Blog #4

            I have to admit that I am a little nervous about working in a field where it seems I will almost have to justify the meaning of my existence.  It is so ridiculous that many people don’t value the importance of a counselor in a school, especially in the “messed up” world in which we live in.  Even though I think it’s ridiculous, as I am sure we all do, I do understand why people wouldn’t fully understand the role that a counselor plays within a school.  That is why I am glad we have a model in place that can help show people what we do, but more importantly, will help us to become more effective school counselors.

            Many people in the working world don’t have guidelines in place on how to be effective in their job.  The ASCA National Model provides a good overview as to what the expectations of a professional school counselor should be, and also provides clear explanations of a counselor’s profound role within a school.  After reading through the model, I was pretty overwhelmed with the level of detail and responsibility that goes will go along with my role as a counselor, but I was able to get more clarification as to what the CSCP is all about.  I now have a much better understanding as to the level of detail that will have to go into our big CSCP project.

            One of the parts of The ASCA National Model that stood out for me was the topic of accountability.  Over the last week and a half I completed my interviews of my three school counselors.  When I mentioned the ASCA Model, all of them seemed to know what it was, but really didn’t have too much to say about it.  I then asked the question, “who holds you accountable, and how do you measure your own results and overall effectiveness?”  The answers were less than impressive.  I can understand that a school counselors’ are busy.  I can also appreciate the level of responsibility that they all have.  However, none of them seemed to have any evidence to show if their programs are effective within their own schools.  So in my opinion, if this is the norm, many school counselors are providing a great disservice to the occupation.  It then makes me wonder, “maybe people’s opinions about the lack of importance of having a counselor are reasonable”, especially when counselors’ aren’t providing them with the much needed evidence to validate their existence.

Dollarhide, C. T., & Saginak, K. A. (2012). Comprehensive School Counseling Programs.
            (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc.