The ASCA National Model has four outside themes that encompass ASCA’s four components ofFoundation, Management, Delivery and Accountability. These themes are meant to influence the work that school counselors are doing in each of these components.
ASCA officials believe that by implementing these four themes ofleadership, collaboration, advocacy and systemic change into the comprehensive school counseling program, school counselors can create an environment that is not only challenging for all students but also equitable.
Here’s a closer look at how Elisabeth has implemented these themes duringher time as a trained school counselor.
Leadership
School counselors have an opportunity to be leaders at the micro level as well as the macro level. At the micro (school) level, counselors can be leaders by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program as well as working with faculty and staff to create an equitable environment for all students. At the macro (city, state, national or international) level, counselors can be leaders by working with policy setters to ensure that all students have equitable access to resources that are going to help them be successful.
- Elisabeth’s Proposal to create, plan, implement and lead a new Latino empowerment program at Orange High School called¡Adelante!
Collaboration
The School Counselor must understand that he/she can not be the be-all and end-all of any student. It’s not sustainable. Thus, it’s paramount that school counselors collaborate with others in order to provide comprehensive programming to all students. Elisabeth saw the effectiveness of collaboration when she launched a Latino empowerment program called¡Adelante! at Orange High School. This program harnessed the time, talent and treasure of school-family-community partnerships in order to provide this comprehensive programming to more than 25 Latino students.
- ¡Adelante! field trip schedule to UNC Chapel Hill,which included partneringwith several organizations and faculty members on UNC’s campus in order to make the day a success.
Advocacy
School counseling should be synonymous with “advocacy” because that is what they do every single day. School counselors work hard to advocate for the needs of each and every student, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic level or anything else. In response to school data that suggested African Americans were under-represented in advanced classes at Orange High School,Elisabeth developed a potential advocacy plan that would serve the needs of the African American population at Orange High School.
- Elisabeht’s Advocacy Group Plan for serving African American students at Orange High School.
Systemic Change
Through the four components of the ASCA National Model as well as the three aforementioned themes, the school counselor has the power to truly be a catalyst for systemic change. This can be very powerful because it raises the bar of equability for all students. During the fall, Elisabeth worked with colleagues to implement a bullying needs assessment to all 9th graders at Orange High School. The results of this assessment shed a light on the bullying conditions that students face at the school and led to grade-wide school counseling guidance curriculum interventions for 9th and 10th grade students.
