Running head: SCHOOL COUNSELOR AS CHANGEMAKER 1

School Counselor as Agent of Systemic Change

Kara E. McNamara

University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

SCHOOL COUNSELOR AS CHANGEMAKER 2

Abstract

In consideration of what the role of an effective and helpful school counselor is, the guiding

National Model and Ethical Standards from the American School Counselor Association

(ASCA) provides a call to action for counselors to ensure high quality education and educational

services, equity, and access for all students. The pursuit of these objectives for students

necessitates effective usage of three themes in the ASCA model (collaboration, leadership, and

advocacy) in order to make the fourth theme (systemic change) possible. This big-picture change

reflects the need for equity for all students in their education and access for those students to

higher education once their high school careers end. School counselors can uniquely advocate for

change within their school, district, state, and at the national policy level, and school counselors

utilize collaboration with key stakeholders, leadership abilities, and intentional methods of

implementing change. There are data-driven methods by which this advocacy can take place to

best serve the students with whom school counselors work, and this data can also be used to

apply accountability to the work of the school counselor.

Keywords: systemic change, policy, accountability, equity, access, social justice

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School Counselor as Agent of Systemic Change

The ideal and ultimate objective of a school counselor is to “serve the needs of every

student” (American School Counselor Association (ASCA), 2012, p. 8), including “preK–12

students’ academic, career and social/emotional development needs” (ASCA, 2016, p. 1). That

lofty role is accomplished through adherence to the National Model and Ethical Standards

delineated by ASCA, which include an emphasis on a counselor’s abilities to lead, collaborate,

advocate, and work for systemic change (ASCA, 2012). School counselors are “are ideally

situated in schools to serve as social justice advocates to eliminate the achievement gap and to

focus their efforts on ensuring success for every underserved and underrepresented student,”

(Dahir & Stone, 2009, p. 12). The school counselor’s orientation towards social justice can allow

all of the high quality micro-level work that the counselor does, such as individual student

planning for college and small group opportunities for students with socio-emotional needs, to

reach more students and continually work to reach all students, which is the call to action of the

profession. The achievement of systemic change allows for equity in education and access, and

the motivation to work for that change stems from the conviction “that oppression and systemic

barriers interfere with clients’ health and well-being and may even be the cause of their distress,”

(Toporek, Lewis, & Crethar, 2009, p. 264). The process of working for systemic change involves

a great deal of data, relationship-building, and intentional, step-by-step implementation processes

that will be expressed here.

Literature Review

Flow of the ASCA Model into Systemic Change

Systemic change cannot occur in a vacuum; rather, it is intrinsically built upon the work

of the school counselor as collaborator, leader, and advocate. It also must come from a place of
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acknowledgement of the foundation of the comprehensive school counseling program (i.e. the

beliefs and vision and professional competencies of the counselor, the mission of the school, the

school data profile, etc.), the appropriate management of the program (i.e. utilizing assessments,

convening an Advisory Council, having an Annual Agreement with the relevant administrator),

provision of direct and indirect services, and accountability for the effectiveness of the program

(ASCA, 2012, p.8-10). Without these themes and components of the program, systemic change

is simply not possible.

Toporek, Lewis, and Crethar (2009) propose that systemic change can come from a

combination of sources such as systems advocacy, community collaboration, and social/political

advocacy. Systems advocacy is “identifying systemic problems, gaining information and insight

from those who are most affected and implementing advocacy at a systems level,” which is an

iteration of the counselor as advocate for systemic change using data and collaboration through

the management and accountability components (p. 263). Community collaboration involves the

school counselor working with students or others who are somehow disadvantaged by the reality

of the system; the counselor demonstrates both collaborative efforts and strong leadership skills

in order to empower the clients to formulate an action-oriented response (p. 263). Social/political

advocacy is a true example of the systemic change model, which asks the counselor to

continually assess policies (at every level, from an individual classroom to the federal level) and

their impact on students, the primary client and focus of school counseling programs, as well as

the students’ communities (p. 263). These propositions from Toporek, Lewis, and Crethar clearly

illustrate that the genesis of systemic change can be found in the school counselor’s other role

orientations, and the ASCA themes can be found flowing freely between these role orientations.
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An effective school counselor who is an agent of systemic change would be able to

utilize multiple types of leadership (such as political and structural) in order to provide a strong

approach to working for change. An effective school counselor would also be adept at

identifying key stakeholders in the system and collaborating with them in meaningful ways in

order to establish rapport and goodwill to best implement change. Finally, the school counselor

should be comfortable in the advocate role, advocating for justice, equity, and data-driven

policies and practices. Each of the ASCA themes flow into one another before culminating in the

possibility for systemic change (ASCA, 2012).

Accountability & Data Applied to Achievement Gaps

School counselors and other school professionals in the post-No Child Left Behind Act

era have become familiar with accountability as defined by “a systematic collection and analysis

of key data to understand, contribute to, and improve student achievement,” (Dahir & Stone,

2009, p.13). The ASCA National Model more specifically defines accountability within the

school counseling discipline as “[analysis] of school and school counseling program data to

determine how students are different as a result of the school counseling program,” (ASCA,

2012, p. xiv). Accountability is utilized in order to break down the data available to the school

counselor in order to assess effectiveness of direct services, such as classroom guidance,

individual student planning, small group work, and responsive services, as well as the overall

health of the school as an educational service and environment. School counselors can then use

the data in order to adjust his/her/their programming focus and approach to individual and group

counseling (as well as looking at who is not currently being supported enough through those

services), and to address any inequitable practices in the school. These data-driven adjustments

are concrete methods of taking on the achievement gap.

SCHOOL COUNSELOR AS CHANGEMAKER 6

The data being gathered by the school counselor also helps him/her/them better explain

the role and effectiveness of a school counselor to administrators, parents, and other community

stakeholders. In having specific data delineating the success of programs and their impact on

overall trends in student achievement, school counselors are able to advocate for their profession,

for themselves, and for the appropriate responsibilities that should (or should not) be in their job

description (such as through use of a use-of-time assessment). The numbers available through

data can possibly tell the story of the climate of a school just as well as the anecdotal experiences

of the school counselor.

Access & Equity

A great deal of motivation to reach for systemic change comes from a place of pushing

for access, equity of education and services, and a closing of the achievement gap for students.

Singh, Urbano, Haston, and McMahon asserted in 2010:

School counselor advocates are encouraged to address educational inequities and

differences in academic achievement that may be grounded in issues of race/ethnicity,

gender, class, disability status, and sexual orientation, and that may prevent many

students from maximizing their academic, social, and personal potential. (p. 135)

These inequities and questions of access are directly tied to the work of a school counselor as a

change agent. The ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (2012) clearly states that all

students have the right to “be treated with dignity and have access to a comprehensive school

counseling program that advocates for and affirms all students from diverse populations”, to be

in a “safe school environment promoting autonomy and justice and free from abuse”, and to be

“treated in a manner consistent with their gender identity,” (p. 1). These standards get directly at

the heart of the responsibility of the school counselor to identify what barriers, inequitable
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policies, discriminatory practices, exclusionary or unsafe environments, or individual biases may

be impacting any and all students.

School counselors have come to see that “students often needed more than what face-to-face

counseling could provide... They [counselors] have felt a responsibility to make the environment

more conducive to positive human development,” (Toporek, Lewis, & Crethar, 2009, p. 260). As

school counselors have been charged with the responsibility of serving all students, they must

continually review the data (disaggregated in meaningful ways) in order to assess the areas of

improvement that must be addressed. For example, if a group of students (i.e. Latinx students at

a predominantly white high school, LGBTQIA students, or students with learning differences)

collectively shows a trend in outcomes data (such as behavior, attendance, or academic

achievement) that is significant, the school counselor (in concert with other stakeholders) must

take action to address any barriers to education that these students may be experiencing.

Policy

School counselors, as well as the national professional association to which they belong

(the afore-referenced American School Counselor Association), engage in roles as policy

influencers. Policies are present at every relevant level for students: classroom rules, school

rules, district policies, state laws, and federal laws and guidance from the United States

Department of Education. Thus, the school counselor has the opportunity to advocate for

equitable policies at each of these levels too, whether as an individual counselor or through the

lobbying work of the ASCA organization. Some examples that the author considered of policies

that could have counselors’ involvement might be evaluating school dress codes as a means of

ensuring gender-equitable educational opportunities, advocating for a particular outcome

regarding the so-called “bathroom bill” at the state level in North Carolina to ensure a safe and
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inclusive school environment for students, or lobbying for a particular allocation of funding at

the federal level through the Department of Education in order to expand counseling services for

students. These varying levels of advocacy all have impacts on the experience of students (and

the communities they represent), which is undeniably under the purview of the school counselor.

Corrie Stone-Johnson (2015) posits the importance of role definition in the development

of policies, particularly with regards to college and career readiness programs in high schools (p.

27-28). She argues that when the role of the school counselor is not properly or clearly defined to

administration and particularly teachers, the school counselor can be rendered powerless and

relegated to be in a role that may involve being “pushed off-stage or behind the scenes as they

are left with an increased role in student support,” (Stone-Johnson, 2015, p. 30). This idea is

solely an issue of policy within a school, but its effect when implemented well or poorly would

certainly be felt by students and staff. It also harkens to the school counseling profession’s

overall identity within the educational system and the ways in which that role and identity can

continue to be shared more clearly with other stakeholders and partners in education.

Finally, the American Counseling Association rolled out its Advocacy Competencies in

2003, which encouraged advocacy for change “on three levels (student/ client,

school/community, and public arena) to resolve social justice issues rooted in environmental and

systemic factors,” (Singh, Urbano, Haston, & McMahon, 2010, p. 141). These Advocacy

Competencies coming from the umbrella organization for ASCA line up very well with the more

school-counseling specific advocacy for systemic change ideals and methods.

Methods to Implement Strategies for Systemic Change

The need for systemic change, in a variety of applications, may be obvious, but the

methods for achieving said change may be less so. A general framework for approaching change
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would be to “identify issues and collect data about the problem”, “[identify] a realistic vision or

goal”, and “identify policies and practices that need to change and include strategies to effect

such change,” (Lee & Rodgers, 2009, p. 285). A bare bones explanation of the six stages of

systemic change can be found in the ASCA National Model, which asserts the following

chronology: initial “maintenance of the old system”, “awareness” of the need for a new system,

“exploration” of other possibilities through research, “transition” from the old to new system,

“emergence of the new infrastructure” as a prevailing model, and “predominance of the new

system,” (ASCA, 2012, p. 9). This model’s usage is intended to show the flow of change, rather

than providing specific guidelines by which a counselor could learn to implement change.

Another model of change methodology, called the MEASURE action-research model offers a

“systematic and organized way for school counselors to explore a school-based problem,

develop a possible course of action, and monitor progress and results,” (Dahir & Stone, 2009, p.

14).

A second helpful consideration of counselors’ work for systemic change is that of the

qualities necessary for a school counselor to be an effective agent of change. In 2010, Singh,

Urbano, Haston, and McMahon interviewed 16 school counselors who self-identified as “social

justice agents” as to what specific competencies they held that helped them to advocate for

change. Some examples that they shared include: “using political savvy to navigate power

structures, initiating difficult dialogues, building intentional relationships, and educating others

about the school counselor role of advocate,” (p. 135). Similarly, Lee and Rodgers asserted in

2009 that some necessary skills for effective social justice advocacy requires of the counselor:

“leadership characteristics”, “a strategic vision”, skills in data collection and usage, and

“courage,” (p. 286). These overlapping ideals of competencies mesh well with the themes of the
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ASCA model (collaboration, leadership, and advocacy), which, as discussed, can propel a

counselor to achieve systemic change.

Discussion

The idea of the school counselor’s role being oriented towards systemic change-making

appeals to the author because of a deep-seated passion for social justice, concern for those

students who are marginalized or denied equity in the American educational system, and an

intellectual curiosity about the interaction of large-scale systems (i.e. the policies of the United

States’ Department of Education or the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction) with

the individual experiences of students. This interest stems from the author’s work in the

nonprofit, after-school setting with court-involved young men in situations of extreme

educational inequity through no fault of their own. In circling these concepts of interest, though

there are a number of career paths that meet with them, the role of the school counselor is the

most empowering and far-reaching role that the author could imagine for herself, particularly

with the strengths-based model that the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, employs.

There are limitations and constraints on the potential for school counselors being agents

of systemic change (though such obstacles of course are not reason to not engage in attempts at

advocating for necessary change). First, those school counselors rabblerousing for justice and

equity may experience personal and professional backlash from their work, such as “disciplinary

action or limited opportunities for advancement” or “being ostracized by professional

colleagues,” (Lee & Rodgers, 2009, p.286). Secondly, school counselors may at times have to act

or make decisions in the interest of big-impact change “without professional resources and

without guidance for ethical and effective implementation of the advocacy role,” (Toporek,

Lewis, & Crethar, 2009, p. 260). Finally, the ability to rally the social capital within the school to
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advocate for change may be limited by a hazy understanding of the school counselor role by

other staff and faculty members at the school or by the school counselor having to take on

inappropriate job responsibilities that limit the time available to assess the need and implement

the methodology for change (Stone-Johnson, 2015).

Conclusion

School counselors who develop, manage, and deliver comprehensive school counseling

programs are in a unique role within schools and the educational system at large to assemble

data, build and mobilize relationships, and implement strategies for systemic change. By

understanding the flow of advocacy, collaboration, and leadership, a school counselor can then

utilize these competencies to mobilize to close achievement gaps identified in the data for a

school, to advocate for changes in district/state/federal policies that threaten the equity and

inclusivity of educational services for children, and promote access to post-secondary education

for all students, especially historically marginalized groups. A school counselor can use a variety

of approaches to going after these changes, including the sequential six stage proposition in the

ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2012, p. 9) or the initiatives identified by self-identified systemic

change-making school counselors (Singh, Urbano, Haston, & McMahon, 2010, p. 138). The

work of going about systemic change has a macro-level impact on the educational system as a

whole, but the ripples can be felt at the micro-level in the forms of an inclusive and safe school

environment, equity of services and access to students across populations, and provision of

action plans for closing achievement gaps. For all that the idea of the school counselor as agent

of systemic change can be nebulous in the day-to-day work in a school setting, it is a role that

sets school counselors apart from other professionals in the school, as school counselors are able

to put all the pieces together in order to best serve all students.
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References

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Dahir, C. A., & Stone, C. B. (2009). School counselor accountability: The path to social justice

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national model. Professional School Counseling, 12(2), 176-181.

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Lee, C. C., & Rodgers, R. A. (2009). Counselor advocacy: Affecting systemic change in the

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