Manage: Approaching the Work and Using Templates
By Eric Sparks, Ed.D., CAE | November 2025
The most significant changes to the fifth edition of the ASCA National Model® are in the Manage section. ASCA identified four broad tasks to organize the approach to the work in this section. Each task includes templates to show how school counselors accomplish them. Some templates have been combined, and all have been simplified and streamlined. Each template includes new details on the template’s purpose and specific implementation notes to help school counselors get the most out of each template.
Data continues to be essential to managing a school counseling program and informs program design. However, some names of data types have changed. The fifth edition’s three categories are: participation data (no change), ASCA Student Standards data (formerly Mindsets & Behaviors) and achievement data (formerly outcome).
ASCA Student Standards Delivery Plan Template: This template combines the former classroom and group Mindsets & Behaviors action plan and the annual calendar template into one document. It’s now more interactive, with dropdown lists to identify behavior standards from the ASCA Student Standards and dropdowns to identify whether it’s a Tier 1 or Tier 2 activity. It now includes a column called “reinforcing events,” which is a new term describing activities for families/education partners that support the Tier 1 activities as applicable.
Lesson Plan and Data Report Template: This template tracks only participation and ASCA Student Standards data and no longer tracks achievement data, as a single lesson is unlikely to have a significant impact on achievement data. Instead, the new template tracks the rationale for the lesson, asking how the lesson will help students improve achievement or contributing factors and identifies if the lesson is delivered in classrooms, large groups, small groups or individually.
Small-Group Plan and Data Report Template: The fifth edition includes a separate template for small groups, with all sessions of the group included in a single template. The new template tracks data for participation, ASCA Student Standards and achievement data.
School Counseling Data Priorities Template: Formerly called the school data summary, this template helps school counselors identify school data priorities, select priorities the school counseling program can address and list data points that can be measured as a result of school counseling program interventions. These data points are used in the achievement gap plan to create an achievement gap goal.
Achievement Gap Plan and Data Report Template: The ASCA National Model® now combines the former annual student outcome goal and closing-the-gap plan and report into the achievement gap plan and data report. This plan focuses attention on achievement gaps of students not meeting academic benchmarks and connects the gaps to contributing factors, such as attendance, discipline and policies/procedures (e.g., patterns in course enrollment or discipline policies).
Use-of-Time 5-Day Calculator Template: This template is used to document how a school counselor spends time over a five-day period and creates pie charts as a visualization of how the time was spent. The template has been simplified through the use of check boxes in 15-minute interval slots. In addition, there are fewer categories of time, as all direct services are combined in one column and all indirect services in another.
Calendars: School counselors use weekly calendars to prioritize, plan and publicize day-to-day work. They also publicize an annual calendar with all major school counseling activities, sharing it with students, families and other education partners. There is no specific template for weekly or annual calendars, and school counselors are encouraged to use what works best for their school.
Annual Administrator Conference Template: Formerly referred to as the annual administrative conference, the name has been modified to clarify that the conference is held with the administrator who oversees the school counseling program. It is always good to include the principal in this conference, but the template does not require the principal’s signature if there’s a different supervising administrator. The conference now includes discussion of the ASCA Student Standards delivery plan and the achievement gap goal.
School Counseling Advisory Council Templates: There are no significant changes beyond improved alignment between the agenda and the minutes.
Access more information on the ASCA National Model® and download the PDF
Watch for upcoming training opportunities at national and state conferences and webinars available through ASCA’s Webinar Series.
Eric Sparks, Ed.D., CAE, is ASCA deputy executive director. He can be reached at esparks@schoolcounselor.org.
Data continues to be essential to managing a school counseling program and informs program design. However, some names of data types have changed. The fifth edition’s three categories are: participation data (no change), ASCA Student Standards data (formerly Mindsets & Behaviors) and achievement data (formerly outcome).
- ASCA Student Standards is a change in name only, with the focus of data collection on the behavior standards of the ASCA Student Standards. The mindsets are best understood as byproducts of students attaining the behavior standards.
- “Outcome” was changed to achievement, as achievement is the anticipated result of improving attendance and discipline. Attendance and discipline are contributing factors to improving achievement.
- Contributing-factors data, formerly supplemental data, includes attendance and discipline, plus data related to systemic issues and student and education partner perspectives gathered from discussions and surveys (formerly needs assessments).
- Planning for each and every student to learn the ASCA Student Standards
- Identifying and addressing achievement gaps
- Planning and monitoring their time
- Educating about and advocating for the school counseling program
Planning for Each and Every student to Learn the ASCA Student Standards
Through this planning, school counselors identify ASCA Student Standards that will be delivered to enhance life-readiness for each and every student through attainment of beliefs for success, learning strategies, self-management skills and social skills. The following templates help in the planning process.ASCA Student Standards Delivery Plan Template: This template combines the former classroom and group Mindsets & Behaviors action plan and the annual calendar template into one document. It’s now more interactive, with dropdown lists to identify behavior standards from the ASCA Student Standards and dropdowns to identify whether it’s a Tier 1 or Tier 2 activity. It now includes a column called “reinforcing events,” which is a new term describing activities for families/education partners that support the Tier 1 activities as applicable.
Lesson Plan and Data Report Template: This template tracks only participation and ASCA Student Standards data and no longer tracks achievement data, as a single lesson is unlikely to have a significant impact on achievement data. Instead, the new template tracks the rationale for the lesson, asking how the lesson will help students improve achievement or contributing factors and identifies if the lesson is delivered in classrooms, large groups, small groups or individually.
Small-Group Plan and Data Report Template: The fifth edition includes a separate template for small groups, with all sessions of the group included in a single template. The new template tracks data for participation, ASCA Student Standards and achievement data.
Identifying and Addressing Achievement Gaps
School counselors identify school counseling data priorities aligned with the school improvement plan and create achievement gap plans to address the needs of students who are not reaching achievement goals or benchmarks.School Counseling Data Priorities Template: Formerly called the school data summary, this template helps school counselors identify school data priorities, select priorities the school counseling program can address and list data points that can be measured as a result of school counseling program interventions. These data points are used in the achievement gap plan to create an achievement gap goal.
Achievement Gap Plan and Data Report Template: The ASCA National Model® now combines the former annual student outcome goal and closing-the-gap plan and report into the achievement gap plan and data report. This plan focuses attention on achievement gaps of students not meeting academic benchmarks and connects the gaps to contributing factors, such as attendance, discipline and policies/procedures (e.g., patterns in course enrollment or discipline policies).
Planning and Monitoring Their Time
School counselors monitor their use of time in appropriate school counseling duties as well as any non-school-counseling duties. The fifth edition continues to recommend school counselors spend at least 80% of their time in direct and indirect services to students and 20% or less in program planning and school support.Use-of-Time 5-Day Calculator Template: This template is used to document how a school counselor spends time over a five-day period and creates pie charts as a visualization of how the time was spent. The template has been simplified through the use of check boxes in 15-minute interval slots. In addition, there are fewer categories of time, as all direct services are combined in one column and all indirect services in another.
Calendars: School counselors use weekly calendars to prioritize, plan and publicize day-to-day work. They also publicize an annual calendar with all major school counseling activities, sharing it with students, families and other education partners. There is no specific template for weekly or annual calendars, and school counselors are encouraged to use what works best for their school.
Educating About and Advocating for the School Counseling Program
School counselors educate about and advocate for the school counseling program by communicating program priorities and plans for each and every student to the administrator in charge of the school counseling program, as well as other education partners.Annual Administrator Conference Template: Formerly referred to as the annual administrative conference, the name has been modified to clarify that the conference is held with the administrator who oversees the school counseling program. It is always good to include the principal in this conference, but the template does not require the principal’s signature if there’s a different supervising administrator. The conference now includes discussion of the ASCA Student Standards delivery plan and the achievement gap goal.
School Counseling Advisory Council Templates: There are no significant changes beyond improved alignment between the agenda and the minutes.
Access more information on the ASCA National Model® and download the PDF
Watch for upcoming training opportunities at national and state conferences and webinars available through ASCA’s Webinar Series.
Eric Sparks, Ed.D., CAE, is ASCA deputy executive director. He can be reached at esparks@schoolcounselor.org.