Students in the school counseling program are introduced to both national and state standards and initiatives pertaining to the practice and delivery of counseling services in today’s schools. They study the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Standards for School Counseling Programs; the ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs; and the recently developed School Counselor Competencies that outline the knowledge, attitudes, and skills school counselors must possess to meet the rigorous demands of the profession and the needs of K-12 students. In their didactic as well as their clinical coursework, students explore the four major components of the 2003 ASCA National Model (e.g. foundation, delivery, management, and accountability) and the relationship between ASCA national standards and the academic goals and priorities of local school districts to inform themselves of the knowledge, attitudes, and skills required across the full K-12 spectrum of school counseling. Such knowledge, attitudes, and skills are conceptualized and defined according to ASCA’s three domains of student development competencies (e.g. academic, career, and personal/social). The intervention strategies, delivery methods, and resources to promote student development competencies are also important topics of discussion are in both classroom and field work studies.
In COUN 660 (Organization, Administration and Supervision in School Counseling) students learn about the evolution of the developmental counseling movement within New Jersey and the fact that its origins actually predate ASCA Standards. As a result, they come to see and understand the importance of New Jersey School Counseling Initiatives that have served as a framework and model for comprehensive K-12 school counseling programs within their own state. In addition, during both their SC emphasis courses and their supervised school counseling experience, students study and experience firsthand the way in which school counseling services within a state are aligned with national venues (e.g. the ASCA National Standards and National Model and No Child Left Behind) and other state-related mandates such as the NJ Core Content Curriculum Standards, the NJ Administrative Code, and current or pending public policies or laws. For example, effective Spring 2012, all students are required to complete formal training in the 2011 NJ Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying Prevention (HIB) law and best practices in bullying prevention. Students thoroughly explore these and other state and national school counseling standards, initiatives, and mandates throughout their program and the impact and practice implications of social and political factors on the profession are reviewed. As a result, upon the completion of this program, students understand the ramifications of, and are prepared to promote, a paradigm shift from a school counseling program with an emphasis on “service-centered for some” to one that is equity-based, or “program-centered for all.” The themes of advocacy, leadership, and systemic change are integral to this transformative process and therefore key program foci as students learn how to become catalysts for educational change, student advocates, and educational reform leaders.
A commitment to the development of multicultural competencies and student advocacy skills in relation to diversity, equity, and opportunity, especially as these pertain to student learning, achievement, and success is central to the mission of TCNJ, the School of Education, the Department of Counselor Education, and our School Counseling Program. To these ends, ways of advocating for learning experiences, policies, programs and services that are equitable, responsive, and necessary to promote the academic, career, and personal/social development of all student are taught in COUN 530 Multicultural Counseling, and SC emphasis courses (e.g. COUN 545 Community Agency Counseling, COUN 660 Organization, Administration, and Supervision in School Counseling, and EPSY 661 Counseling Exceptional and At-Risk Children and Adolescents). In these courses, consultation and alliance building skills with key stakeholders (e.g. student peers, teachers, other school staff and administrators, community-based organizations, parents/guardians, and families) are also major educational goals. Students become familiar with these stakeholders during their SC emphasis courses, and through both their didactic coursework and their supervised clinical training they learn how to mobilize and work with these forces to address problems that adversely affect student success, close achievement gaps in school, and promote students’ overall academic, career, and personal/social well-being and development.
On an interpersonal level, the school counseling program at TCNJ fosters in the school counselor-in-training the ability to establish and maintain a professional relationship with students, significant others in the students’ lives, and other school and community-based professionals. The focus of such relationships is on creating an environment that promotes the development of all children and adolescents, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status. School counseling students are taught multicultural counseling skills and they are trained to be advocates and activists for social change on behalf of all students, including those who are victims of social oppression and those with special needs. Most importantly, students learn by both example and deed that a successful school counseling program involves collaboration among parents, students, school counselors, administrators, teachers, student services personnel support staff, the community, and local and state agencies, the focus of which is to keep the development of ALL students at the forefront of the education movement.