Blog 2

            Knowing how a school is effective for their students takes time and close study.  As it says in the Comprehensive School Counseling Programs book, the school has goals that it would like to accomplish for all their students, which would create an effective school (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012).  Schools grew up where there was no talking, heads facing the front, and sitting in rows.  People thought that was the best way to learn and some children excelled with that kind of structure.  Those kids have strong career goals and strong social skills because they got what they needed from the school.  However, everyone learns differently and if a child does not learn like the school offers, then they fall behind.  They became more of a burden to the school just trying to take the child and conform them to the teachings of the school.  Do I think that’s right? No I don’t because everyone does not learn the same.  I know for myself, I learn by doing and not through reading and listening to lectures.  When I was in high school I really had to study hard to get good grades.  Schools should be implementing different kinds of learning styles for all kids so that they have a chance to succeed too.  The no child left behind act is a very interesting act, but it has good overall meaning.  I say this because they want all their students to do well, but Wendy McGannon, John Carey, and Carey Dimmitt (2005) say that it is the school counselor’s responsibility to take down data to see if the school is achieving in their goal of the no child left behind act.  School Counselors have enough on their plate to doing something like that, but if it is mandated to counselors to do that then, that is what we must do.  After all school counselors are here to help children grow as people and in their education. 

There has been tons of research showing that reactive measures really help students, but now we must look for ways to teach our children in multiple ways so that they can all learn (Whiston & Sexton, 1998).  If we can do that as schools, then we will not need the left behind act.  We as future counselors need to be proactive to help our students before they get to the point of no return.  I feel if we can do that, we will see fewer problems in our school and more learning can take place.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2^nd Ed.). New York: Pearson

McGannon, W., Carey, J., & Dimmit, C. (2005). The current status of school counseling outcome research. Center for School Counseling Outcome Research, 2.

Whiston, S. C., & Sexton, T. L. (1998). A review of school counseling outcome research: Implications for practice. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 76, 412-426. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1998.tb02700.x.