TPC Journal V7, Issue 3 - FULL ISSUE

244 The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 3 Table 2 School Counselor Self-Efficacy Scale-Subscale Individual Item Responses (N = 143) % Response 1 2 3 4 5 M SD 1. Implement a program which enables all students to make informed career decisions. 1 3 20 34 43 4.16 .89 2. Deliver age-appropriate programs through which students acquire the skills needed to investigate the world of work. -- 2 18 34 46 4.24 .81 3. Foster understanding of the relationship between learning and work. -- 0 9 40 51 4.42 .65 4. Teach students to apply problem-solving skills toward their academic, personal, and career success. -- 1 8 36 55 4.45 .69 5. Teach students how to apply time and task management skills. -- 2 6 35 57 4.46 .71 6. Offer appropriate explanations to students, parents, and teachers of how learning styles affect school performance. -- 2 15 39 44 4.24 .79 7. Use technology designed to support student successes and progress through the educational system. -- 6 22 44 29 3.96 .86 Total Subscale Score 29.93 4.08 Note. 1 = Not Confident, 3 = Moderately Confident, 5 = Highly Confident. RQ2: How does school counselor self-efficacy in career counseling vary with previous K–12 teaching experience? Two t -tests were conducted to identify if there was a difference between career counseling self- efficacy among participants with and without previous experience as a teacher. Separate means and standard deviations were calculated for the two groups—those who had teaching experience ( n = 47) scored higher on the CCSES-Modified ( M = 82.2, SD = 9.7) and the SCSE-Subscale ( M = 30.9, SD = 3.4) than those without teaching experience ( n = 94), CCSES-Modified ( M = 75.8, SD = 14.7) and SCSE- Subscale ( M = 29.4, SD = 4.3). Independent t -tests were performed to determine if the differences between the groups were statistically significant. For the CCSES-Modified, the assumption of homogeneous variances was not satisfied (Levene’s test, F = 7.13, p < .05); therefore, the more conservative t -test was used to assess for a statistically significant difference ( t = -3.06, p = .003). The mean score for the teaching experience group ( M = 82.2, SD = 9.7) was statistically higher than the mean score for those without teaching experience ( M = 75.8, SD = 14.7). For the SCSE-Subscale, the assumption of homogeneous variances was satisfied (Levene’s test, F = 3.71, p = .055, d = .51). The mean score of the group with teaching experience ( M = 30.9, SD = 3.4, d = .39) was statistically different from the mean score of the group without teaching experience ( M = 29.4, SD = 4.3), t = -2.03, p = .045. Cohen’s d is a valuable index of effect size for statistically significant mean differences (Cohen, 1988). The Cohen’s d of .51 for the CCSES-Modified and .39 for SCSE-Subscale both represent medium effect sizes.