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
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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
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The ultimate goal of the school
counseling program is to support the
school’s academic mission.
Ensuring academic achievement for
every student includes counselor
initiated activities designed to meet the
needs of under-served, underperforming and under-represented
populations.
People have wondered….
WHAT DO SCHOOL COUNSELORS DO?
Historical Problems in School
Counseling Programs
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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
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What are some of your current data
sources?
The old question was…
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What do counselors do?
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The new question is….
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“HOW ARE STUDENTS DIFFERENT
AS A RESULT OF THE SCHOOL
COUNSELING PROGRAM?”
From Entitlement…To
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 Entitlement…To
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 Entitlement…To
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 Entitlement…To
Performance
To Counselors Who:
 Focus on accomplishments
 Talk about effectiveness
 Know their future rests on
accomplishments
 Communicate goals and objectives
Implications
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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:
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Counseling
Leadership
Assessment
Technology
Managing Resources
Teaming
Collaboration
Data-Driven Decisions
Advocacy
School Counseling Programs Are
About:

RESULTS!
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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,
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•
•
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
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ADVOCACY
LEADERSHIP
COLLABORATION
SYSTEMIC CHANGE
FOUNDATION
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Beliefs and Philosophy
Mission
ASCA National Standards and Competencies
Domains:
Academic Development
Career Development
Personal/Social Development
Beliefs and Philosophy
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We “agree statements
• Guide the program development,
•
implementation and evaluation
Require consensus from all personnel
involved in the program
Mission Statement
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Describes the program’s purpose
Provides a vision of what every student
should achieve
Aligned with the school and district
mission statements
Standards from the National
Model
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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
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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
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School Guidance Curriculum
Individual Student Planning
Responsive Services
System Support
Guidance Curriculum
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Structured lessons delivered to all students
Related to standards and competencies
Integrated with academic curriculum
Use data to develop lessons
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Environmental issues
Discipline records
Student records
Standardized test scores
Individual Student Planning
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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
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Test score review, interpretation and
analysis
Promotion and retention information
Career decision making
Yearly course selection
Test taking strategies
Responsive Services
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Designed to meet students’ immediate
needs
Individual, group and crisis counseling
Consultation, referral, mediation and
information
Available to all students and parents
System Support
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Program management activities that
establish, maintain, and enhance the
program
Professional development activities
Consultation, collaboration and teaming
Management System
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Agreements
Advisory Council
Use of Time
Calendars
Action Plans
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Guidance Curriculum
Closing the Gap
Use of Data
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Monitoring Student Progress
Closing the Gap
Agreements
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To ensure effective implementation of
the program
Based on delivery systems and needs
Negotiated every year
Advisory Council
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Group appointed to review the guidance
program
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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
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Master Calendar
Weekly Calendar
Published
Ensures planned activities are
completed
PR Tool
Action Plans
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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
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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.?
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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
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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
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After classroom guidance lessons prepost tests indicated…
Student knowledge of goal setting
increased from 10% to 90%
90% achieved their identified goal
ACCOUNTABILITY
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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)
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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?
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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
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Administrator Support
Planned Steps
On-going Program Evaluation
Steps to Implementation
What if my school doesn’t 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
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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
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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
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Understand the trends, work with the
details
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Collaborate with others at your school
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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….
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“WE NEED TO BE THE CHANGE WE
WANT TO SEE HAPPEN.
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WE ARE THE LEADERS WE HAVE
BEEN WAITING FOR.”
• Gandhi
Questions?