Supply and Demand for School Counselors: Perceptions of Public School Administrators.

Abstract

In-service school counselors wishing to relocate, individuals wanting to become school counselors, and pre-service school counselors looking for their first jobs all need accurate information about potential job opportunities in order to make important career decisions. Without objective assessments about the supply and for school counselors, individuals have only their perceptions of the job market upon which to base their decisions. These perceptions, often based on local school systems, may be more rooted in myth and hearsay than reality and are of little use to those who wish to relocate. A broader-based view of the potential job market would allow practicing school counselors, pre-service school counselors, and individuals thinking about becoming school counselors to make better decisions about their future career choices. Several attempts have been made to gain an understanding of the demand of the job market for school counselors. A 1991 American Counseling Association (ASCA) report indicated that there were 105,962 school counselors in the United States (as cited in Farrell, 1996), up from 86,000 in 1987 (National Center for Education Statistics [NOES], 1992). By 1994, the number of school counselors had grown to approximately 115,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1996a). In 1994, the average ratio of school counselor to student was 1:660, with a range from a low of 507 for very small school districts to a high of 885 in medium school systems (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1996a). This ratio is much higher than the 1:250 ratio recommended by ASCA (Washington Update, 1998). On the supply side, graduate training programs continue to produce an ever-increasing supply of school counselors. In 1986, there were 5,600 counselor education master degree graduates (Hollis & Wantz, 1990). By 1994, that number had increased to 9,400 (Hollis & Wantz, 1994). Between 1993 and 1995, there were 15,400 students enrolled in school counselor education programs, with an average of 55 students per program and 6,000 school counselor graduates per year. Of these graduates, 24% accepted employment in secondary schools, 23% in middle schools, and 29% in elementary schools (Hollis & Wantz, 1994). A series of national studies by the Association for School, College, and University Staffing (ASCUS) found that the school counselor field had a balanced supply and (ASCUS, 1994, 1995, 1996). Two regional studies, the Southeast Association for School, College, and University Staffing (SEASCUS) (Schaerer & Hansing, 1994) and the Mid-Atlantic Association for School, College, and University Staffing (MAASCUS) (Snyder, 1995) also found this balance of supply and demand. All of these studies examined the availability of school counselors from the side (school districts). In each of the surveys, public school administrators responded to an instrument that asked questions concerning relative supply and of educators in 50 teaching fields. The surveys, conducted in the spring, were for perceptions of projected supply or for the coming hiring season. All studies used a Likert-type scale with a range of 1 (considerable shortage) to 5 (considerable surplus). The SEASCUS reported a mean score of 3.27 for employer perceptions of projected supply or for school counselors in the fall of 1994 (Schaerer & Hansing, 1994), and the MAASCUS reported a mean score of 2.88 for the fall of 1995 (Snyder, 1995). None of these surveys, however, distinguished between elementary, middle, and high school counselors. Although these surveys indicated a balanced supply and for school counselors, other indicators suggest that there may be an increasing in the coming years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (1996b) reported that employment of school counselors is expected to increase more rapidly than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. This translates to a projected increase in employment of approximately 21% to 35%. …