Building a Model School Counseling Program

A new school year brings a fresh start to building your comprehensive school counseling program. As Texas school counselors, we are to follow The Texas Model. The great news is that the American School Counselor Association’s ASCA National Model and the Texas Model align with one another.

The ASCA National Model gives us templates to help us set up our comprehensive programs. It may seem overwhelming at first glance, but you don’t have to do it all in one year! If you’ve never explored the ASCA National Model resources, you can start with creating your school counseling program’s vision and mission statements. Your vision statement describes the future world (after graduation from high school) where best-possible student outcomes are achieved. Connect to your campus and district vision statements when possible. Your mission statement describes your school counseling program’s overarching focus or purpose aligned with the ASCA National Model/Texas Model, including equity, access and success for all students. Again, connect to your campus and district mission statements when possible.

The template for Classroom and Group Mindsets & Behaviors Action Plan helps organize what objectives you want to teach for the year to each grade level, through various settings such as classroom or small group. You don’t have to teach all objectives every year. The Annual Calendar template is another great tool to organize your school year. Start small and build up your program each year. Consider purchasing ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs (fourth edition) if your budget allows. Check out our LSSSCA website for information or contact me with any questions.  

Jennifer Madrid is the social emotional learning coordinator at Ysleta ISD. She currently serves as LSSSCA School Counseling Association Comprehensive Programs chair and assists with the Lone Star Awards.