American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
Position Professional school counselors have an essential and unique role in promoting, facilitating, and advocating for successful collaboration with parents/guardians and community stakeholders. These collaborations are an important aspect of implementing equitable, data-driven, comprehensive school counseling programs that promote the academic success of all students.
The Rationale
School counseling and educational reform literature call for school counselor involvement in enhancing school-familycommunity collaboration (Amatea & West-Olatunji, 2007; Bosworth & Walz, 2005; Bryan, 2005; Ratts, et al., 2007). Family involvement benefits both the student and the school as it increases student achievement and attendance, promotes career development, enhances school climate, and fosters student resilience (Epstein & Sheldon, 2006). Schoolfamily-community partnerships can support the effective and efficient delivery of school counseling program services to promote student success (Taylor & Adelman, 2000).
The Professional School Counselor’s Role
Professional school counselors are called to work with students, their families, and community members as a part of their comprehensive school counseling programs, and address the following:
• become knowledgeable about community resources and actively pursue collaboration with family members and community stakeholders
• remove barriers to the successful implementation of school-family-community partnerships (e.g., mistrust and miscommunication between parties, resistance to the concept and practice, transportation and childcare issues, accessible meeting times)
• serve as an advocate, leader, facilitator, initiator, evaluator, and collaborator to create, enrich, and evaluate the effect of these partnerships on student success.
Summary
School-family-community partnerships have increased the academic success of students. Professional school counselors are called to create, lead, facilitate, and evaluate these partnerships and work to remove barriers to these helpful collaborative relationships.
Position Professional school counselors have an essential and unique role in promoting, facilitating, and advocating for successful collaboration with parents/guardians and community stakeholders. These collaborations are an important aspect of implementing equitable, data-driven, comprehensive school counseling programs that promote the academic success of all students.
The Rationale
School counseling and educational reform literature call for school counselor involvement in enhancing school-familycommunity collaboration (Amatea & West-Olatunji, 2007; Bosworth & Walz, 2005; Bryan, 2005; Ratts, et al., 2007). Family involvement benefits both the student and the school as it increases student achievement and attendance, promotes career development, enhances school climate, and fosters student resilience (Epstein & Sheldon, 2006). Schoolfamily-community partnerships can support the effective and efficient delivery of school counseling program services to promote student success (Taylor & Adelman, 2000).
The Professional School Counselor’s Role
Professional school counselors are called to work with students, their families, and community members as a part of their comprehensive school counseling programs, and address the following:
• become knowledgeable about community resources and actively pursue collaboration with family members and community stakeholders
• remove barriers to the successful implementation of school-family-community partnerships (e.g., mistrust and miscommunication between parties, resistance to the concept and practice, transportation and childcare issues, accessible meeting times)
• serve as an advocate, leader, facilitator, initiator, evaluator, and collaborator to create, enrich, and evaluate the effect of these partnerships on student success.
Summary
School-family-community partnerships have increased the academic success of students. Professional school counselors are called to create, lead, facilitate, and evaluate these partnerships and work to remove barriers to these helpful collaborative relationships.