TPC-Journal-V5-Issue2

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 2 207 Perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento. The independent variables explained 47% of the variability in school counselors’ perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento, R 2 = .45, Adjusted R 2 = .43, F (23, 146) = 10.87, p = .000. Participant grade levels, β = .15, t = 2.18, p = .003, numbers of students experiencing homelessness and training predicted knowledge of McKinney-Vento. Relative to school counselors who had received no training, responses of having received in-service training, β = .54, t = 7.32, p = .000, professional development outside of school, β = .39, t = 5.65, p = .000, and two or more sources of training, β = .43, t = 6.03, p = .000, predicted perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento. However, no relationship with perceived knowledge of McKinney- Vento existed among those who received their training in their graduate program and those who had no training. Perceived knowledge of emotional and educational issues. The independent variables explained 30% of the variability in school counselors’ perceived knowledge of emotional and educational issues, R 2 = .28, Adjusted R 2 = .23, F (12, 175) = 6.24, p = .000. Number of students experiencing homelessness predicted participants’ perceived knowledge of emotional and educational issues in schools with 1 – 25 students, β = .32, t = 3.50, p = .001, in schools with 26 – 55 students, β = .22, t = 2.62, p = .010, and in schools with more than 55 students, β = .32, t = 4.00, p = .000. Type of training received also predicted perceived knowledge of emotional and educational issues in participants who received their training in their graduate program, β = .14, t = 2.11, p = .000, as well as those who received in-service training, β = .39, t = 5.13, p = .000, professional development outside of school, β = .27, t = 3.74, p = .000, and two or more sources of training, β = .36, t = 4.92, p = .000. Advocacy and provision of services. The independent variables explained 30% of the variability in school counselors’ reported advocacy and provision of services, R 2 = .28, Adjusted R 2 = .23, F (12, 151) = 5.31, p = .000. Number of students experiencing homelessness in the school and type of training received both predicted school counselors’ reported advocacy and provision of services. As expected, when compared to participants who reported having no students experiencing homelessness, the number of homeless students at each school predicted advocacy and provision of services from participants who reported having 1 – 25 students experiencing homelessness, β = .39, t = 3.72, p = .000, 26 – 55 students, β = .24, t = 2.47, p = .014, and 55 or more students, β = .36, t = 4.02, p = .000. Type of training received also predicted advocacy and provision of services. Compared to participants who had received no training on homelessness, training responses that included in- service training, β = .31, t = 3.69, p = .000, professional development outside of school, β = .29, t = 3.61, p = .000, and two or more sources of training, β = .43, t = 4.06, p = .000, predicted advocacy and provision of services. However, no relationship was reported in advocacy and provision of services among those who received their training in their graduate program and those who had no training on homelessness. Post Hoc Analyses To take a closer look at the significant differences between elementary, middle and high school counselors on perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento, we conducted a one-way ANOVA, F (2, 157) = 6.44, p = .002, η 2 = .07. Elementary school counselors fell significantly above the mean on perceived knowledge of McKinney- Vento ( M = .33, SD = .91), while high school counselors fell significantly below the mean ( M = -.27, SD = .97). Middle school counselors ( M = -.10, SD = 1.06) also fell below the mean, although the difference was not significant. To shed further light on this relationship, we conducted a crosstabs analysis with school level and source of training. Although the previous ANOVA (see research question 3a) revealed no significant differences in extent of training by school level or setting, a post hoc examination of the frequencies regarding source of training revealed that elementary school counselors (59.3%) were more likely than high school counselors (29.6%) or middle school counselors (11.1%) to receive training from two or more sources (i.e., from some combination of graduate school, professional development outside of school and in-service training). High school counselors (52.9%) were more likely to report that they had received no training from any source than were elementary school counselors (28.6%).