Transcript Transforming the School Counseling Profession

CHAPTER 3:
Transformational Thinking in
Today’s Schools
Transforming The School Counseling
Profession
Fourth Edition
Bradley T. Erford
The School: The Primary Workplace for School Counselors
School counseling is one component of a complex system that is
being held accountable for educating today’s students to a higher
level of academic proficiency than ever before.
The transformed school counseling profession must align its inputs,
processes and outcomes for students with the new mission of
schools.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-2
Four Forces Driving Change in Schools
Inequities in the educational system
Changes in the nation’s demographics and school populations
Changes in the economy and the workplace
Major changes in educational public policy
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-3
Inequities in the Educational System
In the 1980s, a report titled A Nation At Risk concluded that the
education system in the United States lagged behind that of other
industrialized nations.
•
The report found that the United States’ educational system lacked
a set of coherent academic content standards to define what all
students should know and be able to do as a result of their 12
years of public education.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-4
Inequities in the Educational System
Subsequent to A Nation at Risk, a group of policy makers issued a
report highlighting the systemic barriers that contribute to the
poor/under achievement of students of color and students of low
income families.
•
The educational system systematically and consistently provides
less to students who have the greatest educational needs.
•
The educational system operating in this manner is an inherently
inequitable state of affairs that professional school counselors must
address.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-5
Changes in the Nation’s Demographics and School Populations
Communities are changing as a result of immigration, declining birth
rates among some populations, and the general aging of the
population.
To maintain the nation’s status as a world power and to protect and
maintain the democratic way of life, the education system must
educate all of its citizens.
•
Resources must be distributed equitably, based on student need
(i.e., those who need more should get more) if we are to meet the
mandate of education for all students to higher levels of academic
proficiency.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-6
Changes in the Economy and the Workplace
The global economy, technological advances and the explosion of
knowledge in science and related fields has resulted in major
changes in the workplace and the requirements for success in the
workplace.
•
All students need to be provided with the opportunity to master
challenging academic content to participate successfully in the local
and global economy.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-7
Changes in the Economy and the Workplace
There have been significant increases in the skills and knowledge
required for success at all levels in the 21st century workplace—from
entry skill jobs to professional training.
The academic performance of students in the United States is being
surpassed by the students in its international industrialized
competitor countries.
•
Students in the United States consistently score lower on
international assessments of mathematics and science than
students in other industrialized and even some non-industrialized
nations.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-8
Major Changes in Education Public Policy
The 1992 Reauthorization of the Title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA) brought a sea change to the
educational landscape.
•
The ESEA required all schools educating students from low income
families to educate their students to the same challenging
academic content standards as all other schools.
•
The ESEA instituted another deep policy change, a change from a
focus on inputs to measuring success.
•
All districts and schools receiving federal support from Title 1 of the
ESEA were held accountable for the academic results of all
students.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-9
Major Changes in Education Public Policy
As required by law, The Title 1 of the ESEA was reauthorized in 2000
and came to be known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
•
It strengthened the accountability provisions of the original law
because the requirements were being ignored for the most part by
states and districts.
•
NCLB, among other changes, requires states to set time lines for
closing achievement gaps and set a 12 year time frame for getting
all students to proficiency.
•
These accountability policies affect all of the professionals in the
education system.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-10
Education Reform
The policy to promote college level learning for all students is a
response to the changes in the demographic and economic
landscape.
The National Governor’s Association declared high school reform in
America its highest priority.
•
As a result of this attention, 34 states have increased their
graduation requirements and are requiring students to complete a
rigorous curriculum.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-11
Education Reform
As is so often the case in the initiation of sweeping education reforms,
there is a lag between policy adoption and successful implementation.
Expecting all students to achieve at proficient levels makes obsolete the
long standing school system and counselor-implemented practice of
sorting students into the categories of “college and non-college bound.”
All students are now to be educated to academic levels that would allow
them to be prepared to make the choice to enter post-secondary training
without the need for remediation – and succeed.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-12
Education Reform
Professional school counselors need to help develop and implement
institutional policies to ensure that all students have access to the
challenging curriculum required by the new law.
The transformed school counselor, while addressing the needs of
individual students, will have an eye on the institutional policies and
practices that impede student progress.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-13
Transforming the School Counseling
Profession
The forces pushing for change in education and the resulting
revisions in education policies provided the impetus for the
Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI).
•
The Initiative was built on the premise that school counseling, as a
profession, had to move from a focus on primarily fixing individual
students to removing the systemic barriers to student success for
whole groups of students.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-14
Transforming the School Counseling
Profession
A new vision for school counseling was developed and distributed by the
Education Trust (1996).
•
This new vision highlighted movement from traditional practice to a
vision of the professional school counselor being a proactive, change
agent and advocate that focused on supporting and creating pathways
for all students to have school success.
•
Teaming and collaboration, advocacy and leadership are the lynchpins
on which the Initiative structured changes in the way professional
school counselors should be trained.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-15
The ASCA National Standards and Model
National Standards for School Counseling Programs (Campbell & Dahir,
1997) was published as a standardized basis for comprehensive, developmental
guidance services.
The three domains for the these standards are:
•
Academic, career, personal/social
The National Standards are a historical landmark in the profession and help school
systems around the country develop school counseling curricula.
Subsequent to publishing the Standards, ASCA developed and published the ASCA
National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs that represented a
more comprehensive approach for integration of the Standards into a school
counseling program.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-16
Impact of Change on School Counselor
Practice
Professional school counselors must design data driven school counseling
programs that fit into the mission of today’s schools:
•
Rigorous standards and accountability for all students.
Accountability is the professional school counselor’s responsibility—not just
teachers and administrators.
•
Professional school counselors need to integrate themselves into
school reform by collaborating with all school staff instead of working
as ancillary personnel removed from the instructional side of schools.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-17
Impact of Change on School Counselor
Practice
Successful school counselors in 21st Century schools will shift from
focusing on fixing individual students to fixing the policies and practices
in the educational system that contribute to academic failure of students.
Professional school counselors also must:
•
Become proactive leaders rather than “helper responders.”
•
Shift the focus from mental health and individual changes to the
whole-school and systemic concerns that fit the wholeschool’s mission of academic achievement.
•
Use “hard data” to prove accountability.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-18
A Call for Change in School Counselor Preparation
Programs
Need to move from the 3 “C’s” of counseling (i.e., counseling,
consultation, and coordination) to a broader range of roles,
including:
1.
Leadership
2.
Advocacy and systemic change
3.
Teaming and collaboration
4.
Counseling and coordination
5.
Assessment and use of data
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-19
Accountability: Making School Counseling
Count
To act as agents of school and community change, professional school
counselors must:
•
1. Provide and articulate a well-defined developmental counseling program with
attention to equity, access, and support services.
•
2. Routinely use data to analyze and improve access to, and success in, rigorous
academic courses for underrepresented students.
•
3. Actively monitor the progress of underrepresented students in rigorous courses
and provide assistance or interventions when needed.
•
4. Actively target and enroll underrepresented students into rigorous courses.
•
5. Develop, coordinate, and initiate support systems designed to improve the
learning success of students experiencing difficulty with rigorous academic
programs.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-20
Leadership and Transformed School Counselor Practice
Role Responsibilities of the Professional School
Counselor
1. High standards for all
students.
2. Remove learning
barriers.
3. Teach students skills
need to help themselves.
4. Teach how to succeed
in the school system.
5. Teach how to utilize
academic support systems.
6. Use data to promote
program changes.
7. Work with all school
personnel.
8. Offer staff development training
to promote higher student
standards.
9. Eliminate myths
10. Promote community
activities for higher student
standards.
11. Help parents & the community
design ways to work with schools to
support higher students standards.
12. Serve as a community
resource.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-21
What Prevents Professional School Counselors From
Changing?
1. Homeostasis - unwillingness to change.
2. Administration dictating responsibilities.
3. Accepting additional responsibilities.
4. Pressure from special interest groups dictating the professional school
counselor’s role.
5. No follow-up reports.
6. Time consumed by special education mandates.
7. Time consumed by quasi-administrative tasks.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-22
What Prevents Professional School Counselors From Changing
(Continued)
8. Role as a mental health counseling provider with excessive client
loads.
9. Professional school counselor not determining their role.
10. Little professional development provided for the professional school
counselor.
11. Time consumed by crisis management.
12. Lack of involvement with school reform.
13. Not viewing academic achievement as the primary goal.
14. Working to change students, not the system.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-23
A Sense of Urgency is Propelling Change
The sense of urgency to help all students be successful in
school is propelling professional school counselors to
change.
Many professional school counselors are seizing the
opportunity to be leaders in schools and work as
advocates for students.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-24
A Sense of Urgency is Propelling Change
The transformed school counselor is now working in school districts that are held
accountable for making sure that all students have an opportunity to achieve
academic success in challenging curricula.
•
Professional school counselors must maximize their capacity to impact
the greatest number of students in need of their help.
The transformed school counselor must also develop the capacity to determine
when the intervention should be focused on individual students or when the
intervention should be focused on the changing the policies and practices being
implemented by the system that are the source of student failure and/or student
social distress.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-25
Conclusion
The vision for professional school counselors presented in this book
is cutting edge, compelling, and essential to maintaining the
profession in the 21st century and beyond.
•
This vision puts professional school counselors in the middle of
school reform and gives them an opportunity to demonstrate that
they do make a difference in the success of students.
Professional school counselors will be valued when they demonstrate
effectiveness in making systemic changes that allow all students
access to rigorous academic programs and support for success.
Bradley T. Erford, Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-26