Models for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs

Chapter 4

By: Lisa Lipins

Background• Jesse B. Davis was the first person to

develop a planned, systematic high school guidance program.

• Program was aimed at facilitating educational and career planning.

• He was a teacher-counselor at Central High School in Detroit, Michigan from 1898-1907.

The Essential Services Model• First model of school counseling

• Traced to the 1920’s

• E.G. Williamson published How to Counsel Students: A Manual of Techniques for Clinical Counseling in 1939

– Typical Services: Counseling, educational and occupational information, student appraisal, and placement

Schmidt’s Essential Services Model Update (2003)

• Major components of the school counseling program– Personal-Social, Educational, and Career

Development– Counseling (Individual, Group, Parent, Teacher),

Consulting, Coordinating, Appraising– Problems with model

• Suggests that counselors do not have a major role in providing classroom guidance

• Does not account for all the counselors’ activities throughout the day

• Falls short of being organized

The Comprehensive Guidance Program Model (CGPM)

• 1969 Gysbers and Associates- nontraditional approach

• Four components: – Individual Planning- 1-on-1, small group, classroom– Responsive Services-immediate needs, crisis counseling– Guidance Curriculum– System Support- public relations, professional development,

advisory board

CGPM

Pro’s • Carefully drawn and

detailed• Prescriptive model• Components are broad,

independent

Con’s• Components do not

recognize that counselors perform a variety of functions

• Provides little assistance for those who can’t implement the model due to lack of resources

ASCA National Model

ASCA Model– Disconnects between ASCA National Model

and CGPMoManagement activities seem misplaced in the

ASCA National ModeloAccountability is part of system support in CGPM

model but placed in a separate component in the ASCA model

Strategic Comprehensive Model (SCM)

• Based on meeting students needs

• No prescribed role or activities

• Accountability is based on the premise that student’s needs have been met

• 3 objectives: Development, Prevention, Remediation

SCM’s 5 Components

1. Facilitating Normal Development- prevention and development

2. Serving At-Risk Students-remedial services and referral

3. Life Skills Development-goal setting & planning, educational development, career development

4. Leadership and Program Management-personnel evaluation, public relations, planning

5. School Citizenship-varies with school

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs

• All models stress the importance of using data• Students who attended schools with more fully

implemented comprehensive school counseling programs reported:– higher grades– schools were better prepared for the future– students felt safer in school – had a better relationship with their teachers

– One program does not meet the needs of all schools or all counselors