Supporting Practicing School Counselor’s Skill Development: A Hip Hop and Spoken Word Professional Development Intervention

Abstract

<p>Given the paucity of professional development (PD) opportunities, gaps in cultural competence, and deterioration of direct counseling service opportunities for many school counselors, it is reasonable to conjecture that there is an inadvertent abandonment of skill development and related student outcomes. This mixed-methods study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative PD series for school counselors, exploring participants' self-efficacy in counseling skill use and cross-cultural competence. The researchers administered a multi-session PD to school counselors in an Urban, Northeast School District in the US. Data from pre- and post-training surveys, vignettes, and post-training focus groups indicated a significant decrease in participants’ self-efficacy pre- to post-training. Further, results suggest participants learned innovative practice, practiced humanistic counseling skills, and understood new potential for student growth.</p>