exist to guide school counselors on appropriate actions for responding to students’ spirituality. Objectives: We sought to explore the existing literature regarding spirituality and school counseling through a systematic scoping review. Specifically, we examined the contexts in which spirituality has been addressed in school counseling literature and aimed to identify the recommendations previous scholars have provided for school counseling practice and research. Research Question: What school counseling literature exists that addresses religion and spirituality in school counseling? Methods: We employed a scoping review methodology to systematically search for and analyze peer-reviewed articles related to spirituality and school counseling. We identified 31 ( n = 31) publications that fit our criteria and examined their abstracts, frameworks, objectives, and recommendations for school counseling practice. Results and Conclusions: Through this scoping review, we sought to explore the publications available for school counselors and identify the remaining gaps regarding spirituality and school counseling scholarship. Although scholars have noted ethical and multicultural considerations for school counselors’ responses to students’ spiritual/religious issues, our findings indicate that many gaps remain related to the recency and scope of scholarship. We provide implications for school counseling research and practice.
Background: School counselor educators are tasked with preparing emerging school counselors in training to address systemic inequities and promote lasting change for pre-K–12 students. The Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI), established nearly 30 years ago, challenged the traditional school counseling model, encouraging a shift toward equity, leadership, and systemic change. Given ongoing ecological factors influencing school counseling, a reassessment of preparation content and structure is timely. Objectives: This study aimed to revisit the foundational tenets of TSCI and determine the current training needs of school counselors in training. Research Question: What changes do you believe need to be made to school counseling preparatory programs in order to effectively prepare emerging school counselors to meet the needs of pre-K–12 students in the 21st century? Methods: This study utilized a three-round Delphi methodology, an iterative, consensus-building process involving an anonymous panel of experts. The panel consisted of 24 initial experts, including school counselors and counselor educators. Results and Conclusions: Across three phases, panelists reached consensus to keep 107 essential items related to program transformation. These items were organized into five primary categories: program structure (24 items); course content (32 items); field experiences (14 items), recruitment, selection, and retention (18 items); and advocacy, outreach, and partnership efforts (19 items). Key needs identified included integrating supports, addressing state licensure needs, enhancing educational-focused content, and focusing on financial considerations and diversity in recruitment. The results reflect the expert panel’s vision for the next iteration of TSCI, providing school counseling programs with a roadmap for necessary review and enhancement.
Neurodiversity: The neurodiversity paradigm reframes neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and Tourette syndrome as natural variations of human cognition rather than deficits requiring remediation. This conceptual shift has important implications for school counseling, a profession grounded in strengths-based, equity-oriented practice. Neurodivergent students, and particularly those holding intersecting marginalized identities related to race, gender, or socioeconomic status, often experience misidentification, exclusionary discipline, trauma exposure, and school environments that privilege neurotypical norms. School counselors are uniquely positioned to challenge ableist narratives and advocate for affirming, inclusive systems that recognize and cultivate students’ neurocognitive and cultural assets. Discussion: This article advances a strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming framework for school counseling practice. Drawing from the neurodiversity paradigm, strengths-based school counseling, cultural wealth, and antiracist scholarship, we outline seven actionable approaches for supporting neurodivergent students across academic, social/emotional, and systemic domains. These include reframing deficit-based narratives, highlighting cultural and neurocognitive strengths, strengths-based group counseling, teacher consultation, data-driven advocacy, identity-affirming counseling practices, and continuous professional development. A case example illustrates how these strategies can be operationalized within a comprehensive school counseling program to disrupt inequitable practices and promote belonging, well-being, and engagement. Conclusion: Adopting a neurodiversity-affirming approach requires school counselors to move beyond individual interventions toward systemic transformation. By centering strengths, honoring intersectional identities, and challenging neuro-normative school structures, school counselors can foster environments where neurodivergent students are affirmed and supported to thrive. We discuss implications for school counseling practice, counselor education, and future research.
Background: First-generation African American college students often rely on school counselors for guidance in navigating postsecondary pathways. However, disparities in access to counseling support may shape their college aspirations and decision making. Objectives: This study aimed to examine how first-generation African American college students perceived their high school counselors’ influence on their postsecondary planning and to identify counseling practices that either supported or hindered their college-going trajectories. Research Question: How do first-generation African American college students perceive the role and influence of their high school counselors in shaping their postsecondary aspirations? Methods: Using a critical race narrative inquiry design, the first author conducted semistructured life-story interviews with six first-generation African American college students who attended public high schools in a large Mid-South metropolitan area. Results and Conclusion: Three themes emerged. First, in “You call yourself a counselor; but...,” participants reported limited access to school counselors, weak relational connections, and perceived favoritism. Second, in “Your words don't make me or break me,” a school counselor’s language influenced motivation, although most participants had already planned to attend college before receiving meaningful support. Third, in “If you won't help me, someone else will,” participants emphasized how teachers, coaches, and family filled a critical role as alternative support systems when school counselors don’t meet the needs of their students. Findings underscore the need for school counselors to build authentic relationships, provide consistent and actionable college-planning support, and engage in equity-centered professional development to ensure first-generation African American college students receive personalized, equitable guidance.
Multicultural school counseling self-efficacy has been defined as a school counselor’s sense of confidence to perform multicultural school counseling tasks. Scholars indicate that multicultural school counseling self-efficacy is important because it can predict the frequency and effectiveness with which school counselors engage in multicultural school counseling services. We sought to explore potential factors that may predict school counselors’ multicultural self-efficacy. We identified three variables: school counselors’ employment in a Title I school setting, mindfulness, and hope. Three research questions guided this study: (a) Does employment at a Title I school predict school counselors’ multicultural self-efficacy?; (b) Does mindfulness predict school counselors’ multicultural self-efficacy when controlling for employment at a Title I school?; and (c) Do school counselors’ reported levels of hope predict their multicultural self-efficacy above and beyond mindfulness and employment at a Title I school? We conducted a hierarchical regression to examine whether the three variables predicted participants’ multicultural self-efficacy. We entered Title I school setting in Step 1, mindfulness in Step 2, and hope in Step 3. In Step 1 of the analysis, employment at a Title I school predicted multicultural self-efficacy. In Step 2, we found that mindfulness was a significant positive predictor, but employment in a Title I school was no longer a significant predictor. Finally, in Step 3, hope emerged as the strongest predictor of multicultural self-efficacy, while mindfulness remained significant. Based on these findings, we provide implications for school counseling practice, training, and research.
