PRINCIPALS’ AND SCHOOL COUNSELORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL COUNSELOR LEADERSHIP ROLES

The complexity school counselors’ many roles can conflict with one another. Conflict also stems from how building principals perceive the roles of school counselor. This dysfunctional role conflict and ambiguity may lead to organizational stresses that negatively impact the ability to serve students well. Therefore, the purpose of this cross- sectional quantitative study was to explore and compare the perceptions that school counselors and administrators have about the roles of the counselor. This cross-sectional study focused upon the variance of perceptions and beliefs that school counselors and school administrators recognized as optimal for the role of school counselors. The Roles of School Counseling Questionnaire (ROSCQ) was created and used to measure topics that were recognized by the professional organizations for school counselors, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and secondary school administrators, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The questionnaire measured the comparison of perceptions that school counselors and principals had about the roles of the counselor. Results were analyzed for the groups of counselors and principals and the levels of elementary and secondary schools. The findings suggest that both school counselors and school administrators considered these topics highly positive. The results also indicated that despite the different occupations in the building, school counselors and administrators agreed in what the essential topics are for school counselors. Spearman’s rank correlation found a strong positive correlation relationship between school counselors and administrators rs (164) = 0.99, p \u3c .001. Finally, analyses of variance (ANOVAs) found statistical significances in the areas of bullying, career development, closing the gap, college admissions, and trauma and crisis. Recommendations for school leaders, school counselors, and future research were discussed for improved communication and effective performance