For every 903 students in Arizona, there is only one
school counselor, a ratio that is nearly double the national average (450:1) and more than 3.5 times higher than the ratio recommended by the American
School Counselor Association.
Attitudes of American
School Counselor Association members toward utilizing paraprofessionals in school counseling.
For example, we know little about school-based and district-level leadership implications for
school counselors, how
school counselor leadership can influence instructional practices, how to train cohorts of
school counselor leaders, or which
school counselor leadership variables are most effective for specific program delivery.
According to the American
School Counselor Association, the student-to-counselor ratio should be 250 students to 1, or less.
The American
School Counselor Association (ASCA), a division of the American Counseling Association (ACA), chose to respond by interpreting A Nation at Risk (Gardner, 1983) and NCLB legislation as a concern that
school counselors were not seen as part of the solution (Schwallie-Giddis et al., 2003).
School counselors assisting students with disabilities School districts should clearly define the role of a
school counselor when working with students with disabilities.
Social Justice Advocacy in Schools: Standards for
School Counselor Education
In response to Christopher Griffin's Student Counsel column ("High
School Counselors Take it on the Chin," September 2010), the American
School Counselor Association (ASCA) agrees with many of the conclusions of the Public Agenda study: More
school counselors are needed, and existing counselors should not be overloaded with noncounseling duties preventing them from spending time guiding students to academic success and postsecondary education.
The national standards of the American
School Counselor Association (ASCA, 1997; Campbell & Dahir, 1997), the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (Education Trust, 1997), and the ASCA (2003, 2005) National Model have directed
school counselors to respect the past and embrace the present but forge a new vision to the future.
In this position, I hope to serve as a conduit between universities, state departments of education, and practitioners in sharing information with them, as well as gathering information and data from them, around the role of the transformed
school counselor. The three main areas with which I work are at the state level, the university level, and with preservice school counseling programs.
If trained properly, the
school counselor is best suited to lead these changes in order to facilitate a climate of safety and support for these students, who are deserving of an equal opportunity to learn.
Alternative "stages," which the author believes are appropriate in tracing the history of the
school counselor movement, are presented as an example of this approach.