(Press-News.org) Across the United States, children spend more than 1,100 hours in school each year – time that shapes not only their academic success but also their emotional and social growth. Yet, for many students, the school environment can also be a source of anxiety and apprehension. School counselors play a pivotal role in addressing these challenges through evidence-based, comprehensive guidance programs.
Addressing this critical need, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Counselor Education within the College of Education conducted a qualitative study to explore how participation in the Student Success Skills (SSS) small group counseling intervention influences middle school students’ sense of connectedness to their school environment, guided by the Advocating Student-Within-Environment (ASE) theory.
Working with sixth graders in the Southeastern U.S., the research team collected data through pre- and post-intervention interviews, field notes, session transcripts, student-generated drawings and counseling activities. They used thematic analysis to identify key patterns and themes of how the intervention helped students develop anger management, academic and life skills – abilities that, in turn, would strengthen their engagement and perception of school climate.
The results of the study, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, identified four key outcomes: improved anger management and conflict resolution, the development of academic and life skills, increased feelings of connectedness and safety, and more positive perceptions of the overall school environment. Students learned practical emotional regulation strategies, such as positive self-talk and seeking peer support, and engaged in role-playing exercises to practice conflict resolution and goal setting.
As the sessions progressed, students’ drawings and interview responses reflected a noticeable shift – from neutral or negative portrayals of school to images and statements highlighting friendship, belonging and motivation to learn.
“As the students became more connected to one another, so did their sense of contribution and compassion, which extended far beyond the school environment,” said Elizabeth Villares Sacks, Ph.D., co-author and chair and professor, FAU Department of Counselor Education. “Small group counseling provided students with far more than strategies for managing emotions and relationships – it offered them a space to feel seen, heard and valued. Through these shared experiences, students began to recognize their own strengths and see themselves not just as learners, but as capable, compassionate contributors within their school communities and beyond.”
Findings revealed notable growth in trust and community among group members. Students collaboratively developed confidentiality agreements and group norms, creating a safe space for authentic sharing and peer support. By cultivating social-emotional and academic skills, this approach enhances engagement, connectedness and perceptions of school climate. Overall, the results highlight the effectiveness of ASE-based small group counseling in promoting students’ emotional and academic development and suggest the need for further research on its broader systemic impact in schools.
“Interventions grounded in ASE not only support students’ emotional growth but transform how they experience their school environments,” Villares Sacks said. “When students feel connected and understood, they become more engaged learners and more compassionate peers.”
The study was conducted during the 2023-24 school year and involved five sixth-grade students who were identified as being at academic or behavioral risk. Over six weekly sessions, a trained school counselor led the students through the SSS small group intervention, focusing on anger management, goal setting, social problem-solving and self-management.
Study co-authors are Kadeem Campbell, Ph.D., senior author who received his Ph.D. from FAU in 2023; Hannah Bowers, Ph.D., associate professor of school counseling; and Greg Brigman, Ph.D., all within the FAU Department of Counselor Education.
Integrating small group counseling into evidence-based school counseling programs enables counselors to help students build supportive peer relationships, develop essential skills, and strengthen their sense of belonging.
The authors recommend further research on the long-term and systemic effects of ASE-aligned curricula, along with expanded training for counselors in evidence-based group facilitation. Their findings affirm that school investments in counselor-led interventions grounded in empathy, connection and collaboration foster stronger, more resilient learning communities.
- FAU -
About the College of Education:
In 1964, Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education became South Florida’s first provider of education professionals. Dedicated to advancing research and educational excellence, the College is nationally recognized for its innovative programs, evidence-based training, and professional practice. The College spans five departments: Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Leadership and Research Methodology, Special Education, Counselor Education, and Communication Sciences and Disorders, to prepare highly skilled teachers, school leaders, counselors, and speech pathologists. Faculty engage in cutting-edge research supported by prestigious organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the State of Florida.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University serves more than 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses along Florida’s Southeast coast. Recognized as one of only 21 institutions nationwide with dual designations from the Carnegie Classification - “R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production” and “Opportunity College and University” - FAU stands at the intersection of academic excellence and social mobility. Ranked among the Top 100 Public Universities by U.S. News & World Report, FAU is also nationally recognized as a Top 25 Best-In-Class College and cited by Washington Monthly as “one of the country’s most effective engines of upward mobility.” As a university of first choice for students across Florida and the nation, FAU welcomed its most academically competitive incoming class in university history in Fall 2025. To learn more, visit www.fau.edu.
END
Scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have revealed a previously overlooked layer of genetic variation that could help explain why people experience disease differently, and why some treatments work better for certain populations.
Tandem repeats are repeated sections of a DNA strand that make up about seven per cent of the human genome. The likelihood of those tandem repeats causing errors in gene function increases each time they repeat, and they are known to cause conditions like ...
Melanoma remains one of the hardest skin cancers to diagnose because it often mimics harmless moles or lesions. While most artificial intelligence (AI) tools rely on dermoscopic images alone, they often overlook crucial patient information (like age, gender, or where on the body the lesion appears) that can improve diagnostic accuracy. This highlights the importance of multimodal fusion models that can enable high precision diagnosis.
To bridge that gap, Professor Gwangill Jeon from the Department ...
Glioblastoma—the most aggressive form of brain cancer—remains one of medicine’s biggest challenges. Despite surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, most patients survive only about a year after diagnosis. However, a new discovery might change how doctors understand and monitor this deadly disease. Specifically, the study focused on isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type glioblastoma, the most common and rapidly growing form of the tumor, known for its poor prognosis and limited treatment options.
In a study published online on October 11, 2025, in Neuro-Oncology, ...
The most common technique used for closing the uterus after a cesarean delivery causes so many long-term complications that it’s time to question its use. That’s the conclusion reached by two world-renowned specialists in obstetrics and gynecology in an article published in a special issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology on cesarean delivery. The authors argue in favor of replacing the current approach with a closure technique that respects the natural anatomical structure of the uterus.
The authors, Dr Emmanuel Bujold, professor at Université ...
Researchers Kohki Horie, Keiichiro Toda, Takuma Nakamura, and Takuro Ideguchi of the University of Tokyo have built a microscope that can detect a signal over an intensity range fourteen times wider than conventional microscopes. Moreover, the observations are made label-free, that is, without the use of additional dyes. This means the method is gentle on cells and adequate for long-term observations, holding potential for testing and quality control applications in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Microscopes have ...
ANN ARBOR—For a long time, evolutionary biologists have thought that the genetic mutations that drive the evolution of genes and proteins are largely neutral: they're neither good nor bad, but just ordinary enough to slip through the notice of selection.
Now, a University of Michigan study has flipped that theory on its head.
In the process of evolution, mutations occur which can then become fixed, meaning that every individual in the population carries that mutation. A longstanding theory, called the Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution, posits that most genetic mutations that are fixed are neutral. Bad mutations ...
Tensor operations are the kind of arithmetic that form the backbone of nearly all modern technologies, especially artificial intelligence, yet they extend beyond the simple maths we’re familiar with. Imagine the mathematics behind rotating, slicing, or rearranging a Rubik’s cube along multiple dimensions. While humans and classical computers must perform these operations step by step, light can do them all at once.
Today, every task in AI, from image recognition to natural language processing, relies on tensor operations. However, the explosion of ...
Mangrove ecosystems rank among the most efficient "blue carbon" systems on Earth, capable of absorbing and storing vast quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). However, mangroves also release methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, potentially offsetting a portion of their climate mitigation benefits. While prior research has focused primarily on methane emissions from mangrove soils and water surfaces, the role of tree stems as an emission pathway and its significance for global blue carbon accounting have remained largely unexamined.
In a new study, researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a global-scale ...
Food brings people together. It serves as a tool to communicate political stances, to cultivate cross-cultural comprehension or, if necessary, create tensions. Menus can reflect these intentions by using food to create specific psychological effects and convey symbolic messages. But how exactly is it done?
Now, researchers in Portugal have examined menus from diplomatic dinners, state banquets, and receptions hosted over the 20th and 21st centuries to find out how meals reflected and shaped Portuguese foreign policy and ...
A research team from South China University of Technology has made progress in understanding both the unconditional global existence and the vanishing viscosity limit of parabolic-elliptic coupled systems, with findings that extend existing research. The work, led by Prof. Changjiang Zhu and Dr. Qiaolong Zhu, is published in Acta Mathematica Scientia.
The study focuses on a parabolic-elliptic coupled system, which is a simplified model critical to understanding phenomena where fluid motion interacts with heat radiation. ...
