School Counseling Portfolio by https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks Components of the ASCA National Model en-us 2022-03-22 18:15:50 UTC 2025-10-08 13:22:45 UTC hello@padlet.com References titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144431371 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. ]]> 2022-04-14 23:41:58 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144431371 ASSESS titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144468205 "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. ]]> 2022-04-15 00:38:22 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144468205 DEFINE titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144472057 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.

]]> 2022-04-15 00:43:16 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144472057 MANAGE titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144475716 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. 

]]> 2022-04-15 00:47:53 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144475716 DELIVER-TESTING titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144539092 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. ]]> 2022-04-15 02:08:53 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2144539092 titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146941290 2022-04-18 13:01:47 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146941290 Advocating for Student's Mental Health During a Pandemic titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146944612 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. ]]> 2022-04-18 13:04:31 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146944612 Data and Resources titus_a https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146950667 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.]]> 2022-04-18 13:09:20 UTC https://padlet.com/titus_a/Bookmarks/wish/2146950667