Near-Peer Counselors as Institutional Agents of Postsecondary Access

• In Event: It Takes a Community: The Role of Families, Counselors, Professionals, and Programs

Abstract

Near-peer counseling models can increase schools’ capacity to more equitably advise high school seniors through the process of postsecondary planning and entry. We qualitatively examine perceptions of near-peer counselors (NPCs) held by high school staff and NPCs themselves at seven non-selective public high schools in New York City to better understand the specific ways NPCs embody the role of institutional agents when advising first-generation to college, low-income, and students of color. Our findings highlight NPCs’ technical knowledge, relational attunement to students’ needs, and role modeling as critical ways they simultaneously transmit navigational knowledge and relational support. We posit these characteristics uniquely position NPCs to support underrepresented students and conclude that a near-peer counseling model can effectively expand counseling capacity.

Authors

• Leigh McCallen, Graduate Center - CUNY
  Presenting Author

• Neshat Yazdani, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Janice Bloom, Graduate Center - CUNY
  Presenting Author