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A school counselor would collaborate with school professionals, parents and other community efficiently to address school safety and success by creating school council advisory that will address the school issues and also work together to hear concerns for all parties to develop a plan of academic success for the students and the school.

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Definition of Individual Student Planning 

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Definition of Individual Student Planning 

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Consist of ongoing systemic activities designed to help students establish personal goals and develop future plans, such as individual learning plans and graduation plans.

American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA

National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs,

Third Edition. Alexandria, VA: Author

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School counselors use various materials to help a student plan out their individual plan. According to Dollarhide & Saginak strategies for delivering individual student planning services include individual or small-group appraisal and advisement. The appraisal activities involves data from ability, interest, skills and achievement assessments.

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Accomplishments Plans developed by Chen-Hayes provides school counselors with an efficient tool for helping students with individual planning goals and aspirations beginning in kindergarten.

Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Our mission is to create a dedicated culture of excellence through high-quality, rigorous instruction, student leadership, and the knowledge and skills that will prepare them academically for high school, and a vast career field. We will foster a safe and efficient learning environment that promotes student’s growth and success.

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Jason a 12th grade school counselor and begins to notice Todd, one of his students grades begin to drop. Todd hasn't been getting along with his teacher because he feels that his teacher is distant when he goes to him for help. Jason decides to consult with Todd's teacher to figure out what is going on with the teacher and to come up with a plan to help Todd and his teacher to understand one another's situations so that they can work together to help Todd raise his grades.

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Definition of Individual and Group Counseling

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Definition of Individual and Group Counseling

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Individual and group counseling are exactly what they sound like. Individual counseling is held in a one-on-one setting between the school counselor and the student. Individual counseling typically involves deeper conversation about the personal life of the student, whereas group counseling can cover a topic or issue that more than one student may be facing.
Individual counseling is a time where the school counselor can help the student identify their problems as well as offer guidance to finding a solution. ( (Individual Counseling in a School Setting) ) Group counseling offers the same result, but with more than one student in one setting. Group counseling is intended for students to be able to learn about themselves, other people, life tasks, and authentic ways of relating in a safe, confidential setting. (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2017)

Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2017). Delivery System: Counseling Activities in the DAP Model. In Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (p. 150). Boston: Pearson.
Individual Counseling in a School Setting. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2019, from http://www.school-counselor.org/topics/individual-counseling.html

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According to ASCA (2012) Consultation is when school counselors work jointly with parents, teachers, administrators, other educators and the community to assist students in succeeding by sharing strategies and other methods to achieve that success (pg. 87).

Reference:
American School Counselor Association. (2012). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.

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The topic of this article explores teacher perceptions on consulting with school counselors. Additional authors quoted by the main authors of the article (Cholewa, Goodman-Scott, Thomas, & Cook, 2016) mentioned that school counselors can increase their effectiveness and use less time when handling a heavy case load of students by utilizing teacher consultation (Baker, Robichaud, Dietrich, Wells, & Schreck, 2009; Dinkmeyer, Carlson, & Michel, 2016; Stone & Dahir, 2016).  Though the study mainly focuses on elementary school teachers and counselors the same principles can be applied to a middle school environment.  Chowela and his colleagues continued to highlight the findings of other professionals (Erford, 2015) noted that by consulting with other stakeholders it can foster individual, classroom, and school success. Further adding to school counselor consultation is the perception of teacher consultation,  (Dinkmeyer et al., 2016; Sink, 2008) noted that consultation with school counselors assisted teachers in their interactions with students and with their classroom management in addition to assisting the counselor to utilize communication skills, problem-solving ability, their understanding of the students on social and emotional levels, and behavior management skills to increase that classroom management for them as the teacher. (Cholewa, Goodman-Scott, Thomas, & Cook, 2016) noted the participants in the study, "The present study included 17 elementary school teachers employed in 17 different elementary schools across six school districts in the Mid-Atlantic United States" (pg. 79).  The method used for the study was an interview that would be conducted asking various questions about personal experience and perceptions from teachers on the relationship they had with school counselors they associated with and data was complied by the use of forms and audio recordings of each interview. Themes were utilized to narrow down the thoughts of each of the interviewees and note any similarities between participants (Cholewa, Goodman-Scott, Thomas, & Cook, 2016, pg. 80).  They continue with their findings for the study, which encompassed three main areas:  (a) school counselors prioritizing relationships, (b) school counselors taking initiative, and (c) school counselors’ specialization (Cholewa, Goodman-Scott, Thomas, & Cook, 2016, pg. 81). Cholewa, Goodman-Scott, Thomas, & Cook, 2016) found that for the first area teachers noted that it was crucial for them to have good relationships with the counselors they worked with. Second,  teachers noted that when school counselors were visible and open to meeting with them and not just with open door policies specifically they found consultation more successful. For the final area teachers concluded that they admired the wealth of knowledge the counselors had on the student's lives and that it helped them because there are things that they understood as counselors that they as teachers did not.  This appreciation would then lead to more productive and informative consultation (pgs. 84-85).

References:
Baker, S. B., Robichaud, T. A., Dietrich, V. C. W., Wells, S. C., & Schreck, R. E. (2009). School counselor consultation: A pathway to advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. Professional School Counseling, 12, 200-206. doi:10.5330/PSC.n.2010-12.200

Cholewa, B., PhD., Goodman-Scott, E., Thomas, A., PhD., & Cook, J., PhD. (2016). TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES CONSULTING WITH SCHOOL COUNSELORS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY. Professional School Counseling, 20(1), 77-88. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.5330/1096-2409-20.1.77

Dinkmeyer, J., Carlson, J., & Michel, R. (2016). Consultation: Creating schoolbased interventions (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Erford, B. (2015). Consultation, collaboration and encouraging parental involvement. In B. Erford (Ed.), Transforming the school counseling profession (4th ed., pp. 303-324). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Sink, C. A. (2008). Elementary school counselors and teachers: Collaborators for higher student achievement. Elementary School Journal, 108, 445-458. doi:10.1086/589473

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This article discusses a study that explores the effect of using the Achieving Success Everyday group counseling model to foster resiliency in middle school students. (Rose & Steen, 2015) The study was focused on middle school students who were failing academically to see how the positive characteristics associated with resiliency effect their academics. The goal of this study was to increase grades and improve the social lives of students. The students were asked to (a) define resiliency and learn how to recognize it in themselves, (b) learn how resiliency can relate to their success in school, (c) develop resiliency skills necessary to reach their full academic potential, (d) increase positive learning behaviors, and (e) improve their grade point averages. (Rose & Steen, 2015)

The results of this study showed an increase in the students’ GPA’s and an overall increase in confidence among the group. Group counseling can be very effective for students that are struggling with the same issue. It provides an opportunity for them to learn from each other and discover more about themselves as individuals.

Rose, J., & Steen, S. (2015). THE ACHIEVING SUCCESS EVERYDAY GROUP COUNSELING MODEL: FOSTERING RESILIENCY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS. Professional School Counseling, 18(1), 28-37. Retrieved from https://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/docview/1654434657?accountid=14872

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Maria, an 8th grade student, is experiencing anxiety about her activity schedule. She is involved in volleyball, the school play, and volunteers at the local pet shelter once a week, all while remaining on the honor roll. But lately she has been falling behind in her school work. Her school counselor notices that Maria seems frazzled and scatter-brained most of the time. Maria agrees to come visit with the school counselor to discuss her anxiety about her workload.

This is an example of a time where individual counseling would be beneficial. Together, Maria and the school counselor can work together to find ways to better manage Maria's workload and find coping strategies for times when she is feeling overwhelmed.

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A Middle School Counseling Team Collaboration Practice

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A Middle School Counseling Team Collaboration Practice

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This video highlights how a middle school counseling team collaborate to create a comprehensive program to deliver to serve all students.

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Teacher Collaboration at Locust Grove Middle School

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Discover how Locust Grove teachers make time for regular collaboration.

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School Counseling Core Curriculum is a “planned, written instructional program that is a comprehensive in scope, preventive in nature and developmental in design.” This curriculum consists of learning opportunities for all students to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes within each of the three domains.

Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Student Success Skills is an evidence-based counseling curriculum that counselors can integrate into the school counseling curriculum and the general education curriculum through small-group, large-group, and classroom application.

Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action. Boston, MA: Pearson.

A school counselor conducts a career fair at a middle school to give students an insight on careers that they may be interested in pursing in the future.

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Video on Consultation Practices within School Counseling

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Video on Consultation Practices within School Counseling

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School counselors need to consult with teachers, administrators, principals, parents, and other school staff as part of their duties to best assist students to achieve success.  As Lindsey Parvin (2012) demonstrates in this video on how school counselors will consult with many kinds of teachers to facilitate success for the students the teachers work with.

Parvin L., (2012, October 26). Chapter 12: School Counselors as Consultants [Video file]. Retrieved March 22, 2019 from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euR4eTCh_aw

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Chapter 12 : School Counselors as Consultants

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Collaboration connects and engages school counselors with a variety of stakeholders in order to promote student achievement and development. This is part of the indirect student services of school counseling. Core curriculum is delivered ideally through collaboration with stakeholders, such as teachers and community members.
Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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The ability to create and sustain a comprehensive school counseling program which meets the needs of all students within your school relies on your ability to assess your school counseling program regularly. Data should be used to measure the effectiveness of school counseling activities, but it should also be used to appraise the overall school counseling program for the purpose of engendering continuous improvement. The Full Program Audit The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has developed a national program model which is founded on four quadrants: Foundation, Delivery, Management, and Accountability. To learn more about ASCA's National Model click here. To accompany this model, the ASCA has created a full program audit, which you can access here. This program audit allows you to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses within your program. School counselors should strive maintain the programmatic strengths while also improving upon the identified weaknesses. The Curriculum Based Audit All school counseling programs should have a school counseling curriculum from which school counseling activities can be aligned to. The purpose of the curriculum is to guide school counseling activities, but to also develop a level of accountability in regards to the school counseling activities delivered. If you are using ASCA standards, you are in luck. Once again, the ASCA comes to our rescue and has produced a cross-walking tool. This can be accessed here and will guide you through a curriculum based audit. School counselors can also create a customized curriculum based audit which measures counselor activities aligned to the ASCA standards. Here is a sample of a customized curriculum based audit. Measuring your school counseling activities in a quantifiable manner, aligned to the ASCA standards will allow you to identify areas of need. Furthermore, the collected data will support you in your campaign to gain further departmental resources to address the identified areas of need. The Activity Based Audit There are a few methods to develop a school counselor activity based audit. The easiest is to simply track your activities and sort them into one of the four delivery system components: Curriculum, Individual Student Planning, Responsive Services, and System Support. To further understand what activities fall within the realm of each component, you can visit here. Another method for performing an activity based audit is to use Dr. Poynton's EZ Analyze. You can check out the time tracker here. EZ Analyze is an add-on program for Microsoft Excel, so it is very cost effective. It does take a little work to get it set up, but the data one is able to collect is extremely valuable. One feature of the program is the ability to track counselor time. There are many of us who complain about duties expected of us that do not fall within our job description. By tracking our activities we can create data which helps us assess our school counseling program and advocate on the behalf of our profession. Mid-year and annual assessments will require additional work from all of us. However, they also are vital in developing a comprehensive school counseling program which continues meet the changing needs of all of your students. We can no longer do the same thing year after year and continuous assessments are needed to ensure we continue to be important members of our schools.
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Assessing Your School Counseling Program

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The ability to create and sustain a comprehensive school counseling program which meets the needs of all students within your school relies on your ability to assess your school counseling program regularly.

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School counselors work with staff, parents, businesses and community organizations to support student achievement and fulfill the goals of the school counseling program (ASCA).
The input from the different sources could come through a advisory councils created by the school counselor, or through a specific parent/community workshop.

American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA

National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs,

Third Edition. Alexandria, VA: Author