Exploring Latinx College Students' Experiences With High School Counselors

Abstract

Only a few researchers have used qualitative methods to explore Latinx students' experiences and testimonials with their high school counselors. These studies, conducted more than 10 years ago, found that Latinx students reported negative experiences with high school counselors, such as low academic expectations and lack of availability. In the current study, we interviewed eight Latinx college students from the southern United States to learn about their experiences with their high school counselors. The following five themes emerged from interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data: (a) high academic expectations, (b) advisement, (c) lack of availability and accessibility, (d) no social or emotional support, and (e) limited career development. Two crucial implications from this study are that school counselors need to be engaged in all activities aligned with the American School Counselor Association guidelines and should remind Latinx students regularly about school counselors’ essential roles and responsibilities in academic, career, and social/emotional development. We discuss additional implications.

Latinas at a Hispanic-serving institution: Resilient resistance affirming race–gender expectancies for college attainment.

“…Emily's account demonstrates that her children were her source of resilient resistance to earn a college degree. Her convictions contradict widely held beliefs that mothers cannot be successful in school (Beeler, 2016) and that Latinas do not value education (see Cavazos et al, 2009). At the intersection of race and gender, Emily's sense of marianismo and apoyo serve as moral strength for her to be a good role model for her children through sacrifice and persistence.…”

“…Historically, many Latinas have encountered negative expectations from educators about their chances of graduating from high school and attending college in the United States (Cavazos et al, 2009). Research has since demonstrated that these negative expectations are rooted in racist ideologies regarding Latinas’ alleged cultural, economic, and environmental “deficiencies” (Davis & Museus, 2019).…”

Exploring Latine students’ perceptions of their high school counselors’ capitalization of community cultural wealth

“…As one of the fastest‐growing groups in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020), the Latine population has the potential to influence the higher education landscape positively (Cruz et al., 2021). Because a college degree is linked with economic, family, and community stability (Contreras & Contreras, 2015; Vela, Guerra, et al., 2023), understanding factors that help Latine students access and succeed in higher education institutions is important. However, Latine students’ college persistence and graduation rates continue to fall behind their non‐Latine peers (Cruz et al., 2021; Perez Huber et al., 2015).…”

“…High school counselors have a responsibility to support and cultivate academic, career, and social/emotional development among all students, particularly Latine students (e.g., Arriero & Griffin, 2018; ASCA, 2019; CACREP, 2023; Ryu et al., 2021; Tello & Lonn, 2017; Vela, Guerra, et al., 2023). Also, the ASCA Ethical Standards (ASCA, 2022) indicate that school counselors should “promote equity and inclusion through culturally affirming and sustaining practices honoring the diversities of families” (p. 6).…”

“…Few researchers have explored Latine students’ experiences with their high school counselors (e.g., Chlup et al., 2021; Malott, 2010; Vela, Guerra, et al., 2023; Vela‐Gude et al., 2009). These researchers identified that Latine students reported negative experiences with high school counselors, including low academic expectations, lack of quality advisement, differential treatment, lack of individual counseling, and lack of availability.…”