Assessing the Performance of Jordanian Educational Counselors in the Environment of Private and Government Schools toward Gifted Students

Problem statement: The objective of this research was to evaluate the needs of suitable environment for educational counselors to provide support and enhance the capabilities of gifted students for better education and behavior performance during their academic school years. This study emphasizes with more details on the impact of the educational counselors experience, gender and schools environment regarding the role of improving gifted students performance in the country of Jordan. Approach: Seventy three educational counselors from government and private schools in the country of Jordon participated in the survey and completed the questionnaire in the spring of 2010. The questionnaire consisted of twenty two questions regarding the interaction between educational counselors and gifted students in private and government schools. Analysis of Variance was conducted on the mean of the sample population determined by counselors experience, gender and type of schools to verify the apparent differences of the means. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program, T-Test and the F-Test were applied to the obtained data. Results: Performance of educational counselors in the private school environment was more effective and more evident than in government schools. The results of this study revealed that gifted students in private Jordanian schools, performed better in a climate characterized by high expectations of readiness to invest effort, enjoyment of learning, with strong disciplinary climate and good teacher-student relationships. Conclusion: Educational counselors with more years of experience showed more involvement in solving and enriching gifted students performance despite the gender of the counselor. Private schools provided better programs and more suitable environment for educational counselors to help gifted students than government schools.