Chapter Three The ASCA National Model

1. Chapter ThreeThe ASCA National Model Developing a Comprehensive, Developmental School Counseling Program

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Themes of the ASCA National Model • Advocacy • Professional school counselors strive to: • 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Delivery System: Guidance Curriculum • Provides preventative services to large groups: • 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.

13. 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.

14. Delivery System: Responsive Services • Includes: • Individual counseling • Group counseling • Consultation • Referral • Crisis response • Peer facilitation

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Delivery System: Responsive Services • The consultation process: • Identify a purpose. • Establish a goal. • Plan strategies to meet the goal. • Assign responsibilities to carry out the goal.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. Management System

29. 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).

30. 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.

31. Roles of Other School Personnel in the School Counseling Program • 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.

32. Roles of Other School Personnel in School Counseling Program • 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.

33. Roles of Other School Personnel in School Counseling Program • 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.

34. Roles of Other School Personnel in School Counseling Program • 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.

35. 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.