Transform Your School Counseling Program with an Antiracist Lens

An antiracist school counselor views racial groups as equal; is self-reflective; and works to dismantle structures, policies, and systems that create barriers and perpetuate race-based inequities for Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC). They understand the history of systemic racism and racial disparities in our education system. Well-intentioned school counselors may implicitly perpetuate systemic racism, so it is essential for all school counselors to engage in regular self-reflection of their own implicit biases, and privileges (race, socio-economic, religion, ability, immigration status, gender or sexual orientation) to recognize how they influence their decision making and actions.

Education policies perpetuate inequities for BIPOC in discipline, college-readiness, a-g completion, college-going rates, and college persistence. For example, Child Trends (2018) found that Black students spend less time in the classroom because of rigid, biased discipline policies. Black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school – even in preschool – which further hinders their access to quality education and future college. Moreover, Black students are punished more harshly for the same behavior as white students, often for nonviolent offenses. These charts derived from data on the 2019 California Dashboard identify disparities between BIPOC and white students across all dashboard measures. Below, we outline how school counselors can infuse anti-racism within the ASCA National Model.

Manage and Assess
School counselors can conduct a thorough analysis of data, practices and policies that influence inequities and disrupt systemic decisions that historically have disenfranchised BIPOC. Share data disparities with your school community and use stories to humanize the data. Engage in dialogue about the academic resources, policies, grading and discipline practices that are perpetuating inequities. Identify who the practices and policies benefit and who they disadvantage. Assess whether students of color are disproportionately affected negatively by disciplinary, pedagogical and administrative practices. Furthermore, assess which students are most disciplined based on dress code or physical appearance and if a particular rule is applied to all people or just to some. Once the inequities have been identified, develop a plan, in collaboration with stakeholders, to address them.

Deliver
This school year, we can anticipate increased opportunities to teach lessons that address bias and privilege in order to make a significant impact on creating a school culture free from racism and bias. It is important for school counselors to engage in open conversations with students about race and help them learn how to productively challenge injustices they see. School counselors can create safe spaces to listen to the lived experiences of students of color and their families, and help students feel like they belong and have the opportunity to succeed. To engage in conversations about race, Teaching Tolerance's resource, "Let's Talk: Discussing Race, Racism, and Other Difficult Topics," includes suggestions for working through discomfort. Through culturally responsive instruction, and group and individual counseling, school counselors are uniquely positioned to teach students to see and respect the humanity and dignity of all people. Teaching Tolerance and the Anti-Defamation League have a wide array of antiracist lessons that promote critical thinking and learning for students.

Recently, California revised AB 2016: Ethnic Studies to help emphasize cross-relational and intersectional study of different groups. State Superintendent Thurmond has been leading conversations and webinars to bring attention to our state’s revised K–12 Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. He stated, “Our students have spoken, and they want to have conversations and learn about our nation’s complex history in a way that is more representative of the world they’ve experienced and lived – a way that represents them and their families.” The four core disciplines of the curriculum will be:

• African American Studies
• Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies
• Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies
• Native American and Indigenous Studies. 

Continual acknowledgment of California’s diversity and making connections to the experiences of all students will occur throughout the curriculum. Themes include identity, history and movement, systems of power, and social movements and equity.

CASC Professional Learning Opportunities and Resources
CASC has formed the Social Justice, Equity, and Anti-Racism Committee and is committed to providing professional learning and resources to enhance the skills of the school counseling community in order to combat racism in schools:

• Equity and Anti-Racism Resources
• Free Webinar: Unpacking Covert Racism in K-12 Schools
• Free Webinar: CASC Virtual Community Forum: Antiracist School Counseling
• Fall Virtual Conference: REVOLUTION: Equity, Disparities, and Student Mental Health

Dr. Rebecca Pianta is coordinator of Counseling and Student Support for Capistrano USD; consultant and lead professional development specialist with Hatching Results; a CASC Board member and chair of the CASC Social Justice, Equity, and Anti-Racism Committee; a member ASCA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; and the 2019 CASC School Counselor Advocate.

Becky Love is coordinator of School Counseling for the Shasta County Office of Education; coordinator of professional development with Hatching Results; a member of the CASC Social Justice, Equity, and Anti-Racism Committee; and the 2020 CASC School Counselor Advocate.