School Counselors’ Self-Efficacy and Training Needs When Working With The K–12 Latino Student Population

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Latinos represent the second largest racial/ethnic group enrolled in public K–12 schools (25%). Yet, little is known about how school counselors see their ability to work with Latino students. Thus, we asked school counselors to tell us how they view their ability to work with Latino students on 16 different tasks. Using these same tasks, we asked them about their inservice needs. The top task in terms of ability was: conceptualize Latino students’ cultures as different rather than deficient. The top three training needs were: (a) use functional Spanish to work more effectively with the Latino population, (b) understand how the students’ Latino cultural heritage impacts their education values, and (c) interpret Latino students’ nonverbal body language and its significance in counseling. The school counselors also identified the training modalities they would be willing to use: “anytime Web” (71%), “in person” (70%), and “live Web” (50%).