Dear Professional School Counselor,
My name is Chandra Hayes, and I am a doctoral student at the University of West Florida. I am currently conducting research investigating the effects that each of the job performance, wellness, and specialized training of middle school counselors who are members of a professional school counseling association in the Southern United States have on student outcomes of middle school students with disabilities. This study focuses on how middle school counselors’ job performance, wellness, and a lack of specialized training has affected the academic development, social-emotional development, and career development of students with disabilities.
Your input is valuable to this research because it can document the need for educational stakeholders and policymakers to make changes to the role and scope of work for school counselors and how school counselors are involved in serving students with disabilities. Also, your input is valuable because it can explore the duties and non-counseling duties as it relates to job dissatisfaction and burnout, to improve policy that will ensure school counselors feel supported and respected by their school administrators and other educational stakeholders. Lastly, your input is valuable because it can inform decisions made regarding the curriculum for school counseling education programs and training and professional development opportunities provided by professional school counseling associations and school districts.
There are no potential risks associated with this research study. Your information will be kept confidential. As a participant in this study, you will be assigned a pseudonym. A pseudonym is a fictitious name. If you are interested in participating, then please complete this screening survey. The screening survey consists of questions to ensure that you meet the criteria for participation. The survey will require approximately ten minutes of your time. Selected participants will be asked to complete a demographic questionnaire and participate in a thirty-to-forty-minute interview via Zoom.
Your time and consideration are greatly appreciated.
Chandra Hayes, Ed.S.
University of West Florida
ch85@students.uwf.edu