Counselor Role Expectations and College-Going Culture in Urban Charter and Traditional Public High Schools

• In Event: College Access, Counselors, and Military-Connected Students

Abstract

Drawing from college-going culture research and concepts from role theory, this study used a case study approach to examine how various organizational contexts (i.e., school, district, state) shaped high school counselors’ role expectations and their work in the college-going culture of four charter and traditional public high schools serving predominantly low-income, African American, and Latinx students. Findings suggest that the high school contexts counselors were embedded in shaped counselors’ roles, responsibilities, and their work in schools’ college-going culture through how school leaders structured counseling departments, the resources counselors had to manage their workloads, and through school-wide college counseling norms. The influence of district and state-level contexts were exhibited through the role conflict and role incongruity counselors experienced.

Author

• Danica Brown, Wayne State University