The purpose of administrative supervision is assurance that counselors have worthy work habits, comply with laws and policies, relate well with other school staff and parents, and otherwise work effectively within the school system. Data sources supporting administrative supervision are such things as work schedules, recordkeeping and documentation systems, and evidence of team efforts. Either school counselor supervisors or building administrators may be providers of administrative supervision. Particularly relevant in the school setting is clarifying the place of supervision in the overall system for helping counselors' improve their performance. Whether or how data used in supervision will apply to summative evaluation needs to be spelled out.
Supervision provides opportunities for personalizing the professional development processes.
The combination of feedback from supervision and from performance appraisal is data which counselors and their supervisors use as the basis for professional development goals. The cyclical nature of the supervisory process is enhanced by the lengthy supervisor-supervisee relationships typical of elementary and secondary school settings. The multiple opportunities for supervision over significant lengths of time allow supervisory relationships to be rich ones. The primary obstacles to fully effective school counselor supervision are caused by the insufficient number of school counselor-competent supervisors. Although the building principals can provide useful administrative supervision, it is unlikely that they are current in the clinical functions of counseling.