USING DATA SIMPLY BY MADELYN ISAACS, PH.D.
onsistent with our message and that of ASCA, I have been nosing around some data to see what interesting trends or information pops out. In strict research terms this is called “data snooping” and is generally frowned upon without a hypothesis. However, in school counseling terms, snooping around data is what we should be doing more of to see where our services and curriculum are needed most and to determine if what we are doing is working. Here is what I have found about the state of school counseling in Florida. Student-to-school-counselor ratios in our public schools have been declining. When comparing fall 1998 with fall 2007, the ratio has gone from 504-to-1 to 423to-1 on a statewide basis. This 15 percent decrease in number of students per school counselor overall is contrasted by a 32 percent increase in the number of school counselors from 4,626 to 6,107 and with only a 12 percent increase in our student population from 2.3 million to 2.6 students. This overall state decrease can be further broken down by district size and individual district. In Figures 1 and 2 below, one can see the smallest districts made the largest gains.
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FIGURE 1: RATIOS BY DISTRICT SIZE 1998 overall ratio/2007 overall ratio
Number Small districts (fewer than 10,000 students in fall 2007)
29
Middle-sized districts (10,001 to 49,999 students in fall 2007)
24
561:1/417:1; a 26 percent decrease
492:1/402:1; an 18 percent decrease
6
Districts with the largest percentage and number decreases ratios
27 (Only Suwanee and Franklin increased their ratios)
Liberty (went down 58 percent by tripling school counselors from 1 to 3)
21 (Highlands, St. Johns and Lake either remained stable or increased their ratios)
Sarasota (went down by 49 percent by increasing school counselors more than twofold with a more modest increase in population)
Levy (went down by 50 percent by doubling number of school counselors from 8 to 16 with a stable student population)
St. Lucie (went down by more than doubling school counselor numbers) Large districts (50,000 to 350,000 students in fall 2007)
14
Total State of Florida
67
1:505/1:439; a 13 percent decrease
FOLLOW THE MONEY… WELL, SORT OF. School counselors and media specialists earn, on the average for all 67 districts and special schools, about the same amounts; $51,313 and $51,029 respectively in 2006–07. However, counselors earn less than psychologists who earn $58,659 on the average and far more than teachers who earn $45,308 on the average. However, considering the graduate degree requirements of counselors, psychologists and social workers, the salary differential between them and teachers makes sense. Between 2005 and 2006, average salaries rose between 5.2 percent (for media specialists) and
Number of districts that decreased ratios
1:429/1:504; a 15 percent decrease
10 (Osceola, Lee, Seminole and Hillsborough either remained stable or increased their ratios)
Broward (went down by 30 percent by increased their number of counselors by 60 percent proportionately) Brevard (went down by 19 percent by increased their counselors by almost 50 percent)
58 (87 percent)
FIGURE 2: COMPARISON OF RATIOS FROM 1998 TO 2007 BY TOTAL STATE AND DISTRICT SIZE 600 500 2007 400 Average 300 Number of 200 Students Per 100 Counselor 0 1998
Small
FALL 2008
Mid-Size
Large
All Districts
florida school counselor