Evaluating School Counselors: Impact of Variation in Student-to-Counselor Ratio in Missouri Public High Schools

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fbm796mb4055" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: In this paper, I analyze how variation in the student-to-counselor ratio impacts student academic outcomes (such as graduation rates and test scores) and behavioral outcomes (such as disciplinary infractions and post-high school decisions). I use a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach to estimate the impact of variation in the student-to-counselor ratio in Missouri public high schools. I look at school-level data primarily from the Missouri Comprehensive Data System as well as the National Center for Education Statistics’ Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Common Core of Data. I find that an additional high school counselor increases ACT scores in math and science by approximately 0.13 and 0.11 standard deviations respectively. An additional counselor has no statistically significant effect on overall graduation rates, but increases the graduation rate for Black and Native American students by approximately 8.5 and 7 percentage points respectively. An additional counselor has no statistically significant effect on college enrollment rates, but increases post-graduate employment rates by approximately 1.5 percentage points. Finally, an additional counselor predicts a 0.67 percentage point increase in overall disciplinary infractions.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 2016

Author	Shank, Sophie
Primary advisor	Hanushek, Rick
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Department of Economics

Subject	Stanford Department of Economics
Subject	Guidance Counselor
Subject	School Counselor
Subject	Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling
Subject	Student-toCounselor Ratio
Subject	Missouri
Subject	High School
Subject	School Discipline
Subject	Academic Achievement
Genre	Thesis

Related item	Title 2016 Anna Laura Myers Prize for an Outstanding Thesis
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/bm796mb4055

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.

Preferred Citation: Shank, Sophie. (2016). Evaluating School Counselors: Impact of Variation in Student-to-Counselor Ratio in Missouri Public High Schools. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/bm796mb4055

Stanford University, Department of Economics, Honors Theses

Loading usage metrics...