Standard 4 Aspect A

Standard 4a. Engages with local partners and stakeholders to support high-needs schools and participates in efforts to reduce disparities in educational outcomes

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The program is committed to and invests in strengthening and improving the education profession and the P-20 education system. The school counseling program at California State University, Fresno provides particular opportunities to engage the field’s shared challenges and to foster and support innovation. Engagement with critical issues in our community and schools is an essential learning goal in our program. The school counseling program at California State University, Fresno successfully engages with local partners and stakeholders through partnerships, advisory board meetings, field practice and service-learning courses, and part-time faculty hires from the local school districts in Fresno County. These collaborations are described below.   

Documenting Existing Work:
The ASCA National Model highlights the vital roles of the advisory board meetings as a part of comprehensive school counseling programs because the Advisory Councils’ feedback is critical for identifying future goals and recommendations for the program. 

Partnership/Advisory Board 1:
School counseling faculty (Dr. Dominiqua Griffin, Dr. Gitima Sharma), previous Department Chair and current Internship Coordinator (Dr. Song Lee), previous Department Chair and current Associate Dean Jenelle Pitt-Parker, Previous Interim Associate Dean (Kathleen Godfrey), and representatives from school districts (e.g. Yolanda Juarez, Vice Principal III at Fresno Unified School District, Debbie Parra, Assistant Superintendent at Clovis Unified School District) serve on the advisory board.

How often meet: The team meets annually or bi-annually to advocate for the school counseling program and receives recommendations to improve program outcomes. Representatives of the school districts receive email or phone call invitations with an explanation of the importance of representing their school and explanation of their schools’ needs. Before the meeting, the agenda is provided to attendees.

Description of group’s purpose/function: The team’s role is to support the mission and goals of the school counseling program and it serves as the communication link between the school counseling program and the stakeholders in schools and communities. 

Examples of specific challenge/identified need (with data to support): In Fall 2020 and Spring 2020, the School Counseling Advisory Board met with Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified School District representatives. The board discussed possible ways of improving school counseling programs, received feedback on program goals, reviewed program results, reviewed updates in the school districts, and discussed school counseling candidates’ field experience challenges and accommodations. 

Discussion of steps taken to address challenge/identified need: Additional challenges outlined by the advisory board are now reflected in the curriculum including updates to the syllabi:

• COUN 241 is now a prerequisite to COUN 249
• The ASCA National Model is part of the curriculum and infused in the school counseling specific courses
• COUN 242S has more practical experiences 

Articulating Plans for Future Stakeholder Involvement:
The School Counseling program is committed to and invests in strengthening the P20 education system. Our program values partnering with stakeholders to advocate for all students, including those in high needs schools, and values putting efforts to reduce the achievement gap among students. These efforts in our program include creating partnerships between our program, school districts, and community, meeting with the advisory board to receive feedback on our school counseling program and collaborate with various stakeholders, placing our students in high needs schools to support school counseling services, and encourage our students to put their advocacy project in action through different class assignments. However, there are still extra efforts that can help reduce academic disparities among students. 

Our program aims to meet with the advisory board more often to increase opportunities to partner with local stakeholders. As ASCA suggests, our program will strive to initiate two board meetings, one in the Fall semester and one in the Spring semester each year. 
The invitation list for the advisory council meeting will include parents and students from different cultural backgrounds as our program aims to hear voices from every representative of cultures and ages.

Our program will collect data about student placements (both field experience and program completer) in Fresno Unified, Clovis Unified, Madera Unified, Sanger Unified School Districts. This data will enable our program to understand how many of our students are supporting the most help needed schools. Based on the outcomes, our program will encourage students to do their practicum and internship in certain schools that have the highest needs.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Fresno Unified School District Stakeholder Meeting

Clovis Unified School District Stakeholder Meeting

Aspect B →