School counselor

A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to K-12 students. The interventions used include developmental school counseling curriculum lessons and annual planning for every student, and group and individual counseling.

Older, dated terms for the profession were "guidance counselor" or "educational counselor" but "school counselor" is preferred due to professional school counselors' advocating for every child's academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school (ASCA, 2005).[1] In the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, the terms school counselor, school guidance counselor, and guidance teacher are also used with the traditional emphasis career development.[2] Countries vary in how a school counseling program and school counseling program services are provided based on economics (funding for schools and school counseling programs), social capital (independent versus public schools), and School Counselor certification and credentialing movements in education departments, professional associations, and national and local legislation.[2] The major accreditation body for Counselor Education/School Counseling programs is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), which provides international program accreditation in Counselor Education disciplines including school counseling.[3]

In some countries, school counseling is provided by educational specialists (for example, Botswana, China, Finland, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United States). In other cases, school counseling is provided by classroom teachers who either have such duties added to their typical teaching load or teach only a limited load that also includes school counseling activities (for example- India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Zambia).[2] The IAEVG focuses primarily on career development with some international school counseling articles and conference presentations.[2]

Contents

School counseling history

Canada

In Canada, most provinces[4] have adapted K-12 comprehensive school counseling programs similar to those initiated by[5] and adapted in the ASCA National Model.[6] School counselors reported in 2004 at the Canadian Counseling Association (CCA) conference in Winnipeg on issues such as budget cuts, lack of clarity about school counselor roles, high student to school counselor ratios, especially in elementary schools, and how using a comprehensive school counseling model helped to clarify school counselor roles with teachers and administrators and strengthen the profession.[7]

China

In China,[8] discussed the main influences on school counseling as being Chinese philosophers Confucius and Lao-Tsu, who provided early models of child and adult development[9] that later influenced the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.[10] China also developed mental testing over 3,000 years ago, which was used for civil service examinations initially and eventually adopted by the British in the mid-19th century[11] and later in the USA.

Only 15% of high school students are admitted to college in China, so the entrance exams are fiercely competitive and those who do enter university graduate at a rate of 99%.[12] Much pressure is put on children and adolescents to study and be able to attend college and this pressure is a central school counseling focus in China. An additional stressor is that there are not enough places for students to attend college, and over 1/3 of college graduates cannot find jobs,[13] so career and employment counseling and development are central in school counseling.

There is a stigma related to personal or emotional problems and even though most universities and many schools now have counselors, there is a reluctance by many students to seek counseling for issues such as anxiety and depression. There is no national system of certifying school counselors. Most are trained in Western-developed cognitive methods including REBT, Rogerian, Family Systems, Behavior Modification, and Object Relations[14] and also recommend Chinese methods such as qi-gong (deep breathing), acupuncture, and music therapy.[8][15] shared that Chinese school counselors always work within a traditional Chinese world view of a community and family-based system that lessens the primacy of focus on the individual. In Hong Kong, Hui (2000) discussed work on moving toward comprehensive whole-school counseling programs and away from a remediation-style model.[16]

Finland

In Finland, legislation has been passed in terms of the school counseling system. The Basic Education Act of 1998 states that every student must receive school counseling services. All Finnish school counselors must have a teaching certificate as well as master's degree in a specific subject and a specialized certificate in school counseling.

Ireland

In Ireland, school counseling began in County Dublin in the 1960s and went countrywide in the 1970s. However, legislation in the early 1980s severely curtailed the movement due to budget constraints. The main organization for school counseling profession is the IGE or Institute of Guidance Counsellors, which has a code of ethics.[17]

Israel

In Israel, a 2005 study by Erhard & Harel of 600 elementary, middle, and high school counselors found that a third of school counselors were delivering primarily traditional individual counseling services, about a third were delivering preventive classroom counseling curriculum lessons, and a third were delivering both individual counseling services and school counseling curriculum lessons in a more balanced or comprehensive developmental school counseling program; school counselor roles varied due to three elements: the school counselor's personal preferences, school level, and the principal's expectations.[18] Erhard & Harel stated that the profession in Israel, like many other countries, is transforming from various marginal and ancillary services to a comprehensive school counseling approach integral in the total school's education program.[18]

Japan

In Japan, school counseling is a very recent phenomenon with school counselors being introduced only in the mid-1990s and then often only part-time with a strong emphasis on assisting with behavioral issues.[19]

South Korea

In South Korea, school counselors must teach a subject besides counseling, and not all school counselors are appointed to counseling positions, even though Korean law has required school counselors in all middle and high schools.[20]

Malta

In Malta, school counseling services were begun in 1968 within the Department of Education based on recommendations from a UNESCO consultant and the titles: Education Officer, School Counsellor, and Guidance Teacher and through the 1990s they included school counselor positions in primary and trade schools in addition to secondary schools. Guidance teachers are mandated at a 1:300 teacher to student ratio.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, school counseling began in 1959 and exists in some high schools. It rarely exists at the elementary school level. Where there are federally funded secondary schools, there are some professionally trained school counselors. However, in many cases, there are only teachers who function as career masters/mistresses. School counselors often have teaching and other responsibilities that take time away from their school counseling tasks. The Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) was formed in 1976 to promote the profession, but there is not yet a code of ethics. However, a certification/licensure board has been formed. Aluede, Adomeh, & Afen-Akpaida (2004) discussed the overreliance on textbooks from the USA and the need for school counselors in Nigeria to take a whole-school approach and lessen the focus on individual approaches and honor the traditional African world view that values the family and community's roles in decision-making as a paramount for effective decision-making in schools.[21]

Philippines

In the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines passed the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, with a very specific focus Professional Practice, Ethics, National Certification, and the creation of a Regulatory Body, and specialists in school counseling are subject to this law.[22]

Taiwan

In Taiwan, school counseling traditionally was done by "guidance teachers." Recent advocacy on the part of the Chinese Guidance and Counseling Association pushed for licensure for school counselors in Taiwan's public schools. Prior to this time, the focus had been primarily on individual and group counseling with a focus on play therapy,[23] career counseling and development,[24] and stress related to national university examinations.

United States

In the United States, the school counseling profession began with the vocational guidance movement at the beginning of the 20th century, now known as career development. Jesse B. Davis was the first to provide a systematic school guidance program. In 1907, he became the principal of a high school and encouraged the school English teachers to use compositions and lessons to relate career interests, develop character, and avoid behavioral problems. Many others during this time did the same. For example, in 1908, Frank Parsons, "Father of Vocational Guidance" established the Bureau of Vocational Guidance to assist young people in making the transition from school to work.

From the 1920s to the 1930s, school counseling and guidance grew because of the rise of progressive education in schools. This movement emphasized personal, social, moral development. Many schools reacted to this movement as anti-educational, saying that schools should teach only the fundamentals of education. This, combined with the economic hardship of the Great Depression, led to a decline in school counseling and guidance. In the 1940s, psychologists and counselors selected, recruited, and trained military personnel. This propelled the counseling movement in schools by providing ways to test students and meet their needs. Schools accepted these military tests openly. Also, Carl Rogers' emphasis on helping relationships during this time influenced the profession of school counseling.

In the 1950s the government established the Guidance and Personnel Services Section in the Division of State and Local School Systems. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I. Out of concern that the Russians were winning the space race and that there were not enough scientists and mathematicians, the government passed the National Defense Education Act, spurring growth in vocational guidance through larger funding. In the 1960s, new legislation and professional developments refined the profession (Schmidt,[25] 2003).

The 1960s was also a time of great federal funding for land grant colleges and universities in establishing Counselor Education programs.[26] School counseling shifted from an exclusive focus on career development to add personal and social issues paralleling the rise of social justice and civil rights movements. In the early 1970s, Dr. Norm Gysbers began shifting the profession from school counselors as solitary professionals into having a comprehensive developmental school counseling program for all students K-12.[6] He and his colleagues' research evidenced strong correlations between fully implemented school counseling programs and student academic success; a critical part of the evidence base for the profession based on their work in the state of Missouri.[27]

But school counseling in the 1980s and early 1990s was absent from educational reform efforts.[28] The profession was facing irrelevance as the standards-based educational movement gained strength with little evidence of systemic effectiveness for school counselors. In response,[29] consulted with elementary, middle, and high school counselors and created the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling with three core domains (Academic, Career, Personal/Social), nine standards, and specific competencies and indicators for K-12 students.[6] A year later, the first systemic meta-analysis of school counseling was published and gave a wake-up call to focus on outcome research in academic, career, and personal/social domains.[30]

In the late 1990s, a former mathematics teacher, school counselor, and administrator, Pat Martin, was hired by The Education Trust[31] to focus the school counseling profession on closing the achievement gap that harmed children and adolescents of color, poor and working class children and adolescents, bilingual children and adolescents and children and adolescents with disabilities. Martin developed focus groups of K-12 students, parents, guardians, teachers, building leaders, and superintendents, and interviewed professors of School Counselor Education. She hired a school counselor educator from Oregon State University, Dr. Reese House, and they co-created what emerged in 2003 as the National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC).[32]

The NCTSC focused on both changing school counselor education at the graduate level and changing school counselor practice in local districts to teach school counselors how to prevent, intervene with, and close achievement and opportunity gaps. In the focus groups, they found what Hart & Jacobi[33] had indicated—-too many school counselors were gatekeepers for the status quo instead of advocates for the academic success of every child and adolescent. Too many school counselors used inequitable practices, supported inequitable school policies, and were unwilling to change.

This professional behavior kept many students from non-dominant backgrounds (i.e., students of color, poor and working class students, students with disabilities, and bilingual students) from getting the rigorous coursework and academic, career, and college access skills needed to successfully graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary options including college. They funded six $500,000 grants for six Counselor Education/School Counseling programs, with a special focus on rural and urban settings, to transform their school counseling programs to include a focus on teaching school counselor candidates advocacy, leadership, teaming and collaboration, equity assessment using data, and culturally competent program counseling and coordination in 1998 (Indiana State University, University of Georgia, University of West Georgia, University of California-Northridge, University of North Florida, and Ohio State University) and then over 25 other Counselor Education/School Counseling programs joined as companion institutions in the following decade.[31] By 2008, NCTSC consultants had worked in over 100 school districts and major cities and rural areas to transform the work of school counselors.

In 2002, the American School Counselor Association released the ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs, written by Dr. Trish Hatch and Dr. Judy Bowers, comprising key school counseling components into one model—the work of Drs. Norm Gysbers, Curly & Sharon Johnson, Robert Myrick, Carol Dahir & Cheri Campbell's ASCA National Standards, and the skill-based focus for closing gaps from the Education Trust's Pat Martin and Dr. Reese House into one document.[6] In 2003, the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research[34] was developed as a clearinghouse for evidence-based practice with regular research briefs disseminated and original research projects developed and implemented with founding director Dr. Jay Carey. One of the research fellows, Dr. Tim Poynton, developed the EZAnalyze[35] software program for all school counselors to use as free-ware to assist in using data-based interventions and decision-making.

In 2004, the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors was revised to focus on issues of equity, closing gaps, and ensuring all K-12 students received access to a school counseling program.[36] Also in 2004, Pat Martin moved to the College Board and hired School Counselor Educator Dr. Vivian Lee. They developed an equity-focused entity on school counselors' role in college counseling, the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA).[37] NOSCA has developed research scholarships for research on college counseling by K-12 school counselors and how it is taught in School Counselor Education programs. On January 1, 2006, the USA Congress declared the first week of February National School Counseling Week, which grew out of advocacy from ASCA members.

In 2008, the first NOSCA study was released by Dr. Jay Carey and colleagues focused on innovations in selected College Board "Inspiration Award" schools where school counselors collaborated inside and outside their schools for high college-going rates and strong college-going cultures in schools with large numbers of students of non-dominant backgrounds.[38] In 2008, ASCA released School Counseling Competencies focused on assisting school counseling programs to effectively implement the ASCA Model.[36] Also in 2008, in support of the ASCA Model and new vision[39] school counseling, Dr. Rita Schellenberg introduced standards blending as a cross-walking approach to align school counseling with the academic achievement mission of schools as well as two data-based reporting systems, SCORE and SCOPE.[40][41][42]

In 2009, NOSCA released a national study under the leadership of Dr. Vicki Brooks-McNamara addressing the school counselor/principal connection with specific recommendations for best practices in collaborative leadership in school counseling.

In 2010, the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCAL) co-sponsored the first school counseling conference devoted to the needs of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered students in San Diego, California,.[43]

In 2011, Counseling at the Crossroads: The perspectives and promise of school counselors in American education, the largest survey of high school and middle school counselors in the United States (over 5,300 interviews), was released by the College Board's National Office for School Counselor Advocacy, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the American School Counselor Association. The study shared school counselors' views on educational policies, practices, and reform, and how many of them, especially in urban and rural school settings, are not given the chance to focus on what they were trained to do, especially career and college access counseling and readiness for all students, in part due to high caseloads and inappropriate tasks that take up too much of their time. School counselors make strong suggestions about their crucial role in accountability and success for all students and how school systems need to change so that school counselors can be key players in student success. Implications for public policy and district and school-wide change are addressed. [44] The National Center for Transforming School Counseling at The Education Trust released a brief, Poised to Lead: How School Counselors Can Drive Career and College Readiness, challenging all schools to utilize school counselors for equity and access for rigorous courses for all students and ensuring college and career access skills and competencies be a major focus of the work of school counselors K-12. [45]

Both the IAEVG and the Vanguard of Counsellors have been active in promoting school counseling internationally.[2]

School counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional associations, and ethics

Professional school counselors ideally implement a[34] school counseling program that promotes and enhances student achievement.[6] A framework for appropriate and inappropriate school counselor responsibilities and roles is outlined in the ASCA National Model.[6] School counselors, in most USA states, usually have a Master's degree in school counseling from a Counselor Education graduate program. In Canada, they must be licensed teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic, career, and personal/social issues. China requires at least three years of college experience. In Japan, school counselors were added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues. In Taiwan, they are often teachers with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues. In Korea, school counselors are mandated in middle and high schools.

School counselors are employed in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages(Schmidt,[25] 2003).

Professional school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development (Dahir & Campbell, 1997; ASCA, 2005) with an increased emphasis on college access.[46] Knowledge, understanding and skill in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, appraisal, consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality and career assessment methods (such as the[47] or[48] (based on the[49]) to help students explore career and college needs and interests.

School counselor interventions include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a student's behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan. They also provide consultation services to family members such as college access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.

School counselor interventions for all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and personal/social topics. The topics of character education, diversity and multiculturalism (Portman, 2009), and school safety are important areas of focus for school counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches about child abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama (Schmidt,[25] 2003).

School counselors develop, implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in their schools. For example, the ASCA National Model[6] includes the following four main areas:

The model is implemented using key skills from the Education Trust's Transforming School Counseling Initiative: Advocacy, Leadership, Teaming and Collaboration, and Systemic Change.[31]

School Counselors around the world are affiliated with national and regional school counseling associations including: Asociacion Argentina de Counselors (AAC-Argentina), American Counseling Association (ACA-USA), African Counseling Association (AfCA), American School Counselor Association (ASCA-USA), Associacao Portuguesa de Psicoterapia centrada na Pessoa e de Counselling (APPCPC-Portugal), Australian Guidance and Counselling Association (AGCA), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP-UK), Canadian Counseling Association (CCA)/Association Canadienne de Counseling (ACC), Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership(CESCaL) (USA), Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR-USA) Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP-USA and international), Counselling Children and Young People (BACP affiliate, UK), Counseling & Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA), Cypriot Association of School Guidance Counsellors (OELMEK), European Counseling Association (ECA), France Ministry of Education, Federacion Espanola de Orientacion y Psicopedagogia (FEOP-Spain), Department of Education-Malta, Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance (HESCOG-Greece), Hong Kong Association of Guidance Masters and Career Masters (HKAGMCM), Institute of Guidance Counselors (IGC) (Ireland), International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)/Association Internationale d'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle (AIOSP)/ Internationale Vereinigung für Schul- und Berufsberatung (IVSBB)/Asociación Internacional para la Orientación Educativa y Profesional(AIOEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), International Vanguard of Counsellors (IVC), Kenya Association of Professional Counselors (KAPC), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC, USA), National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC) at The Education Trust (USA), National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) at The College Board (USA), New Zealand Association of Counsellors/Te Roopu Kaiwhiriwhiri o Aotearoa (NZAC), Counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON), Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association (PGCA), Overseas Association of College Admissions Counselors (OACAC, an affiliate of National Association of College Admissions Counselors-USA), Singapore Association for Counseling (SAC), and the Taiwan Guidance and Counseling Association (TGCA).[50]

School Counselors are expected to follow a professional code of ethics in many countries. For example, In the USA, they are the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) School Counselor Ethical Code[36], the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics.[51], and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) Statement of Principles of Good Practice (SPGP) [52].

Elementary school counseling

Elementary school counselors provide[28] academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of young children K-6.[6] Transitions from pre-school to elementary school and from elementary school to middle school are an important focus for elementary school counselors. Increased emphasis is placed on accountability for closing achievement and opportunity gaps at the elementary level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results.[53]

School counseling programs that deliver specific competencies to all students help to close achievement and opportunity gaps.[54] To facilitate individual and group school counseling interventions, school counselors use developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered (Rogerian) listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural,[55] narrative, and play therapy theories and techniques.[56][57] released a research study showing the effectiveness of elementary school counseling programs in Washington state.

Middle school counseling

Middle school counselors provide school counseling curriculum lessons[28] on academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies, advising and academic/career/college access planning to all students and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the needs of older children/early adolescents in grades 7 and 8.[6]

Middle School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to assist students and their families well before reaching high school. To facilitate the school counseling process, school counselors use theories and techniques including developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered (Rogerian) listening and influencing skills, sytemic, family, multicultural,[55] narrative, and play therapy. Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to high school are a key area including career exploration and assessment with seventh and eighth grade students.[58] Sink, Akos, Turnbull, & Mvududu released a study in 2008 confirming the effectiveness of middle school comprehensive school counseling programs in Washington state.[59]

High school counseling

High school counselors provide[28] academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies with developmental classroom lessons and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of adolescents.[6] Emphasis is on college access counseling at the early high school level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results[53] that show how school counseling programs help to close achievement and opportunity gaps ensuring all students have access to school counseling programs and early college access activities.[60] High School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to assist this process.

Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to college, other post-secondary educational options, and careers are a key area.[61] The high school counselor helps students and their families prepare for post-secondary education including college and careers (e.g. college, careers) by engaging students and their families in accessing and evaluating accurate information on what the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy calls the 8 essential elements of college and career counseling: (1) College Aspirations, (2) Academic Planning for Career and College Readiness, (3) Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement, (4) College and Career Exploration and Selection Processes, (5) College and Career Assessments, (6) College Affordability Planning, (7) College and Career Admission Processes, and (8) Transition from High School Graduation to College Enrollment.[62] Some students turn to private college admissions advisors but there is no research evidence that private college admissions advisors have any effectiveness in assisting students attain selective college admissions.

Lapan, Gysbers & Sun showed correlational evidence of the effectiveness of fully implemented school counseling programs on high school students' academic success.[63] Carey et al.'s 2008 study showed specific best practices from high school counselors raising college-going rates within a strong college-going environment in multiple USA-based high schools with large numbers of students of nondominant cultural identities.

Education and professional credentials including certification for school counselors

The education of school counselors (school counsellors) around the world varies based on the laws and cultures of countries and the historical influences of their educational and credentialing systems and professional identities related to who delivers academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social information, advising, curriculum, and counseling and related services.[2]

In Canada, school counselors must be certified teachers with additional school counseling training.

In China, there is no national certification or licensure system for school counselors.

Korea requires school counselors in all middle and high schools.[64]

In the Philippines, school counselors must be licensed with a master's degree in counseling.[65]

Taiwan instituted school counselor licensure for public schools (2006) through advocacy from the[66]

In the USA, a school counselor is a certified educator with a master's degree in school counseling (usually from a Counselor Education graduate program) with school counseling graduate training including qualifications and skills to address all students’ academic, career, college access and personal/social needs.

About half of all Counselor Education programs that offer school counseling are accredited by the Council on the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and all are in the USA with one in Canada and one under review in Mexico as of 2010. CACREP maintains a current list of accredited programs and programs in the accreditation process on their website.[67] CACREP desires to accredit more international counseling university programs.[67]

According to CACREP, an accredited school counseling program offers coursework in Professional Identity and Ethics, Human Development, Counseling Theories, Group Work, Career Counseling, Multicultural Counseling, Assessment, Research and Program Evaluation, and Clinical Coursework—a 100-hour practicum and a 600-hour internship under supervision of a school counseling faculty member and a certified school counselor site supervisor (CACREP,[68] 2001).

When CACREP released the 2009 Standards, the accreditation process became performance-based including evidence of school counselor candidate learning outcomes. In addition, CACREP tightened the school counseling standards with specific evidence needed for how school counseling students receive education in foundations; counseling prevention and intervention; diversity and advocacy; assessment; research and evaluation; academic development; collaboration and consultation; and leadership in K-12 school counseling contexts.[69]

Certification practices for school counselors vary around the world. School counselors in the USA may opt for national certification through two different boards. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) requires a two-to-three year process of performance based assessment, and demonstrate (in writing) content knowledge in human growth/development, diverse populations, school counseling programs, theories, data, and change and collaboration.[70] As of February, 2005, 30 states offer financial incentives for this certification.

Also in the USA, The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) requires passing the National Certified School Counselor Examination (NCSC), including 40 multiple choice questions and seven simulated cases assessing school counselors' abilities to make critical decisions. Additionally, a master's degree and three years of supervised experience are required. NBPTS also requires three years of experience, however a master's degree is not required, but only state certification (41 of 50 states require a master's degree). At least four states offer financial incentives for the NCSC certification.[71] Both certifications have benefits and costs that a school counselor would want to consider for national certification.[72] NBCC credentials counselors in the United States[73] and internationally.[74]

The School Counselor’s Study Guide for Credentialing Exams (Schellenberg, 2012), published by Routledge, is the only study guide currently on the market that is based on the ASCA School Counselor Competencies, CACREP Standards, NBCC NCSCE content requirements, and the NCATE and NBPTS Standards. The study guide prepares users for the NCSCE, Praxis II School Counseling Specialty Exam, NBPTS School Counseling national certification exam, Comprehensive School Counselor Education program exams, and State certification exams for professional school counseling. Highlights of the text include: case scenarios, guided reflections, end of chapter and full-length practice tests with justifications for correct and incorrect responses, and a foreword written by the ASCA President for 2012-2013. The author of the study guide is Dr. Rita Schellenberg, an associate professor and director of the school counseling program for Liberty University. Dr. Schellenberg has over a decade of experience as a licensed professional school counselor in public schools at both the elementary and secondary levels and is also a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. Her national credentials include National Certified School Counselor (NCSC), National Certified School Counselor (NCSC), Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC), and Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS). More information about the credentialing exam study guide can be found at www.thenewschoolcounselor.com.

Job growth and earnings

The rate of job growth and earnings for school counselors depends on the country that one is employed in and how the school is funded—public or independent. School counselors working in international schools or "American" schools globally may find similar work environments and expectations to the USA. School counselor pay varies based on school counselor roles, identity, expectations, and legal and certification requirements and expectations of each country. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), the median salary for school counselors in the USA in 2010 was (USD) $53,380 or $25.67 hourly. The USA has 267,000 employees in titles such as School Counselor or related titles in education and advising and college and career counseling. The projected growth for school counselors is 14-19% or faster than average than other occupations in the USA with a predicted 94,000 job openings from 2008-2018 [75] [76]." In Australia, a survey by the Australian Guidance and Counseling Association found that school counselor salary ranged from (AUD) the high 50,000s to the mid 80,000s.

Among all counseling specialty areas, public elementary, middle and high school counselors are (2009) paid the highest salary on average of all counselors. Budget cuts, however, have affected placement of public school counselors in Canada, Ireland, the United States, and other countries due to the global recession in recent years. In the United States, rural areas and urban areas traditionally have been under-served by school counselors in public schools due to both funding shortages and often a lack of best practice models. With the advent of No Child Left Behind legislation in the USA and a mandate for school counselors to be working with data and showing evidence-based practice, school counselors able to show and share results in assisting to close gaps are in the best position to argue for increased school counseling resources and positions for their programs.[6]

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Evidence- and research-based school counseling articles, books, DVDs

Abilities, Disabilities, Gifts, Talents, and Special Education in School Counseling

Academic Achievement Interventions, Closing Achievement Gaps

Accountability; Evidence- and Data-Based School Counseling

Addictive Behaviors Including Gaming: School Counselor Assessment and Intervention

Advocacy, Empowerment, Equity, Social Justice

ASCA Model & Standards; School Counseling Programs and Academic Success

Assignment of School Counselor Caseloads

Akos, P., Schuldt, H., & Walendin, M. (2009). School counselor assignment in secondary schools. Professional School Counseling, 13, 23-29.

Bilingual School Counseling

Career and College Access/Admission/Readiness Counseling; Closing Opportunity & Attainment Gaps

Counseling Theories in Schools

Cultural Competence, Ethnic/Racial Identity Development in School Counseling

Curriculum, Lesson Plans, and Classroom Management for K-12 School Counseling Programs

Effective School Counseling Practices and Evaluation

Ethics and Law in School Counseling

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender School Counseling

Group Counseling

International School Counseling: History and Current Practice

Leadership, Systemic Change, Educational Reform, Principals' Perceptions of School Counselors

Outcome Research, Content Analyses, and Research Design in School Counseling

Personal/Social Interventions; Peer Mediation (Anxiety, Bullying, Conflict, Violence)

Poverty, Homelessness, Classism

Rural School Counseling

School-Family-Community Partnerships; Parenting Interventions for Academic Success

Supervision and School Counselor Education

Technology and School Counseling

Transforming School Counseling Roles and Professional Identity

See also