School counselor

A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to K-12 students. The interventions used include developmental school counseling curriculum lessons and annual planning for every student, and group and individual counseling.

Older, dated terms for the profession were "guidance counselor" or "educational counselor" but "school counselor" is preferred due to professional school counselors' advocating for every child's academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school (ASCA, 2005)^[1]. In the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, the terms school counselor, school guidance counselor, and guidance teacher are also used with the traditional emphasis career development^[2]. Countries vary in how a school counseling program and school counseling program services are provided based on economics (funding for schools and school counseling programs), social capital (independent versus public schools), and School Counselor certification and credentialing movements in education departments, professional associations, and national and local legislation.^[2]. The major accreditation body for Counselor Education/School Counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), which provides international program accreditation in Counselor Education disciplines including school counseling^[3].

In some countries, school counseling is provided by educational specialists (for example, Botswana, China, Finland, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United States). In other cases, school counseling is provided by classroom teachers who either have such duties added to their typical teaching load or teach only a limited load that also includes school counseling activities (for example- India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Zambia).^[2]. The IAEVG focuses primarily on career development with some international school counseling articles and conference presentationss^[2].

United States

In the United States, the school counseling profession began with the vocational guidance movement at the beginning of the 20th century, now known as career development. Jesse B. Davis was the first to provide a systematic school guidance program. In 1907, he became the principal of a high school and encouraged the school English teachers to use compositions and lessons to relate career interests, develop character, and avoid behavioral problems. Many others during this time did the same. For example, in 1908, Frank Parsons, "Father of Vocational Guidance" established the Bureau of Vocational Guidance to assist young people in making the transition from school to work.

From the 1920s to the 1930s, school counseling and guidance grew because of the rise of progressive education in schools. This movement emphasized personal, social, moral development. Many schools reacted to this movement as anti-educational, saying that schools should teach only the fundamentals of education. This, combined with the economic hardship of the Great Depression, led to a decline in school counseling and guidance. In the 1940s, psychologists and counselors selected, recruited, and trained military personnel. This propelled the counseling movement in schools by providing ways to test students and meet their needs. Schools accepted these military tests openly. Also, Carl Rogers' emphasis on helping relationships during this time influenced the profession of school counseling.

In the 1950s the government established the Guidance and Personnel Services Section in the Division of State and Local School Systems. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I. Out of concern that the Russians were winning the space race and that there were not enough scientists and mathematicians, the government passed the National Defense Education Act, spurring growth in vocational guidance through larger funding. In the 1960s, new legislation and professional developments refined the profession (Schmidt^[4], 2003).

The 1960s was also a time of great federal funding for land grant colleges and universities in establishing Counselor Education programs^[5]. School counseling shifted from an exclusive focus on career development to add personal and social issues paralleling the rise of social justice and civil rights movements. In the early 1970s, Dr. Norm Gysbers began shifting the profession from school counselors as solitary professionals into having a comprehensive developmental school counseling program for all students K-12^[6]. He and his colleagues' research evidenced strong correlations between fully implemented school counseling programs and student academic success; a critical part of the evidence base for the profession based on their work in the state of Missouri^[7].

But school counseling in the 1980s and early 1990s was absent from educational reform efforts^[8]. The profession was facing irrelevance as the standards-based educational movement gained strength with little evidence of systemic effectiveness for school counselors. In response,^[9] consulted with elementary, middle, and high school counselors and created the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling with three core domains (Academic, Career, Personal/Social), nine standards, and specific competencies and indicators for K-12 students^[6]. A year later, the first systemic meta-analysis of school counseling was published and gave a wake-up call to focus on outcome research in academic, career, and personal/social domains^[10].

In the late 1990s, a former mathematics teacher, school counselor, and administrator, Pat Martin, was hired by The Education Trust^[11] to focus the school counseling profession on closing the achievement gap that harmed children and adolescents of color, poor and working class children and adolescents, bilingual children and adolescents and children and adolescents with disabilities. Martin developed focus groups of K-12 students, parents, guardians, teachers, building leaders, and superintendents, and interviewed professors of School Counselor Education. She hired a school counselor educator from Oregon State University, Dr. Reese House, and they co-created what emerged in 2003 as the National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC).^[12]

The NCTSC focused on both changing school counselor education at the graduate level and changing school counselor practice in local districts to teach school counselors how to prevent, intervene with, and close achievement and opportunity gaps. In the focus groups, they found what Hart & Jacobi^[13] had indicated—-too many school counselors were gatekeepers for the status quo instead of advocates for the academic success of every child and adolescent. Too many school counselors used inequitable practices, supported inequitable school policies, and were unwilling to change.

This professional behavior kept many students from non-dominant backgrounds (i.e., students of color, poor and working class students, students with disabilities, and bilingual students) from getting the rigorous coursework and academic, career, and college access skills needed to successfully graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary options including college. They funded six $500,000 grants for six Counselor Education/School Counseling programs, with a special focus on rural and urban settings, to transform their school counseling programs to include a focus on teaching school counselor candidates advocacy, leadership, teaming and collaboration, equity assessment using data, and culturally competent program counseling and coordination in 1998 (Indiana State University, University of Georgia, University of West Georgia, University of California-Northridge, University of North Florida, and Lewis & Clark University) and then over 25 other Counselor Education/School Counseling programs joined as companion institutions in the following decade^[11]. By 2008, NCTSC consultants had worked in over 100 school districts and major cities and rural areas to transform the work of school counselors.

In 2002, the American School Counselor Association released the ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs, written by Dr. Trish Hatch and Dr. Judy Bowers, comprising key school counseling components into one model—the work of Drs. Norm Gysbers, Curly & Sharon Johnson, Robert Myrick, Carol Dahir & Cheri Campbell's ASCA National Standards, and the skill-based focus for closing gaps from the Education Trust's Pat Martin and Dr. Reese House into one document^[6]. In 2003, the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research^[14] was developed as a clearinghouse for evidence-based practice with regular research briefs disseminated and original research projects developed and implemented with founding director Dr. Jay Carey. One of the research fellows, Dr. Tim Poynton, developed the EZAnalyze^[15] software program for all school counselors to use as free-ware to assist in using data-based interventions and decision-making.

In 2004, the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors was revised to focus on issues of equity, closing gaps, and ensuring all K-12 students received access to a school counseling program^[16]. Also in 2004, Pat Martin moved to the College Board and hired School Counselor Educator Dr. Vivian Lee. They developed an equity-focused entity on school counselors' role in college counseling, the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA)^[17]. NOSCA has developed research scholarships for research on college counseling by K-12 school counselors and how it is taught in School Counselor Education programs. On January 1, 2006, the USA Congress declared the first week of February National School Counseling Week, which grew out of advocacy from ASCA members.

In 2008, the first NOSCA study was released by Dr. Jay Carey and colleagues focused on innovations in selected College Board "Inspiration Award" schools where school counselors collaborated inside and outside their schools for high college-going rates and strong college-going cultures in schools with large numbers of students of non-dominant backgrounds^[18]. In 2008, ASCA released School Counseling Competencies focused on assisting school counseling programs to effectively implement the ASCA Model^[16]. Also in 2008, in support of the ASCA Model and new vision^[19] school counseling, Dr. Rita Schellenberg introduced standards blending as a cross-walking approach to align school counseling with the academic achievement mission of schools as well as two data-based reporting systems, SCORE and SCOPE.^[20][21][22].

In 2009, NOSCA released a national study under the leadership of Dr. Vicki Brooks-McNamara addressing the school counselor/principal connection with specific recommendations for best practices in collaborative leadership in school counseling. In 2010, the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCAL) co-sponsored the first school counseling conference devoted to the needs of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered students in San Diego, California,^[23].

School counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional associations, and ethics

Professional school counselors ideally implement a^[14] school counseling program that promotes and enhances student achievement.^[6]. A framework for appropriate and inappropriate school counselor responsibilities and roles is outlined in the ASCA National Model^[6]. School counselors, in most USA states, usually have a Master's degree in school counseling from a Counselor Education graduate program. In Canada, they must be licensed teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic, career, and personal/social issues. China requires at least three years of college experience. In Japan, school counselors were added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues. In Taiwan, they are often teachers with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues. In Korea, school counselors are mandated in middle and high schools.

School counselors are employed in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages(Schmidt^[4], 2003).

Professional school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development (Dahir & Campbell, 1997; ASCA, 2005) with an increased emphasis on college access^[24]. Knowledge, understanding and skill in these domains are developed through classroom teaching|instruction, appraisal, consultation, psychotherapy, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality and career assessment methods (such as the^[25] or^[26] (based on the^[27]) to help students explore career and college needs and interests.

School counselor interventions include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a student's behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan. They also provide consultation services to family members such as college access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.

School counselor interventions for all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and personal/social topics. The topics of character education, diversity and multiculturalism (Portman, 2009), and school safety are important areas of focus for school counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches about child abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama (Schmidt^[4], 2003).

School counselors develop, implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in their schools. For example, the ASCA National Model^[6] includes the following four main areas:

• Foundation - a written school counseling program mission statement, a beliefs and philosophy statement, and a focus on the ASCA standards and competencies and how they are implemented for every student;
• Delivery System - how lessons and individual and group counseling are delivered;
• Management System (use of calendars, time, building leader-school counselor role agreements, creation of action plans); and
• Accountability System - use of a School Counseling program audit, results reports, and school counselor performance evaluations based on 13 key competencies.

The model is implemented using key skills from the Education Trust's Transforming School Counseling Initiative: Advocacy, Leadership, Teaming and Collaboration, and Systemic Change^[11].

School Counselors around the world are affiliated with national and regional school counseling associations including: Asociacion Argentina de Counselors (AAC-Argentina), American Counseling Association (ACA-USA), African Counseling Association (AfCA), American School Counselor Association (ASCA-USA), Associacao Portuguesa de Psicoterapia centrada na Pessoa e de Counselling (APPCPC-Portugal), Australian Guidance and Counselling Association (AGCA), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP-UK), Canadian Counseling Association (CCA)/Association Canadienne de Counseling (ACC), Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership(CESCaL) (USA), Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR-USA) Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP-USA and international), Counselling Children and Young People (BACP affiliate, UK), Counseling & Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA), Cypriot Association of School Guidance Counsellors (OELMEK), European Counseling Association (ECA), France Ministry of Education, Federacion Espanola de Orientacion y Psicopedagogia (FEOP-Spain), Department of Education-Malta, Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance (HESCOG-Greece), Hong Kong Association of Guidance Masters and Career Masters (HKAGMCM), Institute of Guidance Counselors (IGC) (Ireland), International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)/Association Internationale d'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle (AIOSP)/ Internationale Vereinigung für Schul- und Berufsberatung (IVSBB)/Asociación Internacional para la Orientación Educativa y Profesional(AIOEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), International Vanguard of Counsellors (IVC), Kenya Association of Professional Counselors (KAPC), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC, USA), National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC) at The Education Trust (USA), National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) at The College Board (USA), New Zealand Association of Counsellors/Te Roopu Kaiwhiriwhiri o Aotearoa (NZAC), Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON), Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association (PGCA), Overseas Association of College Admissions Counselors (OACAC, an affiliate of National Association of College Admissions Counselors-USA), Singapore Association for Counseling (SAC), and the Taiwan Guidance and Counseling Association (TGCA)^[28].

School Counselors are expected to follow a professional code of ethics in many countries. For example, In the USA, they are the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) School Counselor Ethical Code^[16] and the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics^[29].

References

Counseling Theories in Schools

• Lemberger, M. E. & Nash, E. R. (2008). School counselors and the influence of Adler: Individual psychology since the advent of the ASCA National Model. Journal of Individual Psychology, 64, 386-402.
• Lemberger, M. E. (2010). Advocating student-within-environment: A humanistic theory for school counseling. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 49, 131-146.
• Perusse, R., and Goodnough, G. E., (Eds.). (2004). Leadership, advocacy, and direct service strategies for professional school counselors. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole/Cengage.
• Shen, Y., & Herr, E. L. (2003). Perceptions of play therapy in Taiwan: The voices of school counselors and school counselor educators. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 25, 27-41.
• Winslade, J. M., & Monk G. D. (2007). Narrative counseling in schools: Powerful and brief (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Cultural Competence, Ethnic/Racial Identity Development in School Counseling

• Buser, J. K. (2010). American Indian adolescents and disordered eating. Professional School Counseling, 14, 146-155.
• Day-Vines, N. L., & Day-Hairston, B. O. (2005). Culturally congruent strategies for addressing the behavioral needs of urban African-American male adolescents. Professional School Counseling, 8, 236-243.
• Day-Vines, N., Patton, J., & Baytops, J. (2003). African American adolescents: The impact of race and middle class status on the counseling process. Professional School Counseling, 7, 40-51.
• Holcomb-McCoy, C. & Chen-Hayes, S. F. (2011). Culturally competent school counselors: Affirming diversity by challenging oppression. In B. T. Erford, (Ed). Transforming the school counseling profession. (3rd ed). (pp. 90–109). Boston: Pearson.
• Malott, K. M., Alessandria, K. P., Kirkpatrick, M., & Carandang, J. (2009). Ethnic labeling in Mexican-origin youth: A qualitative assessment. Professional School Counseling, 12, 352-364.
• Portman, T. A. A. (2009). Faces of the future: School counselors as cultural mediators. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87, 21-27.
• Shen, Y.-J., & Lowing, R. J. (2007). School counselors' self-perceived Asian American counseling competence. Professional School Counseling, 11, 69-71.
• Shin, R. Q., Daly, B. P., & Vera, E. M. (2007). The relationships of peer norms, ethnic identity, and peer support to school engagement in urban youth. Professional School Counseling, 10, 379-388.
• Trusty, J. (2002). African Americans' educational expectations: Longitudinal causal models for women and men. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80, 332-345.
• Turner, S. L., Conkel, J. L., Reich, A. N., Trotter, M. J., & Slewart, J. J. Social skills efficacy and proactivity among Native American adolescents. Professional School Counseling, 10, 189-194
• Wyatt, S. (2009). The brotherhood: Empowering adolescent African-American males toward excellence. Professional School Counseling, 12, 463-470.

Group Counseling

• Brigman, G., & Early, B. (2001). Group counseling for school counselors: A practical guide. Portland, ME: Walch.
• Paisley, P., & Milsom, A. (2007). Group work as an essential contribution to transforming school counseling. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 32, 9-17.
• Steen, S., Bauman, S., & Smith, J. (2007). Professional school counselors and the practice of group work. Professional School Counseling, 11, 72-80.
• Steen, S., & Kaffenberger, C. J. (2007). Integrating academic interventions into small group counseling in elementary school. "Professional School Counseling, 10," 516-519.

Outcome Research

• Brooks-McNamara, V., & Torres, D. (2008). The reflective school counselor's guide to practitioner research: Skills and strategies for successful inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
• Bryan, J. A., Day-Vines, N. L., Holcomb-McCoy, C., & Moore-Thomas, C. (2010). Using national education longitudinal data sets in school counseling research. Counselor Education and Supervision, 49, 266-279.
• Clark, M. A., Thompson, P., & Vialle, W. (2008). Examining the gender gap in educational outcomes in public education: Involving pre-service school counsellors and teachers in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 30, 52-66.
• Foster, L. H., Watson, T. S., Meeks, C., & Young, J. S. (2002). Single-subject research design for school counselors: Becoming an applied researcher. Professional School Counseling, 6, 146-159.
• Kaffenberger, C., & Davis, T. (2009). Introduction to special issue: A call for practitioner research. Professional School Counseling, 12, 392-394.
• Rowell, L. L. (2006). Action research and school counseling: Closing the gap between research and practice. Professional School Counseling, 9, 376-384.
• Whiston, S. C., Tai, W. L., Rahardja, D., & Eder, K. (2011). School counseling outcome: A meta-analytic examination of interventions. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89, 37-55.
• Whiston, S. C., & Sexton, T. L. (1998). A review of school counseling outcome research: Implications for practice. Journal of Counseling & Development, 76, 412-426.