Restructuring Guidance and Counseling Programs.

Abstract

During the late 1980s the counseling guidance focus with specified program profession called for a revitalization and priorities. The committee also recom transformation in school counseling and mended that counselors take personal guidance programs. The American Asresponsibility for change in the profession sociation for Counseling and Develop(Cecil & Comas, 1987). ment (AACD; now the American CounselAlso, support for reforming counseling ing Association), the American School programs in schools was garnered from a Counselor Association (ASCA), and the series of ACES-ASCA collaborative Association for Counselor Education and workshops funded by an AACD Founda Supervision (ACES) initiated a series of tion grant (Cecil, Deck, & Comas, 1989). committee meetings, roundtable discusDuring a meeting prior to the ASCA sions, grants, special workshops, and task leadership development conference in forces to investigate crises in school counCharleston, South Carolina, in 1988, it was seling (Deck, Daly, Cecil, & Comas, 1989). recommended that a national definition of A major problem identified at a special school counseling be formulated and used 1986 preconference workshop of the in revised ASCA publications. The follow Southern Association for Counselor ing definition was later adopted by ASCA, Education and Supervision (SACES) and and it clearly supported the implementa the Southern Regional Branch Assembly tion of comprehensive developmental (SRBA) was the poor image of school guidance programs: counselors. Suggested solutions to this School counselors are specifically credentialed problem included state mandates for seprofessionals who work in school settings with quential, K through 12 programs with a students, parents, educators, and others within specific curriculum in guidance and counthe community. They design and manage com seling and priorities as to what counselors prehensive developmental guidance programs can and should be doing in schools, bet0 heIP students acquire skills in the social, . ° , personal, educational and career areas neces cause counselors cannot meet everyone s sary for Uving in a muIticulturaI society School expectations. counselors accomplish this by employing such The following year at the 1987 AACD interventions as guiding and counseling stu convention, an ancillary meeting was held with representatives from ACES and ASCA in which action strategies were developed for the enhancement of the school counseling profession. One of these BeverlVASnVf^is an assistant professor in the 1 rnuvi C0I1VI rr nvt n crlmnt tici/nfto/orni