What's COVID-19 Got to Do With It? Implementing the 2020 Connecticut Comprehensive School Counseling Framework

Area of Science:

• Educational Leadership
• School Counseling
• Pandemic Impact on Education

Background:

• The Connecticut Comprehensive School Counseling Framework launched in November 2020.
• This release occurred eight months into the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the implementation progress of the new framework by principals and school counselors.
• To investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on framework implementation efforts.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods research approach was employed.
• Data collection involved exploring perceptions and priorities of principals and school counselors.

Main Results:

• Significant alignment was observed between principals' and school counselors' perceptions and priorities regarding the framework.
• Both groups reported an increase in intra-school collaboration.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights successful alignment between leadership and counseling roles in framework implementation.
• The pandemic context may have inadvertently promoted greater collaborative practices within schools.