Cultural Competency Specialist

Please note, this page is for those who purchased the Cultural Competency Specialist prior to 12/5/2020. For information on the revised Culturally Sustaining School Counseling Specialist, click here.

Course Description
The United States is becoming more racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, which means so are its schools. Furthermore, culture is a powerful and pervasive influence on students, stakeholders and school counselors’ attitudes and behaviors. For that reason, there is a critical need for multicultural education in all K-12 schools, no matter the demographic.

School counselors are in a position to improve cultural responsiveness by collaborating with stakeholders to create a school and community climate that embraces cultural diversity and helps to promote students’ academic, career and social/emotional success. Learn how you can foster increased awareness, understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity in the school community through culturally responsive school counseling. View the Specialist syllabus.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this training, participants should be able to:

  • Explain the need for multicultural education in K-12 schools
  • Recognize the value of incorporating multicultural education in schools
  • Critically reflect on your own counseling experiences and practices involving race and equity, including identifying your own bias thinking
  • List ways one can become more culturally competent
  • Discuss the school counselors’ role in leading multicultural education efforts
  • Describe how to deliver culturally competent school counseling through the framework of the ASCA National Model
  • Evaluate and assess the current systems in their school
  • Design and implement multicultural education interventions in your school counseling core curriculum, group counseling and schoolwide activities

Graduate credit is available for an additional fee. 

Please note, access to all webinars, journal article, magazine articles and quizzes is included in the registration price. Books must be purchased separately. 

How to Get Started

  1. Read/view the above assignments. 
  2. Take your exams to indicate mastery of the subject matter. To access your exams, log in to the ASCA website and click on "My ASCA."  Then click on My Profile. From your My Profile page, click on the “Purchases” tab at the top, then click on “Exams” on the left. Your ASCA U Specialist Course and its affiliated exams will be listed in the center of your screen. Click on “Details” then “Take Quiz” to begin taking and passing your exams.
  3. Once you successfully pass all course exams by correctly answering every question, you can view and download a record of your education credits by going to your “Account” tab at the top of your profile and clicking on the “Education Credits” on the left. A certificate suitable for framing with arrive in the mail within 4-6 weeks.