Accountability 1

Running head: SCHOOL COUNSELOR ACCOUNTABILITY

School Counselor Accountability

Jennifer Carter

Ball State University

History of Accountability in School Counseling

Accountability, defined by ASCA in 2005, is “demonstrating to others the effectiveness of the program in measurable terms” (Brott, 2006). One of the best ways to be accountable is through the use of data. With data, school counselors can prove that the program is doing what it is intended to do and making positive changes within the school. The counselor can also determine if interventions are effective, discover deficits within the education system, and create goals that are pertinent to the stakeholders. Being accountable is no longer just an option for school counselors; it is now the only option.

Accountability in school counseling is not a new concern; in fact, it has been a concern in the profession from nearly the beginning (Sabella, 2006). The problem in the past related with accountability in school counseling was the lack of both research education and research available for school counselors to utilize, which often lead counselors to practice based on faith and theory, not scientific findings. As stated by Everton at al. (1985), “School counselors depend on common sense, commitment, and experience to provide them with the basis for their professional judgments rather than engage in more formal inquiry as a primary method for making decisions.” One possible reason why school counselors have failed to conduct and use research in their practices is how school counselors were educated. There is limited research to determine if school counselor education programs do an adequate job in teaching students the necessary research skills that are needed to perform both quantitative and qualitative research (Sink, 2009). In order to effectively use research and data, graduate students need to be taught at least a moderate amount of research methods and psychometrics before they begin their work as a professional. It is nearly impossible for a school counselor to appropriately “prove” the effectiveness of their work and the CSCP (comprehensive school counseling program) if they aren’t well versed in how to use different types of research (Sink, 2009).

Stockton and Hulse (1983) stated that, “The field of school counseling cannot advance if the profession does not assume responsibility for professional inquiry.” Now, in 2010, school counselors are beginning to be forced into becoming more accountable. With the current state of the economy, many school districts are looking for areas in the school budget that can be cut, and those counselors who can’t prove through data that they are doing their job and helping all students are putting themselves at risk for losing their jobs. Ethically, counselors are also required to demonstrate their effectiveness; many accreditation programs that counselors graduate from also require counselors to demonstrate their effectiveness (Brott, 2006).

ASCA National Model

The ASCA National Model has been created as a framework for school counselors to use in helping make sure they are being accountable for their actions. ASCA challenges school counselors to answer the question, “How are students different as a result of the school counseling program?” (Brott, 2006). To answer this question, schools must change to a comprehensive school counseling program and use data to prove their results. ASCA integrated Gysbers and Henderson’s (1994) directive for school counselors, which states: “Demonstrating accountability … helps ensure that students, parents, teachers, and administrators, and the general public will continue to benefit from quality comprehensive guidance programs” (Sink, 2009). In a comparable way, the ASCA National Model is much like the DSM is for psychologists in that it gives all school counselors a common language to communicate through and consistent ways to work with others. The ASCA National Model reinforces accountability in school counselors and promotes the counselor’s leadership role in making systematic changes that affects all students; whereas, in the past school counselors mainly focused on providing deficit-reduction services to only a small percentage of students (Galassi, Griffin, & Akos, 2008). One important way it helps with reinforcing accountability is through the set of standards, competencies, and indicators. This list, much like standards teachers are required to meet, helps guide counselors to meet the academic, personal/social, and career needs of all students through a comprehensive school counseling program (Galassi, Griffin, & Akos, 2008). School counselors can meet these standards in a variety of different ways. In Indiana, school counselors have put together presentations that match different standards and competencies that can be given as psycho-educational presentations during class time. Counselors can also meet these standards through individual and group counseling, as well as through other creative and school-wide events.

I recommend that school counselors utilize the ASCA National Model for many reasons. One of the first reasons is that it is universal in that it is developed for all school counselors in America to follow. A second reason is that is has been well researched, as was discussed previously, and has been used in schools across the nation for several years. The ASCA National Model has a specific domain for accountability as well, which outlines specifically what school counselors should do in order to be accountable for themselves and their comprehensive school counseling program, which includes results reports, school counselor performance standards, and a program audit (ASCA, 2008). The ASCA National Model also has a vast amount of resources for counselors to use in order to meet all of the domains that fall under the model. For example, the ASCA model has a program audit form that can be completed by the counseling program to determine what deficits and strengths there are in the CSCP.

Characteristics of Accountable Counselors

Wood & Winston (2007) have done research to determine what general characteristics are demonstrated in counselors who are accountable, in which they came up with three. The first is an acceptance of their responsibilities that are vital to their leadership role. This means that the school counselor knows and accepts their role in serving the best interest of the students, faculty, and community. This also means that school counselors advocate for the students in their school and take a stand when there are any social injustices. School counselors are in a unique position in that they aren’t considered administration, but also aren’t teachers, so oftentimes issues are brought to the counselor by all school staff, students, and parents. Counselors should use this position as an asset and as a way to exert their leadership. The second characteristic is that the counselor knows they will be publicly associated with their actions. A counselor who is accountable realizes that whatever they do will be linked to them, for good or bad. These school counselors always take responsibility for what they did or didn’t do, and will always follow the code of ethics. They also make sure to make public to stakeholdersresults from all interventions tried. The third characteristic is the ability to communicate their decisions, commitments, and actions to all stakeholders (i.e. administration, students, faculty, parents). School counselors are one of the central figures within the school building, and oftentimes, faculty, students, parents, and administration will come to the counselor with questions. School counselors must know how to interact with these individuals in a clear and concise manner, while making sure to follow the rules of confidentiality. Along with this, school counselors should work with stakeholders to determine what goals should be in place for the CSCP. This could be done in numerous ways, but one of the best and easiest ways is through providing stakeholders with a needs assessment. The results can then be tabulated to determine what issues different populations of stakeholders feel should be addressed by the counseling program. School counselors should also be able to express their commitments, or goals, throughout the school year to all important stakeholders (i.e. principals, school board, etc). After taking action, for example giving psycho-educational presentations to a certain grade level, the results of the effectiveness of those presentations should be given to stakeholders to show what the CSCP is doing and what results are occurring.

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs (CSCP)

In order for school counselors to be more accountable, the counseling program should be comprehensive. In order to do this, school counselors must regularly assess different areas in their program and the school as a whole. Four major areas that need to be regularly assessed are auditing the program, results based assessments, personnel review, and needs assessments (Sink, 2009). The first area of assessment is periodically auditing the CSCP. One good option for doing this is using the printable audit available on the ASCA website. All school counselors in the guidance program should have input into the audit, preferably before the school year begins, to determine missing or underutilized elements. In some situations, it may be beneficial to have all counselors fill out an audit, and then compare the results of all counselors from that particular program. The missing and underutilized elements should then be transformed into goals for the school year to help make the school counseling program more comprehensive and accountable. The program audit is an excellent way for counselors to come up with goals for the growth of the CSCP. Those goals can then be presented to a steering committee, the principal, and even the school board to gain support and recognition for the efforts of the program. At the end of the school year, the audit could then be completed again to assess if the goals were met throughout the past school year. The second area of assessment is using results based assessments to determine if students are actually gaining anything through the counseling program in all areas of their lives (i.e. academic, career, and personal/social) (Sink, 2009). This can be done in many different ways, such as through pre/post tests, examining behavioral-related referrals, GPAs of students, teacher reports, student reports, and other forms of data depending on what topic is being covered. This is important because it is through this information that it is determined if the counseling program is being effective for students. Students should also be encouraged to make recommendations on how the counseling program could be more effective. The third area of assessment is appraising the work performance of personnel in the guidance program. Sadly, right now many school counselors are being assessed on the same scale as teachers and other faculty. This is unfortunate because it doesn’t show a good depiction of the counselor’s job performance, as their duties are much different from those of teachers. An assessment tool based on counselors and their performance should be used by administrators to assess the performance of the counselor in their duties and responsibilities and to indicate areas of improvement. Without knowing where change needs to occur, it makes it nearly impossible for counselors to grow and increase in their effectiveness. In situations where counselors are not effective, plans should be made on how that counselor can become more accountable. If those plans are not followed through, and if the counselor continues to do a poor job at completing their roles, termination or referrals should be given. The fourth area of assessment is giving needs assessments to stakeholders (i.e. students, faculty, and parents) (Sink, 2009). Giving needs assessments are crucial in a CSCP because they indicate the needs of the stakeholders, which guide the counseling staff in their interventions. In order to be effective in making the school a better place for all, counselors must know what different populations see as problems or strengths. Conducting program audits and needs assessments are both fairly simple tasks for counselors to do, and depending on the technology available at the school, may not be very time-consuming for them to have stakeholders complete (i.e. if given on the computer, the results could be tabulated from the needs assessment almost automatically). Limited amount of knowledge in research design is needed to design, administer, and interpret these results, which is beneficial, since some counselors have limited knowledge in psychometrics. These needs assessments should be given periodically throughout the year to determine if issues are improving, staying the same, or getting worse. Comparisons on what students versus parents versus faculty see as problematic may also provide interesting results that could impact the CSCP’s goals and interventions.

Why Should School Counselors be Accountable?

While one may think that the answer to this question is simple, it can be a somewhat complex question to be answered. By using data and thus being more accountable, school counselors become educated leaders and advocates for all students. By examining the current data through multiple sources (i.e. attendance, grades, needs assessments, ECA results, behavioral referrals, etc.), the school counselor gets a better picture of what the current needs are of the student population. The counselor is also the person that can confirm progress towards school-wide achievement, discover shortcomings, and determine what issues need to still be addressed. Counselors can also become advocates for change within the school for social justice. Through the data, counselors can determine if there are in inequalities between SES, gender, ethnicity, and other factors. The major reasons why school counselors must become accountable discussed in this paper are: to improve student achievement, improve advocacy, secure jobs and provide a job description of the roles of the school counselor.

Secure jobs.

Since the recession began, many school corporations budgets have been cut drastically. In order to compensate for the lack of funds, cuts have had to be made in all areas that have been determined to be ineffective, not required, or useless in helping students pass state exams and graduation requirements. Unfortunately, in some school districts, counselors have been lumped into this expendable group and have been cut at an alarming rate. Many elementary counselors in the state of Indiana have been cut, as they are not required by law. Middle and high school counselors have also been cut to the point where the counselor to student ratio is so high that counselors are unable to do their jobs effectively. The school counselors who have been able to keep their jobs are ones who are able to prove their worth within the school. One of the best ways to prove ones worth is through data, promoting the benefits of the CSCP, and being accountable for their actions. While this may not be the best and most important reason for school counselors to be accountable through the use of research and data, it certainly is something that will be expected now and in the future for counselors to prove their worth in order to keep their jobs.

Improve Student Achievement.

Counselors are now being required to be accountable because of the impact it has on student achievement. School counselors are in a unique position where they can collect data on the whole student population to analyze and understand the current status of achievement within the school. Counselors who collect and analyze this data then are in a position where they can strategize, create concrete goals, and set plans on improving that current achievement status. As part of the ASCA National Model, a seven-step process was created called MEASURE to help counselors be more accountable when trying to improve student achievement (Dahir & Stone, 2003). MEASURE stands for: mission, elements, analyze, stakeholders, unite, reanalyze, and educate. For many years, it was thought that only teachers could improve learning in the classroom, but with MEASURE, counselors can also remove barriers that impede the learning of students (Dahir & Stone, 2003). Through MEASURE counselors can help close the achievement gap in many different ways, some of which are raising students’ ambitions, helping develop resiliency within students, collaborating with other faculty, and helping students with career and college planning (Dahir & Stone, 2003). School counselors can also increase educational opportunities for students through the use of data with MEASURE, such as collecting data on the number of individuals taking AP classes, the number of students who engage in career planning meetings, and the number of students who pass the GQE. By collecting this data, the counselor can then disaggregate it to determine where the educational barriers are and what can be done to help overcome them. This process is just one of many that are available for counselors to utilize to help them gain more support for their program, impact more students in a positive way, and to be seen as powerful individuals within the school (Dahir & Stone, 2003).

Improve Advocacy.