The American School Counseling Association's purpose for applying a program assessment is to ensure that the standards of school counselors are being met. Inventory is taken in order to determine if the school counselor has managed, delivered, and assessed:

Manage: their actions are aligned with their vision statement, and the mission statement is to the ASCA criteria. The counselor has reviewed the goals and outcomes for the district and individual students in order to create new goals or build upon written goals (ASCA, 2021). The counselor completes their "use of time calculator" (ASCA, 2021), attends the annual administrative conference, has minutes from advisory council meetings, completes action planning and implementation, creates lesson plans complete with goals and targets (ASCA, 2021), and keeps a detailed calendar of events with corresponding documentation (ASCA, 2021).

Deliver: school counselors are to create lesson plans that are implemented in classrooms in both large groups and small groups (ASCA, 2021), and deliver indirect student services documented on the counselor's calendar (ASCA, 2021).

Assess: school counselors must complete their assessments which are then shared with school staff and stakeholders (ASCA, 2021) including (but not limited to): Classroom and Group Mindsets & Behaviors Results Report, Closing-the-Gap, Professional Standards & Competencies, School Counseling Program Assessment, and Performance Appraisal (ASCA, 2021).

Annual Results Reports:

The annual results reports are to be completed by school counselors to "allow an honest evaluation of the delivery of core curriculum, small group responsive services and closing-the-gap action plans" (Kuranz & Griffith, 2018). Reporting goes to school staff and stakeholders for evaluation and measurement of success.

School Counselor Assessment & Appraisal:

The Assessment & Appraisal of the School Counselor is to continuously complete an inventory of areas of improvement needed, and areas in which the counselor excels. Utilizing the description of the role of the school counselor for reference, the Assessment & Appraisal is then used to "ensure the school counselor's effectiveness, impact, high-level performance and continued professional growth" (ASCA, 2019). Guidelines are by district, state, and schools, and assessments are gathered both by the counselor and the administration (ASCA, 2019).

References:

American School Counselor Association. (2021). School Counseling Program Assessment. American School Counselor Association. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/5673f888-3bcf-4986-b110-9478ba805a1c/sc-program-assessment.docx

American School Counselor Association. (2021). The school counselor and annual performance appraisal. The School Counselor and Annual Performance Appraisal - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Standards-Positions/Position-Statements/ASCA-Position-Statements/The-School-Counselor-and-Annual-Performance-Apprai

Kuranz, M., & Griffith, K. (2018b, September). Using action plans and Results Reports. Using Action Plans and Results Reports - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Newsletters/October-2018/Using-Action-Plans-and-Results-Reports?st=NJ

I chose the Lesson Plan and Results Report for the 2^nd Grade classroom.

• In what ways did the selected Mindsets and/or Behaviors match the lesson topic? List one additional Mindsets and/or Behaviors that you would have selected for the lesson and why.

The Mindsets and Behaviors to balance mental, social/emotional and physical well-being (Walden, 2024) matches the topic as the focus is to help the 2^nd graders understand that their emotions may be different than their classmates, and how to cope with their own emotions as well as support their classmates through theirs.

I would have also included a Mindsets/Behaviors lesson on coping skills through “big emotions”, which would implement targeting where they feel the emotion in their body, and then learning to release that intense energy in a productive way, such as breathing exercises.

• In what ways do the ASCA Student Standards Pre- and Post-Assessment Items align and not align with the Mindsets and/or Behaviors and topic?

The Pre- and Post-Assessment Items align with the Mindsets and/or Behaviors and topic as the prompts allow students to take inventory of their emotions and their ability to understand them, and apply reasonable answers that make sense to them to build a foundation for better understanding their emotions moving forward.

The Assessment item that I believe does not entirely align with the Mindsets and/or Behaviors topic is Assessment item 3: “I don’t usually get in trouble for how I display my feelings in difficult situations” (Walden, 2024). I believe that this does not necessarily align because students are to learn coping mechanisms for their emotions during situations that cause them to be heightened; if the student has a fear of getting in trouble for expressing an emotion, this may lead to suppression instead of healthy expression.

• Did the lesson content/materials match the selected Mindsets and/or Behaviors skill? Why or why not?

The lesson materials match the Mindsets and/or Behaviors skill as they allow the children to identify their own individual feelings and what they look like for them through Emojis (a contemporary, generally accessible media), but the feelings wheel gives names to feelings that the students may not initially think of (aggressive, depressed, elated, etc.) that they can then learn to utilize.

The lesson content matches the Mindsets and/or Behaviors skill as it allows the students to identify their emotions (social/emotional well-being), give each other ideas about different emotions and how they affect behavior (mental well-being), and they are able to dance to the music provided (physical well-being). They are also provided a story of the day, which allows them to connect with the experiences of another individual.

• Timing can be important for delivering lessons and holding small group sessions. Yet, timing can also be limited for school counselors when it comes to working with students. Based on your opinion, how do you think that timing may have impacted the results of the lesson?

It appears that timing did impact the results of the lesson in a positive way. Including the lessons after the students’ morning meeting when they are fresh for the day is likely a reason that there was a 30% decrease in behavioral referrals (Walden, 2024). Students would be able to begin the day with the lesson new in their heads, where they could continue to implement the lessons over the course of the day, as opposed to later in the day when referrals were already being made based on morning behaviors, which could influence behaviors of other students throughout the day.

• School counselors often share lesson plans amongst each other when they might experience similar student challenges or topics. But schools, populations, cultures, developmental levels, and school counselors are unique. What are some ways you would modify the lesson plan to align with your creativity, knowledge of the ASCA National Model, and skillset?

In order to maintain student confidentiality and individuality, I would implement the same timing of the lessons, but have the students identify how they are currently feeling with the teacher on the feelings wheel for the next few days, privately,  to continue to gauge stress levels. I would then have the teacher write down one to three emotions that the student chose (as we may feel more than one emotion at a given time!) and have them write down if they can pinpoint the emotion.

Example: what is making you feel happy today? What is making you feel agitated today? What is making you feel excited today?

Afterwards, include the question “what do you need?” for each student, and collect the results. They can be reviewed during downtime, quiet time, or during an assignment. The teacher will then be able to choose from different media provided by the School Counselor to implement based on different feelings based on class majority that day.

A review of the supports needed can be returned to the School Counselor for review, and subsequent appropriate referrals, connections to community resources, or implementation of new planning.

The individuality of this updated programming aligns with The ASCA National Model: “Identify students who are having difficulties or discipline problems” (American School Counselor Association, 2019). This allows the School Counselor to act accordingly in getting the specific student resources to improve.

References:

Association, American School C. The ASCA National Model. Available from: MBS Direct, (4th Edition). American School Counselor Association, 2019.

A challenge that I may potentially face if I were to implement this lesson plan would be time management, and applying the lessons in the plan in a fashion that is cohesive and makes sense while also giving students time to focus on their other responsibilities in other class settings. My greatest interest is working with middle-high school populations, so finding time during their busy and changing class schedules may be stressful for some students when they have important testing and additional learning to be done. I would be concerned that they may be overwhelmed with the addition of taking on something that they may not feel is "necessary" since it is not directly related to a specific class they take.

Reference:

Desautels, L., & Oliver, B. (2024). PK- 12 social-emotional learning competencies. Counselor 1 Stop. https://counselor1stop.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/sel-competencies-final.pdf