President’s Letter: Leadership Reveals Our Role

The roles and responsibilities of today’s professional school counselor have shifted greatly over the years. The “school counselor” vs. “guidance counselor” movement holds a great deal of significance in clarifying the appropriate and inappropriate duties of the school counselor. School counselors are uniquely trained to support students from diverse backgrounds and can support them with their academic, college/career and social/emotional needs. 

Although there have been many advances in the profession of school counseling and the community’s understanding of the school counselor’s role, quite a bit of work remains to be done. When I first became a school counselor, I was not aware of the level of leadership that would be required to bring credibility and clarity to our profession. I quickly realized that there were differing viewpoints about the role of a school counselor and their place within the school community. If you were to ask staff members and other stakeholders within your school district what they believe the role of a school counselor is, do you think there would be consistency among the responses? Would these stakeholders describe the school counselor as a vital part of the school community and part of the leadership team? If so, you are doing some great work. Unfortunately, this is not the response we always hear from stakeholders regarding the work of school counselors. The message needs to be clear: School counselors are leaders and advocates who help to support student success!

How do we work together to ensure consistency in others’ perceptions of the role of the school counselor? Look for opportunities to be a leader at your school, district, community, state and even national level. Collecting data and disseminating the results to stakeholders (in staff meetings, board presentations, etc.) will help others to gain a better understanding of how school counselors impact achievement. 

I recently had the opportunity to accompany the 2019 California School Counselor of the Year, Josh Godinez, to be honored in Washington, D.C., for his extraordinary work with students and as a school counseling leader. Being surrounded by school counselors of the year from all over the nation was incredible – I was able to learn more not only about their work to affect student achievement, but their advocacy to ensure that school counselors are viewed as leaders and vital members of their schools and districts. 

CASC helps to empower school counselors to act as leaders and advocate for equitable practices in schools. Several districts and school sites have shown incredible leadership practices and are helping to propel the school counseling profession in the right direction. If you have a story you’d like to share about school counselor leadership, please email to ashley.kruger@schoolcounselor-ca.org. Thank you for all you do each and every day!

Contact Ashley Kruger, CASC president, at ashley.kruger@schoolcounselor-ca.org.