TPC Journal-Vol 9- Issue 4-FULL ISSUE

354 The Professional Counselor | Volume 9, Issue 4 Latinx students were much less likely to attend a postsecondary institution at least once, even though they did not meet with their school counselor at different rates than their peers (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). This leads to discussion regarding specific school counselor interventions with Latinx students and their families. School counselors can be sources of social capital and more information is needed to identify school-based interventions that may successfully assist more Latinx students to enroll in postsecondary institutions. Curiously, the mean GPAs of students who did not meet with school counselors regarding attendance and college planning, although they were lower than students who did meet, were still high enough to apply to 4-year colleges, and students would thus also have the opportunity to enroll in a 2-year institution. The same pattern was noticed between students who qualified for FRL and those who did not, and those who enrolled and those who did not. Although those who did qualify for FRL and those who did not enroll had an overall lower mean GPA, both groups still would have qualified for a 4-year institution based on mean GPAs. This leads to a discussion regarding successful school counseling interventions that can target students who qualify but do not enroll (Bozick & DeLuca, 2005; Kim, 2012; NCE, 2005; Pham & Keenan, 2011). Overall, the data and the analyses supported the desired goal of this research study. In examining the variables, we were able to find supporting evidence that certain student–school counselor contacts had a statistically significant relationship to the students’ subsequent enrollment in a 2- or 4-year institution within 5 years of high school graduation. We also inadvertently discovered data that supports further research into tiered intentional interventions for students who qualify for postsecondary options but choose not to attend. Although this study highlights how school counselors are well-positioned to provide postsecondary preparation services and how students can benefit, we also hope it informs professional practice as an advocacy tool and in areas for subsequent research. Limitations It must be noted that our results are only representative of the individuals who took the Senior Exit Survey in the study sample. The results from this study cannot be directly generalized to other districts, as this district produces its own required core curriculum lessons in addition to its own exit survey. Though the number of participants is much larger than required by G*Power, there are advantages to this, as the study has the ability to detect smaller differences than if there were fewer participants. Another factor that must be mentioned is the varying degrees to which the ASCA National Model is implemented at each site. Though there were evaluations and a district push for comprehensive counseling programs at each site, some programs in the district were more fully implemented than others. It is uncertain how the level of comprehensive counseling program implementation confounds the results. Further research examining this topic and caseload size would be beneficial. Additionally, a limitation that must be mentioned is that even though there are 3,600 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions that participate in providing NSCH enrollment data, there are higher education institutions that do not participate. If institutions choose not to participate or if they do not receive federal financial aid, such as international institutions, students’ postsecondary enrollment data will not appear if they enroll in these institutions. Also, trade schools that help postsecondary students with skills are not included in this data. Hence, some of the students in this cohort who did not show up as having enrolled in postsecondary colleges might have enrolled in these other postsecondary institutions.