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In recent years, the amount of student academic success has dropped due to the pandemic and attendance due to the pandemic. As of January 2022, there are almost 100,000 confirmed cases in Stanislaus County alone (City of Turlock, 2022). Over 1 million tests have been taken as of January 2, with 24% of the cases being positive. With all of the current positive cases, most of them being students, quarantine is being enforced almost everywhere. With quarantine being enforced, students are being pulled out of school which lowers attendance and lowers GPAs. With students’ GPAs lowering, then they start failing their classes which leads to graduation dates being postponed. A way to help with these COVID-19 spikes is to allow more distance learning when students are needing to be quarantined and teachers need to be more accepting of distance learning because it is almost the only option we have. Although the pandemic is affecting our physical health it is also affecting our mental health. Many students are developing symptoms of depression and anxiety because they are having to be quarantined and are being forced into a drastic change of life as we all are. One way to allow these students to continue to learn is for school counselors to continue to advocate for students’ mental health and making sure that students continue to pass their classes by providing support and programs to allow students to succeed.

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There are many programs that can be implemented, but during the pandemic and not being fully in person 100% of the time it is hard to use in-person programs. One program that can be implemented while students are half online and half in person is for school counselors to monitor students grades through a Pinnacle Viewer that allows counselors to track how the student is doing virtually and remaining safe during the pandemic. If a student is not passing a class, the school counselor can schedule a zoom meeting with the student and go over what the counselor can do to support the student in need. The counselor can view the grades weekly to track how the student is doing. On top of that, the students can take self-assessments that the counselor can use to monitor the students’ mental health making sure they are staying on track and receiving support when needed. When students are in need of a mental break, they assume that self-care is not of importance and look over it. As mentioned in an article, self-care gains importance with age and the older we get the more we realize we need to take better care of ourselves (Hoffman, 2022). During the pandemic it is so important that we are taking care of ourselves mentally and physically, and making sure students are succeeding in their academic careers.

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·      Leadership

o   School counselors monitoring subordinate staff, leading by example and having positive communication with all members of the team in order to ensure the academic success of all students.

·      Advocacy

o   Actions that support or defends, argues for a cause, or pleads on behalf of others.

·      Collaboration

o   School counselors and stakeholders working together to meet goals including student achievement, discipline, and academic success.

·      Systematic Change

o   School counselors will review policies, procedures, and examine data to keep programs updated and make sure they run efficiently.

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Leadership Example for Student Academic Success

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Leadership Example for Student Academic Success

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Leadership can be used in many ways by school counselors. One example of leadership being utilized to ensure that every student has an equal opportunity to succeed academically would include a high school using assessment data and high school graduation rates for their school to make sure every student succeeds. Counselors should use the data to analyze how the students are doing in classes and if anything needs to change. Once the data has been collected the the counselor can form programs for students and begin to apply them to the students.

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Advocacy Example for Student Academic Achievement

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Advocacy Example for Student Academic Achievement

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The key role of the school counselor is to advocate for every student’s academic success (ASCA, 2012). High School Counselors will assist students with staying on track to graduating and making sure every student has equal amount of academic success. One goal of the High School Counselors is to prepare each student is college or career readiness. Making sure that students are passing their classes is one way to implement college or career readiness. This will allow the counselor to see what the student's needs are and making sure that the students are getting the support needed for success. Professional school counselors are knowledgeable of a wide range of resources both within and outside the school ranging in various forms to include people, programs, and agencies (Trusty & Brown, 2005).

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Systematic Change Example for Student Academic Achievement

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Systematic Change Example for Student Academic Achievement

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School counselors work with stakeholders and local communites in order to try to

advocate change by working with local and global stakeholders to influence equality for all students. “School counselors can consult with teachers and offer alternative perspectives on low-income student and family behavior and assist teachers in using effective learning experiences” (Amatea & West-Olatunji, 2007, p. 82).

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Collaboration Example for Student Academic Achievement

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Collaboration Example for Student Academic Achievement

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Collaboration is an effective way for everyone to work together for ultimate student achievement. One example collaboration used by school counselors is having students be aware of stakeholders (other counselors, teachers, administrators, parents, etc). Having students being involved with stakeholders will allow students to work towards success and achieve their goals with more support. Collaborating with other adults will show students that the support is there for them and that the world is not always against them. They will feel love and encouraged to achieve in their academic career.

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Stakeholders are a big factor in the success of school counselors. Without stakeholders, school counselors would have no support within their career. With school counselor programs stakeholders play an important role within those programs. There are many types of stakeholders, but these are the most important ones and what their roles would be:

·      Administrators

o   Administrators play a big role within programs because they are in charge of watching over the whole school. They have access to records of the students and being able to manage the students along with helping implement the school counselor’s program. In this program administrators can help school counselors track students through the Pinnacle Viewer and help students stay on track.

·      Teachers

o   Teachers possess the professional knowledge to instruct students. They also can mentor students, other teachers, and be a community leader. In this program teachers can provide the correct resources for students to utilize during class whether they are quarantined or not.

·      Parents

o   Parents possess the power to look over their child’s learning process and contribute to their child’s success, most of the time. In this program parents can make sure that their child is on the road to success especially when they are quarantined at home and when they cannot be at school. They can make sure that their child is getting the right resources in order to succeed.

For the program created these would be the necessary stakeholders and the most important ones to play a role in student success.

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Amatea, E. S., & West-Olatunji, C. A. (2007). Joining the conversation about educating our poorest children: Emerging leadership roles for school counselors in high-poverty schools. Professional School Counseling, 11(2), 81-89.

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

Hoffman, Diana. “Self-Care Statistics 2022- Fascinating Facts.” A Modern Retirement Magazine, 6 Jan. 2022, https://healthylifestyleflorida.com/self-care-statistics-2022-fascinating-facts/healthy-body/.

Trusty, J., & Brown, D. (2005). Advocacy Competencies for Professional School Counselors. Professional School Counseling, 8(3), 259–265.

“Welcome to Turlock - City of Turlock.” Welcome To Turlock - City of Turlock, https://www.cityofturlock.org/.