Culturally Proficient Collaboration

Use and Misuse of School Counselors

Diana L. Stephens, Randall B. Lindsey

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781452269627
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Consejería educativa

Optimize school counselors and raise your school’s cultural competence

The authors make a compelling case for recognizing professional school counselors as leaders of 21 st -century change rather than "gatekeepers" of the status quo. Today’s school leaders need to acknowledge counselors’ value in the necessary work of providing equitable resources and opportunities for children in today’s multicultural environment. Aligned with the American School Counselor Association National Model for school counseling programs, this book provides a conceptual framework and practical protocols for utilizing school counselors as:

• Change agents for school improvement
• Creators of results-based programs
• Equity advocates for all students

This book shows how to make the most of school leadership teams by empowering counselors to contribute to each school’s success.

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PART I

The Changing Role of School Counselor

Schoolwide Leadership

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Introduction to Part I

What distinguishes our schools in the early part of the 21st century from their counterparts at the turn of the last century is our commitment to educate all children and youth—from all cultural groups independent of their race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ableness, or faith/spiritual membership or absence thereof. To meet this new mission of schools, the role of school counselor is evolving to include counselors as members of school leadership teams that address issues of equity and access. Chapters 1–4 trace the history of school counseling, describe emergent role and performance standards for school counselors, provide the Tools of Cultural Proficiency as a lens by which to shape the role and function of school counselor, and provide a rubric by which to gauge educator and school progress in effective use of school counselors.

Features of the Chapters

Chapters 1–3 begin with a vignette designed to provide voice to the emerging and changing role of school counselors as members of school leadership teams. The voices are those of educators you will recognize as they seek to improve their craft in service of our diverse student populations. You will be introduced to teachers, administrators, and counselors who represent our experiences with a series of schools and districts with whom we have worked amalgamated into the composite Maple View School District. Throughout the chapters you will learn specific content that relates to the role of school counselors as members of school leadership teams dedicated to improved student learning. At select points in each chapter, you are provided the opportunity to reflect on your reading and on your professional experiences. The final section of each chapter presents a Going Deeper activity designed for you to think more deeply about your role as an educator, what commitments you are willing to make for your own learning, and the manner in which you will work with colleagues for school improvement.

Chapter 4 includes the vignette and Going Deeper format of preceding chapters and adds the use of a rubric. The rubric organizes salient information from Chapters 1–3 in a usable tool. Chapters 5–9 in Part II use the rubric to guide your thinking and plan your actions as an educator and as a member of your school community. Part III, Chapter 10, presents an opportunity for you and your school to develop an action plan.

Glossary

To assist in your reading, we provide you with a glossary of terms. The definitions have been crafted from our more than 40 years of professional and scholarly experiences working with issues related to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.

Ableism—belief that people served by special education programs and differently abled people do not meet societal standards and are, thereby, marginalized for their differences. This term counters the often-used deficit-laden term disability.

Achievement Gap—refers to the disparities of academic success between and among cultural groups of students gauged by standardized or performance-based measures.

ASCA (American School Counseling Association) National School Counseling Model—a framework for school counselors to use in developing, implementing, and evaluating comprehensive, developmentally designed counseling programs, informed by data-driven decision-making.

Classism—belief in the superiority of people in middle and upper socioeconomic classes that fosters a caste system for people in lower socioeconomic classes.

Demographic Groups—alternative to the assessment term subgroups; intended to be more specific and descriptive of cultural groups of students.

Ethnocentrism—differs from racism in that it suggests a belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group, but it says nothing about the group’s power to subjugate other groups via societal institutions (adapted from Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2009).

Fellow Educators—our inclusive term that refers to all certified/credentialed educators serving educative functions in our schools. Using this term, as appropriate, reduces the temptation to ascribe school successes or failures to one educator role—principal, counselor, or teacher.

Formal and Nonformal Leaders—refers to leaders who have been formally appointed to administrative or teacher leader roles as well as emergent leaders generally recognized by colleagues.

Heterosexism—has two components: (a) a belief that heterosexuals are superior to homosexuals; and (b) the power to institutionalize that belief, thereby marginalizing homosexuals overtly and covertly (adapted from Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2009).

Opportunity Gap—underrepresentation of marginalized cultural groups of students in high-level curriculum and course offerings; or, overrepresentation of marginalized cultural groups in special education and alternative education programs.

Racism—has two components: (a) the belief that one racial group is superior to all others; and (b) the power to create an environment where that belief is manifested in the subtle or direct subjugation of the subordinate ethnic groups through a society’s institutions (Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2009).

Sexism—has two components: (a) a belief that men are superior to women; and (b) the power to institutionalize that belief, thereby marginalizing women overtly and covertly (adapted from Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2009).

TSCI (Transforming School Counseling Initiative)—a national initiative by The Education Trust to reform the education preparation and professional practice of school counselors as collaborative leaders, advocates, and change agents fostering access, equity, and academic success of all students.

Underserved (or Needing to Be Served Differently)—counter to assessment terms underperforming or low performing that shifts focus to professional responsibilities of educators and schools.

Underperforming or Low Performing—assessment term used to focus on cultural groups of students performing below a criterion set for standardized or performance-based tests. We offer the counter terms underserved or needing to be served differently to shift the focus of responsibility to educators and schools.

Resource A, following Chapter 10, provides a storyboard for the vignettes in this book. The storyboard summarizes by essential element the cultural issues presented, The Education Trust’s Transforming School Counseling Initiative roles of counselor, the school setting within the Maple View School District, and the issues/action steps under consideration. Brief bios of the educators of Maple View School District appear in the Introduction to Part II.

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1

The Evolving Role of School Counselor

How are students different as a result of the school counseling program?

—ASCA (2005)

Getting Centered

Pine Hills High School (PHHS) and the Maple View School District are at the beginning of the second year of its Transforming School Counseling Initiative. Pine Hills’ representatives to the district planning team are Emilia, an English teacher; Michael, a counselor; and, Diego, the principal. Join us as they discuss a conversation Emilia overheard among some of her other PHHS colleagues.

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Emilia—Whew! As much as I appreciate our colleagues at this school, I am never prepared for some of the comments made about our students.

Michael—Not prepared doesn’t mean you’re surprised, does it?

Diego—What happened, Emilia?

Emilia—Well, in preparing for the district meeting next week to kick off year two of the TSCI, you know, that Transforming School Counseling Initiative thing we are doing, I raised the issue of our department and the ways in which we may support or impede student learning and got a lot of push back from two other teachers.

Michael—Push back? How do you mean?

Emilia—One member indicated he took it as an affront that we would even look at “how we impede learning.” Another said, “Given where these kids come from, what does the district and their fancy initiatives think we are—magicians?” I might add that he punctuated the word ‘initiatives’ by using his fingers to illustrate quotation marks.

Michael—Did others chime in to agree, or did they remain silent?

Emilia—Good question! Most just rolled their eyes. Let me be clear, I did get some good input. It was just that the negatives always cause me to freeze a bit. I so want to lash back, but I know that usually doesn’t help.

Diego—Which is why we have developed this team approach to the counseling initiative and have taken a multiyear perspective. Often, it does take 3–5 years to change the conversation.

Michael—I am just surprised they didn’t ask, “Isn’t it the role of the counselor to make sure ‘those kids’ are not coddled and to contact their parents rather than depend on us to talk about our ‘impediments?”

Emilia—To be honest, that sentiment was expressed. However, instead of arguing the point, I used the opportunity to describe how the TSCI will support us in addressing achievement gaps. I indicated that the role of counselor is in transition and the new role of school counselor is to be more of a facilitator to work with all teachers and administrators as we continue to face achievement gap hurdles.

Diego—What was the reaction?

Emilia—Interestingly, it was mixed. It was at this point that voices began to speak to the progress made last year and that the national focus on accountability seems to be taking a “no excuses” approach.

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How familiar is this conversation to you? Have you heard a similar conversation in your school? Have you participated in this conversation? If so, what did you say? What would you have liked to have said? How do you describe the role of counselor in your school? What would you like the role of counselor to be in your school? Please use the space below to record your responses and related thinking.

Reflection

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The Intent of This Chapter

School counselors are too often at the periphery of substantive, collegial conversations with teacher and administrative colleagues about student academic performance. Counselor marginalization within our schools is the result of their being perceived as “firemen” or “therapists” or “schedulers” or any of a litany of roles not central to the core mission of our schools. Unlike teachers and administrators, the counseling profession has had to continually redefine itself in search of a meaningful role in our schools, which leads to the question, If the role of counselor is continually evolving in a way that is ambiguous, is it any wonder that the role is not embraced by teachers and administrators? Given the huge task that lies before our schools to educate students from all demographic sectors, we cannot, and must not, let the role of school counselor be at the margin of conversations and decisions about the central purpose of schooling. Counselors must be involved in school decision-making in a way that uses their skills in accessing and interpreting academic and access data. The outcome of such analyses must lead to increased access of students to high-level curricula and result in increasing graduation from high school; students should be prepared to enter colleges and universities or prepared for professional careers.

Our intent in this chapter is to provide you a basis for understanding the changing context for the transition of school counselors from marginalized roles to essential members of leadership teams in schools. The change has not been easy, nor will the transition be easy in the near future for either school counselors or their educator colleagues. In this chapter, you ...