Closing the achievement gap refers to school counselors taking strides to ensure that all students in their charge succeed. In order to do this school counselors must understand where gaps exist for their students and implement equitable services that help to close those gaps.
School counselors can utilize needs assessments and school data profiles to better understand where the greatest gaps are for their students. Using the information gathered from these assessments, school counselors can then set goals and develop programs in an attempt to lessen the gap for students. There are many excellent tools for school counselors to use when developing plans of action and setting goals. One excellent tool is MEASURE, a step by step assessment tool which helps school counselors track how they will close a particular gap. It is important to remember that schools have many areas which may have gaps, whether it is attendance, test scores, discipline, etc.; school counselors should not attempt to close every gap within the course of one school year. Trying to address all areas of concern will only result in counselor burn-out and poor results for students. It is better to set one or two goals and use a template like MEASURE or SPARC (a California based tool for setting goals and assessing programs) to close some gaps more fully.
ASCA provides school counselors with many useful documents to help develop a plan for closing the achievement gap. Linked below are samples of an action plan for closing the gap and a results report for programs implemented. Utilizing these documents along with MEASURE or SPARC helps school counselors to track the success of an intervention from start to finish.
American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd. ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author. Stone, C., & Dahir, C. (2007). School counselor accountability: A measure of student success(2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.