The role of a Professional School Counselor is to lead, advocate, collaborate, and make systemic changes for all students in regard to their academic, social/personal success, and career development. The journey towards this role begins through the use of a solid counseling program foundation that comes from a counselors beliefs, mission, and competencies (Erford, 2017). A Professional School Counselor must ensure that they specifically observe students who are knowingly underserved within an academic community. Professional School Counsels must commit to making a systematic change so that academic equality can be achieved for all. Those who are typically at risk are students from lower social economic environments, disabled, minorities, …show more content…
During this time Professional School Counselors begin to partner with others to construct a comprehensive vision. As the change begins to take form, school counselors are responsible for recording data throughout the process and interrupting it. Achievement data, comprehensive data and disaggregate data will help identify achievement gaps, measure progress, and provide a more comprehensive direction and focus. A systematic change will need to occur for those students who suffer from the academic gaps and/or barriers that was identified through disaggregate data. In order to close achievement gaps, disaggregate data should be brought forth to stake holders so that collaboration and consultation can occur once again. Professional School Counselors will need to create an action plan, monitor data in long term and short term durations, provide core curriculum, provide responsive services, and perform analysis of closing-the-gap-reports in order to effectively support students who are not being academically …show more content…
Hornby and Lafaele found that empowering parents during the education process was more impactful than allowing teachers and administrators to do it alone (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011) Reaching parents and teachers can be challenging for a Professional School Counselor, but there are many methods that are available to assist. According to the ASCA National Standard, actions such as setting up small group conferences, facilitating guidance curriculum, creating responsive services, making individual student planning, and using system support groups are effective ways in engaging teachers. I believe that one of the best ways to continuously empower teachers is through consultation. This constant line of communication builds trust and establishes a strong leadership rapport between the counselor and stakeholder. Additionally community resource groups and advisory councils are other options for engagement. The publication, Reaching All Families, identifies welcome letters, home-school handbooks, information packets, calendars, school newsletter, open house, new-families meeting, school-parent compacts, and positive phone calls are all paths towards parental engagement (Erford, 2017). Erford also identified activities that are good for engaging parents as participating in advisory committees, working
The responsibilities of a professional school counselor are to design and deliver comprehensive programs to promote student achievement. The guidelines
A professional school counselor is skilled and trained to use his/her best judgment when it comes to students’ rights and confidentiality. One should behave as a professional at all times and be mindful of their behavior. One not only have to be aware of professional values they should also be knowledgeable of applying these standards as they apply to the role of the school counselor. The professional school counselor is responsible for removing barriers to learning and to advocate for change for all students. In the case study assigned for review, I will examine ethical violation as it contains to student rights, confidentiality and professionalism relationships. The school counselor lives and works in a community where one socializes
I received the pleasure of interviewing two school counselors, Mrs. Jean Harmon and Mr. Devon Herrick. I was excited about interviewing school counselors within the Chicago land area. Despite many negativities spoken about the Chicago Public School (CPS) system, I desire to work within CPS. I’ve heard many pros and cons of working at a selective enrollment school, compared to a public charter school. By interviewing these two individuals, I assumed that I would get a snapshot of a potential work day for a school counselor. Mrs. Harmon is a school counselor at King College Preparatory high school. Mr. Herrick is a personal counselor at Urban Prep Charter Academy- Bronzeville campus. It was interesting in learning about the daily responsibilities,
The pupil services professional understands and represents professional ethics and social behaviors appropriate for school and community.
The primary role counselors should take in closing the achievement gap begins first by becoming proactive prevention experts. Low-income students benefit from what schools offer while other students have the luxury of advantages offered in the home. Counselors’ role is to ensure each student graduate with the required skills to succeed in the everyday world. Majority of the skills may not be from tests or assessments but from everyday life skills and social competence. These skills will not only benefit the current students but will assist generations to come by installing parental values in current students. I believe that counselors must introduce programs with interventions that focus around racial-ethnic and socioeconomic students in their existing environment.
Janson, Militelo & Kosine (2008) examined “how school counselors and principals their relationship” (p. 353). They gathered data through Q method. The Q method allowed them to involve qualitative and quantitative approaches subjectively of individual viewpoints while providing (Janson et al., 2008) with quantitative statistical technique to analyze data” (p. 354). Their analysis formed “four opinion groupings working alliance, impediments to alliance, shared leadership and purposeful collaboration” (p.354-356). (Janson et al., 2008) (pin pointed the following barriers of school counselors and principals relationship: “principals do not feel school counselors should focus on whole school issues, principals and school counselors do not agree on duties and principals perceptions of roles and responsibilities are incongruent with standards and benchmarks that emerged from school counselors professional organization”(p.354-356). (Janson et al., 2008) found that “if the relationship between principals and school counselors were clearer than their relationship would not be difficult” (p.356-359).
I cannot recall a more rewarding experience than helping facilitate a child’s education while enabling parent participation alike. These experiences have drawn me to my current position as an Educational Assistant where I am constantly interacting and establishing relationships with students, learning about their goals and aspirations. It is that same desire to empower our future students that has steered me towards a career as a school counselor. By enrolling in the Masters in counseling program, I aspire to develop methods and experience to become an effective, experienced, and adaptable school counselor that promotes self-awareness, allowing students to realize their full potential and impetus them towards a promising future. I want to learn skills that facilitate personal and career development, ensuring that our students grow accomplishing their goals and ambitions. To discover techniques that help students improve in all areas of academic achievement, establishing relationships with students and parents alike. By becoming a school counselor, I am determined to become an advocate for underserved youth. I aim to become an effective agent educational reform, providing support for students in the various institutions that may disempower
During the past three years of college, my interest in counseling has been affirmed through a variety of experiences. One important experience that influenced my decision to pursue a career as a school counselor was my involvement in my community service sorority, Chi Delta Alpha. Through Chi Delta Alpha, I volunteered on several occasions, among them I babysat children to provide parents with a night off; I was responsible for a group of elementary students as they experienced college classes and I painted a caboose for a local playground. A theme that has remained constant throughout all my different experiences is that making a difference in a person’s life is a rewarding experience, and I know that I desire a career that enables me to support high school students as they face difficult situations.
School counseling has evolved over the years into a significant component of the educational system. School counselors are taking on new roles in schools as leaders, working with “school administration and staff in developing student attitudes and behavior which are necessary to maintain proper control, acceptable standards of self-discipline and a suitable learning environment within the school” (Secondary School Counselor 2012). Counselors work in “diverse community settings designed to provide a variety of counseling, rehabilitation, and support services” (Counselors, 2010). When working in a school district as a counselor, you can either be an elementary school counselor, middle school counselor or a high school counselor. This essays explores a recent interview with a high school counselor.
What scientists most often mean by a solvable problem is a testable theory. The definition of a testable theory is a very specific one in science: It means that the theory is potentially falsifiable. If a theory is not falsifiable, then it has no implications for actual events in the natural world and, hence, is useless. Psychology has been plagued by unfalsifiable theories, and that is one reason why progress in the discipline has been slow. Good theories are those that make specific predictions, and such theories are highly falsifiable. The confirmation of a specific prediction provides more support for the theory from which it was derived than the confirmation of a prediction that was not precise. In short, one implication of the falsifiability
Counselors have large shoes to fill. They not only administer assessments, but are also involved in group counseling, individual counseling, and have to plan and implement comprehensive school guidance programs. A counselor must know and be competent in all realms of their position. School counselors work with all children, including children with disabilities in various settings within the school (Villalba, Latus, Hamilton, & Kendrick (2005 p 449). As stated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school counseling services must be made available to all students in special education programs as part of their right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) (Bowen & Glenn, 1998; Clark, 1998). School counselors are to take on this role in the educational and personal-social well being of students in special education programs. Federal law does require that children, who receive special education services, and do not display appropriate behavior have a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) team (Villalba, Latus, Hamilton, & Kendrick (2005) p 449). This team constructs a BIP. Since counselors should be active on the FBA team, there is a need here that must be addressed because this article defines a lack of knowledge present with practicing counselors. With that, counselors do receive relevant training throughout their program. There are only so many classes and hours of instruction that the pre-counselors receive. The curriculum that is generated encompasses what counselors need, but could their be a few gaps and missing pieces? This study was conducted to determine counselors awareness, knowledge, and role in the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) process (Villalba, Latus, Hamilton, & Ken...
American School Counselor Association. (2012). The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs, Third Edition. Alexandria, VA: Author.
The school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development. The knowledge, understanding, and skill in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, assessments, consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in assessment, school counselors may use a variety of personality and vocational assessment methods to help students explore vocation needs and interests. The classroom guidance lessons are designed to be preventive and include self-management and self-monitoring skills. The responsive services component of the school counselor's role provides individual and/or small group counseling for students. For example, if a student's behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the counselor will observe that student in a class; provide consultation to teachers and other personnel to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issues, and then work together to implement the plan. They also help by providing consultation services to family members.
Parent involvement is a major topic of concern among policy makers, educators, and researchers (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Maritato, 1997; Rouse & Barrow, 2006; Young, Austin, & Growe, 2013) for more than 20 years. School districts, educational leaders, and researchers all agree with the premise that strong school-family partnerships improve children’s learning and outcomes. Parents and schools, separately or together, represent noteworthy influences on the essential sources of support for children’s learning and development. Children develop within multiple contexts, and development and learning are optimal when effective networks and permanencies among these systems are created. Semke and Sheridan (2012) affirm methods
Guidance counseling, also called school counseling, has evolved over the years into an important part of the education system. Counselors are now taking on new roles in schools as leaders so much so that the ways in which counseling is being implemented has become a much talked about topic in schools. The effectiveness of counseling in schools is looked at by the education system more frequently than it was in the past. Though all school counselors must follow a national model for counseling, the roles and functions of counselors at various levels in the school system are different, however, school counselors at all levels of education before college are generally effective despite implications.