Implementation

• Administrator Support
• Pre-Conditions
• Steps to Implementation
• Impact of Program Transformation
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary
• References
• Implementation Appendix

ADMINISTRATOR SUPPORT

 Administrator support is necessary to ensure effective implementation of the school counseling program. The entire school counseling staff, including the administrator in charge of the school counseling department, collaborates to make management decisions. Site principals and administrators are involved in the process for several important reasons.

Administrators are the school leaders who understand the school's direction and needs.

• Administrators who meet regularly with the counseling staff to discuss the school's mission and the counseling program are critical links in supporting the school's mission and meeting student needs.
• Without administrator support, school counseling programs may strive, but they will not thrive.
• An involved and supportive administrator is one of the school counseling program's best advocacy tools.
• Administrator's work collaboratively with counselors to create a systemic and interdependent approach to improve student academic achievement.
• Both Professional School Counselors and administrators are especially alert to and responsible for the needs of every student, including those who are under-served (The ASCA National Model, 2003).

 

PRE-CONDITIONS

 To support the school counseling program, it is helpful to have the following pre-conditions:

A Program

• Every student, parent or guardian, teacher and other recipient of the school counseling program has equal access to the school counseling program.
• The program operates in a supportive work environment and has an adequate budget and school counseling materials.
• The school counselor works cooperatively with parents/guardians, teachers and community partners and follows the ASCA and local policies regarding counseling with students.
• School Administrators understand and support the program's priorities and demands.
• The Public Education Department provides leadership and technical assistance as the schools in each district implement a school counseling program.
• Districts have a director of counseling services at the level who facilitate the program's direction in the district, and offer support to the counselors's so that they can do their job effectively.
• Many schools also have a head counselor at the site level. The head counselor would collaborate with the district's director of counseling services to facilitate the program's direction at the site level and offer support to the counselors that they work directly with.

Staff

• Professional School Counselors hold a valid school counselor certification from the State of New Mexico .
• If the counselor does not have previous teaching experience then it is recommended that they be trained in student learning styles, classroom behavioral management, and be familiar with how to utilize and present curriculum materials, student assessments and understand about student achievement and what it looks like.
• School counselor responsibilities are clearly defined by the program to make maximum use of the school counseling expertise.
• The student-to-counselor ratio is appropriate to implement the designed program. ASCA recommends a ratio of 250-1 or better.
• All staff members accept responsibility for the infusion of school counseling standards and competencies into the program.
• Professional School Counselors are members of their state and national professional associations.

Budget

• A school counseling department budget is established to support program needs and goals.
• Budgets similar to those of other departments are established at the local or district level.
• Local, state and federal funds are made available to support the program's goals.

Materials, Supplies and Equipment

• Materials are relevant to the program and appropriate to the community.
• The school counselor consults with their advisory committee and the local board policy concerning the evaluation and selection of program materials.
• Materials, supplies and equipment are easily accessible and of sufficient quantity to support the program.
• All Professional School Counselors have locking file cabinets, private telephone lines and computers with Internet access in their offices.

Facilities

• All facilities are easily accessible and provide adequate space to organize and display school counseling materials.
• The school counselor has a private office that is designed with consideration of the student's right to privacy and confidentiality.
• Access is provided to facilities for meeting with groups of students.

Technology

• Professional School Counselors use technology daily in their work, including the Internet, word processing, student database systems and presentation software.
• Professional School Counselors use technology to help students perform career and advanced educational searches and create online portfolios.
• Professional School Counselors use data regarding their school populations to work with the principal, teachers and the advisory council in making recommendations to improve academic achievement.
• Professional School Counselors receive yearly training in all areas of technology advancement and updates.
• Professional School Counselors use technology in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the school counseling program.
• Professional School Counselors use technology as a tool to gather, analyze and present data to drive systemic change.

 

STEPS TO IMPLEMENTATION

 Making the Transition

• Start slowly.
• Celebrate accomplishments.
• Expand your leadership base.
• Brainstorm potential obstacles and develop strategies to overcome barriers.
• Develop and model trust.

 Getting Started - Some Implementation Suggestions

• Start with your existing program. Evolution is usually more acceptable and less costly than revolution.
• Allow for minor adaptations to the ASCA National Model to make sure the program woks for your school and community.
• Use a team approach. People feel a sense of ownership when they are involved in the planning process. This applies to the Professional School Counselors, administrators, teachers, students, and community members. Their early involvement will enhance the delivery of your school counseling program and their commitment to change.
• Expect some staff to resist change. Be willing to work more with students in large-group settings, practice good teaching techniques while involved in classroom presentations, and become skilled in one or more particular areas of counseling specialization. Opportunities for professional growth in these areas should be provided.
• Don't reinvent the wheel. Look to other districts and states to gather effective curricula, job descriptions and management systems. Adopt and adapt when possible.
• Cooperation with teachers is critical. Here are some examples of ways to promote teacher involvement:
  Present data on student needs.

  Present competencies addressing student needs, and describe how these could relate to the teacher's subject-matter area. A Crosswalking of National and State standards, benchmarks and indicators has been developed and is included in this program.

  Identify teacher requirements or competencies around which the school counselor and teacher could co-develop units.

  Collaborate with classroom teachers to schedule infusion into the course sequence.

  Be visible and involved with all school staff.

  Whenever possible, provide incentives to teachers for becoming involved in the school counseling program.

  Recognize teacher participation.

  Listen to teacher's needs and incorporate ideas and program components to meet them.

  Serve on curriculum committees for subject-area development.

  Provide structured or open-ended staff development.

  Get excited! Professional School Counselors are educators who are highly motivated to help students. Since the ASCA National Model is going to be your vehicle to provide better programs to every student, get excited about it.

 Steps

The steps outlined below will help manage the transition to the school counseling program. During the transition, school teams may want to consider these questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• Who are our partners?
• How do we get to where we want to be?
• How will we know when we are there?

For a more in-depth assessment of evaluating these questions, it is recommended that you complete the Are You Ready for the ASCA National Model? , a tool designed to help you assess your district's readiness to implement the ASCA National Model and to determine what you will need to achieve successful implementation. This tool can be found in The ASCA National Model Workbook , starting on page 142.

Step I: Planning the Program

The planning phase has three important components. The first is securing commitment, the second is getting organized, and the third is assessing your current program.

Securing Commitment

• First, read ASCA's National Model for School Counseling Programs.
• Determine and agree that change is necessary.
• Understand the conditions necessary for effective change.
• Expect some resistance to change.
• Appreciate and accept the challenges involved.
• Facilitate communication between counselors and administrators.
• Always follow the ASCA's Code of Ethics.

Getting Organized

• Form a cadre of Professional School Counselors and staff members to work as a program development team.
• Obtain formal approval to proceed with the development of a school counseling program based on ASCA's National Model.
• Develop a timeline for program development.
• Compile your own comprehensive school counseling program manual as you go through the stages of implementation.

Assessing Your Current Program

• Use the ASCA program audit to identify components and elements in place and to be developed.
• Identify current counseling functions, activities and services.
• Review activities in light of the delivery system.
• Conduct a counselor use-of-time analysis.
• Prepare a report of the use-of-time analysis. Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) currently has theirs computerized and on a website for easy access, and compilation and extraction of the counselor data. Professional School Counselors in APS submit monthly counselor report of the use-of time. To view their data base, as a sample for your program, go to: http://fmweb2.aps.edu:8080/counselor03/default.htm
• Identify how current resources are used, who is served by the current program, and the areas for program improvement.

 

Step 2: Building your Foundation

• Assess Needs of the School and District
• Use data from surveys for teachers, parents/guardians and students to identify needs.
• Use school achievement and related data including attendance, drop-out rates, suspensions rates, discipline referral rates, graduation rates, college attendance rates.
• Identify current program strengths and areas where improvement is needed.
• Commit to Program
• Discuss beliefs about students and learning, your philosophies and mission.
• Write the program philosophy.
• Write the program mission statement.
• Select Competencies
• Identify student standards, competencies and indicators that address the need areas.
• Identify a developmental continuum of goals and competencies to be achieved over time.
• Determine program priorities based on data and school needs.
• Identify desired student standards, competencies and indicators by grade level or by domain.

 

Step 3: Designing the Delivery System

After having created a philosophy, designing a mission statement, and determining competencies for the school counseling program, priorities are identified and corresponding percentages of counselor time is allocated to each component in the delivery system. In addition, a counselor's job description that reflects 100 percent guidance activities would also be developed.

• The program must be clear, have a purpose, and presented in a manner that can easily be understood by all who are involved in the program.
• Identify specific counseling elements for each program component based on the time percentages chosen.
• Develop action plans.
• Identify the curriculum too be used.
• Determine data you will collect when implementing the program (process, perception results, immediate, intermediate, and long term).
• Decide who will do what and when.
• Rally administrative support.

 Step 4: Implementing the School Counseling Program

In the implementation phase, the school or district school counseling program is put into operation. The most important aspect of this phase is to have the official approval or adoption from the school district governing board. This requires the board to have a working knowledge of the program and to be prepared to assume ownership and support all aspects of the program.

• Setting Up The School Counseling Program (Management)
• Establish the budget for the program.
• Consider the pre-conditions mentioned in the model.
• Complete the management agreement forms.
• Working In The School Counseling Program (Management)
• Develop a master planning calendar for the program at all levels.
• Determine school counselor target time allocations based upon your program's design.
• Develop a weekly and monthly planning calendar based on the master calendar.
• Conduct professional development activities.
• Launch the program by implementing guidance curriculum for each grade level.
• Select at least one closing the gap activity to implement and measure.
• Promoting The School Counseling Program (Advocacy)
• Develop a brochure.
• Present the program to the school site staff.
• Develop a Web site for school counseling department.
• Present the program to the governing board for official approval.

Step 5: Making the Program Accountable

In the accountability phase, the school implementation team or district will determine how successful the program adoption has been. When the program is fully implemented, an evaluation to determine the program's effectiveness is conducted and shared with the advisory council. Evaluation provides the information to ensure that there is a continuous process to measure the results of the school counseling program.

• Monitor Program Result (Accountability)
• Develop program results reports.
• Develop evaluation standards and indicators to establish the degree to which program is in place.
• Revisit your audit to determine areas of improvement and areas requiring more attention.
• Reflect on the results when making decision for the program adjustments and improvements.
• Asses how the counseling team is working together.
• Monitor Counselor's Growth and Performance
• Encourage and promote counselor professional growth.
• Develop a job description.
• Develop and use appropriate forms to supervise and evaluate counselors on job performance in accordance with the New Mexico School Counselor Competencies.
• Monitor Students' Progress (Accountability)
• Assess student mastery of selected student competencies.
• Assess impact of school counseling program on the selected goals in the action plan (process, perception and results data).
• Assess the impact of the school counseling program effectiveness in the areas of attendance, behavior and academic achievement.
• Prepare and share the results report with the school site, parents or guardians and school board.

 

SUMMARY

REFERENCES

American School Counselor Association. (2003). The ASCA National Model: A Framework For School Counseling Programs . Alexandria , VA : Author.

American School Counselor Association. (2004). The ASCA National Model Workbook . Alexandria , VA : Author.

Step by Step Guide to Implement a Comprehensive Guidance Program - The National Model Workbook, Trish Hatch and Lori Holland (2004)