Essay - Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of the School Guidance Program...

Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of the School Guidance Program Prior to and Following the Implementation of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model in a K-12 School District

Introduction

***** and Overview

Statement of ***** Problem

Purpose ***** the Study

Research Question

Significance of *****

Rationale of Study

Relevance

Implications of *****

Assumptions of Study

Limitations

Def*****itions ***** Terms

***** Summary and Conclusion

Chapter I

Introduction

The need for effective school counseling programs has never been greater. Policymakers at all levels have recognized that change is *****ed but continue to struggle to identify effective approaches ***** effect substantive reform. The good news is ***** there is a viable approach available in the form of the American School Counselor Association's ***** Standards for School Counseling Programs. The bad news, though, ***** that this model continues to be either misunderstood or underutilized in many school districts across the country. School ***** programs represent a team approach to assist students, parents, teachers, administrators as well as ***** larger community overcome many of the issues and problems that confront these stakeholders today. In order to be effective, though, school counseling ***** must *****come an integral part of students' daily educational environment, ***** school counselors ***** assume a fundamental role as team members in facilitating academic outcomes for their students. In ***** c*****es, though, school counseling programs have lacked a consistent identity from state to state, district ***** district and in some cases, even among individual schools themselves. This paucity of uniformity among school ***** across the country ***** created some pr*****ound constraints concerning the role that should be played by school counselors and what *****y are capable of contributing to ***** and student achievement. Consequently, many school counseling programs ***** frequently regarded as ancillary programs rather than an essential element in the educational regimen ***** ***** detriment ***** ***** *****d students alike (***** ASCA National Model 2003). In addition, in many cases, teachers and school ***** are unaware of the *****nefits that school counselors can provide to them, their students, as ***** as ***** and other stakeholders (Delisio 2008). Furthermore, no recent model has been advanced ***** incorporates the mission and national movement of the school counseling profession as proposed by the ***** National Model for ***** counseling programs (Wood and Rayle 2006).

Background and Overview

By ***** end of the twentieth century, federal policymakers recognized that the American school system was in crisis and ***** badly in need ***** some type of re*****m. As a result, a mish-m*****sh of legislation and unfunded mandates were handed down that have done little to effect substantive change in many *****. *****creas*****gly, national attention has been focused on connecting the role of the school counselor with ***** current school reform movement to help overcome ***** constraints (Perusse and Goodnough 2005). In this regard, Ravitch (2004), characterizes the twentieth century as a period of revolving door school reforms that were intended to maximize limited resour***** for the optimal benefit of student learners, yet the same ineffective