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When completing this thorough School Counselor Competency Assessment, I was humbled.  After two years in a row of Accomplished ratings as a principal, this first year as a School Counselor is challenging, to say the least.  I do love it and love burning the candle at both ends to be sure! And know I have much yet to learn, but this assessment gives me loads of areas into which I can deep dive my concentrated efforts.  I felt that the areas of the assessment that actually referenced the ASCA (2019) model itself were strong for me, as were areas of opinion.  This is how I ranked it:

I utilized the following 5-point Linkert Scale for agreement questions:

1  -Strongly Disagree                                  2 -Diagree                                       3  -Neutral                                         4 -Agree                                             5 -Strongly Agree

I utilized the following 5-point Linkert Scale to rate my skills and level of comfort after each statement about what a school counselor should be doing:

1  -Very Poor                                     2 -Poor              3  -Neutral                                        4 -Good                                        5 -Excellent

After coming out of stellar years of service and wearing so many hats, I did not think I could have marked very poor or even poor in ANY category.  For crying out loud, I am 53 years old.  But honesty is also one of my strong suits, so I will begin the deep dive into community communications, organized data collections, appraisals and overhaul of the whole counseling system in our school, and so forth.

I greatly look forward to continued re-evaluation by means of this self-assessment tool, as well as discussions with my evaluators and peers surrounding the results.  I believe that with both professional goals and guidance from those who have been in the field, I can grow in my counseling competencies every day.

Reference

American School Counselor Association (2019). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association

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Store photos and docs online. Access them from any PC, Mac or phone. Create and work together on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.

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Students’ Ability to Achieve

All students at every level deserve the best education possible, and they need and want attainable expectations that can be achieved and then raised. Students deserve to learn something new every single day, while practicing what they already know in order to achieve mastery.  This deservedness includes all grade levels, all academic achievement levels, all behavioral levels, and all emotional levels of students.  Teachers, counselors, and administrators can and should be the exemplars for their students in terms of modeling good behaviors, leadership, communication, collaboration, and organization and should maintain strong personal attributes like integrity, empathy, simple kindness, and a love of learning (Ohio, 2023).

School Counselor’s Role as Advocate

School Counselors should literally teach empathy and kindness along with coping skills to all stakeholders in the school.  They should also advocate for the following: a counseling program in which the counselor doesn’t have non-counseling duties (at least not so many that it completely interferes with the counseling); safety for students and families; equitable technology; accessibility and inclusion; closing learning gaps through consistent collaboration and communication; adhering to standards; college and career awareness; and a positive school culture (ASCA, n.d.).

How Ethical Standards Guide School Counselor’s Work

The counselor in the school should be the representation of everything that is good.  This is awe-inspiring work, moreso than any other title in education.  When we nurture the hearts of students and their families, as well as colleagues and ourselves, everyone has a reason to smile (Nurtured, 2023).  To have a comprehensive guide in place to reference every possible scenario and what the expectations are in order to maintain integrity as a School Counselor is quite helpful and impressive (ASCA, n.d.).

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Based on the topic of your selected lesson plan and using a creative design program of your choice, such as PowerPoint, Word, Canva, etc., create a flyer or infographic that you could physically post in your school or in a school newsletter. The flyer or infographic must inform school stakeholders and support the goal of your lesson.

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Haskins Flyer Virtual Family Engagement Session

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Store photos and docs online. Access them from any PC, Mac or phone. Create and work together on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.

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Complete the School Counselor Competency. Write a reflection that identifies areas to improve and areas that you did well on. Identify what surprised you.

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The vision I have for myself as a School Counselor is that five years after working with me, students will find themselves in postsecondary work or employment that is suitable to their developmental needs after any trauma  or crisis was addressed, data was analyzed by me, teachers, and family members consulting as a team to proactively advocate for their individual academic, personal, and career readiness goals, and barriers to their success were removed.  While utilizing the ASCA Code of Ethics (ASCA, n.d.) and the School of Counseling’s Professional Dispositions (Walden, n.d.) and working to help all students realize their highest possible potential, five years from today my school will be more deeply aware of specific needs in the areas of small group, large group, individual, and family counseling because of strong data analysis based on current student and counselor standards.

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Contact us if you have questions about placing an order, making a return, accessing digital content, selling back your books, etc.

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Peer-reviewed article, not older than 5 years, that provides evidence that school counseling programs have a positive impact on schools

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Peer-reviewed article, not older than 5 years, that provides evidence that school counseling programs have a positive impact on schools

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References

ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). (n.d.). https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/Ethical-Responsibilities/ASCA-Ethical-Standards-for-School-Counselors-(1)
Links to an external site.

Nurtured Heart Institute.  (2023). Home – Nurtured Heart Institute. https://nurturedheartinstitute.com/
Links to an external site.

Ohio Standards for School Counselors. (2023, February). education.ohio.gov. https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Career-Tech/Career-Connections/School-Counselors/School-Counselor-Standards-and-Evaluation/SchoolCounselorStandards.pdf.aspx
Links to an external site.

Walden Canvas. (n.d.). https://waldenu.instructure.com/courses/66949/pages/week-5-learning-resources?module_item_id=1896141