A professional school counseling program should be designed to provide assistance to students within the grade levels that a school counselor serves. This program should reflect three areas of development for students, academics, college and career readiness, and personal/social skills. Effective school counseling programs are designed to provide students with resources that will help them meet their goals, advocate for themselves, and enter the world prepared to make a difference. The resources and activities developed by the school counselor are based on ASCA’s student competencies and standards and are developmentally appropriate for the population served by the counselor. Professional school counselors are also held to a code of ethical standards and to the ASCA school counselor competencies. Professional school counseling programs are based on four main components: foundation, delivery, management, and accountability. Each of these components must be carefully designed and implemented using the ASCA standards and competencies. One component cannot fully function without the other, so it is important for counselors to spend time developing a comprehensive program. An effective professional school counselor should also reflect the four main themes of the ASCA national model to have a comprehensive and effecting professional program. Effective school counselors are leaders within their school; they not only lead by example with their students, but with the faculty and parents at their school as well. School counselors also act as advocates for student development in all its forms. School counselors must collaborate with other members of their school system and community to create change. Finally, school counselors are also encouraged to identify system-wide barriers and advocate for systemic change. Like the four main components of the ASCA national model, the four themes do not exist independent from each other. Each theme is related to the other and all of the themes can be seen in each of the four components.
American School Counselor Association (2012). The ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd. ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.