Guidance handbook for parents [1969]

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION JACK P. NIX, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
GUIDANCE FOR GEORGIA SCHOOLS

OFFICE OF INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES DIVISION OF SPECiAL EDUCATION AND
PUPil PERSONNEL SERVICES GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
ATlANTA, GEORGIA 30334 1969
William L. Hitchcock

GUIDANCE FOR GEORGIA SCHOOLS
Guidance Handbook for Parents

Table of Contents

Introduction

5

Your Introduction to Guidance in the SchooL

7

The Meaning of Guidance

8

The Major Guidance Services

9

The Orientation Service

9

The Student Analysis Service

12

The Testing Program

12

The Guidance Record

13

The Informational Services

14

Group Guidance Activities

.15

The Counseling Service

16

The Placement Service

16

The Follow-up Service

17

A Final Word

18

A Cooperative Effort

.18

Your Child's Abilities

19

Student Problems

19

Your Child's Choices

19

Bibliography References

21

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of guidance in the tal school, and
nd the counsetional, occupa-
ou to be incs in the
should guidattitude o re-
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The guidance services in the school are for all students in the school. There are many basic assumptions concerning guidance programs which apply to all schools regardless of their size or the many other factors serving to condition the character of the guidance services in the school. A few of these major assumptions follow: First, it is assumed, and rightly so, that all students will need the services of guidance at some time during their school experience. This does not mean that their problems will be of major proportions. It does mean that both major and minor problems are important and need attention. Second, the cooperative efforts of administrators, teachers, counselors, and parents are essential to an effective guidance process in the school. This is a primary assumption that is a truism in any major school effort. These major participants must understand and support the goals, practices, and techniques involved and employed in the guidance process. Last, it is assumed that an effective guidance program in the school depends on school counselor competencies, the understanding and participation of teachers, the support and leadership of the school principal, and the mobilization and utilization of the available community-school resources.
This booklet has been written so that you, as parents, may understand better the services and functions of guidance in the educational process and experiences of your child in the school.
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Many definitions and concepts of guidance have been proposed. The writer believes that guidance is "a continuing process of helping boys and girls to help themselves through discovering, understanding and using their potentials to the fullest" (Hitchcock, I 962,p.l). *To describe this process, the services in the program of organized guidance will be cited briefly at this time. Each of these services will be described in inore detail later in this booklet.
Your child may have some difficulty and seek help from the school counselor. The counselor first helps the student to understand his own personal characteristics - his abilities, interests, achievements, and aptitudes. Also, the counselor gains a real understanding of the student. The student analysis service helps the counselor to gain this understanding. After sizing up the problem and gaining an understanding of the assets and liabilities with which he has to work, the school counselor helps the student examine the alternatives open to him. At this point, the informational services in the guidance program become important. Alternatives must now be examined in the light of self-understanding, and decisions must be made. Thus the counseling service comes into its own. In this service the counselor assists the student to make a choice that is realistically based on an understanding of himself and of the alternatives open to him. The counseling service is thus emphasized.
After the student makes a choice, the decision must be placed into action. The school counselor helps the student translate his decision into a feasible course of action. The placement service is thus an important component of the guidance services in the educational process. Finally, an evaluation must be made of the above services to determine the effectiveness of the guidance. The school counselor must check on and assess the adjustment the student is making. If adjustment is not evident, a new beginning must be made.
This is the process of guidance as described in the concept of guidance above. This should help you in understanding what takes place as your child and the school counselor confer on the problem that is at hand.

* For titles of references, see list at the end of this booklet.

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The following six services and points to be presented will help you to understand what guidance is in our schools. These services were briefly referred to previously. They will be dealt with in detail in the remainder of this booklet. These services are orientation, student analysis, informational, counseling, placement, and followup. The last five services were mentioned earlier as being necessary ingredients in the guidance process. The orientation service is
, not necessarily an integral part of the guidance process, but it
emerges at any time in the process.
I The orientation service in the school is designed "to assist the pupil in making adequate adjustments in the new school or the new situation. In short, orientation is concerned with bridging the gap between the old and the new" (Hitchcock, 1962, p. 11). In his "Orientation Booklet," Hitchcock describes seventeen activities with which schools' guidance programs should be concerned (Hitchcock, 1966). Let us take a brief look at some of these activities.
Your child's school experiences place him in at least three, and possibly more, situations in which adequate orientation activities are necessary. The first of these experiences begins prior to entrance in the school, and continues through the elementary school. The transition from a familiar and secure setting can create many frustrations in a student. Knowing this, the school has a preschool roundup to familiarize your child with his first school. Continuing the orientation experiences, the school helps the student to get along with others and with the world about him.
The second major orientation thrust of the school is made when your child moves from the elementary school to junior high school. The same insecure feeling may be present as he makes this step. The school makes a more intense effort to insure the possibility of better student adjustment as students progress in their educational efforts at this level. Orientation to departmental work and
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different teachers, to physical facilities, to school policies and practices, to educational services in and out of the school, to special curricular programs and extra-eurricular activities, to the wise utilization of time, to student conduct, to educational and occupational information, to the school library, and to the guidance services in the school are emphasized. These are some of the organized orientation activities provided by the school and the school counselor to help in the prevention of possible student problems, and to assist in a better adjustment of the student at this level.

The school's third major orientation effort comes when the student enters the high school. The activities designed to assist the students at this level are similar to those mentioned above as being used at the junior high school level, with the exception of emphasis in certain areas. For example, the student is oriented to the physical facilities of the school, the schooi's policies and procedures, the extra-curricular activities, study skills, wise utilization of time, and the guidance services available to him. Greater emphasis, however, is made in the area of the student's next steps in educational and occupational efforts.

In carrying out these activities, the school and school counse-

lor organize certain practices in the school. The preschool round-

up was mentioned previously as a method of familiarizing the be-

ginning student with the school. This activity also orients you, the

parents, to your child's school environment.

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School visitation is a major orientation method. Here, the

school counselors may go with other school personnel to the send-

ing school and talk with upcoming students about the school they

are about to enter. Also, these students may visit their next school

building for many of the orientation activities that will help them in

~their

adjustment to this next situation. The big brother-big sister plan has

been

used

extensively

in

the

.,. school's orientation process. This plan helps the new student in the

initial phases of his school experiences to get to the right place

at the right time, and to know where to go if complications develop.

The assembly program is another technique through which the orientation activities in the school are accomplished. Many school
personnel with special abilities and out-of-school personnel with
extraordinary abilities, may be called on to meet with students and
supply pertinent information to them on many of the problems they are experiencing.

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Student handbooks have been prepared at the elementary, ju-

nior high, and senior high school levels to inform all students about

the many things they will need to know about the new school they

will be entering. Usually a map of the floor plan of the school is

included in this publication. Also, the courses of study leading to

specific ends are outlined briefly. If other information is needed in

these areas the school counselors are ready to help.

. . The school newspaper, the community paper, and the guidance ""newsletter keep students and parents up to date on the many in-
formational concerns that are important to student's development. All three methods - the school newspaper, the community paper, and the guidance newsletter - are important orientation techniques. Through these media techniques, students and parents are kept informed of pertinent data, important testing dates, important deadlines such as those for making college applications, and what is happening of a guidance nature in the school. The school paper and local newspaper are available to students and parents. A special guidance newsletter may be designed for both students and parents for orientation purposes. An additional guidance newsletter, in many schools, may be designed specifically for school personnel. All of these media possibilities are pertinent to the orientation effort.

The homeroom and group guidance programs in the schools af-

~erfonrid nmganpoysosipbpleorptruonbitlieems

for giving to areas. Many

students' information conof our schools use both the

-rhomeroom and planned group guidance programs to achieve desirable

results in the orientation of their students.

Audiovisual aids have contributed considerably to the guidance of youth. Many of these aids can contribute immeasurably to the orientation of the student.

~..i..n

Parents' night and parent conferences have accomplishing orientation objectives. Parents'

been very effective night is designed

primarily to orient parents to the objectives of the instructional

program and the school. Parent conferences are designed to afford

~arents an opportunity to discuss their child's problem with inter-

~sted school personnel. You are encouraged to attend parents' night,

and to contact the school for a conference, if one is needed.

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These are some of the planned activities the school has fonnulated for the benefit of your child. If your child is having difficulties, have him contact the school counselor. He is there to help your child make the most of his school experiences.
The student analysis service, according to Hitchcock, "is a major service in an organized program of guidance services which provides all kinds of pertinent information about the individual. This service purports to provide an array of factual information of the student to aid him in a better understanding of himself, and to assist teachers and counselors to understand him better, thus enabling them to work with him more effectively" (Hitchcock, 1963, p. 40). The school gathers this information, studies and evaluates it in relation to possible problem areas, and interprets and uses it when difficult situations arise.
THE TESTING PROGRAM Although all of the student analysis information is recorded in
the cumulative folder or guidance folder, special mention will be made here only of the testing program. The information included in the guidance folder as a result of the student analysis service will be listed.
All of the schools now have a basic testing program. Also, many of our schools go beyond the basic program and test your children in special areas. The basic program will normally consist of a scholastic aptitude test and an achievement test at each school level elementary, junior high, and high school.
Why are these tests administered to your child? The primary purpose of the scholastic aptitude and mental ability test is to give some indication of your child's learning ability in school situations. In other words, the results of such tests will indicate what can be expected of your child in academic activities. The achievement test normally used by the school gives reading, mathematics, and English scores. The primary purpose of this test is to indicate the level of your child's development in these skill areas.
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The special testing program may be used to determine your child's interests and special aptitudes. These tests are usually administered when additional information is needed to help your child in making a choice, or to help the teacher and counselor to understand better certain of your child's characteristics.
To reap the greatest rewards from the results of the school's testing program, students and parents must have the tests properly interpreted. The majority of the schools now interpret the results of tests to the students. Many schools also encourage parents to come in for interpretation of the test results.
Schools have policies, procedures, and methods they use in test interpretation. For example, "percentile" is used in interpreting test results in many schools. Suppose your child scored at the 67th percentile on a certain test. This means that of those students who have taken this test who have been included in the norms, your child exceeds 67 percent and 33 percent exceed him.
In using the percentile method of test interpretation, the 50th percentile or a range from the 40th to the 60th percentile is concidered average. Many school counselors use a percentile band rather than a pinpointed score. This approach is desired and recommended.
Another method of test interpretation that is very popular in many schools is known as "stanine." Stanine is a nine point scale in the distribution of test scores in which stanine 5 is considered average and stanine 9 is considered superior.
There is a tendency on the part of testing companies to develop tests that indicate separate abilities. A test, for example, may measure a number of abilities, achievements, and aptitudes. Rather than indi~ating a student's ability to do a certain job, the test may reveal what his verbal, numerical, mechanical, artistic, language, !nd non-language abilities are. Such a test would be preferred to one giving a single score.
THE GUIDANCE RECORD
Guidance and/or cumulative records are kept on your child as he progresses through the educational process. These records normally consist of basic identification data, educational development and aspirations, occupational experiences and goals, personal problems, social problems, and recreational information. Also, grade reports, anecdotal and observational reports, and interview reports are included in these records.
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These records assist counselors and teachers to know better many of your child's characteristics. This informational understanding on the part of teachers and counselors is used in the instructional program to make the curriculum more meaningful to students. The information also enables teachers and counselors to assist students in correcting possible obstacles that may stand in the way of learning, and with other problems they may experience.
These data, included in the guidance and/or cumulative record, are gathered through the employment of various techniques. Student self-report documents such as the personal history questionnaire, the autobiography, the student rating scale and checklist are used by practically all schools. Teacher-counselor report documents and directed techniques such as the personal interview, anecdotal records, directed ratings and checklists are important data-gathering instruments used by teachers and counselors. Group techniques utilized in gathering this important data include the sociodrama, sociometric testing, and other types of testing, and case studiescase conferences.
All the information gathered through these techniques is included in the student's guidance and/or cumulative folder. It is studied and interpreted in the light of the various problems that your child may be experiencing. All the information in this service may be used to great advantage by those concerned with understanding the child. If the child possesses special characteristics, as indicated in the records, they should be made known to all concerned and used effectively in working with him.

In practically all of the problems students experience, there is a definite need for up-to-date information relating to the particular difficulty under consideration. The school, in attempting to provide your children with the necessary information relating to their problems, selects and organizes this information. This up-to-date information pertains to educational, occupational, social, personal, and recreational problems. If students are in need of information in any of these areas, it is possible for them to secure it in the guidance office.

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For example, if your child needs information concerning college entrance requifements or course offerings, such data may be secured from the counselor. Occupational information is also available. Data related to personal, social and recreational problems is also normally kept in the counselor's office. Encourage your child to utilize this service. It is also available for your use if you feel a need for such information.
Also, the school counselor is able to help your child utilize other school-community resources as he strives for an adequate adjustment. The counselor knows where help is available when outside help seems appropriate. With proper consent, your child can be referred to competent help when necessary, thus preventing a build-up of the problem to serious proportions.
GROUP GUIDANCE ACfIVITIES
Many of the schools today are attempting to offer adequate guidance to their pupils. Realizing that this cannot be accomplished through an individual approach, schools are offering guidance services through group activities. These group guidance activities, through planned instructional units, serve as preventive, developmental, and remedial procedures in which your child may actively participate.
In organizing these group activities, the school is cognizant of the growth and developmental tasks that your child is experiencing as he progressively moves through the educational process. Havighurst's (1952) developmental tasks; Jenkins, Shacter, and Bauer's (1953) physical development, characteristic reactions and special needs approach; and Rath's (1949) need theory are foundations on which these units are developed. Check these references out from your library and study them for a better understanding of the characteristics and tasks your child is experiencing. Additionally, to what is developmentally evident, as indicated and implied above your child is consulted through discussion panels and questionnaires and his wishes are considered in developing and formulating these units to be dealt with in an organized group approach.
In these group guidance units, your child will have the opportunity to participate in organized activities. He will gain many important understandings through this approach that are impossible to gain elsewhere. Here, all students participate by contributing their ideas. These ideas may be used by others in the group. The thoughts, feelings, and ideas of others help the student to meet his needs as they occur in the development process.
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The counseling service helps your child make sound and workable choices and decisions relating to his problems. The school counselor can help your child assess his characteristics.
If, for example, your child needs help in selecting courses that will be of value to him in his program of study at this level, the school counselor can be of invaluable assistance.
Both students and parents often wonder how much ability the student has and how much he should achieve. School counselors may help you and your child find out.
Your child may have special talents that neither of you is aware of. It is possible for these special talents to be revealed to both of you. The school counselor is the person to help you gain this understanding.
The school counselor is available to help your child if he should experience difficulty in any of his courses in school. Normally, the school counselor is told of the grades of the students at the end of each marking period. He usually contacts those who are having difficulty and offers them his help.
Your child's educational and vocational future is very much a concern to him and to you. If you will seek his help, the counselor can help your child plan his future.
Remember, the school counselor's door is always open to students when they feel the need for assistance in their school activities and their personal lives. Encourage your child to take advantage of this opportunity when necessary. You, too, should utilize the services the school counselor has to offer.

The services for your child and the interest shown in him by the school do not end with counseling. The school and school counselor go further and insure that the student's "next step" is made with their help. The school counselor attempts to help the student place into action the choices and decisions made in the counseling session. These placement activities and services of the school

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occur in many areas of the student's life. These placement activities may consist of helping your child to select a college and a vocational school to attend, a job to pursue, a course to take in school, or a club to join.
For example, your child may want to take specific courses to prepare him for a particular field of work. These plans may be made and put into action through the school counselor's office. Ask your child to discuss these possibilities with the counselor.
Your child may be interested in attending a certain college. The student should ask the school counselor to help him assess the various characteristics of a particular college.
Extra-curricular activities normally playa major role in your child's life. School counselors are available to talk with your child about the extra-curricular opportunities in the school. Counselors help students choose appropriate activities in line with their programs of study and their interests.
Grouping of students for instructional purposes is very popular in our schools today. School counselors help place students into groups. In this placement a number of factors are considered. Counselors can help you understand the "why" of your child's placement.
Many school counselors place students in either full or parttime jobs. If your child needs such a service, call on the school counselor. He can help your child since he creates and maintains a cooperative relationship with employers in the community.
These are some of the placement activities and services which the schoof counselor and the guidance services offer to students. Other services are offered, so if you have questions concerning placement, call on the counselor.
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The fmal major organized service in the school's guidance program is known as the follow-up service. In this service, the school and the counselor attempt to evaluate the guidance given students by conducting research.
After working with your child on a particular problem, the school counselor is very interested in the adjustment the child makes. Therefore, the school counselor checks with the student after the counseling session to see what adjustment he is making.
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Employers and colleges, for example, tell school counselors of the successes and failures' of former students. Such information helps the total school system to determine how effective the school program has been in preparing the student. From these data, the school learns how effective it has been in helping students and what it should do to better prepare its students for future educational and occupational activities.
The success of many of the school's guidance programs comes from research activities in guidance. Hitchcock (1965) mentioned thirty-three evaluation and research possibilities in this area. If the school performs research activities, it may utilize the results to offer more effective services for your children.
After your child leaves the school, the school counselor is still available to help if such assistance is needed. For example, a student may be dissatisfied with his job and need assistance in locating another. The counselor is also available to students who may be having difficulty in their post-high school educational activities.
I
From the description of the school's guidance services, you have seen that the school is definitely interested in your child's welfare. Also, you have seen the many ways in which the guidance services in the school may affect your child. In addition to what has already been said regarding guidance services available to your child, the following four points indicate what you can expect from the school counselor if you make a request.
A COOPERATIVE EFFORT First, the school counselor and the school welcome your inter-
est in the welfare of your child. If you have questions or are concerned about your child's educational development, feel free to contact your child's counselor and discuss your concern with him. It is also possible that the school will contact you from time to time when the welfare of your child is at stake and a cooperative effort is needed. Parents, take advantage of both the above opportunities if they are presented to you.
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YOUR CHILD'S ABILITIES
If you are to help your child in his educational tasks, you should have some understanding of his ability and achievement levels. To know what you may normally expect of your child in his educational efforts, you should have an accurate indication of his ability to learn or progress in school activities. You should also know if your child is achieving up to the ievel indicated by his ability. These student characteristics will be interpreted to you if you request an appointment. Additional test results may help you understand your child better. Such tests may include measurements of your child's interests and special aptitudes. Such interpretations are available to you if you make an appointment with your school counselor.
STUDENT PROBLEMS
From the information gained through the student analysis service, the personal interview, the group activities, and the teachercounselor contacts and conferences, a number of the problems your children are experiencing are revealed. Many of these problems may be resolved in the school without help from the home. With many of the problems, however, you must be involved if your child is to make a successful adjustment. When these situations develop, you will be notified.
YOUR CHILD'S CHOICES
Now let us consider the various choices that confront your child in his educational life. Possibly the first choice in your child's educational development comes when children are placed in groups for instructional purposes. The second choice probably comes when the student must decide which courses will best prepare him for his future goals. The third major choice might be of an educational and/or vocational nature. This choice would normally include the selection of a college or some other post-high-school educational experience or the selection of a job. All these choices are important enough that you should be involved in them. Parents, make it your business to be in on these choices that so vitally affect your child's life.
Finally, it may be said that the school's guidance services and the work of the school counselor may be the key to more effective education and a better future for your child. James Bryant Conant, one of the nation's leading educators, has said, "Yet it would not be too much to say that on the success or failure of our guidance program hangs, in all probability, the success or failure of our system of public education. The keystone in the arch of an effective educational program is guidance."
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References

1.

Havighurst, Robert J., Developmental Tasks and

Education. New York: Longmans, Green and Company,

1952. lOOp.

2. Hitchcock, William L., Guidance: Functions and Services. Atlanta: The State Department of Education, 1962. 14p.

3. Hitchcock, William L., Student Analysis Service. Atlanta: The State Department of Education, 1963. 40p.

4. Hitchcock, William L., The Follow-Up Service. Atlanta: The State Department of Education, 1965. 66p.

5. Hitchcock, William L., The Orientation Service. Atlanta: The State Department of Education, 1966. 31p.

6. Jenkins, Gladys G., Schacter, Helen, and William W. Bauer, These Are Your Children. Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1953. 320p.

7.

Raths, Louis E., An Application to Education of the

Needs Theory. New York: Ad Art PTG., 1949.19p.

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Bibliography

Berdie, Ralph F., Parents and the Counselor. St. Paul: State of Minnesota, Department of Education, 1960. 36p.

D'Evelyn, Katherine, Meeting Children's Emotional Needs. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957. 176p.

De Haan, Robert F., Guidelines for Parents of Capable Youth. Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1961. 48p.

Dreikurs, Rudolph and Vicki Soltz, Your Child and Discipline. Washington: National Education Association, 1965. 14p.

Farnham, Marynia, The Adolescent. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1952. 243p.

Hitchcock, William L., Selection and Use of Standardized Tests. Atlanta: The State Department of Education. (Reproduced with the special permission of the Oregon State Department of Education.) 1961. 60p.

Hitchcock, William L., Counselor-Parent-Teacher Conferences. Atlanta: The State Department of Education, 1967. 32p.

Knapp, Dale L., and James H. Bedford, The Parent's Role In Career Development. Washington, D.C.: National Vocational Guidance Association, 1968. 14p.

Langdon, Grace and Irwing W. Stout, Teacher-Parent Interviews. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1955. 356p.

Leonard, Edith M., et. al., Counseling With Parents. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1954. 330p.

National Education Association, How To Get The Most Out Of

School. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association,

1968. 15p.

'

Piers, Maria, How To Work With Parents. Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1955. 43p.

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