For the Whole Child, Leverage Community Stakeholders

As school counselors, we want students to attend high-performing schools that are welcoming and inviting and meet their diverse needs. This is a monumental task, one too daunting for school counselors to address alone. Creating environments that support the multifaceted needs of students requires a systematic, collaborative effort from all stakeholders. Education is a public good that benefits everyone in the community. Evidence suggests that strong school-based strategies alone cannot overcome the impact of poverty and social/emotional disparities of learning. Implementing a community-in-schools model allows counselors to leverage support from stakeholders including business and industry partners, mental health professionals and advisory council members to address the needs of students with a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities.

The theory of community in schools suggests that schools and their community partners can mitigate the relationship between poverty and student achievement indirectly by addressing the harmful effects of poverty. As Richard Rothstein noted, “Good teachers alone, for most children, cannot fully compensate for the disadvantages many children bring to school.” Schools must support children in ways that go beyond strong classroom instruction. Collaborating with community stakeholders to support learning allows counselors to provide wrap-around services and ensures families have the resources to support the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of their children.

One major advantage of incorporating a community-in-schools model or extending your school counselor program beyond your building is the ability to scale up specialization programs that are innovative and socially responsive. The Calhoun Area Career Center in Battle Creek, Mich., has joined forces with Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency on MiCareerQuest (MCQ) Southwest. This is a hands-on, career- and college-readiness event featuring local employers from six career pathways for eighth-grade students in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties. The event will take place November 1-2, 2017, at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center. Students will learn about the job responsibilities of a nurse, auto technician, banker, veterinarian, EMT, machinist, computer programmer, welder, wildlife biologist, cosmetologist, and more – directly from the people who do these jobs every day. MCQ Southwest will enlist the support of 40 school counselors and more than 300 volunteers, and service over 5,000 eighth-grade students. This major career exploration event relies on a broad range of perspectives and expertise to address the students and community needs. The pooling of resources is helpful in the counseling profession where demands associated with students’ needs have exceeded resources. For more information on MCQ, check out the video or visit the website.

School counselors must become leaders of their programs, advocates for students and representatives of the profession. School counseling in the 21st century requires counselors to adopt a mental model of a wheel where students are the central focus surrounded by schools, churches, business and industry, mental health providers, agencies, and community organizations. Incorporating this mental model of a wheel allows counselors to collaborate with a diverse group of community members and provides information, tools and resources to all stakeholders. It is essential that counselors help students bond, bridge and link social capital resources that are available through strong networks of community collaboration. Creating successful community partnerships is a multifaceted process. To be effective, all parties must define a vision and clear goals. Partnerships need effective governance and management structures to ensure that programs meet desired goals and are responsive to community needs. When counselors involve the community, students receive comprehensive support services that aid their growth and development.
 
Contact Tony Warren, MSCA president, at warrent@calhounisd.org for references for this article.