Feelings of empowerment among students are crucial prerequisites to their participation in change agency in both educational and non-educational settings. Educators notice a compelling correlation between student empowerment and academic achievement and other positive outcomes in K-12 educational environments. School counselors are optimally…

While helping students transition to a post-pandemic future, school counselors may inadvertently be overlooking a vital source of resiliency: strengths, opportunities, and resources in the student's past. By using solution-focused scaling, school counselors can enhance students' well-being by identifying and amplifying how they have already…

English language learners (ELLs) experience higher barriers to education than non-ELLs. School counselors are uniquely positioned to identify and respond to the needs of these students. This phenomenological study explored the advocacy efforts of 14 school counselors working with ELLs. Major themes included creating space for culture and context,…

We applied a qualitative inquiry to explore the experiences of African American youth engaging in a group intervention at an urban high school. Group topics were tailored to the needs of prospective first-generation college students to enhance youth social and academic capitol and identity strengthening. Experiences included changed perspectives…

A qualitative research study was conducted with 15 school counselors to identify the strategies they used to empower Chicana/o and Latina/o high school students. The findings of this study revealed that participants facilitated student empowerment by developing personal relationships with students, involving alumni, building sociocultural…

In this article, the authors provide their reactions to the commentaries of Mitcham-Smith and Schmidt on their study. As Mitcham-Smith and Schmidt in their responses both suggest, it is evident that if professional school counselors are to be successful in facilitating the empowerment of students, they must engage in a self-reflective process…

Hipolito-Delgado and Lee's article entitled "Empowerment Theory for the Professional School Counselor: A Manifesto for What Really Matters" represents an important contribution to the school counseling literature for two reasons: (1) It helps to expand a growing knowledge base related to the work school counselors can do to foster the…

The author comments on several aspects of an article by Hipolito-Delgado and Lee entitled "Empowerment Theory for the Professional School Counselor: A Manifesto for What Really Matters" (Professional School Counseling, v10 n4 p327-332 Apr 2007; see EJ767346). Hipolito-Delgado and Lee's article highlights a critical need for a comprehensive,…

In this article, the authors comment on Hipolito-Delgado and Lee's paper regarding empowerment theory. In their article in this issue, Hipolito-Delgado and Lee contend that empowering students from marginalized communities is a fundamental role of school counselors and consistent with both the Education Trust (2003) and the American School…

Borrowing from the legacy of feminist and multicultural theories, various counseling fields have applied portions of empowerment theory to their work with oppressed clients. This article examines the main concepts associated with empowerment theory and provides important implications for professional school counselors.

Outlines "Bullybusters," a psychoeducational drama developed by a school's counseling and drama departments. The program depicts the negative consequences of the various forms of bullying, while informing students how they might overcome bullying's adverse effects. Subsequent classroom discussion sessions were successful in getting students to…

Discusses how professional school counselors can enhance academic achievement by empowering all students to become self-regulated learners. Presents a framework for integrating current research on self-regulated learning, outlines components of the school context that encourage this development, and identifies learning strategies and the steps…

The author commends Drs. Bemak, Chung, and Siroskey-Sabdo on their efforts to connect with and empower African American adolescent females. However, he does have some concerns regarding their Empowerment Groups for Academic Success (EGAS) approach to empowering this particular group of students. While he agrees with the authors about the…

Children come to school with a variety of factors impinging on their academic success (Rose, 1998). The impact of these factors varies in degree. Furthermore, children from high-risk urban areas may experience barriers that not only hinder academic success, but also support their disengagement from educational institutions. Therefore, working with…