The Effects of a Counselor-Led Guidance Intervention on Students' Behaviors and Attitudes.

Ninth grade students, faced with myriad challenges as they enter high school, have confronted a sense of anonymity and helplessness as they negotiate school's bureaucratic maze (DaGiau, 1997). Issues that surface in adolescence such as low grades, truancy, pregnancy, drug use, criminal offenses, dropping out of school, and even attempted suicide may be exacerbated when students lack the support and assistance to make a successful transition to the high school environment (Cairns, Pepler, & Cairns, 1997). Furthermore, many students advance from middle school under-prepared to respond to the increased demands of high school. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, which provided trend data about critical transitions experienced by students, found that 60% of eighth graders studied had not discussed the selection of their high school classes with a school counselor (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1990). Of this same group of eighth graders, more than 10% had already demonstrated attendance problems and 30% had already displayed academic problems prior to entering high school (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1990). To ease this difficult transition, school counselors and other faculty and staff should provide increased support and assistance to new ninth grade students (Killin & Williams, 1995; Stanciak, 1995). Studies on high school attrition have indicated that preventative counseling, occurring before students are in crisis, reduced the risk of these students dropping out later (Bearden, Spencer, & Moracco, 1989; Morey, Miller, Rosen, & Fulton, 1993; Praport, 1993; Wirth-Bond, Coyne, & Adams, 1991). Unfortunately, because of increasing nonguidance-related responsibilities and very large student caseloads, the school counselor's ability to deliver an appropriate level of help to students has been hampered (Kuhl, 1998; Rye & Sparks, 1999). If programs are not designed proactively for success, addressing the needs of the group at large as well as the specific needs of individuals, students will inevitably be overwhelmed and overlooked. Over the past 20 years, the profession of school counseling has responded to this challenge by shifting its focus toward a broad comprehensive, developmental, competency-based approach that applies to the dayto-day happenings in schools (Radd, 1998). No longer seen from an ancillary remediation services approach, school guidance and counseling services have been aimed at all students, not merely at a limited number of students with special needs (Alberta Department of Education, 1997; Gysbers & Henderson, 1997; Kuhl, 1998; Walz & Bleuer, 1997). Whereas the traditional approach had been reactive, crisis-driven, unplanned, and focused on information, scheduling, records, and noncounseling functions, the comprehensive developmental guidance approach is planned, preventative, and proactive (Lukach, 1998). The American School Counselor Association supported the implementation of comprehensive developmental programs at all educational levels (Kuhl, 1998), and this model has become the chief way of organizing and managing guidance and counseling programs (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000). In addition, school counseling has shifted from a position orientation-in which the worth of counseling was determined by the qualifications of the counselor-- to a program focus emphasizing activities that made a demonstrable difference in students' performance (Gysbers & Henderson, 1997; Walz & Bleuer, 1997). Programs have been increasingly required to demonstrate student outcomes and program accountability (Alberta Department of Education, 1997; Radd, 1998), with prioritized student goals and behavioral outcomes for each grade level designed as part of the regular school curriculum (Walz & Bleuer, 1997). The emphasis is on activities that help students acquire needed understanding and skills as they pass through the developmental stages of life (Lukach, 1998; Walz & Bleuer, 1997). …

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