School Counselors as Social Justice Advocates: Outcomes of a Multicultural Counseling Supervision Program to Counter Edu

1. School Counselors as Social Justice Advocates: Outcomes of a Multicultural Counseling Supervision Program to Counter Educational Hegemony Cirecie West-Olatunji Rachael Goodman Lauren Shure University of Florida ACES 2009_San Diego

2. Problem Statement • Chronic underachievement of culturally diverse students (Haycock, 2001 ; Lee, 2002; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). • Cultural discontinuity and hegemony (Gay, 2000; King, 2004; Nieto, 2004). • Some school counselors lack cultural competence (Durodoye, 1998; Hobson & Kanitz, 1996; Johnson, 1995). ACES 2009_San Diego

3. Role of the 21st Century School Counselor • ASCA National Model and vision of the 21st century school counselor (ASCA, 2003; Cholewa & West-Olatunji, 2008). • Growing numbers of culturally-diverse students • Importance of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills (Sue & Sue, 2008). • Little or no consistent counseling supervision • Critical in counselor development (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998; Paisley & McMahon, 2001; Roberts & Borders, 1994). ACES 2009_San Diego

4. School Counselors and Social Justice • Multicultural competence needed to work as an advocate toward educational equity (Amatea & West-Olatunji, 2007; Bemak & Chung, 2005; Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi & Bryant, 2007; Lewis, Lewis, Daniels & D’Andrea, 2003). • Role of the 21st century school counselor as leader in schools (ASCA, 2003) • Includes building a climate of diversity appreciation in classrooms and strong home-school collaborations (Amatea & West-Olatunji, 2007; Holcomb-McCoy, 2007). ACES 2009_San Diego

5. Utilizing Multicultural Supervision • Supervision can be used to help school counselors gain multicultural competence (Paisley & McMahon, 2001). • Receiving multicultural supervision was predictive of self-reported multicultural competence (Pope-Davis, Reynolds, Dings, & Nielson, 1995; Pope-Davis, Reynolds, Dings, & Ottavi, 1994). • Supervisees instructed to focus upon multicultural issues in their client conceptualizations were better able to consider multicultural issues in client conceptualizations (Ladany, Inman, Constantine, and Hofheinz, 1997) . ACES 2009_San Diego

6. Research on Multicultural Supervision • Improve the quality of multicultural supervision by: • Openly discussing one’s own culture (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998), • Racial and ethnic identity development (Cook, 1994; Cook & Helms, 1988; Peterson, 1991), and • Time processing issues around cultural differences (Constantine, 1997). • Multicultural competence and attending to multicultural issues (Constantine, 2001) • SuperVISION (Garrett et al., 2001) ACES 2009_San Diego

7. Purpose of the Study • Multicultural Counseling Theory (MCT) used as a framework for investigating school counselors’ cultural competence. • Examines the impact of a year-long multicultural professional development and supervision program on school counselors’ cultural competence. ACES 2009_San Diego

8. Research Methods Participants: • Participants were three practicing school counselors at a public, K-12 school. • Two White female and one Latina female school counselors • The setting is a public school district affiliated with a research intensive university and located on its campus. • The school serves approximately 1150 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

9. Research Methods (cont.) • Data sources: • group supervision process notes, • interviews, • pre- and post-intervention cultural biographies • Ethnographic approach • Triangulation of data, member checking, and peer examination was used to ensure internal validity • Research team members examined commonalities and highlight divergent themes in order to reach consensus. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

10. Results/Themes • Awareness • Knowledge • Commitment • Stressed/Overwhelmed ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

11. Awareness …of multicultural issues and concerns, such as: • cultural differences among students, • inequities in schooling experiences for some students, and • their own socialized biases

12. Awareness (cont.) • “…if an African American kid…decided to pitch a fit…he’s just referred for counseling, documentation not done.” • “…a lot of these kids don’t have the services they need because the teachers just deal with it.” • “I feel that sometimes there is a misguided advocacy for some of those children…there’s good intentions…”

13. Knowledge Of what works for children and of school policies: • “I think the children need recognition and they don’t necessarily get it…maybe a kid does all the right things at the right time – there is no recognition for you.” • “…something happened in between fifth and sixth grade. Something happened that we may need to look at…” • “…I know how to do multicultural lessons.”

14. Commitment To children and to their profession: • “…this is something I truly believe and so I’m here…let’s do it.” • “…if there’s anything that I can do as a counselor to make a difference even for one along the way…I want to do that too.” • I would like to play a role in creating…a program [where] children are held in high expectations, they are allowed to make decisions about their behavior…”

15. Stressed/Overwhelmed about their role in the school setting, and frustration about not being able to make a difference. • “So, literally, at the end of every day my head was spinning…I had to go to the doctor for stress-related illness.” • “…we have so many responsibilities and it is very overwhelming.” • “…there are certain kids…that are discussed ad infinitum in the team meetings…the vast majority of them tend to be culturally diverse kids. That’s why I’m so stressed out…”

16. Implications • Lack of agency and marginalization in schools makes it difficult to: • (a) Serve as advocates for students and • (b) Assume leadership roles • Crisis mode of practice prevents self-reflection • Absence of formal supervision sessions prohibits continuous professional development. ACES 2009_San Diego

17. Recommendations for Counselor Educators and Supervisors • Partner with school counselors to provide advanced multicultural supervision sessions within schools • Identify ways in which counseling supervision can enhance the efficacy of school counselors in working with culturally diverse students and their parents. • Interventions that can be used to enhance counselor efficacy ACES 2009_San Diego

18. Recommendations for Counselor Educators (cont’d) • Counselor educators can serve as advocates for school counselors through engaged scholarship. • Research embedded in school communities allows for continuous contact with administrators, teachers, and other school personnel to clarify the role of the 21st century school counselors. • Serve as advocates for school counselors by: • Being faculty-in-residence, • Teaching classes at schools, • Integrating service learning experiences into courses, and • Partnering with school counselors to conduct research. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

19. Future Research • Longitudinal study of the outcomes of school counselors (at the elementary, middle, and high school levels) engaged in weekly peer supervision to determine the impact of supervision on their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills (replication study). • A quantitative study investigating school counselors’ assessment of culturally diverse students’ academic and behavioral abilities based upon culturally bound behaviors. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

20. Selected References • Bemak, F., & Chung, R. C. (2005). Advocacy as a critical role for urban school counselors: Working toward equity and social justice. Professional School Counseling, 8, 196-202. • Cholewa, B., & West-Olatunji, C. (2008). Exploring the relationship among cultural discontinuity, psychological distress, and academic outcomes with low income, culturally diverse students. Professional School Counseling, 12, 54-61. • Constantine, M. G. (2001). Multiculturally-focused counseling supervision: Its relationship to trainees' multicultural counseling self-efficacy. The Clinical Supervisor, 20, 87-98. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

21. Selected References (cont’d) • Garrett, M. T., Borders, D. L., Crutchfield, L. B., Torres- Rivera, E., Brotherton, D., Curtis, R. (2001). Multicultural superVISION: A paradigm of cultural responsiveness for supervisors. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 29, 147- 158. • Paisley, P. O., & McMahon, G. (2001). School counseling for the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities. Professional School Counseling, 5, 106-115. • Roberts, E., & Borders, L. D. (1994). Supervision of school counselors: Administrative, program, and counseling. The School Counselor, 41, 149-157. ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

22. Questions and Comments… ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA

23. Contact Information Cirecie A. West-Olatunji Associate Professor Counselor Education University of Florida 1204 Norman Hall, PO Box 117046 Gainesville, FL 32611 (352) 273-4324 Fax: 352-846-2697 cwestolatunji@coe.ufl.edu Rachael Goodman Assistant Director for Doctoral Student Services Career Resource Center University of Florida CR-117 Reitz Union PO Box 118507 Gainesville, FL 32611 rachaelgoodman@crc.ufl.edu Lauren Shure Doctoral Candidate Counselor Education University of Florida 1215 Norman Hall, PO Box 117046 Gainesville, FL 32611 (352) 273-4332 Fax: 352-846-2697 laurshur@aol.com ACES 2009 - San Diego, CA