A Pre-Experimental Pilot Study of School Counselors Completing an 8-Month Professional Development Program to Improve Self-Efficacy

AbstractResearchers have minimally studied school counselor professional development practices and their associations with school counselor self-efficacy. To fill this gap, we examined the School Counseling Fellowship Program (SCFP), which utilized an innovative professional development model to promote better classroom lesson design among school counselors. In a pre-experimental pilot study about the program with three data collections, results indicated that school counselors in the SCFP (N = 19) reported significantly increased overall school counselor self-efficacy (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.54), as well as significantly improved self-efficacy in personal and social development (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.50), leadership and assessment (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.55), career and academic development (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.52), collaboration (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.36), and cultural acceptance (p = .006, ηp2 = 0.25). Results suggest tentative positive support for the SCFP model to be used in future practice.Keywords: Professional developmentschool counselorself-efficacycohort modeluniversity partnership Notes on ContributorsDr. Clare Merlin-Knoblich is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research interests include school counselors' anti-oppressive, social justice leadership and advocacy efforts in schools.Dr. Hilary Dack is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research interests include preparing school counselors and teachers for effective instructional decision-making with K-12 learners.Dr. Joseph Anthony Elizondo is an Assistant Professor at the University of La Verne in Los Angeles, California. His research interests include creating and maintaining positive school counseling relationships, the role of the school counselor on K-12 campuses, school counselor advocacy, and school counseling strategies which are culturally relevant, culturally responsible, and effective.Additional informationFundingThis study was funded by a University of North Carolina at Charlotte Faculty Research Grant. We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.