Module 2
The next step in Module 2 is to provide your team with the opportunity to experience fun, joy, happiness, passion, mission, and motivation! You will create your Beliefs, Vision, Mission statements guiding your CSCP, and also consider developing a Social Equity Statement.
You have examples of Beliefs, Vision, and Mission statements provided for you in the Framework document (p.27-29) and can find many additional statements on the WWW. Remember, this is your opportunity to inform all those around you, who you are as the team leading the development and implementation of the district’s CSCP. Read pages 4-5 and 27-29 in the Oregon Framework. Review the same sections you previously read in the ASCA Ethical Standards. This review is likely to provide you with some “bullet points” from which you can build out your Beliefs, Vision, Mission, and Social Equity statements.
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As you develop or update a CSCP, your team’s beliefs about students, families, teachers, administrators, and the educational process will first be addressed. Beliefs and values drive our thinking and behavior. Beliefs and values drive who we serve, who we don’t, and how we serve them. The more carefully the team examines and reflects on its beliefs, the better the team will develop an understanding of and address its biases and gap areas. This continuous work on the team’s beliefs and biases can help address equity and access for all students.
Effective Belief Statements:
Create agreed-upon beliefs about the ability of all students to achieve.
Address how the school counseling program meets student developmental needs.
Address your role as an advocate for every student.
Identify persons to be involved in the planning, managing, delivery and evaluation of school counseling program activities.
Include how data informs program decisions.
Include how ethical standards guide the work of school counseling programs.
The Course Development Team developed this belief statement for this course:
All students have the right to equitable access to a school counseling program that promotes academic, career, social/emotional, and community involvement development and improves student outcomes for all students, including students historically and currently marginalized by the education system.
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The vision statement communicates what you hope to see for students in five, 10, or even 15 years in the future. It aligns with the school and district vision statements and is informed by the school counseling programs’ beliefs.
You can establish your program vision and mission statements with your counseling advisory council and partners to help communicate your program and gain more buy-in.
Effective Vision Statements can:
Create a clear picture of success for all students.
Describe the future world where student outcomes are successfully achieved.
State the best possible outcomes desired for all students that are five to 15 years away.
Align the CSCP’s work with the school and district vision statement.
The Course Development Team’s Vision Statement for this course is:
By the 2026-27 school year, at least 80% of the students in Oregon will be receiving the comprehensive school counseling services specified in OAR 581-022-2060.
By that time, school superintendents will have adopted the practice of meeting with their school counseling team or the school counseling team lead to review the OAR 581-022-2060 compliance checklist.
The Course Development Team’s Mission Statement for this course is:
By the 2026-27 school year, at least 80% of districts will be in compliance with OAR 581-022-2060.
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The mission statement provides the focus and direction to reach the vision. It creates a clear focus or purpose in the school counseling program development and implementation. It aligns with and is a subset of the school and district’s mission and improvement plans. It ensures all students benefit from a school counseling program emphasizing equity, access, success, and long-range results.
Effective Mission Statements can:
(a) Create a clear focus for the school counseling program to reach the vision.
(b) Describe the school counseling program’s overarching focus or purpose.
(c) Align with the school’s mission statement and may show linkages to district mission statements.
(d) Emphasize equity, access and success for every student.
(e) Indicate the long-range results desired for all students.
Review these examples to identify areas of alignment between District and School Counseling Programs:
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Your team is invited to adopt an Equity Stance statement to accompany your Beliefs, Vision, and Mission Statements. Neither the ASCA National Model nor the Oregon Framework currently address the importance of having such a statement; however, CSCPs such as Portland Public Schools are adopting such statements:
We believe School counselors are ethically obligated to advocate for the dismantling of policies, practices, and procedures that sustain institutional racism in our schools. The power structures that perpetuate white supremacy must be challenged to truly realize equity and justice in our schools. School counselors are in a position of both servitude and leadership--we must take the lead, using data to clearly show the gaps that exist between Black students and their peers. We must actively seek out injustice and institutional racism in our schools and school counseling programs while engaging in uncomfortable courageous conversations. As the PPS COSA team, we are committed to engaging in this work side-by-side with school counselors and challenging the status quo that leaves many of our Black and Brown students behind.
Program Development Template Module 2
Advisory Council: Outline the steps and the timeline for initiating your Advisory Council including your thoughts about who should serve on the committee.