# data[].attributes.body
"School counselors bring a wealth of insight and resources to a variety of student-centered issues" (O’Connor, 2018). There are so many different roles that school counselors tackle in their workday. This is all decided by what the needs of the school currently are and who they are collaborating with to reach their goals. According to the ASCA a school counselor's work should fall into three important categories, career and college, academic, and social and emotional development. A school counselor should spend no less than 80% of their time providing these services directly to students. School counselors often times have positive influences in all three categories of their work. "By building in proactive strategies, including small-group counseling activities and discussions, counselors provide positive examples of behavior students can incorporate in their lives, leading to healthier decisions and more positive actions" (O’Connor, 2018). Research from many studies has shown that counseling programs have a positive impact in many areas including classroom attendance, discipline, and overall achievement. These programs are most effective when they are built with strategies, activities, and presentations rather than focusing on the response to one problem alone. School counselors also model positive behavior and actions to the student body. They help students build their future and do much more than help students' career plans. When school counseling programs were implemented in schools throughout Colorado, high schools saw their dropout rate decline by nearly 2%. They make an impact in the lives of students in everything from classroom achievement to individual behavior. Overall, school counselors work with students and stakeholders to help create new pathways of learning, achievement, and self-discovery. Although most of the work done by a school counselor is behind the scenes it shows in the lives of the students and the outcome of the schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The multifaceted work of school counselors helps prepare students academically and emotionally for life beyond school.

Long considered an integral part of a school’s support system, school counselors bring a wealth of insight and resources to a variety of student-centered issues. As part of a team of mental health experts, school counselors work with students individually and collectively to create a school climate that leads to healthy learning, living, and growth.

The specific roles that a school counselor takes on vary, depending to some extent on needs within the school and the presence of other professionals with overlapping roles and areas of expertise, such as psychologists and social workers. But, in general, as the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2014) explains, counselors’ work today falls into three domains:

Career and college development. Historically, school counselors’ primary responsibility has been to help students prepare for the transition to college and/or careers, and this continues to be a central part of their mission. In fact, given the expanding array of learning options available after high school and the fast-changing demands of the workforce, students are coming to rely on counselors more than ever before to provide accurate, comprehensive, and personalized guidance for postsecondary planning.

Academic development. By working alone with students or teaming with classroom teachers and other education professionals, school counselors help students build the curiosity and academic skills needed to be the best learners possible. For example, counselors are often responsible for overseeing individual student planning. A growing interest in personalization has made this role especially important in recent years, with school counselors working closely with students to explore potential avenues of study and create individual goals for deepening their knowledge in areas of interest.

Social and emotional development. As an integral part of their schools’ student support system, counselors tend to work hand in hand with psychologists, social workers, and nurses to create a school climate that promotes healthy learning, living, and personal growth. And shouldthe need arise, they respond to students who are facing personal challenges and steer them toward appropriate services at school or in the community.

The amount of time school counselors devote to each of these domains largely depends on the individual needs of the students they serve and the availability of other mental health professionals to offer direct services to students. Ideally, the school counselor is part of a building-wide team that includes a school psychologist and social worker. Typically, school psychologists administer psychological evaluations for individual students and oversee the creation of individualized learning plans for students with special needs, while social workers tend to focus on student needs outside school. Under this arrangement, the school counselor would then focus on student services within the building, devoting not less than 80% of their time to offering direct student services in the three domains combined.

By building in proactive strategies, including small-group counseling activities and discussions, counselors provide positive examples of behavior students can incorporate in their lives, leading to healthier decisions and more positive actions.

In the 2014-15 school year, 104,306 school counselors served more than 50 million U.S. students, with an average student-to-counselor ratio of 482 (ASCA, n.d.-d). They are required to have at least a master’s degree in school counseling and to meet the certification and licensure standards for their state. To meet students’ needs across the three domains, these counselors oversee the school counseling curriculum, which, like the academic curriculum, tends to be arranged by grade level. Unlike an academic curriculum, school counseling activities aren’t always delivered in classroom settings. While classroom instruction is a part of a counselor’s work, other services are best delivered with small groups of students and in one-on-one meetings. And since this curriculum touches on a broad range of skills and content — including activities related to study skills, conflict resolution, and college and career exploration — counselors often reach out to and collaborate with people who have expertise in these areas, such as local college faculty, healthcare professionals, and employers.

The difference school counselors make

Research suggests that school counselors can and often do have positive influences in all three domains of their work. For example, a study of counseling practices in six states shows that effective counseling strategies tend to have positive effects on classroom attendance, discipline, and overall achievement (Carey & Dimmitt, 2012). Likewise, counseling interventions have been shown to help close the achievement gap between student groups, as found in a program in which counselors delivered lessons specifically designed to support Latina and Latino students in math and science (León et al., 2011). These studies suggest that school counseling programs are most successful when counseling services include more than a response to a situation that already exists. By building in proactive strategies, including small-group counseling activities and discussions, as well as classroom presentations on topics that promote academic and social-emotional growth, counselors provide positive examples of behavior students can incorporate in their lives, leading to healthier decisions and more positive actions.

Further, a wealth of anecdotal evidence shows how counselors have helped teachers and other school leaders support student learning. For instance, a counselor-led initiative at a Sunnyside, Washington, high school boosted graduation rates by nearly 30 percent (Salina et al., 2013). Similarly, the 2018 Counselor of the Year, Kirsten Perry of Lawndale Community Academy in Illinois, has been credited with helping reduce chronic absenteeism by 61% over two years and raise her school’s academic standing. Her multifaceted approach to her work also addressed students’ emotional needs by bringing them together in “peace circles” to discuss and resolve their conflicts (Wegner, 2018).

When it comes to social and emotional development, counselors can play a significant role in everything from reducing negative student behaviors (Curtis et al., 2010) to reducing the spread of gossip among students (Cross & Peisner, 2009) to increasing awareness of depression and suicide risk (Erickson & Abel, 2013). Counselor support can also make a tremendous difference for students from low-income families and students from underrepresented groups, as in the examples of counselors helping students of Mexican descent build stronger relationships at school (Malott et al., 2010) and increasing the sense of empowerment and aspiration among Black males (Wyatt, 2009).

The effect school counselors have on young people’s career and college plans is well known, but the results of a statewide counseling initiative in Colorado (Johnson, 2016) is especially notable. Fueled by a state start-up grant, Colorado created 220 new school counseling positions over eight years and provided counselors with training in dropout prevention and college access strategies. The affected schools saw the dropout rate decline from 5.5% to 3.7%, while college attendance and persistence increased by 13 percentage points. And, in an important unintended consequence, student participation in career and technical education more than doubled. With more students attending high school, the schools’ total funding base increased enough for the new counseling positions to pay for themselves once the grants expired. By investing $16 million up-front in new counseling positions, Colorado created counseling positions that more than paid for themselves and saved the state over $300 million in the social costs associated with supporting high school dropouts.

Maximizing school counselor effectiveness

Given the differences school counselors can make in everything from school climate to classroom achievement to individual behavior, what are some of the conditions that need to be present for schools to make the most of the expertise and training of their school counselor?

Counselor caseloads

The success of the Colorado initiative offers insights into something school counselors have long known — they can do more when they have manageable caseloads. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of not more than 250 students per counselor, but the average caseload nationally for 2014-15 was 482, with just three states having ratios at or below the recommended ratio, and 11 states reporting a ratio of 500 or more students per counselor (ASCA, n.d.-c).

The Colorado initiative succeeded in part by reducing counselor ratios at the participating schools from 363 students per counselor to 216. Given the financial savings the state has realized as a result of adding school counselors, it is understandable why several states are considering providing funding for new school counselor positions (see, for example, Bisaha, 2018).

Use of counselor time

Regardless of the number of students on their caseloads, school counselors often find themselves limited in their effectiveness because they are assigned administrative duties that have little to do with their role as a counselor. Although counselors recognize the importance of taking their turn with obligations like lunch duty and supporting the safe start and end of a school day, tasks like changing student schedules, administering building-wide tests, and constructing the school’s master schedule take them away from the student-centered tasks that should be the core of their work.

Administrators can support counseling efforts by sitting down with their building counselors before the start of each school year to develop a clear understanding of the counselors’ role. The ASCA Agreement Template (ASCA, n.d.-a) provides counselors and administrators with a starting point for this discussion, outlining the goals of the school counseling curriculum for the year and the appropriate allocation of the counselor’s time to achieve those goals. This template also serves as a source for creating assessment data to measure the effectiveness of the school counseling curriculum and to build plans for future years based on those results.

Counselors looking to improve the results of their college access curriculum may want to review the time they allocate to this task, as well as their college expectations for their students. A study by the Education Commission of the States (Zinth, 2014) shows that 73% of high schools with a high college-going rate have counselors who devote 20% or more of their time to college counseling, while only 25% of the high schools with a low college-going rate have counselors who spend that much time on the task. At the same time, 72% of the counselors at the high college-going high schools place college access as their first goal, while the low college-going high schools list college access as their first goal only 32% of the time.

Access to community resources

The American School Counselor Association recommends all school counselors convene a counseling advisory committee (CAC) as part of its counseling curriculum. Separate from the school improvement committee, the CAC’s goals are to “foster a collaborative partnership with community stakeholders, educate the advisory members about the school counseling program’s strengths, demonstrate the program’s unique needs and communicate the program’s outcomes” (ASCA, n.d.-b). By engaging local business leaders, clergy, mental health specialists, and leaders of community organization, CACs help broaden awareness of the school counseling program and widen the potential resources the program can draw on.

Although an engaged, effective CAC can foster greater recognition of the school counseling program and establish community ties to improve counseling services, school counselors report challenges in convening regular meetings of their CAC and an inability to direct their activities due to lack of time. High caseloads can prevent school counselors from making the most of their CAC, but with the right amount of administrative support, counselors can begin to engage their CACs actively and create student-centered goals for the committee that members can fully support.

Review of counselor training

Some school counselors have expressed a desire for their graduate school training in school counseling to align more with the duties and activities they experience on the job. This need was highlighted in a survey conducted by the National Consortium for School Counseling and Postsecondary Success:

The survey discovered a strong discrepancy between school counselors and school counselor educators on the content covered in counselor education programs, with counselor educators reporting much more effective coverage of topics than practitioners. This gap in perceptions suggests that counselor educators may need to pay closer attention to the demands of those in the field as well as emerging responsibilities such as a greater need to support career and college readiness. (Brown et al., 2016, p. 12)

In light of the ever-changing needs of students in all three school counseling areas, counselor training and continuing education programs need to be fine-tuned to ensure counselors are providing students and families with the latest in research-based programming and advice. A bill passed by the Michigan legislature in November 2017 requires all counselors in that state to receive such updates as part of their regular recertification requirements. Other states would do well to consider the best path they can take to support counselors’ desires for current training.

School counselors have a long record of working effectively with students, parents, fellow educators, and community members to create new paths of learning, achievement, and self-discovery. While much of this work is done behind the scenes, it has been empirically shown to make a difference in the lives of our students and our schools. More important, that difference resides in the hearts and minds of students who are leading stronger, healthier lives, thanks to the school counselor who supported them and showed them more of what their lives could be.

References

American School Counselor Association. (n.d.-a). Annual agreement template. Alexandria, VA: Author. www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/
ASCA%20National%20Model%20Templates/AnnualAgreementTemplate.pdf

ASCA. (n.d.-b). ASCA national model FAQs. Alexandria, VA: Author. www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/asca-national-model/asca-national-model-faqs

ASCA. (n.d.-c). The role of the school counselor. Alexandria, VA: Author. www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/Careers-Roles/RoleStatement.pdf

ASCA. (n.d.-d). Student-to-school-counselor ratio 2014-15. Alexandria, VA: Author. www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/Ratios14-15LowestToHighest.pdf

ASCA. (2014). Mindsets and behaviors for student success: K-12 college-and career-readiness standards for every student. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Bisaha, S. (2018, January 18). Kansas looks at hiring school counselors, if they can be found. KCUR Radio. http://kcur.org/post/kansas-looks-hiring-school-counselors-if-they-can-be-found

Brown, J., Hatch, T., Holcomb-McCoy, C., Martin, P., Mcleod, J., Owen, L., & Savitz-Romer, M. (2016). The state of school counseling: Revisiting the path forward. Washington, DC: National Consortium for School Counseling and Postsecondary Success.

Carey, J. & Dimmitt, C. (2012). School counseling and student outcomes: Summary of six statewide studies. Professional School Counseling, 16 (2), 146-153.

Cross, J.E. & Peisner, W. (2009). RECOGNIZE: A social norms campaign to reduce rumor spreading in a junior high school. Professional School Counseling, 12 (5), 365-377.

Curtis, R., Van Horne, J.W., Robertson, P., & Karvonen, M. (2010). Outcomes of a school-wide positive behavioral support program. Professional School Counseling, 13 (3), 159-164.

Erickson, A. & Abel, N.R. (2013). A high school counselor’s leadership in providing school-wide screenings for depression and enhancing suicide awareness. Professional School Counseling, 16 (5), 283-289.

Johnson, N. (2016, August 2). Colorado spends $16 million on h.s. counselors and saves $300 million in safety net services. The 74 Million. www.the74million.org/article/colorado-spends-16-million-on-hs-counselors-and-saves-300-million-in-safety-net-services

León, A., Villares, E., Brigman, G., Webb, L., & Peluso, P. (2011). Closing the achievement gap of Latina/Latino students: A school counseling perspective. Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, 2 (1), 73-86.

Malott, K.M., Paone, T.R., Humphreys, K., & Martinez, T. (2010). Use of group counseling to address ethnic identity development: Application with adolescents of Mexican descent. Professional School Counseling, 13 (5), 257-267.

Salina, C., Girtz, S., Eppinga, J., Martinez, D., Blumer Kilian, D., Lozano, E., . . . Shines, T. (2013). All hands on deck: A comprehensive, results-driven counseling model. Professional School Counseling, 17 (1), 63-75.

Wegner, R. (2018, February 5). Michelle Obama presents Counselor of the Year award to Chicago educator. Education Week. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/high_school_and_beyond/
2018/02/michelle_obama_presents_2018_school_counselor_of_the_year_award.html

Wyatt, S. (2009). The Brotherhood: Empowering adolescent African-American males toward excellence. Professional School Counseling, 12 (6), 463-470.

Zinth, J. (2014). College counseling in high schools: Advising state policy. The Progress of Education Reform, 15 (6).

Originally published in April 2018 Phi Delta Kappan 99 (7), 35-39. © 2018 Phi Delta Kappa International. All rights reserved.

PATRICK J. O’CONNOR (poconnor@cranbrook.edu; @collegeisyours) is associate dean of college counseling at Cranbrook Schools in metropolitan Detroit. He is also the inaugural School Counselor Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education and the author of College Counseling for School Counselors (Outskirts Press, 2015).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How school counselors make a world of difference - kappanonline.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The multifaceted work of school counselors helps prepare students academically and emotionally for life beyond school.

# data[].attributes.body
Core beliefs are ideas that we believe to be extremely important and use as a foundation for building a successful life. As a school counselor, I have a few basic core beliefs that I have of students in order to help them learn successfully and live happier life as well. It is especially important to teach young kids about core beliefs so they can develop a deeper understanding of learning qualities. One core belief I have of my students is respect for diversity. Not only do we want everyone to feel welcome and accept different cultures, but we also want to feel welcome when we are of the cultural minority. When we teach kids at a young age that it is okay to be different but it is not okay to discriminate they will grow up to have more open perspectives of life. When it comes to learning my core belief of my students is honesty and responsibility. All of our actions have a consequence, some good and some bad. Students should be able to see how their actions influence other students and the environment around them. Once they are able to understand the responsibility for their own actions, then they are able to learn the responsibilities they hold as students. By this I mean they should be able to complete homework tasks, chores at home, and participate in extracurricular activities if they choose to. I know it sounds redundant as well, but one strong core belief is the common saying that honesty is the best policy. I want to teach my students to be honest and to tell the truth even when it is harder to do so. I will in return tell them the truth to show them it is the right thing to do.

As school counselors, I believe our role as advocates for our students is to try to eliminate barriers that affect a student's ability to learn. This can be done by using our core beliefs to help break down the barriers. When all students view each other as equals and are able to learn responsibly and honestly then their learning experiences in school will be much more beneficial. This is also why school counselors follow ethical guidelines, to protect our students and to help them academically while helping them make the correct life choices. Ethical guidelines also help us counsel with the same core beliefs we want our students to learn. As a school counselor ethical guidelines set a standard that helps me respect all students no matter their background while taking into consideration their own values and beliefs. My vision statement for my personal philosophy of school counseling would be an open-minded leader who continuously leads with equity and humility while advocating for those who need us through clear and honest communication. This vision statement will help me build a goal for my future work environment. It will also allow my colleagues and classmates to understand what I stand for and what I am working towards.

# data[].attributes.body
After completing the School Counselor Competency Assessment I have a better understanding of what is expected from school counselors. Most of the areas I did well in, such as Mindsets, Direct and Indirect Student Services, and Professional Foundations. The area I seemed to struggle with the most was Planning and Assessment. It was not a big surprise for me to do well in the mindset section because I believe these are qualities you need to have to drive you to become a school counselor. Mindset 4. Stated that “Every student should have access to a school counseling program” (American School Counselor Association, 2019). This is something I am a huge believer in and think the rest of the mindsets follow behind. Professional Foundations is something that I feel comfortable using but could still use more knowledge for example “B-PF 3. Apply legal and ethical principles of the school counseling profession” (American School Counselor Association, 2019). Although I do not know all of the legal aspects yet I am still comfortable using what I do know. Direct and Indirect Student Services I believe are the heart of the counseling programs. We are there for the students and this aspect is what I am looking forward to most in my future career.

The area that I believe I need the biggest improvement is planning and assessment. I do not feel comfortable completing assessments or analyzing data correctly yet. This is something I do not have much experience with but does not mean that I cannot learn. Although as I continue my journey toward becoming a school counselor I will learn more vital information. To develop a better understanding of assessments I can review scholarly articles or reach out to my local schools to see if I can review the data the school counselor has gathered. I do currently work with children on the spectrum in a therapy setting. I could practice taking attendance data. I do already take data, just different types of data. I ask my supervisors to see their goals created for clients to get a better understanding of how to create the right goals for each individual student.

# data[].attributes.body
The first Implicit Association Test (IAT) I took was age. This IAT requires the ability to distinguish old from young faces. This test often indicates that Americans have an automatic preference for young over old. My results indicated that I have a moderate automatic preference for young people over old people. These results did surprise me because I believed to have no preference between the two. I have one of the highest scores generated from this test, as 30% of users who take this test have the same results as I did. I can work on having a more neutral preference between the two by associating positive words with both old and young individuals.

The second IAT I took was Gender-Career. This IAT often reveals a relative link between family and females and between career and males. My results indicated that I have little or no automatic association between females and males with careers and family. My results were not too common as only 17% of users who take this test scored the same results as I did. These results did not surprise me too much as a career has never been my main focus when it comes to my family. I am a proud mother of five and I gladly do most of the parenting duties and enjoy them. I do work outside of the home, but still being able to do all of the housework as well. I have never believed that women should always be the ones to be the main support to the children, even though I enjoy that role and all of the extra work that comes along with it.

# data[].attributes.body
In order for students to thrive at school, they first must feel safe in school.  “Schools that are focusing purely on academics without helping kids feel like things are back to normal, are really struggling" (Vestal, 2021). My goal as the school counselor is to use questionnaires that will show the students who are struggling to maintain their mental health while in school. "An established method to identify students who may have difficulties with anxiety or depression is through systematic screening of the school population" (American Psychological Association, 2020). Since my primary focus are grades k-8 teachers will assist students with the questionnaires. These questionnaires will be brief and focus on the students’ emotions and classroom behaviors. Teachers will also be asked to give the names of students who are appearing emotionally distressed or saddened to the counselor. These questions can be completed through a secure network online in order for them to be appropriately scored in a timely manner. The school's mental health professionals will obtain the scores from the software and use them to identify the students who are appearing to be at risk for mental health issues. This questionnaire will be given again after a month to see if their mental health issues are prolonged (American Psychological Association, 2020). School mental health professionals can then provide direct support to the students who are at risk for mental health disorders by providing a support group for the students, "this would involve in-school individual or group counseling as part of a multi-tiered system of support" (Eagle et al., 2015). School counselors can also connect students to the correct outside resource that will best serve their needs.

# data[].attributes.headline
Advocating for Student's Mental Health During a Pandemic 

# data[].attributes.subject
Advocating for Student's Mental Health During a Pandemic 

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout the pandemic mental health has been a concern. Often times we believe that children cannot have these effects. I am here to advocate for children in grades K-8 who are experiencing hardships due to the ongoing pandemic. Children in these grades have shown an increase in negative behaviors while attending school. This includes, but is not limited to irritability, aggressiveness, clinginess, poor concentration, and withdrawal from activities and friends. Not only are schools trying to make up lost time for learning but children need mental health care now more than ever before. "The grief, anxiety, and depression children have experienced during the pandemic is welling over into classrooms and hallways, resulting in crying and disruptive behavior in many younger kids and increased violence and bullying among adolescents" (Vestal, 2021). For some kids, the pressure of school is just too great.

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

American Psychological Association. (2020, September 22). Student mental health during and after COVID-19: How can schools identify youth who need support? http://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/student-mental-health

American School Counselor Association (2004). ASCA National Standards for Students. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Eagle, J.W., Dowd-Eagle, S.E., Snyder, A., & Holtzman, E.G. (2015). Implementing a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS): Collaboration between school psychologists and administrators to promote systems-level change. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 25, 160-177.

O’Connor, P. (2018). How school counselors make a world of difference. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(7), 35–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721718767858

Vestal, C. (2021, November 8). [web log]. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/11/08/covid-harmed-kids-mental-health-and-schools-are-feeling-it.