The School
Counselor as a
Systems
Change Agent
Lamar University
Dana Bickley
CNDV 5330- CNA
Activity: The Face Game
Participants are given pictures of people representing diverse ethnicities and cultures.
Directions: Study the picture and give a description of the person based your perception.
Your description must include the the following:
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Name
Age
Occupation
Mood
Family life
Friends
Educational background
Socio-economic status
Any religious beliefs
• Share your description with the group. Explain how you derived your
descriptions and whether they were based on physical appearance or
personal experience.
Baylor University's Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development
Consider your school…
• Who will advocate for students without a
voice?
• Who will advocate for diverse students?
Who will lead the
of the school?
Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012
As a school counselor…
You are a LEADER and an
ADVOCATE
a CHAMPION for students,
their development, and their
issues.
You are being asked to
ENABLE and EMPOWER
healthy student learning and
development.
Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012
“Commitments of Leadership”
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1. Challenge the process.
2. Inspire a shared vision.
3. Enable others to act.
4. Model the way.
5. Encourage the heart.
• “These are the means to make a difference in
the world” (Kouzes and Posner,1995).
Advocacy
• “As one of the ASCA National Model (2005)
Themes, the advocacy role is a critical one for
social justice issues, school climate issues,
closing the gap efforts, and situations in which
there is a power differential that is being
abused” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012).
Leadership + Advocacy =
Results
• “Ultimately, counselors must recognize that
they must accept leadership of their
comprehensive school counseling programs,
and this leadership means setting program
priorities to maximize student potential.
Counselors must be willing to advocate on
behalf of the school counseling progression
and the comprehensive school counseling
program” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012).
Accountability through MEASURE
• “MEASURE requires school counselors to collaborate
and team with administrators, faculty, and
stakeholders to identify and have a positive impact
on the critical data elements that are important
barometers of student success” (Dahir & Stone, 2003).
• “MEASURE is a way of using information such as
retention rates, test scores, and postsecondary going
rates to develop specific strategies for connecting
school counseling to the accountability agenda of
today’s schools” (ASCA, 2003).
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Mission: connect the comprehensive
K-12 school counseling program to
the mission of the school and to the
goals of the annual school
improvement plan.”
• “School counselors need to ask how every aspect of their
program supports the mission of the school and contributes to
student achievement.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Elements: identify the critical data
elements that are important to the
internal and external stakeholder.”
“Disaggregating data into separate
elements in a variety of ways
ensures that the system addresses
access and equity issues.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Analyze: discuss carefully which
elements need to be
aggregated or disaggregated
and why.”
• “Analysis will determine the institutional or
environmental barriers that may be impeding
student achievement and adversely
influencing the data elements.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Stakeholders - Unite: determine
which stakeholders need to be
involved in addressing these schoolimprovement issues and unite to
develop strategies.”
“Creating and implementing an action
plan that contains strategies, a timeline,
and responsibilities will begin to move
the data in a positive direction.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Reanalyze: rethink and refine the
strategies, refocus efforts as needed,
and reflect on success.”
“By examining what worked well, and what
strategies need to be modified, adjusted,
or perhaps changed altogether, the action plan
can be revised for the following year in order
to continue to move the critical data elements
in a positive direction.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
Six Steps to Success through MEASURE
“Educate: show the positive impact the
school counseling program has had on
student achievement and on the goals
of the school improvement plan.”
“As partners in school improvement,
school counselors have demonstrated a willingness to
be accountable for changing critical data elements and
are thereby viewed as essential to the school’s mission.”
Dahir & Stone, 2003
The Goal of Systemic Change
“Transformed school counselors commit to ensuring
that every student, regardless of race, color,
ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, receives a
successful school experience that ultimately will
increase their potential and positively affect their
quality of life”
(The Education Trust, 2001).
References
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American School Counselor Association. (2003). American School Counselor Association national
model: A framework for school counseling programs. Alexandria, VA: Author.
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Baylor Universityís Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development. Retrieved August 1, 2013,
from http://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_437.pdf
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Dahir, C., & Stone, C. (2003). Accountability: A M.E.A.S.U.R.E. of the impact school counselors have
on student achievement. Professional School Counseling, 6, 214-221.
•
Dollarhide, C.T. and Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive School Counseling Programs: K-2 Delivery
Systems in Action. (2nd ed.). Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
•
The Education Trust. (2001). Working definition of school counseling. Ed Trust: Transforming School
Counseling. The DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, National Initiative for Transforming School
Counseling. Retrieved March 2, 2001, from http://www.edtrust.org/main/school_counseling.asp
•
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B.Z. (1995). The leadership challenge: How to keep getting extraordinary
things done in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.