Comprehensive Developmental School Counseling Essay

Comprehensive Developmental School Counseling - Essay Example By taking this approach, I would be in a better position to take proactive and preventative measures in the development of a counseling program. A comprehensive counseling program responding to the drop-out rate would be designed to identify students where at least one of the factors found to contribute to drop-out rates and to engage those students in counseling. Drawing on national longitudinal studies the baseline for the program would target students with specific family backgrounds, demographics, members of minority and ethnic groups, lower academic performance, low self-esteem and students with disability or health problems (Lamb 2011, 369). National longitudinal studies demonstrate that each of these factors are significant contributing factors in the national school drop-out cohort. It is expected that my local school is no different (Lamb 2011, 369). Essentially, national longitudinal studies show that family background such as the family’s structure and parentsâ€⠄¢ level of education contribute to a student’s propensity to drop-out of school (Lamb 2011, p. 370). Demographic factors like, race, ethnicity, gender and location are also contributing factors. ... Ultimately the program will have as its goals identifying these factors among the student population and reaching out to those students by virtue of counseling and education to encourage retention. An example of the data would be statistics grouping the cohorts into different groups so as to establish priority groups. The statistical grouping would reflect the percentage of students from specific groups that have dropped out of school. A list reflecting the percentage of drop-out students from a shared background or a shared demographic, or a shared individual trait or a shared academic performance will be prepared. This list is necessary for substantiating how students at risk among the current student population should be identified and targeted for the counseling program. It is therefore necessary to establish a list of students who are at risk of dropping out and ensuring that they are targeted by the counseling program. In order to justify this approach, it will be necessary to demonstrate how the counseling program has intervened and prevented students who were at risk in the past dropping out of school. Therefore a list of students who exhibited the factors that contribute to the drop-out rate, who received counseling and did in fact complete school will also be prepared. The collection of data is a necessary prerequisite for a comprehensive school counseling program. As reported by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA): The use of data to effect change within the school system is integral to ensuring that every student receives the benefits of the school program (ASCA National Model, n.d.). This means not only collecting data reflecting the drop-out cohort, but also data demonstrating