Counselors See Conflicts in Carrying Out Mission

Gail Bottone, the head of the guidance department at Sickles High School in Tampa, Fla., handles all college and career counseling for the school's nearly 2,000 students. During the first lunch hour, a line stretching out her office door consists of students, teachers, and parents.

—Melissa Lyttle for Education Week

Large survey points up doubts about what schools do and what they should do

By Catherine Gewertz

Middle and high school counselors believe they have a unique and powerful role to play in preparing all students for good jobs or college, but they feel hamstrung by insufficient training, competing duties, and their own schools’ priorities, according to a new study.

The online survey of 5,300 counselors was conducted this past spring for the College Board’s Advocacy & Policy Center . One of the largest-ever surveys of counselors, it paints a picture of a committed but frustrated corps that sees a deep divide between the ideal mission of schools and the work that takes shape day to day.

Nine in 10 counselors, for instance, said that two objectives should top their schools’ priority lists: ensuring that all students have access to high-quality education and that they graduate well-equipped for college and careers. But fewer than four in 10 said their schools actually operated as if those goals were central to their mission, according to the...