Define
The ASCA ethical and professional standards as well as mindsets and behaviors that students will use in a comprehensive school counseling program.
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ROLE OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Elementary School Counselors work with students in classroom groups, in small groups, and individually to help meet their needs. The focus is on the whole student and helping to give them the tools to be successful in school and in life. We also work with parents, teachers, administration, and other community members to help students grow. School Counselors assist students by providing education, prevention, and intervention in the areas of academics, career, and personal/social development. Middle school students are characterized by curiosity about their world, rapid physical growth, and an emerging self-identity. School counselors use collaboration to create a caring, supportive climate and an atmosphere where adolescent students can achieve academic success and be emotionally supported. School Counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic achievement. School counselors can meet with students and help them to develop skills to deal with complicated situations that they may encounter at home or at school. It is important to understand that School counselors are not therapist and do NOT provide long-term therapy with students.
Developmental Domains
Developmental Domains
The three domains that are used to promote mindsets and behaviors to enhance student learning, and instill an understanding of the importance of college and career readiness for all students. Students should demonstrate growth in all these domains equally in order to be successful.
Academic
Academic
School counselors support students’ academic success by helping to lead a safe and caring school culture. Collaboration with school employee's will help to create a school environment that encourages academic success and striving for student's full potential. The school counseling program should be based on data identifying student needs, helping teachers to learn best practices in mindsets and behaviors, providing relevance to academic effort and educational pursuits through assisting in students’ career planning and future career-related goals. School counselors also work to remove barriers to access and opportunity, by targeting systemic barriers that deter equitable access. They also emphasize family-community-school relationships to help in addressing academic needs and opportunities for academic remediation.
Social-Emotional
Social-Emotional
School counselors play a critical role in supporting social-emotional development by collaborating with teachers to provide a counseling curriculum to all students. The school counselor will identify and employ appropriate assessment methods for interventions, understand and utilize counseling theories to provide social-emotional support, and understand human characteristics specific to child and adolescent development. School counselors will also serve as a referral source for students when social-emotional issues become too extreme to be dealt with solely by the school counselor.
Career
Career
School counselors help develop student career readiness by introducing careers and the world of work beginning in lower elementary grades. The counselor works with the teachers to integrate career education and by providing college and career awareness through exploration. They also provide opportunities for all students to develop the mindsets and behaviors necessary to learn work-related skills, an understanding of lifelong learning as a part of long-term career success, a positive attitude toward learning, and a strong work ethic. The counselor works with students to identify their interests, abilities, and set goals to work toward their chosen profession. They also help their students understand the connection between school and the world of work.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality
An important part of a counselor and student relationship is trust. Counselors build a trusting relationship with students by maintaining confidentiality. Students are told at the beginning of the year about keeping information confidential. I make sure that each student is informed of the limits to my confidentiality. I let them know that I will try to keep the information they share with me confidential, but there are times when I will have to share with other adults what the student has shared with me. I let the students know that I will break confidentiality if they are going to hurt themselves or someone else, if someone is hurting them, if they tell me someone else is being hurt, or we decide it is important for us to share the information with another trusted adult. I try to teach students that problem-solving is sometimes a team effort and there will be times we will want to include their parents or teachers in our work.
American School Counselor Association. (2019). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs. Fourth edition, Alexandria, VA: Author
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