School counselors' perceptions of their involvement in school-family-community partnerships

Professional School Counseling, Feb, 2004 by Julia Bryan, Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy

This study investigated school counselors' perceptions about their involvement in nine school-family-community (SFC) partnership programs and barriers to their involvement in such partnerships. A random sample of 72 school counselors in South Carolina public schools were asked to rate the importance and degree of their involvement related to nine SFC partnerships. The study revealed that the participants perceived their involvement in SFC partnerships as very important and significant relationships were round between school counselors' perceptions of importance of their involvement in partnerships and barriers to that involvement. Counselors varied in some of their perceptions and practices in the nine partnership programs by school level (i.e., elementary, middle, high school).

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School-family-community (SFC) partnerships are collaborative initiatives or relationships that actively involve school personnel, parents, families, and community members and organizations as equal and mutual partners in the planning, coordinating, and implementing of programs and activities at home, at school, and in the community to help increase the academic, emotional, and social success of students (Davies, 1996; Epstein, 1992; Swap, 1993). This article describes a study that explored school counselors' perceptions about their involvement in SFC partnerships.

RELEVANT LITERATURE

In 1997, the United States Congress thought parent involvement and partnerships important enough to include them in a revised list of National Education Goals known as Goals 2000. This federal legislation called for the development of school partnerships with families and community groups. Goal 8 of the National Education Goals encouraged schools to promote "partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation" by the year 2000 (U.S. Department of Education, 1997).

Many authors have suggested that SFC partnerships are one of the protective factors that foster educational resilience in at-risk children (Benard, 1995; Christenson & Sheridan, 2001; Epstein, 1995; Walsh, Howard, & Buckley, 1999). Educational reform over the past decade has even focused on school-community connections, home-school collaboration, or school-family-community partnerships as a means to helping youngsters achieve (Christenson & Conoley, 1992; Davies, 1991; Epstein, 1992; Merz & Furman, 1997; Ritchie, & Partin, 1994; Swap, 1992). These SFC partnerships have been evidenced through local governance models which include parents and community members in school governance, (e.g., site-based management); through parent and community involvement and volunteer programs (e.g., parents and community members as teacher-aides, mentors, and volunteers in the school); and through school-linked services (or interagency collaboration), which involve a number of approaches to linking social services agencies with schools in order to improve services to children (Merz & Furman).

An extensive review of the literature revealed that there are nine SFC partnership programs frequently found in schools. These nine partnership programs include:

1. Mentoring programs (Benard, 1995; Christiansen, 1997)

2. Parent centers (Corner, Haynes, Joyner, & Ben-Avie, 1996)

3. Family/community members as teachers' aides (Epstein, 1995)

4. Parent and community volunteer programs (Gherke, 1998)

5. Home visit programs (Christiansen, 1997; Cole, Thomas, & Lee, 1988)

6. Parent education programs (Christiansen, 1997; Ritchie, & Partin, 1994)

7. School-business partnerships (Dedmond, 1991)

8. Parents and community members in site-based management (Walsh et al., 1999)

9. Tutoring programs (Merz & Furman, 1997).

The emergence of SFC partnerships has also redefined the role of many school professionals, including school counselors (Adelman, 2002; Bemak, 2000; Taylor & Adelman, 2000). School counselors are being called on to take active roles in partnerships and to be part of the efforts to find effective and innovative ways to develop them (Christiansen, 1997; Keys, Bemak, Carpenter, & King-Sears, 1998; Lockhart & Keys, 1998). Since school counselors are seen as having potential for leadership in educational reform and as advocates of student success, it is suggested that school counselors promote educational reform through leadership in partnerships between school, families, and communities (Bemak; Colbert, 1996; Dedmond, 1991; House & Hayes, 2002).

This study provides valuable information for counselor educators and school counseling professionals as they focus more on SFC partnerships. In spite of the growing literature written about SFC partnerships and the prescribed roles for school counselors in SFC partnerships, no primary research could be found addressing the perceptions, roles, or involvement of the school counselor in relation to these SFC partnerships. In providing empirical data to address these questions, this study fills a gap in the research.

This study investigated school counselors' perceptions about their involvement in nine school-family-community partnership programs (e.g., mentoring, volunteer programs, tutoring, parent education) and barriers to their involvement in those partnerships. The primary research questions were as follows: