COSC 660 Principles of School Counseling

This course studies the foundation of professional school counseling including the foundation of the ASCA National Model; Assess, Deliver, Define, and Mange. Current trends are explored as well as the role of the school counselor in pluralistic schools with a systems-focus. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for student success are integrated to assist students in conceptualizing the school counseling profession as a whole.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

This course studies the specialization of professional school counseling, including foundations, history, and current trends, and the roles of the school counselor in pluralistic schools with a systems focus. The student is introduced to the ASCA Model as a framework for developing comprehensive, developmental school counseling programs. The student is introduced to key professional associations, licensure, and contextual dimensions of school counseling, such as consultation, advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. The student will gain a greater understanding of the professional, legal, and ethical issues specific to counseling minors in the schools (e.g., case notes, student records, confidentiality, informed consent, parent involvement).

Method of Instruction: This 8-week course is delivered in a digital asynchronous format, with Canvas® as the primary instructional delivery method. Students complete one module per week over the duration of the course. 

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, participation in two Discussions is critical to evaluating the mastery of the learning objectives for this course; by demonstrating understanding and the ability to apply knowledge gleaned from course texts, lecture presentations, and assigned research articles. For each discussion, the original thread must be at least 500 words and no more than 550. Each thread must include at least 1 scholarly citation. There must also be at least one reply to another student’s thread with a minimum of 250 words and a maximum of 300 words. All citations for the discussions must be included in APA format. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I)

Each student will design a hypothetical school counseling brochure using the template provided, which will inform all stakeholders how the school counseling program supports the mission/vision of the school, and the academic, career, and social/emotional services provided to all students. The student will include a statement that advocates for the school counseling profession itself, as well as an outline of strategies that are used to promote equity in students’ achievement and college access. A specific, research-supported peer-intervention program will be identified as part of the school counseling services/interventions provided.

Advisory Council Assignment

The student will identify advisory council members, draft an invitation letter for advisory council members, and create an advisory council meeting agenda. First, the student will create a list of 8–20 individuals who would be invited to serve on a school counseling advisory council. For each person, students will include the individual’s role/title and rationale for their inclusion in the council. Secondly, the student will draft a professional invitation letter to individuals chosen to serve on the committee. The letter will include the purpose of the advisory council, members’ roles and responsibilities, a description of how the committee supports the school counseling program, the number of years in a term for each member, and the dates and times of proposed meetings. Lastly, using the ASCA website – “All Fifth Edition Template,”  the student will download the “Advisory-Council-First-Semester” template. The student will use the first page of the template to create an orientation meeting agenda. Within the agenda, the student will describe how the counseling program supports or advances the goals in the school’s vision and mission statements.

The student will prepare a 10–20-minute PowerPoint presentation with audio included for each content slide. The program MUST cover the 3 academic domains of a comprehensive school counseling program (i.e., career, personal-social, and academic development). The program will describe how it enhances student academic achievement.

The student will complete a 30-minute, open-book/open-notes quiz that covers the content of the textbook chapter readings. The quiz contains 10 multiple-choice questions and can only be taken one time.

Quiz: Dispositions Reflection

The student will rate himself/herself on the nine dispositions required for this program. The quiz will contain 9 multiple-choice questions and 1 essay question and is limited to 60 minutes. The student is allowed 1 attempt to complete the quiz.