PSS adapts ASCA national standard finally

After nearly a decade of discussion, the Public School System finally approved yesterday the adaption of the American School Counselor Association standards, a set of national standards to be followed by school counselors island-wide.

Associate commissioner for the Office of Student and Support Services Yvonne Pangelinan, who is also a former counselor, was ecstatic upon learning the news that PSS would be adapting the ASCA national model foundation, laying out a proper curriculum for counseling as opposed to leaving it to the counselors’ researching capabilities for programs.

The ASCA standards, which was first published in 1997, sets 35 mindset and behavior standards to identify and prioritize specific attitudes, knowledge, and skills students should be able to demonstrate as a result of a school counseling program.

The standards, obtained by research, are used to assess student growth and development as well as guide the development strategies and activities to create programs that help students achieve their highest potential.

The ASCA is divided into three domains, namely the academic development, career development, and the social and emotional development. Each domain promotes enhancements to the students learning process with career readiness in mind.

“When I report this to the school counselors, they would be elated. It has been eight years since they have proposed the ASCA standards,” Pangelinan told media yesterday.

According to Pangelinan, school counselors have always relied on best practices that have not had ASCA standards adapted as compared to teachers, who had the common core curriculum and school systems that had standards through advanced education.

“Finally, our school counselors could have something to guide their curriculum to guide their classroom guidance and to involve their decision and policy making working with families, administrators, and the school staff to build their counseling program,” shared Pangelinan.

The ASCA proposal to the board yesterday included a cultural competence component, so that counselors are always keeping close to “the culture in the CNMI,” as well as a trajectory of the counselor-to-student ratio and a five-year plan to bring the counseling program up to the standards the ASCA requires.

“Our school counselors are required to have a counselor-to-student ratio of 250:1. The five-year trajectory would show the plan for each of the schools that are under the ratio as well as the projected budget that would be spent to bring up the school district to the ratio of 250:1,” said Pangelinan.

According to Pangelinan, the projected cost to bringing counselor-to-student up to the ASCA standard is $500,000.