Transcript Slide 1

Developing a Comprehensive
Developmental School Counseling
Program
Chapter 2
The ASCA National Model
The ASCA National Standards
• THE AGE-OLD QUESTION
– What do school counselors DO?
• Current problems in school counseling programs include the
adding on of:
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Non-school counselor responsibilities
Master schedule duties
Testing coordinators
Detention room coverage
Discipline
Classroom coverage
Clerical responsibilities
The ASCA National Standards
• THE NEW QUESTION SHOULD BE…..
• “How are students different because of the
school counseling program?”
The ASCA National Standards
• The American School Counselor Association
(ASCA) published the National Standards for School
Counseling Programs in 1997.
• The ASCA National Standards were created to:
– Provide school counselors with a framework for how to
develop and implement a comprehensive, developmental
program.
– Help shape the identity of professional school counselors.
The ASCA National Standards
• 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 ASCA National Model
• Building upon the ASCA National Standards,
leaders in the school counseling profession
developed the ASCA National Model: A
Framework for School Counseling Programs.
• The ASCA National Model serves as an exemplar
to guide school counselors in how to implement the
National Standards in their schools.
• The national model’s framework exhorts school
counselors to address the needs of all students,
rather than a select few.
The ASCA National Model
• The ASCA National Model is comprised of four
overarching components and four fundamental
themes.
– Components: foundation, delivery, management, and
accountability.
– Themes: leadership, advocacy, systemic change, and
collaboration/teaming.
The ASCA National Model
Themes of the ASCA National Model
• Leadership
– Professional school counselors strive to:
• Close the achievement gap.
• Ensure that all students have access to challenging
academic coursework.
• Enact system-wide changes.
Themes of the ASCA National Model
• Advocacy
– Professional school counselors strive to:
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Assess the needs of the student population.
Address the needs of all students.
Remove any barriers to student success.
Set high expectations for student achievement.
Themes of the ASCA National Model
• Systemic Change
– Professional school counselors strive to:
• Identify areas in need of improvement through
data-driven programming.
• Advocate for school-wide changes (e.g., instructional
practices, school philosophy, policies, procedures) to
help increase student achievement.
Themes of the ASCA National Model
• Collaboration/Teaming
– Professional school counselors strive to:
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders (i.e, parents,
teachers, administrators, community organizations)
to meet the needs of all students.
• Develop effective working relationships with
stakeholders.
Program Foundation
• Addresses the “what” of the school counseling
program.
• Outlines what every student should know and be
able to do as a result of the school counseling
program.
• Includes standards and competencies in the three
school counseling domains: academic, career, and
personal-social.
Program Foundation
• Includes the school counseling program’s
philosophy and mission statement.
– Philosophy: A set of beliefs about education and the
ability of students to learn that provides a vision for the
program (should be created in conjunction with
stakeholders).
– Mission Statement: Describes the overarching goals of
the program and is aligned with the individual school’s
and school system’s missions.
Delivery System
• Addresses the “how” of the school counseling
program.
• Includes the following elements: guidance
curriculum, individual student planning,
responsive services, and systems support.
• Components of the delivery system can include
both direct and indirect services.
– Direct services: individual counseling, small group
counseling, and classroom guidance.
– Indirect services: support direct services.
Delivery System: Guidance Curriculum
• Provides preventative services to large groups:
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Classrooms
Parent workshops
Peer helper programs
Large events (i.e., senior events)
– Transition orientation for new students
• Usually delivered by the professional school counselor
or a classroom teacher in consultation with the
counselor.
• Classroom guidance units are age-appropriate,
sequential, and usually centered around a topic or
theme.
Delivery System: Individual Student Planning
• Encourages school counselors to:
– Help students, individually or in small groups,
plan and monitor their academic progress.
– Use test information and other data to help
students set and achieve immediate (e.g., course
selection) and long-term (e.g., college, career)
goals.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Includes:
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Individual counseling
Group counseling
Consultation
Referral
Crisis response
Peer facilitation
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Individual counseling:
– Meets both reactive and proactive student
needs.
– Professional school counselor’s should not
counsel so many students individually that the
rest of the student body is shortchanged.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Group counseling:
– Meets both reactive and proactive student needs.
– Often offered throughout the school-year to help
students who have common needs through explorations
of their attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and feelings.
– Is time and cost-efficient.
– Outcome research has indicated that group counseling
can be effective, in particular when it targets academic
or personal development issues.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Consultation:
– An indirect service.
– Involves collaboration with stakeholders to help address
students’ needs.
– A process of directly working with a second party
(consultee) to help a third party (the student).
– Goal of consultation: to help consultees learn
information or improve skills that will enable them to
interact more effectively with others.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
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The consultation process:
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Identify a purpose.
Establish a goal.
Plan strategies to meet the goal.
Assign responsibilities to carry out the goal.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Referral
– Involves obtaining the help of other professionals (e.g.,
school psychologist, school social worker, community
agency) to meet students’ needs.
• Crisis Response
– Involves responding to acute situations that require
immediate intervention.
– Often includes individuals and resources beyond the
professional school counselor.
– Purpose: to diffuse a situation, initiate a healing process, and
assist community members affected by a situation.
Delivery System: Responsive Services
• Peer Facilitation
– Training students (often called peer helpers) to
use helping skills to assist other students.
– Empowers students and teaches them
important leadership skills.
Delivery System: Systems Support
• Provides support in the administration and
management of the school counseling
program.
• Includes: program management and
operations, data analysis, professional
development, consultation, collaboration,
and teaming.
Delivery System: Systems Support
• Program Management and Operations
– The administrative and planning tasks needed
to create and deliver school counseling activities.
• Data Analysis
– Analyzing student data.
– Program evaluation.
Delivery System: Systems Support
• Professional Development
– In-service training.
– Postgraduate education.
– Membership in professional associations.
• Consultation, Collaboration, and Teaming
– Partnering with parents, teachers, and community
agencies.
– Parent outreach.
– Participating on committees and advisory councils.
Management System
• Addresses the “when,” “why,” and “on what authority” of
the school counseling program.
• Includes: management agreements, advisory council, use
of data, action plans, program calendar, and distinctions
between appropriate and inappropriate uses of time.
Management System
• Management Agreements:
– Documents who is responsible for various aspects of the school
counseling program.
• Advisory Council: The School Counseling Program
Advisory Committee (SCPAC)
– Serves as a sounding board and steering committee: helps
locate funding, make recommendations, and review
accountability measures and data.
– Should convene at least twice each year.
– Should include influential members and decision-makers (e.g.,
principal, school administrators).
– Influential parents, teachers, resource persons (e.g., school
psychologist, school social worker), and community leaders
should be invited to join.
Management System
• Use of Data
– Collect and disaggregate data to identify systemic
issues that interfere with equity in achievement.
– Monitor student progress.
• Action Plans
– Detail strategies for achieving an important
outcome.
– Two types of action plans: school guidance
curriculum action plans and closing the gap
action plans.
Management System
• Calendars
– Weekly, monthly, and annual calendars can be used to:
• Plan for essential elements of the school counseling program.
• Advertise events and services.
• Demonstrate a school counselor’s work to the principal.
• Use of Time
– Encourages professional school counselors to use time logs
to determine how much time they spend providing various
services.
– Details both appropriate and inappropriate uses of time
for school counselors.
Management System
Appropriate Activities
Inappropriate Activities
Designing individual student academic
programs.
Registering and scheduling all new students.
Counseling students with excessive tardiness
or absenteeism.
Signing excuses for students who are tardy or
absent.
Counseling students with disciplinary
problems.
Performing disciplinary actions.
Collaborating with teachers to present
guidance curriculum lessons.
Teaching classes when teachers are absent.
Interpreting student records.
Maintaining student records.
Ensuring that records are kept in accordance
with state and federal regulations.
Clerical record keeping.
Assisting the school principal in identifying
and resolving student issues.
Assisting with duties in the principal’s office.
Accountability System
• Answers the question: “How are students different
as a result of the program?”
• Includes: results reports, performance standards,
and performance audits.
• Results Reports:
– Outcomes assessments that document changes (i.e.,
academic performance changes as a result of
participation in a study-skills group).
Accountability System
• Performance Standards:
– All local and job expectations to help assess one’s
skill in implementing a comprehensive,
developmental school counseling program.
• Performance Audits:
– Conducted to ensure that the school counseling
program aligns with some set of standards.
Roles of Other School Personnel
• The counselor is but one player in a team effort.
• Teachers:
– Can serve as valuable allies, as well as referral sources
for children in need of counseling services.
– Must be properly prepared and motivated to help
students meet the school counseling program’s
competencies.
– Failure to establish positive working relationships with
teachers can affect access to that teachers’ students and
limit a counselor’s ability to implement the classroom
guidance curriculum.
Roles of Other School Personnel
• Resource Teachers:
– Possess special expertise that make them invaluable consultants
and referral sources.
– Connecting with these teachers ensures that all students receive
the benefit of the school counseling program.
• Principals and Assistant Principals:
– Contribute to many important facets of the school counseling
program, such as facilitating a needs assessment and program
evaluation.
– Defend the counselor from role diffusion and non-counseling
activities.
Roles of Other School Personnel
• School Psychologists:
– Help address the needs of a school’s most
serious cases.
• School Social Workers:
– Invaluable sources of information on families
and communities.
– Serve as liaisons between the school and public
health facilities.
Roles of Other School Personnel
• School Nurses:
– A valuable ally to school counselors on developmental
matters (i.e., hygiene, personal safety, and physical and
sexual development).
– Can serve as referral and information sources.
• Secretaries:
– Often among the first to encounter parents and students in
crisis.
– The manner in which secretaries respond to situations
speaks volumes about the school climate.
Conclusion
The ASCA National Model has provided a unified identify
for the profession and improved the delivery of services.
Professional school counselors must work in partnership
with stakeholders and other school personnel to best meet
students’ diverse needs.