Principal - Counselor Relationships: A Case Study of the Implications for the High School Leadership Team

There are few studies that examine the area of collaborative leadership through the viewpoints of counselors, assistant principals, and campus principals as members of the high school campus leadership team. These relationships have become increasingly important with the influence of state testing accountability and the pressures to improve student achievement. Through a distributive leadership lens, the perceptions of the relationships among the campus principal, assistant principals, and counselors were examined to better understand how each of these individuals contributed to the campus leadership team. This qualitative single case study of the leadership team at a large comprehensive high school in Texas provided necessary research on organizational relationships at the high school level that could be strengthened to significantly improve student outcomes. Two focus groups interviews and an individual interview were conducted to obtain the data needed to adequately explore the nature of the relationships. Key findings of this study have indicated that successful relationships among high school counselors, assistant principals, and campus principals must involve focused collaboration, knowledge of roles and responsibilities, communication, shared vision, mutual respect, and the distributed leadership mindset. The perceptions of the principal, assistant principals, and the counselors shape the role of the counselor on the leadership team and influence the collaboration among these professionals.