A Qualitative Study Investigating Elementary and Middle School Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Secondary Schooling in Privately Funded and Publicly Funded Schools in Missouri

The purpose of this proposed qualitative study was to explore whether the absence of Comprehensive School Counseling Programs (CSCP) in privately-funded elementary and middle school impacts student personal, social-emotional, and academic growth in secondary school. This researcher used surveys and focus groups to gather data. The information resulting from this study will provide private and public schools reliable data to be used to implement and/or improve school counseling programs in elementary and middle school. A Comprehensive School Counseling Program is able to address the needs of students by facilitating their academic, career, and social-emotional development as well as helping create positive and safe learning climates in schools. At the same time, the program assists students as they face issues and resolve problems that may prevent their healthy development (obtained from Missouri Department of Early and Secondary Education, 2017). This researcher used surveys and focus groups to collect data for this study. Participants consisted of students attending public and private schools, teachers working at public and private schools, and parents of students attending public and private schools. The results looked at the differences in opinion between public and private school parents, teachers, and students regarding the lack of or presence of CSCPs in schools. Repeating this study with the same participants in three to four years would be beneficial to see if any responses would change. The results of the study would be especially significant if there were any student transitions from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school. The need for a school counselor might be more prevalent among the populations who might not have necessarily needed a school counselor in previous school years