Development of the whole child by addressing academic, personal/social, and career development needs.
School counselors can help students with mental health and social/emotional issues. School counselors do not provide long-term therapy but can help with community-based recommendations/resources when needed.
Our mission is to support all Iowa professional school counselors in their implementation of data-driven, standards-based, comprehensive school counseling programs that address the academic, career, and social/emotional development of all students. As transformed leaders and student advocates, Iowa professional school counselors collaborate with stakeholders to remove institutional and environmental barriers, close achievement and opportunity gaps, and ensure access, equity, and success for all students. As a result, all students will be empowered by the mindsets and behavior standards, acquiring the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to graduate college-, career-, and citizen-ready.
The Iowa School Counseling Framework, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model, provides a framework for implementing a comprehensive and accountable school counseling program that is considered “best practice” for the profession. “School counseling program” means an articulated, sequential K-12 program that is comprehensive in scope, preventive in design, developmental in nature, driven by data and integral to the school district’s curricula and instructional program. The Iowa School Counseling Framework is written to reflect a comprehensive approach to program foundation, delivery, management and accountability. The framework provides a system that encourages and promotes each student’s academic, career and personal/social development in preparation for the challenges of the 21st century.
The ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors are organized by three broad domains. Standards are arranged within categories and subcategories and grade-level competencies. These domains promote mindsets and behaviors that enhance the learning process and create a culture of college and career readiness for all students. The definitions of each domain are as follows:
Academic Development – Standards guiding school counseling programs to implement strategies and activities to support and maximize each student’s ability to learn.
Career Development – Standards guiding school counseling programs to help students 1) understand the connection between school and the world of work and 2) plan for and make a successful transition from school to postsecondary education and/or the world of work and from job to job across the life span.
Social/Emotional Development – Standards guiding school counseling programs to help students manage emotions and learn and apply interpersonal skills.