Boundary Spanners: How State Education Agencies Fulfill Their Roles Supporting School-Based Counseling

• In Event: Expanding Who Counts as a Policy Actor in Supporting the Whole Child

Abstract

Today, K-12 schools are expected to provide more than academic instruction, tasked with supporting students’ social emotional and postsecondary development. School counselors, the professionals trained and responsible for these non-instructional domains, often struggle to enact their roles due to a range of organizational constraints. State education agencies, or SEAs, are one external system positioned to support these professionals; however, we know very little about the state actors responsible for school counseling. Using organizational theory to analyze interviews with 30 state school counseling officials, this study examines what their role entails and how they carry out their work. Findings offer valuable lessons to state officials committed to supporting school counseling at a time when students depend on that support more than ever.

Authors

• Mandy Savitz-Romer, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Tara P. Nicola, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie Carroll, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author