The Transformed School Counselor [Hardcover]

Carolyn Stone (Author), Carol A. Dahir (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0618590617 | ISBN-13: 978-0618590612 | Publication Date: August 9, 2005 | Edition: 1

This introductory text provides an overview of how the school counseling profession has transformed to successfully meet the needs of 21st-century students. The Transformed School Counselor challenges pre-service counselors to view their sphere of influence from a systemic perspective and develop an awareness of the major societal and educational changes impacting the school counselor including economy, technology, family structures, standards-based education, and diversity.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 459 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 1 edition (August 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618590617
• ISBN-13: 978-0618590612
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Written, Well- Organized and Informative, October 3, 2011

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Ellen Rodenhauser Rebman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Transformed School Counselor (Hardcover)

This textbook really lets you in on what you are signing up for as a future school counselor. You also learn the history of school counseling and the future of school counseling. This is a well-written, well-organized and very informative textbook. I have found it extremely useful in my studies.

4.0 out of 5 stars great information for soon to-be school counselors, July 23, 2011

By 

R. Scudder (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Transformed School Counselor (Hardcover)

I've just begun to read the book and have enjoyed all the insight and viewpoints that are presented! It is a good read and will prepare me to be a school counselor!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless if you've already taken courses, dangerous if you haven't..., September 20, 2011

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Eponymous "Mama Jamón" (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Transformed School Counselor (Hardcover)

I was hopeful that this book would actually do a thorough job of discussing both the goals and responsibilities of a counselor. I was wrong. Being a second-year student mean that this reading was rote, banal, and superficial in both scope and depth. Here are my biggest issues with the book:

1) The book does a horrid job of explaining its concepts. Though it covers a decent amount of information, the amount it attempts to disseminate borders on the absurd. I'm not sure how the authors expect students to remember this much information, but a quick review of literature indicates that retention is unlikely. If the book made more of a concentrated effort, it wouldn't suffer from the "Counselors for Dummies" effect.

2) For newly-minted counseling students who may be using the text, the glut of information is both insufficient and, at times, wrong. For example, the book discusses "learning styles", claiming that there is a plethora of research backing up its effectiveness - this is incorrect. Though there is a decent amount of information regarding learning styles available, this information has little substance, suffering from low levels of both reliability and validity. This section also references biased, if not altogether racist, literature (Dunn, 1987) in regards to how learning styles should be altered for minority students. If first-year counseling students read such information without accompanying data, the potential for misinformation and biased perceptions increases. By failing to discuss matters fully and objectively, the book creates circumstances where counselors are less able to fully help students.

3) The book is boring. This is a small issue, but compounds the previous issues. The "real-life" experiences are average, at best, and the text itself offers few opportunities for true engagement. If this is what a transformed school counselor looks like, our future students are in for a long, sleepy ride.



I would not recommend this book for anything other than a slight reference tool. To utilize it as a conduit for learning and counseling pedagogy would be tantamount to using duct tape to fix your car - it might work for a few seconds but will only end up hurting in the long (or not so long) run.