Co-ed Jewish day high school counselors' perception of their practice

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide planners, heads of guidance departments, and school directors in coeducational Jewish day high schools with relevant information that will enable them to evaluate existing guidance programs and/or design new ones.;Procedures: A questionnaire was sent to the entire population of counselors in co-educational Jewish day high schools in North America. The survey instrument was grouped in six categories: counseling, consulting, developmental/career guidance, evaluation and assessment, guidance program development, coordination and management, and administrative support services. Six composite Null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level, employing mean, standard deviations, "t-Test", and analysis of variance.;One hundred and fifty-six comparisons were made, of which 31 were statistically significant at the .05 level.;The results of the present study appear to support the following generalizations:;Counselors from Orthodox schools perform various guidance functions less frequently than counselors from other schools (Conservative, Sephardic, and Community schools).;Rabbis, who also have a background in human development areas, perform the various guidance functions which are related to religious issues more frequently than other counselors/grade advisors, and perceive themselves as more prepared for these guidance functions.;There are no differences between male and female counselors in their frequency of performing the specific guidance functions, their perception of the importance of the specific guidance functions, and their perception of their preparation for these functions.;Counselors 43 years of age or older perform the various guidance functions more frequently, and perceive themselves as more prepared for these functions than counselors younger than 43 years of age.;Counselors from schools with a ratio equal to or higher than 150 students per counselor perform the specific guidance functions more frequently than counselors from schools with a ratio lower than 150 students per counselor.;There are no differences between counselors from schools with and without a direct head of their guidance department in their frequency of performing the specific guidance functions, in their perception of the importance of the specific guidance functions, and in their perception of their preparation for these functions.