School Counselor - Keene State College

School Counselor from Keene State College is a Campus Master Counseling and Personnel Services degree that prepares you for a Education career. The Keene State College School Counselor Program is designed to encourage the development of school counselors who are, as described in the American School Counselor Association National Standards, actively involved in school transformation: "catalysts for educational change ? [playing] a leadership role in educational reform" (Campbell and Dahir, 1997, p. 3). The program prepares future school counselors to work as advocates for their students and to create developmental school counseling programs that are comprehensive in nature and focused on equity and success for all students. The program promotes an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the school counselor in the 21st century and the enhancement and development of relevant school counseling skills and strategies. Developmental, ecological/systemic, and multicultural perspectives provide the theoretical frameworks. The program is based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Standards (Campbell and Dahir, 1997), the ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs (American School Counselor Association, 2003), the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards (CACREP, 2001), and the New Hampshire state standards for school counselors, which, together, provide the framework for the program. The program's developmental perspective focuses on the needs, tasks, and challenges of children and adolescents as they grow and of the school counselor throughout her or his career. Therefore, we also emphasize the evolution of self-awareness and the skills required to be a lifelong reflective practitioner. The program is designed to create the conditions for self-reflection and awareness within the context of the role of school counselor in order to foster this awareness and these skills. An ecological/systemic perspective prepares counselors to work effectively with the systems that form the context of students' lives. These systems include the peer group, school , family, and community. An ecological perspective considers the impact of community, national, and global events on students and the spectrum of effective school counselors' responses to these events. A multicultural perspective is woven throughout the program; we are committed to preparing counselors who can work sensitively and effectively with diverse populations, including the range of cultural, ethnic, gender related, class, and racial diversity that exists in schools and in society. This emphasis includes attention to the range of learning differences and styles of the student population. The ASCA national standards are "the essential elements of a quality and effective school counseling program. The standards address program content and the knowledge, attitudes, and skill competencies that all students ? develop as a result of participating in a school counseling program.?The content of school counseling programs focuses on three widely accepted and interrelated areas: academic development, career development, and personal/social development" (Campbell and Dahir, 1997, pp. 3-5). The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs (American School Counselor Association, 2003) focuses on "a comprehensive approach to four elements: program foundation; delivery; management; and accountability" (ASCA p. 10). According to the ASCA national model, the foundation is based on the beliefs and philosophy of the individual school , its mission statement, and the ASCA national standards. The delivery system includes the school guidance curriculum, planning for individual students, responsive services , and system support. The management system includes organizing advisory councils, gathering and using data to make decisions and plan programs and interventions, and the use of action plans and other organizational tools to document and assess the program and how it is making a difference for all students. "School counselors must be proficient in retrieving school data, analyzing it to improve student success and using it to ensure educational equity for all students" (ASCA p. 10). A commitment to advocacy, leadership, collaboration, and systemic change provides the overall framing of this approach. The Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP 2001) focuses on the development and enhancement of high-quality standards for graduate programs in counseling. The CACREP standards are the national standard for designing and assessing graduate programs in counseling , therefore, these are the standards we used in conjunction with the New Hampshire state standards to design and assess the Keene State program. In order to work effectively with students, faculty, staff, families, and community stakeholders, school counselors need to have effective skills in communication, individual counseling, small-group guidance and counseling , and classroom guidance . Leadership in facilitating communication and team-building among faculty and staff members and with families and students are critical components of the school counselor's role. Effective leadership requires interpersonal and consultation skills and the ability to mediate and resolve conflicts. Skills in behavior management, crisis intervention, and referral and provision of services are crucial, as is an understanding of how to work with learning differences and emotional and health-related problems. School counselors need to be well grounded in current ethical and legal standards. Ethical practice must be infused in and guide all of their work. Awareness of the guidelines of professional organizations is of the utmost importance. Legal and ethical considerations include understanding the parameters surrounding confidentiality and knowing one's own biases and limits, when it is necessary to consult with colleagues, and when to refer students to another individual or agency. An ethical school counselor actively seeks to continuously learn more about this ever-growing field and is careful to seek appropriate peer review and clinical supervision throughout his or her career. The School Counselor Option is field-based; each course requires students to apply course content to a school or counseling context. The program is also sequential in design, with each course cluster providing a base for subsequent courses. Two semester-long School Counseling Internships (elementary and secondary) include a weekly seminar and require students to demonstrate mastery level counseling in a school setting. Program flexibility and individualization occur within the courses as students design and try out interventions based on interpretations of theory and research into identified best practices. View more details on Keene State College . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Counseling and Personnel Services courses.