School Counseling to Close the Achievement Gap : A Social Justice Framework for Success

__**Be a major player in improving student development and performance!**__Rooted in the principles of social justice, this much-needed resource offers school counselors a road map for promoting equity and increasing student achievement. The author shows counselors how they can improve both the delivery and impact of their counseling, consulting, and coordination services by incorporating data and advocacy into their everyday work. To assist them in challenging bias and creating conditions that promote success for all students, this book offers readers:Counseling snapshots of challenging situations Small-group activities for students Suggested readings for extending learning Individual and group reflective questions to deepen understanding "The author is way ahead of the game on this one. This book is sorely needed in schools today. I work with several schools and would recommend using this material in counselor inservice programs and graduate counselor education classes." —Sharon K. Johnson, Coeditor Building Stronger School Counseling Programs "A groundbreaking book for school counselors and school counselor educators, with great examples, practical suggestions, and powerful theory. The author encourages using a social justice advocacy lens to help counselors and counseling programs close the achievement gap." —Stuart F. Chen-Hayes, Associate Professor of Counselor Education Lehman College of the City University of New York "I would recommend this book to every education student, school counselor, and urban educator." —Jennifer White-Peters, School Counselor Burlington City Junior School, NJ Be a major player in improving student development and performance! School counselors can play a powerful role in closing the achievement gap when they incorporate the principles of social justice into their practice. In this much-needed resource for preservice and inservice counselors, Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy addresses factors (such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism) that can contribute to academic failure, and challenges readers to play an active role in creating equitable educational environments. The author provides a variety of strategies to support school counselors in six key functions—counseling, consulting, coordinating services, connecting schools to families and communities, collecting and analyzing data, and challenging bias—and shows counselors how to advocate for the healthy development and academic success of all students. Readers will find: Counseling snapshots of challenging situations Small-group activities for students Suggested readings for extending learning Individual and group reflective questions to deepen understanding School Counseling to Close the Achievement Gap is the ideal road map for promoting equity in schools, increasing students′ academic performance, and enhancing their personal growth. Half Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 6 Preface 9 Acknowledgments 11 About the Author 13 1 The Achievement Gap: Our Ultimate Challenge 14 2 School Counseling Within the Context of Social Justice 30 3 Counseling and Intervention Planning 43 4 Consultation 70 5 Connecting Schools, Families, and Communities 81 6 Collecting and Using Data 97 7 Challenging Bias 112 8 Coordinating Student Services and Support 121 9 Doing the Right Thing: Developing a Social Justice–Focused School Counseling Program 131 Resources 141 Resource A: Assessing School Equity 142 Resource B: School Counselor Multicultural Competence Checklist 145 Resource C: School Culture Assessment 152 Resource D: Assessing Beliefs About School-Family-Community Partnership Involvement 154 Resource E: SOARING Samples and Worksheets 156 Suggested Readings by Topic 161 References 166 Index 172 Advertisement 195 Be a major player in improving student development and performance! Rooted in the principles of social justice, this much-needed resource offers school counselors a road map for promoting equity and increasing student achievement. The author shows counselors how they can improve both the delivery and impact of their counseling, consulting, and coordination services by incorporating data and advocacy into their everyday work. To assist them in challenging bias and creating conditions that promote success for all students, this book offers readers: Counseling snapshots of challenging situations Small-group activities for students Suggested readings for extending learning Individual and group reflective questions to deepen understanding Addressed to preservice and inservice counselors, considers such factors as racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their link to academic failure and challenges readers to play an active role in creating equitable educational environments.

Offers school counselors a road map for increasing achievement and promoting equity and advocacy for all students by examining the social factors that contribute to academic failure.