A
responsibility of school counselors is to involve all stake holders in
understanding the development, learning and the quality of great school
settings,(Dollarhide,Saginak, 2012, p.19). Basically, it should not only be the
responsibility of school personnel, but also parents, volunteers, communities
and students. Effective schools settings include the connections and effective
communication between teachers, staff, students, administration, caregivers and
the community around the school and school district. The text talks about
balance between academics and development, (social, emotional, and cognitive),
but the way I see our schools heading is in the direction of academics only.
When I was in kindergarten, I learned my letters and my sounds, numbers and how
to read. Now you have to test into kindergarten, know the letters and numbers
as well as other information regarding where you live, phone number,etc before
you even can enter kindergarten. The curriculum is constantly being changed and
made harder starting from kindergarten. The pressure we are putting on our
youth is tremendous, and I know people say, they will rise to the challenge but
how soon do we have to start the challenge?
The reason for bringing
up the responsibility of a counselor is because of the two articles we read alongside
the text this week, Review of School Counseling Outcome Research:
Implications for Future Practice, and The Current Status of School
Counseling Outcome Research. The connection lies in the outcome of research.
One of the first things to stand out in the first article is that in
summarizing the article, the authors could not say that school counseling was
proven effective because not all of the programs and activities implemented by
the school counselors were studied. Point one, just because all the programs and activities were
not studied does in no way negate the fact that school counselors are
effective. Now, are all school counselors effective, no, but the profession of school
counseling and what it sets out to accomplish is, regardless of the scientific
data needed. Point two, which ties into the text, the responsibility may lie on
the counselors’ shoulders to provide that actual data in showing how effective
counselors and programs are, but like the text, all stake holders need to be involved
and that means with the reporting, and implementing as well. There are so many
ways research can be reported and it is incredible hard for solely the
counselor to keep up given their added responsibility of not only being a
school counselor and following the actual job description but the other day to
day things that need attention. Pretty simply, there needs to be more research
done. Fifty studies were done between 1988-1995, which seems disappointing but
part of that can be changed by the self -reporting of the students, teachers,
staff, community and parents. Get all the stake holders involved.
To end my rant, I think it is a little ridiculous
that the School Counselor must be the main source of information on
effectiveness of programs and activities regardless of the fact that, yes, they
did implement the programs or activities but it should be a group effort in all
areas. Divide and conquer.
Dollarhide, C.T.,
& Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.).
New York: Pearson, Inc.
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