Understanding the ASCA

National Model for School

Counseling: Increasing
Student Achievement and
Counselor Accountability
Presented By:
Linda Kopec
Elizabeth Younce

OVERVIEW
The American School Counselor
Association (ASCA) collaborated to
create a National Model for School
Counseling Programs to connect school
counseling with the current educational
reform movements that emphasize
student achievement and success.

RATIONALE

By aligning a school counseling program with

the school/district mission and school
improvement plan, school counselors:
.Partner as leaders in systemic change
.Ensure equity and access
.Promote academic, personal/social and
career development for every student.

Goals of School Counseling

Program
The

ultimate goal of the school

counseling program is to support the
schools academic mission.
Ensuring academic achievement for
every student includes counselor
initiated activities designed to meet the
needs of under-served, under-performing
and under-represented populations.

People have wondered.

WHAT DO SCHOOL COUNSELORS DO?

Historical Problems in School

Counseling Programs
Lack

of consistent identity
Limited or no involvement in reform
movements
Variation in roles from state to state and
site to site
Non-school counselor responsibilities

The ASCA National Model

What is a school counseling program?

Prevention education
Developmental in nature
A collaborative effort
Driven by data
Integrated into the Total Educational Program
Academics, Career, Personal/Social Development

Data Driven
What

are some of your current data

sources?

The old question was

What

The

do counselors do?

new question is.

HOW

ARE STUDENTS DIFFERENT AS

A RESULT OF THE SCHOOL
COUNSELING PROGRAM?

From EntitlementTo
Performance
From a Program that:
Focuses generally on the number of
activities
Measures the amount of effort
Attends to the process of doing work
Works to maintain the existing system

From EntitlementTo
Performance
To A Program That:
Focuses on outcomes and improved
results
Measures impact related to goals
Attends to goals, objectives, and
outcomes
Changes and adapts to be more
responsive

From EntitlementTo
Performance
From counselors who:
Focus on good intentions
Talk about how hard they work
Generally feel little need to change their
behavior or approach

From EntitlementTo
Performance
To Counselors Who:
Focus on accomplishments
Talk about effectiveness
Know their future rests on
accomplishments
Communicate goals and objectives

Implications

What is the purpose of the school counseling

program?
What are the desired outcomes or results?
What is being done to achieve those results?
What evidence is there that the objectives
have been met?
Is the program making a difference?

School Counseling Programs Are

About:

Counseling
Leadership
Assessment
Technology
Managing Resources
Teaming
Collaboration
Data-Driven Decisions
Advocacy

School Counseling Programs Are

About:
RESULTS!

HOW

ARE STUDENTS DIFFERENT AS

A RESULT OF THE SCHOOL
COUNSELING PROGRAM?

Comprehensive School
Counseling
A Comprehensive School Counseling
program includes:

Program Planning
Individual and Group Counseling
Consulting (students, parents, teachers,

agencies)
Coordinating Services
Student Appraisal
Professional Development

ASCA National Model (p. 20)

The ASCA National Model

Addresses the Comprehensive School
Program:

FOUNDATION
DELIVERY SYSTEM
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
IMPLEMENTATION

Themes Throughout the Model

ADVOCACY
LEADERSHIP
COLLABORATION
SYSTEMIC

CHANGE

FOUNDATION

Beliefs and Philosophy

Mission
ASCA National Standards and Competencies
Domains:
Academic Development
Career Development
Personal/Social Development

Beliefs and Philosophy

We

agree statements

Guide the program development,

implementation and evaluation

Require consensus from all personnel
involved in the program

Mission Statement
Describes

the programs purpose

Provides a vision of what every student
should achieve
Aligned with the school and district
mission statements

Standards from the National

Model
Standard

1: Program organization
Standard 2: School guidance curriculum
delivered to all students
Standard 3: Individual student planning
Standard 4: Responsive Services
Standard 5: Systems support
Standard 6: School counselor and
administrator agreement

Standards from the National

Model, continued

Standard 7: Advisory Council

Standard 8: Use of data
Standard 9: Student monitoring
Standard 10: Use of time and calendar
Standard 11: Results evaluation
Standard 12: Program Audit
Standard 13: Be a student advocate, leader,
collaborator and systems change agent

Delivery System
School

Guidance Curriculum
Individual Student Planning
Responsive Services
System Support

Guidance Curriculum

Structured lessons delivered to all students

Related to standards and competencies
Integrated with academic curriculum
Use data to develop lessons

Environmental issues
Discipline records
Student records
Standardized test scores

Individual Student Planning

Ongoing

systemic activities
Designed to assist students in
establishing personal goals
Designed to assist students in
developing future plans
Helps students get from point A to point
B

Counselor Planned and Directed

Test

score review, interpretation and

analysis
Promotion and retention information
Career decision making
Yearly course selection
Test taking strategies

Responsive Services
Designed

to meet students immediate

needs
Individual, group and crisis counseling
Consultation, referral, mediation and
information
Available to all students and parents

System Support
Program

management activities that

establish, maintain, and enhance the
program
Professional development activities
Consultation, collaboration and teaming

Management System

Agreements
Advisory Council
Use of Time
Calendars
Action Plans

Guidance Curriculum
Closing the Gap

Monitoring Student Progress

Closing the Gap

Use of Data

Agreements
To

ensure effective implementation of the

program
Based on delivery systems and needs
Negotiated every year

Advisory Council
Group

appointed to review the guidance

program

Counselor,

administrator, teachers,
parents, students, community members

Use of Time
Elementary
Guidance Curriculum 35 45%
Individual Planning 5 10%
Responsive Services 30 40%
System Support 10 15%

Use of Time
Middle School
Guidance Curriculum 25 35%
Individual Planning 15 25%
Responsive Services 30 40%
System Support 10 -15%

Use of Time
High School:
Guidance Curriculum 15 -25%
Individual Planning 25 35%
Responsive Services 25 35%
System Support 15 20%

Calendars
Master

Calendar
Weekly Calendar
Published
Ensures planned activities are completed
PR Tool

Action Plans
Domain,

standard and competency

Description of activity
Curriculum and materials to be used
Time Allotment
Person(s) responsible
Evaluation of student success
Expected result

Action Plan Reflections

Are

your objectives measurable?

Can you use data elements that are
already being collected?
Will the plan lead to results data?
How will you measure?

Pre/post tests
Comparison to baseline data

Use of Data
Student Monitoring collection, analysis
and interpretation of data to ensure all
students achieve academic success
Closing the Gap Use of disaggregated
data which discerns the discrepancies
between the desired results and the
results currently being achieved

How do Counselors Fit Into

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?
What can school counselors do to promote
AYP, Closing the Gap, School Safety, etc.?

Study skills and test-taking skills groups for lowperforming students

Conflict Resolution Training
Counseling students with suspension and
absenteeism issues
Staff training on behavior management and school
climate

Academic Results Interventions

(Grades 6 8)
After Academic Counseling Groups:
37% of 6th Graders (64)
24% of 7th Graders (47)
72% of 8th Graders (46)
Demonstrated GPA Improvement

Freshmen Promotion
Incoming

9th grade students who had

one or more D or F in the 8th grade were
placed in a mentoring program with
upperclassmen. 95% of participating
students were promoted to the 10th
grade, versus 80% of those outside of
the program

Academic Goal Setting

After

classroom guidance lessons prepost tests indicated

Student knowledge of goal setting
increased from 10% to 90%
90% achieved their identified goal

ACCOUNTABILITY
Results

Reports
School counselor performance
evaluations
Program Audit

Results Reports
Data:
Process
Perception
Results
Over Time: Immediate, Intermediate,
Long Range

Results Reports Impact over Time

Personal/Social Results
Conflict Resolution ( K 5)
Number of students who could peacefully resolve
a conflict INCREASED from 55% to 88%
Following implementation of a Conflict Manager
program the number of suspended students
was REDUCED from 13% in 97/98 to 3% in
01/02

Career Development (over 3

years)
Scholarship

dollars for students

increased from $750,000 to $825,000
Parent attendance increased from 150
500 at guidance sponsored events
Number of students visiting the career
center increased from 30 to 200 daily
Graduation rates increased from 84
89%

What does an Audit tell us?

Major

strengths of the program

Areas that need to be strengthened
Categorizes the rate of progress of each
criteria
Helps to determine short and long range
goals for improvement

IMPLEMENTATION
Administrator

Support
Planned Steps
On-going Program Evaluation

Steps to Implementation
What if my school doesnt want to change?
Ask yourself

What are my students needs?

What do I want to change?
What do I have the power to change?
What am I already doing that can be measured?
START SMALL and use that data to support
further expansion and change

Steps to Implementation
1. Planning the Program
2. Building Your Foundation
3. Designing the Delivery System
4. Implementing the Program
5. Making the Program Accountable

Next Steps
Review

action plans
Learn from experience
Look at ways to implement new pieces of
the National Model each year for 3 -5
years

National Model Best Practices

Start

with what you can manage

Align with school and district goals
Define at-risk
Data! Data! Data!
Write measurable goals and objectives
that are reasonable
Write plans early, review them regularly

Best Practices
Understand

the trends, work with the

details
Collaborate

with others at your school

Collaborate

with other schools

In Closing..
All this will not be finished in the first one
hundred days. Nor will it be finished in
the first thousand days, nor in the life of
this administration, nor even perhaps in
our lifetime on this planet.
BUT LET US BEGIN.
John F. Kennedy

And Finally.
WE

NEED TO BE THE CHANGE WE

WANT TO SEE HAPPEN.

WE

ARE THE LEADERS WE HAVE

BEEN WAITING FOR.
Gandhi

Questions?