Transcript Assessment In Early Childhood Education

CHAPTER 9:
Leadership and Achievement
Advocacy for Every Student’s
Achievement and Opportunity
Transforming The School Counseling
Profession
Fourth Edition
Bradley T. Erford
Leading and Advocating
Professional school counselor’s role as leader and advocate is
central in the National Center for Transforming School
Counseling’s new vision for school counseling, the ASCA
National Model, the Eight Components of College and Career
Readiness Counseling, and the CACREP standards.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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“At Promise” instead of “At Risk”
School counseling programs that use a strengths-based,
“nondeficient” leadership and advocacy model are educational
leaders providing measurable equity, achievement results, and
success for all students.
Professional school counselors who develop and implement
transformative school counseling programs based on the ASCA
National Model strive to empower and advocate for historically
oppressed populations.
The transformed professional school counselor leads and advocates
in removing barriers to student performance and overcoming social
injustice.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Achievement and Access Gaps
Achievement gaps are the disparity in academic performance found
among different groups of students based on ethnicity/race, gender,
ability/disability, social class, and language status.
Access (opportunity) gaps are the disparity in who receives school
counseling programs, services, high-level college preparatory
curriculum, honors courses, Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate coursework, college counseling, and the best teachers,
and who does not.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Research Shows….
Students from low-income families can match the
achievement of high-income families “stride for stride” and in
some school districts actually outperform students from
affluent families.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Common Characteristics
Successful high-poverty schools demonstrate the following
characteristics:
•
Extensive use of state/local standards to design curriculum and
instruction, assess student work, and evaluate teachers.
•
Increased instruction time for math and reading.
•
Substantial investment in professional development for teachers.
•
Comprehensive systems to help students before they fail.
•
Parental involvement.
•
Accountability systems with consequences.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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The Professional School Counselor’s Role
Counselors should be involved with the use of state and local standards to design
curriculum and instruction and assess student learning
Counselors must be engaged as educations leaders and advocates to ensure all
students receive outstanding teachers
Counselors can help with master schedule creations to ensure that all students
receive rigorous courses to ensure career and college readiness
Counselors should encourage parent and guardian involvement, maintain open
communication and collaboration
Use this role to help eliminate barriers for all students
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Professional School Counselors as Leaders
Leadership is one of the four overarching themes of the ASCA
National Model and is inextricably tied to advocacy.
A leader is someone who has a “vision” for change, can
communicate that vision effectively to others, and help direct
supporters in working toward creating the desired change.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Professional School Counselors as Leaders
(cont.)
Bolman and Deal (1997) posited four kinds of leadership:
•
Structural leadership involves creating an organized plan for
change, as well as determining how to best put that plan into
action.
•
Human resources leadership requires school counselors to
empower and motivate others to enact change.
•
Political leadership directly involves changing unfair
organizational or systemic structures that are in place.
•
Symbolic leadership involves creating and communicating a
vision of change to others to gain supporters and allies.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-9
Professional School Counselors as Leaders
(cont.)
Rather than waiting for complaints or obvious acts of discrimination,
a leader will maintain an ongoing awareness of the school climate so
that problems can be identified and remedied proactively using
specific data points and intervening with developmental counseling
lessons and group and individual counseling strategies.
To be a successful leader, school counselors must also build strong
alliances and work cooperatively with important stakeholders.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Professional School Counselors as Leaders
(cont.)
Leadership strategies for new school counselors:
•
Set reasonable and realistic leadership goals
•
Approach tasks with determination
•
Resolve to work through resistance
•
Build a strong support system and seek supervision and
support from supervisors and colleagues
•
Be clear about your role as a school counselor
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Professional School Counselors as Leaders
(cont.)
Janson (2009) suggests four types of school counselor leadership
•
Self-Focused and Reflective Exemplar
– Driven by inner beliefs about leadership
•
Ancillary School Counseling Program Manager
– Focused on administration and interaction with stakeholder
•
Engaging Systems Change Agent
– Value assertive leadership, advocate for social justice
•
Empathic Resource Broker
– Provide resources, caring demeanor
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Professional School Counselors as Leaders
(cont)
Mason & McMahon (2009) identified age, experience, and size
of school to be among key components of School Counselor
Leadership.
Ultimately, counselors must self-reflect and evaluate their
skills to be able to lead and advocate.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Leadership at Different Levels
Local Level
•
Use data to demonstrate the importance of comprehensive
school counseling programs
State or Regional Level
•
Get involved in professional organizations and support their
initiatives and share resources
National Level
•
Work with professional organizations to influence national
policy
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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What are Advocacy and Achievement
Advocacy?
Advocacy is:
•
The intentional effort to change existing or proposed
policies, practices, and learning environments on behalf
of all students and families.
Achievement advocacy is:
•
Ensuring that high levels of academic, career, college,
and personal-social skills are delivered to every K-12
student in a school counseling program with specific
results.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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History of Advocacy
In the early 1970s, Dworkin and Dworkin (1971) issued a call to action
for counselors to become leaders in social change rather than sideline
cheerleaders.
Scholars have indicated that professional school counselors should take
a more active role in advocating for all students.
Too often, however, professional school counselors become overwhelmed
with administrative concerns and therefore only have time to support
and maintain an inequitable system.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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History of Advocacy (cont.)
House and Martin (1998, p. 284) suggested that professional
school counselors instead become “catalysts and leaders
focused on removing the institutional barriers that continue to
result in an achievement gap between poor and minority youth
and their more advantaged peers.”
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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The Importance of Advocacy: Challenging the
Barriers
Society is changing.
Integration of various cultures into the school system.
Student populations in many public schools across the country have
changed.
•
The percentage of students of color, students from low income
families, and students who speak English as a second or third language
has increased.
Becoming sensitive to cross-cultural issues in counseling is an important
step for a counselor who hopes to be an advocate for all students.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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The Importance of Advocacy: Challenging the
Barriers (cont.)
A socially responsive professional school counselor recognizes
external oppressive forces built into the social, economic, and
political framework of the school and community as potential sources
of intervention.
Professional school counselors need to advocate for and encourage
change within the school community so that all students feel safe
and are well-served academically and socially with full access to
career and college development information and curricula throughout
their K-12 experience.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-19
Advocacy Counseling in Schools
Advocacy counseling involves efforts by professional school
counselors to advocate for and with clients on both the micro level
and the macro level.
•
On the micro level, school counselors might advocate on behalf of
students within the school systems or teach them self-advocacy
skills.
•
On the macro level, school counselors might intervene in some
larger context (e.g., community) to effect more broad-based
change.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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ACA Advocacy Competencies
To assist counselors in advocating for and with clients on both
the micro level and macro level, four members of the
American Counseling Association (ACA) developed the ACA
Advocacy Competencies, a document that describes the
skills important for counselors to possess to advocate for their
clients and students.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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ACA Advocacy Competencies (cont.)
There are three domains where counselors can advocate for change:
•
Client/student advocacy
•
School/community advocacy
•
Public arena advocacy
There are two levels within each domain, one level involves
advocating with a stakeholder or system and another level
involves advocating on behalf of a person or system.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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ACA Advocacy Competencies (cont.)
Client/Student Advocacy
•
Client/student empowerment involves:
– Teaching clients self-advocacy skills
– Helping clients develop a strategy or plan for self-advocacy
– Assisting clients in becoming knowledgeable and aware of their
situations
– Identifying the skills and assets clients can use in the advocacy
process.
•
Client/student advocacy involves direct school counselor
endeavors to enact change or secure certain resources for students.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-23
ACA Advocacy Competencies (cont.)
School/Community Advocacy
Community collaboration involves teaming up with
community organizations to aid them in their advocacy efforts.
Systems advocacy involves a more direct effort by
counselors to change a system; they will spearhead the effort
themselves.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-24
ACA Advocacy Competencies (cont.)
Public Arena Advocacy
The public information level involves creating and distributing
materials about important topics to the community.
Social/political advocacy involves contacting local and state
representatives and policy makers to raise awareness about issues
and work to create change on a much larger level.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-25
School Counselor Advocacy Competencies
Trusty and Brown (2005) developed advocacy competencies
for professional school counselors that include the
dispositions, knowledge, and skills necessary to effectively
operate as advocates for students, schools, and communities.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-26
School Counselor Advocacy Competencies
(cont.)
Four essential school counselor dispositions:
•
Advocacy disposition - welcome the opportunity to be an
advocate; willing to work through resistance.
•
Family support/empowerment disposition - recognize the
family as a key stakeholder and teach them how to advocate for
their children.
•
Social advocacy disposition - advocate on behalf of others when
they recognize unfair situations.
•
Ethical disposition - behave in accordance with applicable codes
of ethics at all times.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-27
School Counselor Advocacy Competencies
(cont.)
School counselors should have knowledge of:
•
How systems work
•
How to resolve conflicts
•
Various advocacy models
School counselors should have skills in:
•
Effective communication
•
Collaboration and teaming
•
Problem solving
•
Organization
•
Coping mechanisms
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Advocacy Counseling
Advocacy may be an arduous process and particularly draining for
school counselors who want to be liked by everyone, a phenomenon
known as the nice counselor syndrome (NCS).
•
NCS often results in school counselors supporting the current
system’s status quo, even when inequities are evident.
•
School counselors must find ways to move beyond the NCS to
ensure that all students have access to quality education and
opportunities for career and college access K-16.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Advocacy Counseling (cont.)
Strategies to help school counselors become more comfortable
advocating:
•
Use data to make a case
•
Connect change efforts to the school’s mission
•
Do not take resistance personally
•
Find supporters
•
Develop a realistic plan based on data and research
•
Act ethically at all times
•
Trust the process
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Empowering Students with Achievement &
Opportunity Competencies
Students need an advocate who will use data to recognize when student
needs are not being heard or met and when they are being squashed
emotionally and intellectually.
Professional school counselors should also advocate on behalf of all
students, parents and guardians, teachers, and communities.
Professional school counselors can help students recognize external
barriers that impact their well-being and academic achievement and
then assist students in formulating plans to confront these barriers.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-31
Empowering Students with Achievement & Opportunity
Competencies (cont.)
The professional school counselor can assist students in recognizing
inequities that exist and by taking action to change practices that are
unfair.
•
For example, if a student is placed in a lower level academic class,
the professional school counselor can step in and advocate on the
student’s behalf and/or advocate alongside the student.
Teaching students how to use conflict resolution skills and peer
mediation, and assisting students with organizational skills, study
skills, and test-taking skills helps them to become advocates.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-32
Empowering Students with Achievement & Opportunity
Competencies (cont.)
Students need to be empowered to become leaders for life in their
elementary, middle, and high school communities.
•
Professional school counselors develop leadership academies, peer
tutoring and peer counseling programs and encourage and expect
all students to participate in extracurricular activities to increase
their leadership skills, which, in turn, can provide students with a
basis to learn advocacy skills.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-33
Empowering Parents and Guardians with
Achievement and Opportunity Advocacy Skills
Parents often take information from school personnel as fact.
Professional school counselors assist parents and guardians to maneuver through
unfamiliar territories to access services.
Professional school counselors can help identify resources and discuss existing
services with parents.
•
They can assist parents in understanding and interpreting the information
received from the school and their rights.
•
Parents may also need assistance in determining how and when to use the
information.
Counselors can help parents gain
access to needed services.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-34
Empowering Educators With Achievement and
Opportunity Advocacy Skills
Assist teachers in recognizing inequities.
•
For example, differential treatment of poor and affluent students,
students of color and White students, gifted and average students,
and students with and without disabilities.
•
Challenge teachers to examine their biases.
Offer annual formal in-service training and frequent informal sessions to
increase teacher knowledge and effectiveness.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-35
Empowering Educators With Achievement and Opportunity
Advocacy Skills (cont.)
Counselors can assist teachers in developing
management, facilitation, and advocacy skills.
Provide in-service training on management skills.
Help teachers create a safe, equitable, and learnerfriendly environment for all students.
Help teachers to communicate more effectively
with parents and administrators.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-36
Empowering School Systems for Achievement and
Opportunity Advocacy
Professional school counselors are in a position to work with all school
personnel.
Professional school counselors should ensure that administrators are
supporting their efforts.
When working collaboratively with all school personnel, counselors must use
their skills in interpersonal communication, group process, and counseling.
Professional school counselors are visible in the school, and provide staff
development training and research data to promote systemic change.
Administrators are welcomed as a key part of the school counseling
programs’ advisory council.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-37
Empowering Community Stakeholders with Achievement
and Opportunity Advocacy
Counselors should have community networks in place that
allow them to connect parents and children with resources
that will help children succeed.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-38
Publicizing School Counseling Program Achievement &
Opportunity Advocacy Outcomes
If professional school counselors do not perform the role of advocate, it is likely
that no one else will.
It is rare that professional school counselors receive media reports discussing the
proactive roles they play daily in school.
Professional school counselors must publicize to internal and external publics their
roles as academic leaders, advocates, team members and collaborators, users of
data for assessment of academic success, counselors and coordinators, and vital
members of the school possessing multicultural, diversity and technology
competencies.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-39
Publicizing School Counseling Program Achievement &
Opportunity Advocacy Outcomes (cont.)
A strong internal and external public relations effort is essential to
ensure that school counseling programs are seen by others as central
to the school’s mission of educating all students effectively.
In the past, school counselors and school counseling programs have
been criticized for helping to maintain the status quo.
•
School counselors must challenge past practices and demonstrate
how programs have changed to include academic success for all
students and achievement advocacy as the top priority.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-40
Publicizing School Counseling Program Achievement &
Opportunity Advocacy Outcomes (cont.)
The best school reform promotes equity for all students through access to
learning that is:
•
1. Antiracist and antibias.
•
2. Reflective of the talents and strengths that can enhance education.
•
3. Based on the notion that those most intimately connected with
students need to be meaningfully involved in their education.
•
4. Based on high expectations and rigorous standards for all learners.
•
5. Empowering and just.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-41
Public Awareness
Must have a mission/vision statement for the school that is focused
on academic success for all students.
Ways to publicize the professional school counselor’s role:
1.
A column in the school or local newspaper
2.
Brochures
3.
Use of web sites
4.
Speaking engagements at local events
5.
Classroom presentations
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-42
Specific Suggestions
Call or write TV, radio, cable, and newspapers in your area to
promote the latest activities or awards for the school counseling
staff and students.
Interview current and former students, parents, administrators,
and teachers related to how professional school counselors made
a difference in their lives.
Create a school counseling program Internet Web page to
promote the school counseling program on the Internet.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-43
Specific Suggestions (cont.)
Create a school counseling program Listserv and encourage local media to
have access to it for story ideas and questions related to referrals.
Sponsor specific community or school events of a developmental nature
and ask local media to cover it.
Request that professional school counselor license plates be offered by
your state to promote the profession’s visibility.
Advocate with local and state legislators to better fund and support school
counseling programs.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-44
Summary/Conclusion
Research substantiates that particular groups of children and
adolescents in the United States are consistently provided fewer
resources and substandard teachers and attend school where
administrators, teachers, and some politicians do not believe
they can achieve at high levels, all resulting in achievement,
access, attainment, and funding gaps.
School counselors must become exemplary role models for
leadership and achievement advocacy.
Bradley T. Erford. Transforming The School Counseling Profession, Fourth Edition.
© 2015, 2011, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1-45