1 Analysis of School Counseling Websites Lacey M. Enger School Counseling, Minnesota State University Moorhead CNSA 650 Organization and Administration of School Counseling Services Sarah Kjos, LPC, LSC June 30, 2020 ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING WEBSITES 2 Introduction I chose three different school counseling sites to review – two from large North Dakota schools and one from Omaha Public School District, in Omaha, Nebraska. Initially, I had a bit of trouble finding sites to research as a Google search using the term “school counseling sites” brought up mostly websites advertising graduate programs in school counseling. I also tried searching through popular school counseling blogs that I occasionally use (Simply Imperfect Counselor, Counselor Keri), thinking they might be linked to school districts. That didn’t seem to be the case; I discovered that the audience for these websites is other school counselors, not parents or students. I chose to evaluate these three school districts because they are large and I presumed they would all have fairly comprehensive school counseling pages. Also, I chose not to evaluate any small districts in North Dakota (which would likely be most similar to my own school district) because those sites have likely been curated exclusively by one person, and I did not want to critique a colleague. Analysis Omaha School District https://www.omaha.school/cms/one.aspx?portalId=4354555&pageId=17168411 Omaha School District outlines the school’s counseling mission and does a fair job of describing what services are offered as part of the counseling program. It reports to be based on the ASCA model and uses the Arkansas School Counseling Standards. The Program Description, Beliefs, and Mission Statement includes verbiage that pertain to the following ASCA Mindsets, which are part of ASCA’s School Counseling Professional Standards (American School Counselor Association, 2019): Mindset 4 (Every student should have access to a school counseling program.), Mindset 5 (Effective school counseling is a collaborative process involving school counselors, students, families, teachers, administrators, other school staff and education stakeholders.), Mindset 7 (School counseling programs promote and enhance student academic, career and social/emotional outcomes). A parent or student can easily find a general description of the services that are offered through the district’s Direct Counseling program. Also included are descriptions about some other secondary services, such as Program Assessment, Social Work Services, and Advisory Counsel, among others. However, while this site does provide a broad overview of Omaha School District’s program description, mission statement, vision statement, and beliefs, I do not imagine a student or parent would find much information that is meaningful or helpful here. If I were to improve on this site, first, I would make sure the counseling page was prominent on the homepage of each school’s website. To find the information that I described, I had to use the “Search” bar on the homepage. I searched “Counseling” and was directed to a page called “Counseling Plan.” There were no links to scholarships, parent or student resources, newsletters, or other resources. I think a good school counseling website should have some of these useful elements. Bismarck Public School District https://www.bismarckschools.org/domain/603 I was surprised to find a dearth of information regarding counseling on Bismarck Public School’s website. Also, in addition to a lack of information, the counseling pages were difficult to find. After looking ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING WEBSITES 3 through their menu and tabs, I ended up using the “Search” function at the top of their homepage. When I typed “counseling,” a dialogue box popped up, showing 1,080 matches for that search term within Bismarck Public School’s site. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to look through too many of the selections as several choices on the first page turned out to be individual school’s counseling pages. I reviewed several of these selections. Some displayed a list of counselors’ names and their contact information, Mission Statement, and Vision Statement. Some also had a very brief overview of a few of the services offered. In regard to the ASCA model, I noticed that Bismarck’s Century High School referenced the ideals of Mindsets 4, 5, and 7 in their Mission Statement and Vision Statement. Bismarck Public School patrons do not appear to be able to access school counseling information online, unless there exists another outlet for disseminating these resources which I was unable to find. Fargo Public School District https://www.fargo.k12.nd.us/Page/407 I was very happy to find a terrific example of a school counseling website in Fargo Public School’s setup. Immediately, when landing at the home page, you can find the “Counseling Center” tab right on the main menu’s drop-down list. After clicking this, you are directed to a page with a big, bright blue box on the left side of the page labelled, “School Counseling.” Under this, there are clearly marked tabs which direct you to the School Counseling homepage, a list of counseling staff, and elementary, middle school, and high school sites. When you click the sites, you find a comprehensive list of PDF resources for that age group (all under tidy headers such as Academic, Personal/Social, Career). Furthermore, to my great delight, three of the four high schools and all three middle schools within the district follows the same format, with the “School Counseling” box on the left side of the homepage and pertinent tabs underneath (see Fargo South’s example here: https://www.fargo.k12.nd.us/Page/1088 ). Regarding ASCA’s model, I admit that there might be a little less information here, but I don’t find it objectionable at all. Here is the Welcome statement for Fargo Public School District’s School’s Counseling page: “The purpose of the Fargo Public School's Counseling Program is to encourage and assist all students in understanding themselves and in acquiring and using life-long learning skills. The program is comprehensive, developmental, preventative and based on national, state, and local standards”. There is nothing contradictory to the ASCA model, but in matching the mindsets, I can only find verbiage that matches Mindsets 4 and 5. However, to my mind, Fargo Public School District “shows” instead of “tells” what they do to espouse ASCA’s model through their relevant and helpful resource list. I feel that, of the examples I researched, Fargo’s website serves its students and parents best regarding school counseling sites. Conclusion I hope to begin developing my own school counseling website this spring. I feel like this exercise has given me much better direction and guidance about what I would like to have for my site! I especially like the layout of Fargo’s website. It is clear, concise, and contains a great deal of relevant, helpful information for students and parents in a well-organized format. I would want my page to include tabs for Four-Year Planning (which would include ND DPI’s graduation requirement worksheet), links to my newsletters, Scholarships and Financial Aid, Dual Credit/Advanced Placement/Early Entry, and Student Opportunities/Community Resources. Some other things that I ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING WEBSITES 4 would like to eventually include might be job opportunities and leadership opportunities. I expect it will take me some time to get a good list of resources up, so I will finish the most important ones first. Initially, I thought I’d just try to use wix.com or another website builder, but after completing this assignment, I think it will be much nicer to integrate my counseling page into the school’s website. I plan to ask our IT staff for help with this. A question I frequently fielded last year was about how students were progressing towards the State Scholarship requirements (if you’re not familiar with North Dakota’s State Scholarship, it is a $6,000 scholarship paid to students who meet the requirements and attend a post-secondary school located in North Dakota). Maybe I could somehow create a login portal in which students can check on their State Scholarship progress. I think this would be really helpful to students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike! References American School Counselor Association (2019). ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies. Alexandria, VA: Author.