Perceptions of Georgia School Counselors on the Implementation of a Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program and Accountability

In the era of accountability, school counselors are under pressure to accurately determine their role. No Child Left Behind has created standards that are tied to and driven by accountability and academic standards. School counselors\u27 roles and responsibilities vary from district to district and from school to school. School counselors are often asked to perform duties that are not congruent with the curriculum they are asked to implement. The Georgia Curriculum for counselors has outlined tasks, duties, and responsibilities for school counselors. The task dimensions are aligned with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) model and defines roles and tasks that are appropriate and inappropriate for school counselors. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent school counselors in Georgia are implementing the state Guidance Curriculum. Georgia school counselors who are members of ASCA were sent surveys via email and were asked to click on a link that directed them to a site for them to respond to the survey. The number of actual delivered emails was 328 and the return rate was 33.84%. School counselors were asked a series of questions that asked them to respond to items that listed a variety of tasks and duties that are listed as part of the state guidance 2 curriculum. Included in the survey were tasks and duties that, according to ASCA are deemed inappropriate for counselors to perform. Counselors\u27 response to the survey items determined their beliefs regarding the tasks they perform on a daily/weekly basis and if they believe specific tasks they perform have an impact on student achievement. The findings of this study indicated that the majority of Georgia school counselors who responded to the survey are implementing the Georgia curriculum. The results also indicated that counselors believe that many of the tasks and duties they perform have an impact on student achievement. In addition to these findings, it was determined by counselor report that Georgia school counselors are still performing some inappropriate clerical and administrative tasks