Increasing College Knowledge: The Role of School Counselors

Members of a prominent school counseling organization were surveyed to measure their perceived responsibility, self-efficacy, and performance related to increasing students’ college knowledge. The purposes of this study were to: (a) understand what level do school counselors believe they bear the responsibility to increase students’ college knowledge, (b) determine how efficacious do counselors feel in providing college knowledge to students, and (c) determine the level that school counselors are providing students college knowledge information. There were significant differences across those domains. With the professional expectation that a school counselor’s role is to facilitate the increase of college knowledge for students, there are discrepancies between the expectation and the view of the school counselor. Based on the results of our study, we concluded that additional support and guidance for school counselors facilitating college knowledge would be beneficial to staff and students.