Collaborative efforts by school counselors and school administrators that are grounded in social capital principles have the potential to better support students' educational success, health, and well-being in the wake of challenging and adverse events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to assess perceptions of school counselors and administrators to determine the extent to which they had a shared vision of the challenges and strengths in their school's initial response to the pandemic. We also explored their sense of the anticipated future needs within the context of social capital theory and trauma-informed practices. Participants included 381 current pre-K-12 school administrators and school counselors throughout the United States who completed a mixed-methods survey in spring 2020. Use of these findings can help school stakeholders continue to foster students' social/emotional, academic, and career and college readiness development during continued and future mass trauma events.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online learning exacerbated the mental health needs of children and adolescents, especially among minoritized students who were disproportionately impacted by the virus. Although the pandemic has increased the demand for counseling, research finds that school counselors are often hindered by organizational constraints. Using organizational role theory, this study examined school counselors' perceptions of their role delivering mental health supports during the pandemic. Findings indicate that school counselors reported an increased need for counseling, but faced multiple barriers to supporting students, leaving those who most needed the support particularly vulnerable.
The impact of COVID-19 and the racial awakening of the United States intensified the inequities already present in many K-12 schools. Authors report a practitioner-focused case study of a high school counseling department integrating multitiered systems of support (MTSS) into their comprehensive school counseling program during the 2020-2021 school year, in response to both a global pandemic and the racial justice movement. Authors describe school counselors' passionate commitment to supporting the school and department goal of increased graduation rate for the graduating class of 2021 in the midst of navigating virtual learning, racial and ethnic disparities, and lack of resources.
The school counseling profession has an ethical responsibility to provide and advocate for individual students' career planning and development, while expanding school counselors' own multicultural and social justice advocacy to become effective culturally competent professionals. Additional literature is needed to identify how school counselors can adapt their career counseling approaches to fit the unique challenges and barriers of historically marginalized students both during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic. We describe how school counselors can use intersectionality theory as a framework for career development with marginalized populations in response to COVID-19 and its impact on the economic decline.