The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) supports advocacy efforts of school counselors and counselor educators by providing numerous resources that are readily accessible in a variety of formats. With position statements, the profession’s flagship journal for peer-reviewed research, podcasts, webinars, and other publications including books, magazines, and brochures, ASCA resources help to build our advocacy wheelhouse for promoting programs or helping to define the school counselors’ role. These tools have been essential in advocacy work done at our state level, and at local levels too.
How have we used the resources in Connecticut? CSCA has a long history of legislative action work. For more than 50 years, the CSCA has made the heart of its mission promoting the role pf comprehensive school counseling in student success through ongoing professional development to strengthen competencies. This connects to the vital importance of educating stakeholders. In recent years, CSCA developed a PowerPoint template for presenting to schools and community entitled, “Why Every School Needs School Counselors.” The presentation is designed so that school counselors can personalize it with their program’s context-specific evidence of effectiveness. The framework for this advocacy tool is built from myriad ASCA resources: the ASCA National Model, in concert with our state’s model of comprehensive school counseling, and published research (much from ASCA’s Professional School Counseling journal). When CSCA board members meet with legislators to engage in discussion surrounding the needs and impact of school counseling on student success, these resources provide the necessary supports to help communicate our collective message.
How can practitioners use ASCA resources in their schools? We know that program advocacy has much to do with demonstrating how students’ lives are different as a result of school counseling. Data collection related to intervention efforts is no longer optional; it is vital to ongoing reflection and evaluation that the intentional work impacts student achievement. Various ASCA publications, such as “Making DATA Work” (Kaffenberger & Young, 2013) and “School Counselor Leadership: An Essential Practice” (Young & Miller-Neale, 2013), provide guidance and deepen understanding of how to best gather, analyze and share information that demonstrates evidence of effectiveness. The 41 position statements, ranging from comprehensive programming to specific student issues, are regularly reviewed and revised documents that reflect the current needs and defines the related school counselor’s role. Succinct and research-supported, the position statements provide us with language that helps in communicating to school, parents and community members. ASCA further provides valuable templates, including Closing the Gap Action Plan, Results Plan, Annual Agreement, and many more to support school counselors in their efforts to promote or advocate for their work.
Program advocacy requires us to be grounded in our professional identity, raise awareness through educating others, collaborate with others and be accountable. The resources ASCA provides support our ability to effectively advocate for programming that positively impacts student success. Ultimately, the responsibility for program advocacy lies within ourselves; utilizing the resources available provides the means with which to do so competently.
Jennifer Parzych, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University and treasurer of CSCA. She can be reached at parzychj1@southernct.edu