Benefits of a Comprehensive Counseling Program
Comprehensive developmental school counseling programs provide a system that encourages and promotes academic, career, and personal/social development in preparation for the challenges of the 21st century. School counseling programs have a positive impact on students, parents/guardians, teachers, administrators, boards of education, school counselors, and the community.
Benefits for Students
- Prepares students for the challenges of the 21st century by acquiring knowledge and skills in academic, career, and personal/social development
- Connects the educational program to future success
- Ensures student access to the school counseling program
- Promotes a rigorous academic curriculum for every student
- Promotes commitment to learning
- Supports development of skills to increase student success
- Ensures equitable access to educational opportunities
- Monitors data to facilitate student improvement
- Fosters advocacy for students
- Facilitates career exploration and development
Benefits for Parents
- Prepares their children for the challenges of the 21st century through academic, career, and personal/social development
- Provides support and serves as a liaison for parents in advocating for their child’s academic, career, and personal/social development
- Develops a systematic approach for their child’s long-range planning and learning
- Increases opportunities for parent/school interaction
- Provides training and informational workshops
Benefits for Teachers
- Promotes an interdisciplinary team approach to address student needs and educational goals
- Positively impacts school climate and the learning community
- Supports classroom instruction
- Increases teacher accessibility to the counselor as a classroom presenter and resource person
- Provides a system for co-facilitation of classroom guidance lessons
- Encourages positive, calendared activities and supportive working relationships
- Analyzes data to improve school climate and student achievement
Benefits for School Counselors
- Provides a clearly defined role and function in the educational system
- Provides direct service to every student
- Provides a tool for program management and accountability
- Recognizes the school counselors as leaders, advocates, and change agents
- Ensures the school counseling program’s contribution to the school’s mission
Benefits for Administrators
- Aligns the school counseling program with the school’s academic mission
- Assists administration to use school counselors effectively to enhance learning and development for all students
- Provides a proactive school counseling curriculum addressing the students’ needs and enhancing school climate
- Uses data to jointly develop school counseling goals and school counselor responsibilities
- Provides a means of evaluating the effectiveness of the school counseling program
- Demonstrates school counseling accountability
Benefits for Boards of Education
- Provides rationale for implementing a comprehensive developmental counseling program in the school system
- Provides assurance that a quality school counseling program is available to every student
- Informs the community about the school counseling program
- Provides data about improved student achievement
- Demonstrates the necessity of appropriate levels of funding for implementation
Benefits for Student Services Personnel
- Provides school psychologists and other professional student services personnel with a clearly defined role of the school counselor
- Fosters a positive team approach, which enhances cooperative working relationships
- Maximizes collaborative teaming to ensure individual student success
- Uses school counseling program data to maximize benefit to individual student growth
Benefits for the Community
- Provides an increased opportunity for collaboration and participation of community members with the school program
- Creates community awareness and visibility of the school counseling program
- Connects the community to the needs of the school and the school to the needs of the community
- Enhances economic development through quality preparation of students for the world of work
Benefits for Business and Industry
- Increases opportunities for business and industry to participate actively in the total school program
- Provides increased opportunity for collaboration among counselors, business, and industry
- Provides a potential work force with decision-making skills, pre-employment skills, and increased worker maturity
Adapted from the
New York State School Counselor Association (2005). The New York State Model for Comprehensive K-12 School Counseling Programs. Leicester, NY: Author