What does the new standard, program accountability, mean for school counselors and school counseling programs in Connecticut? Although accountability has always been part of the school counselor’s professional responsibility, the No Child Left Behind (2001) Legislation has raised the bar on accountability for everyone in education, including school counselors. The mandate of this legislation, which calls for all critical players in the school setting to share responsibility to collectively remove barriers for students that impede learning and academic success, places school counselors in a new accountability mode that focuses on the results of the school counseling program and its impact on student achievement and success.
School systems, state departments of education and organizations that have an interest in the work of school counselors continue to seek evidence that school counseling programs are accountable, promote student achievement, and address an advocacy agenda for equity in educational opportunities (Stone & Dahir, 2004). Increasingly school counselors are being challenged to demonstrate the effectiveness of the school counseling program in measurable terms. If this challenge is to be met, school counselors must be accountable for taking a leadership role for program development and implementation that is based on the ten program standards discussed in an earlier section of this document. Program effectiveness can be determined only when a program is in place, the standards are met and maintained on an ongoing basis.
Principals and teachers work in an accountability-driven environment as schools are rated annually on their yearly progress. Accountability requires all educators to systematically collect, analyze, and use data to examine the achievement story for students. School counselors also use this same information to strategize and document how the school counseling program contributes toward supporting student success. School counselors can demonstrate and communicate how their school counseling programs positively impact student achievement, and, by so doing, share accountability for school improvement with other members of the faculty.
Accountability is sharing responsibility to collectively remove barriers that impede learning and involves all of the critical players in a school setting. It focuses counseling activities on student achievement and demonstrates commitment to school improvement.
Please click here on the links below for a sample MEASURE and a CT MEASURE template for your own use.
CT Comprehensive School Counseling Program Update 2006