School Counselor Shortages

1 | CURRENT ISSUES IN EDUCATION

THE ISSUE

The educator shortage has been well reported over the past several years. When the

2022-23 school year began, 45% of public schools were operating without a full

teaching staff, according to U.S. Department of Education data. The nation’s school

districts have struggled to ﬁll vacant positions, including school counselors, psychol-

ogists, social workers, occupational therapists, library media specialists, speech lan-

guage pathologists and others. Forty percent of public schools reported non-teach-

ing staff vacancies. Further, 40% of public schools indicated it was very difﬁcult or

difﬁcult to ﬁll “mental health professional” roles.

current issues in education

SEPTEMBER 2023

Poor pay, onerous administrative work, safety concerns

and post-COVID stress, among other reasons, have

contributed to shortages. According to hiring company

Indeed.com, potential school counselors are also

deterred by the training and education requirements

and lack of consistency in roles from district to district.

The 2020 ASCA State of the Profession study found that

39% of school counselors were extremely challenged

or challenged by being assigned inappropriate

duties. Requiring school counselors to serve as 504

coordinators, testing coordinators, substitute teachers

and more pulls them away from direct and indirect

student services.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics has projected 11%

growth in school counseling

(2020-2030) compared with

8% for all professions. For

the nation to reach ASCA’s

recommended 250:1 stu-

dent-to-school-counselor

ratio, another 77,000

school counselors would

need to be hired.

DISCUSSION

In December 2022, ASCA

surveyed state coordinators

and district directors of

school counseling to gath-

er further insights about

the school counseling job

market. Among school

counseling district directors,

68% indicated there were

not enough school counsel-

ors to ﬁll available positions

in their state, and 55% said

there weren’t enough in

their district. “I would say

there is a good balance,

but it really depends on the district,” reported one

respondent. “Some [districts] seem more desirable than

others, so they don’t have any issues hiring. Others are

not so lucky.” Adds another, “I usually have a waiting

list. For the ﬁrst time, I opened the school year with

three vacancies.”

Job Growth (2020-2030)

School

counseling

All

professions

2022 School Counseling

District Directors Survey

in their

state

in their

district

There are not enough

school counselors to ﬁll

available positions…

11%

68%

55%

Job Growth (2020-2030)

School

counseling

All

professions

2022 School Counseling

District Directors Survey

in their

state

in their

district

There are not enough

school counselors to ﬁll

available positions…

11%

68%

55%

2 | CURRENT ISSUES IN EDUCATION

At the state level, the data is even more alarming.

More than three quarters (76%) of state school coun-

seling coordinators indicated there are not enough

school counselors to ﬁll available positions. Compared

with district directors, state school counseling coordi-

nators have a more comprehensive view of their state,

including rural areas where shortages may be more sig-

niﬁcant. It’s also important to note that not all school

districts employ a district director.

Even before issues like the COVID-19 pandemic became

a factor in school counselor job satisfaction, Mullen et

al. (2018) found that school counselors face a high risk

of burnout. According to the study, “School counselors

can face multiple and competing demands, leading

to symptoms of stress, empathy fatigue, emotion-

al exhaustion, counselor impairment, and eventual

departure or resignation from their jobs.Findings also

indicated that “younger and less experienced school

counselors are more likely to report greater perceived

stress and burnout compared to older and more expe-

rienced school counselors,” which was supported by

Bardhoshi et al. in 2022.

This research suggests some school counselors may be

leaving the ﬁeld due to disillusionment and job-related

stress. The politicization of education (e.g., debate over

book bans, CRT bans, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation), safety

concerns (K-12 School Shooting Database predicts 400

school shootings in 2023 compared with 2022’s record

high of 273), and the seemingly insurmountable chal-

lenge of addressing student wellness in a post-COVID

world have affected school counselors’ job satisfaction.

Research is needed to better determine reasons school

counselors may be leaving K-12 education.

Still other newly minted school counselors may be

choosing not to enter the profession at all. Data from

the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsec-

ondary Education Data System indicates approximately

11,000 students are graduating with a school counsel-

ing master’s degree each year. However, due to attri-

tion, the lure of private schools or jobs outside school

counseling and other issues, this workforce isn’t always

landing in traditional public schools.

MITIGATION STRATEGIES

The following strategies represent some possible

mitigating approaches to address the school counselor

shortage, encouraging school counseling as a career

choice and ensuring more affordable degrees.

1. Ensuring affordable options to earn a master’s

degree in school counseling; developing degree

programs that don’t require two to three years

of study. Although some universities require a

60-hour master’s program, universities can fully

prepare school counseling students to meet high

professional standards in fewer hours. The ASCA

Standards-Aligned School Counseling Curriculum

encompasses all school counseling standards, ensur-

ing graduates are prepared to build their programs

and support student success, and doesn’t suggest a

prescriptive number of hours for completion.

2. Creating state, university or district partnerships to

prepare school counselors, especially school coun-

selors of color. A few states (Tennessee, for exam-

ple) have launched programs providing scholarships

for qualifying students to earn teaching degrees

from state colleges. Similar programs could be used

to train aspiring school counselors to meet states’

needs, particularly in rural areas. Additionally,

allowing school counselor interns to be paid for

internships could help with recruitment and degree

completion. Teacher residence programs could also

be applied to school counseling. Such programs

combine coursework with on-the-job training and

typically place educators in high-need areas.

3. Exploring and creating pathways to enter the

ﬁeld. EducationNext reported that traditional

preparation programs for teachers at colleges and

universities fell by 29% from 2013 to 2019, yet

alternative-route programs, which are shorter and

more cost effective, grew by 18%. Although school

counselor training includes an advanced degree,

Opportunities exist to train teachers and other ed-

ucation professionals to become school counselors.

Oklahoma’s emergency certiﬁcation is one example

of a stopgap measure to ﬁll vacant positions.

4. Protecting the appropriate school counselor role.

As a respondent to ASCA’s study of district directors

noted, “Other duties continue to negate the work

of school counselors. We are ﬁnding that school

counselors moving from other ASCA-supported

states/areas do not stay in our district due to other

duties.” When school counselors are required to

coordinate schoolwide 504 plans, serve as substitute

teachers, build the master schedule or maintain stu-

dent records, they are less able to deliver a school

counseling program. Further, it undermines their

expertise and others’ respect for the school coun-

selor role. Research has shown that ASCA National

Model implementation improves school counselor

job satisfaction and a better understanding of the

school counselor role.

5. Countering the voices of those that seek to under-

mine public education by pushing social and polit-

ical agendas. ASCA and other educational organi-

zations play an essential role in countering these

negative voices and acknowledging the expertise of

teachers, school counselors, administrators and oth-

er school staff who are trained in developmentally

appropriate student support. Despite assertions to

the contrary, the Annual PDK Poll found that 72%

of public school parents express trust and conﬁ-

dence in the public school teachers in their commu-

nity.

6. Increasing school counselor pay. Another district

director reported, “The school counselors in my

district who have left our area have shared that

the pay they receive has been a huge factor in

their decision to move to another district.” Educa-

tors’ salaries have not kept up with inﬂation and,

in some cases, may not provide a living wage. The

3 | CURRENT ISSUES IN EDUCATION

PDK Poll found that just 37% of respondents would

want their child to become a public school teacher

in their community due to poor pay and beneﬁts;

the difﬁculties, demands and stress of the job; and

a lack of respect or being valued. Signiﬁcant stu-

dent debt further compounds the issue. States need

to prioritize increasing school counselor, as well as

teacher, pay to ensure they are able to attract staff

to ﬁll available roles.