School Counseling

Which is the most difficult part being a school counselor? After I read the ASCA Model on page 9 of textbook, I knew the leadership, advocacy, teaming and collaboration and systemic change are all what school counselors should focus on. I also learned that school counseling is a profession that focuses on the relations and interactions between students and their school environment with the purpose of reducing the barriers in order to help students to success. In my opinion, the team-member and collaborator is the most challenging for a school counselor in an urban school setting.

Because as an effective team-member and collaborator, school counselor work with teachers, administrators and other school personnel to make sure that each student succeeds. However, sometimes working with other school setting educators is not very easy. For example, some teachers do not like to follow the advices from counselors, they believe that their ways are perfect. Hence, they do not want to hear the voice from counselors. I understand everybody has different ideas, but I also believe that our students will get benefits if we can work together as a team.

We share our opinions and hear everyone’s advice. Because our goals are same, we all hope each student succeeds. Even though the coloration is challenging and difficult, we still need to do it with our efforts. What the elements for school counseling as a profession? Threatened by who? From the framework for a school counseling program, there are four elements of school counseling of a profession, foundation, delivery system, management system, and accountability. On the page 9 of the textbook, foundation includes beliefs and philosophy, mission statement, ASCA national standards.

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Delivery system includes school guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services and system support. Management system includes agreements, advisory council, use of date, use of time and calendars. The last one, accountability includes results reports, school counselor performance standards and program audit. I think school counseling profession may be threatened by other educators, like teachers, principals and other administrators. Sometimes school counselors cannot get enough support for a new idea, some changes cannot get approval by high level administrators or supervisors.

From the supporting articles, we have to get more effective data to prove our idea is right. Being a counselor, we must do more research in order to get sufficient evidence if we want to persuade teachers or other educators to accept our changes or new ideas. Because counselors are not in the classroom, no direct relationship with students likes teachers. Hence, our advice or new idea is not easy to be accepted by teachers. For dealing with these difficulties, the most effective way is research! Using data to speak! Compare the traditional and contemporary model?

The most recognizable models for school counseling focused on the “ three Cs” of school counseling: counseling, consultation, and coordination. These three elements are all what traditional model has. However, as school counseling system was improved and developed in today’s world. The contemporary model still includes counseling and coordination as well as leadership, advocacy, collaboration and teaming, and assessment and use of data. From the ASCA National Model, the skills of leadership, advocacy, and collaboration and teaming are emphasized as very important and essential elements of being a school counselor.

And it also needs efforts to improve systemic change. Comparing with the contemporary model of school counseling, the traditional model just has three basic elements. For the contemporary model, more positions and skills were involved for school counselors. School counselors spend more time to develop and maintain relationships with students, teachers, parents, administrators, and community resource educators. As the changes from traditional model to contemporary model, leadership becomes an important role in our school counseling.

According to Philiips, leadership involves influencing others to create a shared commitment to a common purpose. Then, the other new model element advocacy is also effective, advocates in schools work to reduce barriers that lead to achievement gaps between poor and minority students and their more advantaged peers. Our end goals are all making students to be successful. After that, collaboration and teaming part is difficult but necessary. It is an essential process for promoting systemic change. As our last week discussion, we all noticed the power of assessment and use of data.

We need to do effective research in order to support our new ideas and changes. Without doubts, data use is also a bright improvement of being one of the new elements for school counseling. After knowing the differences between traditional and contemporary model, we can see that school counseling system is really on the right track to move. More useful skills came out in order to promoting student achievement. For Comprehensive School Counseling Progams, Describe, compare, and contrast the Missouri Model and the ASCA Model. Are these models relevant and/or realistic for school counselors in urban schools?

After reading the chapter four, it is good to know a new model of school counseling program. The comprehensive guidance program model is also known as the Missouri model in 1917. In this model, it includes self-knowledge and interpersonal skills, life roles, settings, and events, and life career planning. It also offers three elements and four components. The elements include the content of the program, the organizational framework, and resources. Four components include guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support.

We have already familiar with the ASCA model. For the ASCA National model, the framework has four elements. (foundation, delivery system, management system and accountability). It also has four themes. (leadership, advocacy, teaming and collaboration and systemic change) ASCA National Model is conducted in collaboration with key partners, monitors student progress, is driven by data, seeks improvement, and shares successes with stakeholders. For the Missouri Model, it presents a complete framework that can be adapted for each school.

Being a school counselor, these developments are indeed good for our students. Especially, the life career development can help student’s development awareness and acceptance of themselves and others, also help students develop and incorporate practices that lead to effective learning, responsible daily living, finally help students understand and use a decision-making process in determining their life goals. As we know, the purpose of both Missouri Model and ASCA National Model is providing a framework for counselors to promote academic achievement, career planning, and personal social development.

Theoretically, these models are good in urban schools from above aspects. However, the reality is different. For an example, we all know systemic change and collaboration are not easy to do. Even though these models give us many valuable instructions to help our students, sometimes we still have many difficulties from various realities. the roles of the "resource broker" and explain the "School Change Feedback Process (SCFP)? After reading the article by Colbert and Kulikowich, I learned a new term: resource broker and a new process: School Change Feedback Process (SCFP).

The role of resource broker is offered to help counselors with data-driven programs. A resource broker is a school professional who functions as an active force to identify, provide access to, and ensure the utilization of resources that enhance student development. (Colbert, R. D. , & Kulikowich, J. M. (2006)) As a resource broker, it includes teacher efficacy in program assessments when data show inequities in student access to rigorous academic classes. Hence, the resource broker indeed plays an important role in school counseling.

After that, regarding to a role for school counselors in education reform, the research produced the emergence of a new method called the School Change Feedback Process (SCFP). It has four steps in the SCFP process: 1. Obtain teacher efficacy beliefs. 2. Share teachers' efficacy beliefs with the principal and teachers. 3. Incorporate teachers' beliefs into the ongoing education reform or school improvement plan implementation with continuous feedback. 4. Obtain teachers' beliefs again, and repeat the cycle.

In this process, three basic counselor responsibilities includes identify resources, gain access to resources and ensure the utilization of resources. According to ASCA, "School counselors must show that each activity implemented as part of the school counseling program is developed from a careful analysis of student needs, achievement and related data". Hence, we should use data to monitor student’s progress. Being a school counselor, we should use database to disaggregate data related to achievement, attendance, discipline, and so forth to develop action plans.

In additional, school counselors also work with principals and teachers. So, using SCFP is a good way to corporate with them. As we all know, getting the efficacy from teacher is very important. Hence, resource broker helps counselors with data, then using SCFP to get feedback in a contemporary urban school setting. concept of "behavioral momentum," as discussed in Lee's article. Explain how this concept, and those of high-p and low-p tasks, might be relevant to school counselors?

The term behavioral momentum is described as “ the dynamics of behavior in changing environments”. Nevin indicated that behavior possesses a momentum much more like physical objects. The high-p request intervention is based on the theory of behavioral momentum. A high-probability request sequence is an intervention that practitioners can use to make it more likely that a nonpreferred behavior will occur. For this intervention, many requests with a high probability of compliance is delivered just prior to a request with a low probability of compliance.

In this article, it gave us an example to understand, “a teacher may ask a student to take out a pencil (high-p request), write his or her name on a piece of paper (high-p request), and write the date at the top of the paper (high-p request), immediately prior to asking the student to begin math seatwork, a low-p activity”. The responses generated by the high-p requests carries over and increases compliance to the request that had previously resulted in noncompliance. The effects of high-p request sequences have been examined.

From this example, we can clearly know what is high-p and what is low-p. In our counseling program, we can use this method to help our students in academic work. It indeed has many advantages to help students to succeed. Teachers can spend more time on direct instruction, as opposed to managing student behavior. Then, decreasing the work of students who are already behind academically may have a negative effect on skill development. After that, teachers can use these tasks to make transitions more efficient and to increase proficiency at performing those same high-p tasks.

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