More Than Just an Internship: One University’s Collaboration with a Rural School District to Attract, Develop, and Retain School Counselors

This promising practice describes an innovative collaboration between West Virginia University, a land grant institution situated in the middle of rural Appalachia, and Kanawha County Schools, located in Charleston, WV. The partnership aimed to assist the rural school district by supporting children in three elementary schools and by providing the university’s school counseling students an immersion experience in rural schools, with the hope of retaining them in the school district following graduation. The collaboration fulfilled the original mission of the program in two ways; first, the school district retained one-third of the school counseling students who participated. Secondly, the collaboration was met with overwhelming support by district leadership, resulting in an increase in school counseling students entering the program in the next academic year.

Using Flipgrid Discussions to Increase School Counseling Students’ Cultural Competence in the Online Classroom

This pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design study investigated the use of Flipgrid to increase school counseling students’ cultural competence, which was measured by the Global Perspectives Inventory (GPI). Student participants in the experimental group utilized Flipgrid to engage in cultural discussions while participants in the control group utilized Blackboard discussion boards. An independent samples and paired-samples t-test were used to analyze the participants’ scores in the experimental and control groups. The statistically significant findings of the paired samples t-test suggest the effectiveness of utilizing Flipgrid in order to increase students’ cultural competence in the online learning environment. The study’s implications for teaching and research are discussed.

Mentoring and Supervising International Students in School Counseling Programs

Graduate counseling programs in the United States have increased their population of international students. However, limited studies have addressed the challenges of international students, specifically in school counseling programs. Considering the cultural disparities that exist for international school counseling students and the challenges associated with being an international student in general, this article identifies and delineates a culturally appropriate mentoring and supervision model that has the potential to shape the experiences of international students in school counseling training programs. The model presented through a case study argues that intentional mentoring and supervision for international school counseling students enhance productivity during students’ field experiences in U.S. school systems.