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Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools with two questions: How do high school counselors support students' plans for life after high school through a land-grant outreach program? How is a university outreach program utilized in these schools? This qualitative case study used 17 individual interviews with school counselors and county extension agents. According to school counselors, the postsecondary encouragement program increased financial aid applications and student interest in college going. County extension agents were a trusted bridge between the program and the local high schools. Tracking student milestones helped school counselors serve all students, and program experts provided workshops for students and parents. Campus visits helped students visualize themselves as college students, yet financial concerns dominated the students' college choices.

To make the transfer student pathway viable to meet workforce needs, it is essential to think beyond simply linking two institutions and getting students in the door--students need to be supported throughout the adjustment period. In this article, we address the "support" aspect of the problem by reporting findings from 306 engineering transfer students' responses to open-ended survey items that focused on factors that helped students adjust and how their sending and receiving institutions could have helped ease the transition; our sample, which is largely Hispanic/ Latino (88%), includes both vertical and lateral transfer students who proceeded to enroll in 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Six themes emerged related to elements that helped students make the adjustment: individual/self, personal network, familiarity with the environment, polite/helpful atmosphere, institutional resources, and student involvement. Student recommendations on how sending institutions could have helped ease their transition focused on information, academic curriculum, and institutional process, and recommendations for receiving institutions included students' requests for more assistance with getting involved on campus, building personal networks, and understanding institutional resources. While themes were consistent across sub-groups within the sample, in this article we highlight some of the few observed differences based on type of transfer pathway and student status as Hispanic/Latino. Within the current system and operating structure of higher education, statewide and/or system wide efforts to collaborate and coordinate between institutions must occur at the college level, and more often at the department or program level, to properly address many of the long-standing issues that appear to be more acute for degree plans in engineering disciplines and for transfer students who pursue these pathways.

This article provides insights from a 2-year, cross-site evaluation of state funded developmental education sites and serves as a focus article for response by those sites. Receiving grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), nine sites (5 community colleges and 4 universities) implemented innovative developmental education programs in Texas. The Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University was charged with evaluating the nine sites. A cross-site program evaluation collected quantitative data from the sites to determine success rates for students enrolled in their programs. Qualitative methods were used primarily to interpret the quality indicators present across sites. Data in the form of interviews, focus groups, and self-reports were applied. The successes and challenges were organized into four thematic categories: Curriculum Design and Instructional Strategies, Faculty and Staff Supports, Structures Supporting Learning, and Policy Issues. Findings show that accelerated approaches via redesigned curriculum for shortened, completely or partially self-paced, corequisite, and blended courses helped accelerate student completion or transition to credit bearing courses for the motivated students. Alternative instructional strategies provided a high level of interaction between students and instructors and on-line, on-demand tutoring at the sites. Focused professional development for the DE instructors and administrators was found to be useful in learning to deal with specific student problems.

The National Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst studied exemplary practices of 18 high schools that received recognition for college preparation and placement in 2004 and 2005. Through interviews with key personnel at each of the high schools, the researchers generated a set of ten domains that characterize the work of the school counselor that seem to be related to improved student enrollment in post-secondary institutions. (Contains 1 table.)

The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) is a publicly financed, residential early college entrance institute at the University of North Texas at Denton. Created in 1987, TAMS enables high-achieving students planning STEM careers to complete their last 2 years of high school simultaneously with their first 2 years of college. Admission is selective, and students pay no tuition or book costs. Students must complete a rigorous curriculum of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and humanities. The academy offers intramural athletics, a variety of clubs and organizations, and mentor-guided research opportunities that can lead to prestigious awards and scholarships. Graduates earn a high school diploma and at least 57 transferable college credits--enough to enter many universities 2 years advanced. Now in its third decade, the academy continues to help expand the supply of skilled domestic mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. (Contains 2 figures and 6 tables.)

In Texas, counselors-in-training can gain employment as a school counselor before they have completed a degree in school counseling through a provision for emergency permits in the Texas Administrative Code. Little is known about this hiring practice. Using a qualitative approach, the authors explored the perspectives and experiences of five school counseling program coordinators who have experienced this process with counselors-in-training. Authors identified four themes from semi-structured interviews and discussed the advocacy implications of the study for professional school counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though there is evidence validating the impact of comprehensive school counseling programs on student success, the voices of professional school counselors have yet to be acknowledged. This phenomenological study reveals insights of 12 professional school counselors regarding the implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs in Texas. Five themes emerged from semistructured interviews. We discuss implications of these findings for counselor educators, school administrators, professional school counselors, and school counseling directors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outcomes for youth from foster care have been found to be poor. The education and employment outcomes of youth and alumni of foster care served by transition programmes located in five major US cities were examined. Data were collected by case managers and reported to evaluators quarterly on 1058 youth from foster care for over 2 years. Job preparation, transportation, child care, education support services and life skills were the most common services provided to youth. During the 2-year study period, 35% of participants obtained employment, 23% obtained a General Education Development or diploma, and 17% enrolled in post-secondary education. It was found that the longer the youth were enrolled, the more education and employment outcomes they achieved. Further, job preparation and income support services were associated significantly with achieving any positive education or employment outcome. Results indicated that certain services provided over an extended period of time can improve outcomes for youth placed in foster care. For youth to achieve positive outcomes as they transition to adulthood, additional services are necessary. Other implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of our investigation was to explore the differences between the actual and preferred activities of high school counselors in Texas using the School Counselor Activity Rating Scale [SCARS] (Scarborough, 2002). Evident in the results was that the majority of high school counselors participating in our study have between 10-20 years of experience, work in suburban areas, and are Caucasian. Further, counselors reported that they actually engage in less counseling, consultation, curriculum, and coordination activities than they would prefer. Additionally, counselors with more than 10-20 years of experience reported more counseling activities than those with less, and Hispanic counselors prefer to do more counseling than Caucasian counselors. Implications for research and training programs are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature that describes the application of family therapy in school settings is replete with inconsistencies in design and implementation. The first part of this article provides an overview of some of these approaches and addresses some of the problems that have been encountered. The second part of the article describes the development of a family?school pilot project that was implemented in a small university town in north Texas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the initiative of the Department of Psychology at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos to conduct several initiatives to enhance career advising in response to alumni surveys which gave the department lower comparative ratings on items related to this student service. Positive response of alumni to an initiative to offer career advising to psychology students.

Presents an assessment of various aspects of a school district counseling program in Houston, Texas, to find out which parts of the program that are working well as well as areas that need improvement. Sufficiency of resource allocation; Appropriate and effective roles; Appropriate components and services; Adequacy of crisis responses; Awareness of counseling programs and activities.

The article describes the author's dual role of being a marriage teacher and counselor at the Southern Methodist University in 1949. The interrelationship of my marriage courses and my marriage counselling will appear as I describe the courses I elected to retain as my teaching load some years ago, when I was asked to give approximately full time rather than part time to the program of personal counseling of students. The marriage course is the central one in the series of courses on marriage and the family, and the nucleus of the counseling program. My teaching load is six hours per week, with summer teaching optional. The counseling program is on a calendar year basis. I am provided with a full time secretary, a student assistant, and reasonably adequate budget. In the spring semester the course in marriage is given. I have defined and supervised the course, and teach one of the three large sections, the size being limited by the available classroom, and by departmental and other prerequisites. To a considerable extent, this course also is largely group counseling. While some pathologies are briefly presented, emphasis is definitely upon the positive factors in the total marriage process. Marriage failures and successes are viewed diagnostically. In my teaching I discuss marriage as a continuing process in the development of the mutual fulfilment of the total personalities, motivated by the emotions and values of their love.

This article discusses the findings of a study which examined educational patterns that may be established for the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) to assist in the counseling of students at North Texas State College. Aptitude factors of the GATB Form B-1001 include intelligence, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude, spatial aptitude, form perception and clerical perception. The fields of study covered in this research include accounting, business education, elementary education, industrial arts and marketing.

Comments on key issues relevant to the creation of scholarship programs for poor elementary students in Laredo, Texas. Key sectors whose participation is crucial to the program; Responsibility of school counselors to see that students receive encouragement and financial assistance; Policy implications on educational counseling.

The article provides information on the educational conferences that were held in Texas. The Personnel Conference conveyed by the member colleges of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education was held at the campus of Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos, Texas in October 31 and November 1950. The conference has discussed the problems relating to selective admission to teacher education, student guidance and placement, and general welfare. The meeting of the Texas Commission on Teacher Education that was held on November 6-8, 1950 to discuss the proposals for certification and the approval of colleges for educating teachers.