Content area
Abstract
The research literature is largely silent on the topic of professional development (PD) for school counselors, reflecting the lack of attention and resources that school districts tend to invest in their counselors' continued professional growth. This study, whose participants were practicing school counselors in one district that has offered little counselor-specific PD within the last 5 years, sought to identify whether school counselors perceived that establishing and working within counselor-specific professional learning communities (PLCs) would meet their needs for ongoing professional growth. Fifteen school counselors in a midsize public school district in the American South formed the purposeful sample in this qualitative case study. Data were gathered through semi structured interviews and through an examination of one counselor's PD file. Interviews were recorded; transcripts were open coded so that common themes were identified. Findings confirmed that the counselors had engaged in very little counselor-specific PD in the previous several years, and had taken no initiative to plan PD for themselves. Importantly, counselors in this study expressed that they did perceive PLCs as a viable approach for their own future PD. While immediately benefiting the participating counselors whose professional growth is to be enhanced, this study also has wider social implications. Not only will students and families in the participating school district benefit from their counselors' collaboration and skill development (e.g., through closer case management, better alignment of services, and more thorough and differentiated career and college counseling), but their counterparts across the country may likewise benefit if their own school counselors are afforded similar opportunities to form and to become genuine PLCs.
