Equity in the Distribution of School Counselors: An Intrastate and Interstate Analysis

• In Event: 25.056 - Resources Allocation in Pre-K–16 Education

Abstract

There is growing evidence that school counselors positively impact students' academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet, federal policymakers do not seem to view counselors as principal agents of school improvement. At the state level, policies vary widely with regard to schools’ use of counselors. Little empirical work has been done to document the distribution of counselors across districts and factors associated with inequities in their distribution. In this study, we use national population data and descriptive statistics and multivariate, fixed-effects regression models to examine intra- and inter-state variation in districts’ use of school counselors. We reveal significant variation in the use of school counselors with the preponderance of variation occurring among districts within states.

Authors

• Karen J. DeAngelis, University of Rochester

• Brian O. Brent, University of Rochester

• Caiqun Xu, University of Rochester