School Counselors

Advocacy for All: Serving Students with Disabilities
This article discusses how school counselors can ensure students with disabilities thrive in culturally responsive environments that support their unique needs, academic, career, and social/emotional development. To do this, school counselors must know disability-related legislation, understand perceptions, and promote advocacy.
Authors: Taqueena Quintana and Jenna Alvarez
Publication Date: October 2019
Publisher: American School Counselor Association

ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors
This document specifies the obligation to the principles of ethical behavior necessary to maintain the high standards of integrity, leadership, and professionalism. The standards were developed in consultation with state school counseling associations, school counselor educators, school counseling state and district leaders and school counselors across the nation to clarify the norms, values, and beliefs of the profession.
Publication Date: 2016
Publisher: American School Counselor Association

Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Instruction
To support teachers and school staff in best supporting coping with trauma, this research brief examines best practices for trauma-informed instruction, including classroom-based strategies for identifying, supporting, and instructing students coping with trauma.
Publication Date: 2019
Publisher: Hanover Research

Building a Culture of Staff Wellness Through Multi-Tiered System of Supports
The purpose of this brief is to provide recommendations to district and school leadership teams on how the components of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be used to prioritize staff health and well-being.
Authors: Susan Barrett, Kimberly Yanek, Catherine Raulerson, Ami Flammini, and Nicholas Scheel
Publication Date: March 2021
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon

Empirical Research Studies Supporting the Value of School Counseling
This document presents journal articles that describe research examining the impact of school counselors and school counseling programs on K-12 student outcomes. The research articles support the value of school counseling for students in the domains of academic development, college and career readiness, and social/emotional development. All the articles are data-based and drawn from national peer-reviewed journals and research reports.
Publisher: American School Counselor Association

Guiding the School Counselor: An Overview of Roles and Responsibilities
This module offers an overview for school counselors and includes definitions of counselors' various roles and responsibilities when working with students with disabilities. Those viewing the module can learn about how counselors may participate in IEP team meetings, how to determine the need for group or individual counseling, how to assist with transition planning, and how to pursue referrals to other professionals when appropriate.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center Vanderbilt University

Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning
This brief refines pioneering work on the integration of SEL with academics and specifically addresses 10 educator practices that promote social, emotional, and academic development and have been updated to be more inclusive of the multiple spaces in which students learn and develop.
Authors: Nicholas Yoder, Angela Ward, and Sara Wolforth
Publication Date: December 2021
Publisher: American Institutes for Research

Integrating a Trauma-Informed Approach within a PBIS Framework
This brief describes how district and school leaders can incorporate trauma-informed practices within a PBIS framework. This ensures investments in training school personnel about trauma can be integrated into a system that links these efforts to student outcomes.
Authors: Lucille Eber, Susan Barrett, Nicholas Scheel, Ami Flammini, and Katie Pohlman
Publication Date: May 2021
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon

Making the Time: Relationships Among the School Specialists
This study examined the relationships among school specialists; specifically, special education teachers; Child Study Team members, school psychologists and school social workers; and school counselors, who provide support to students with specific learning needs and their families.
Authors: Meredith Drew and Michelle Gonzalez
Publication Date: 2021
Publisher: School Community Journal

PBIS High School Implementation: Leveraging Features of the PBIS Framework to Support College and Career Readiness
The purpose of this brief is to provide guidance and concrete examples to school personnel of how schools can leverage an existing PBIS framework to support College and Career Readiness efficiently and effectively.
Authors: Jennifer Freeman, Laura Kern, Allison Lombardi, Mary Morningstar, and Valerie Mazzotti
Publication Date: March 2021
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon

Raising Special Kids
Raising Special Kids, Arizona’s Parent Training and Information Center, provides free support, training, information, and individual assistance so families can become effective advocates for their children. Information includes how to refer a family, what to expect after a referral, and training opportunities.
Publisher: Raising Special Kids

School Counselors: Facilitating Transitions for Students with Disabilities from High School to Post-School Settings
This module provides information for counselors and other education professionals to assist high school students with disabilities in the transition from the school environment to a post-school setting.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University

Suicide Protective Factors: Utilizing SHORES in School Counseling
In this manuscript, SHORES is introduced as a way for school counselors to address protective factors against suicide. In addition, the authors review the literature on comprehensive school suicide prevention and suicide protective factors; describe the relevance of a suicide protective factors mnemonic that school counselors can use; and illustrate the mnemonic’s application in classroom guidance, small-group, and individual settings.
Authors: Diane M. Stutey, Jenny L. Cureton, Kim Severn, and Matthew Fink
Publication Date: March 2021
Publisher: The Professional Counselor

Supporting PBIS Implementation Through Phases of Crisis Recovery
This practice brief provides strategies to guide implementation efforts through the various phase of crisis recovery for schools and districts that are getting started or strengthening and maintaining current implementation.
Authors: Steve Goodman, Jen Freeman, Brandi Simonsen, and Susan Barrett
Publication Date: February 2021
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon

Talking to Children about Terrorist Attacks and School and Community Shootings in the News
This guide offers advice on how to talk to children about tragic events, such as shootings and terrorist attacks, that they are likely to hear about at school and/or on the news.
Publication Date: August 2020
Publisher: National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement

Teaching Social-Emotional Competencies within a PBIS Framework
This brief describes how school personnel can teach social-emotional competencies within a PBIS framework to support systematic, schoolwide implementation through one system, rather than trying to improve student outcomes through separate, competing initiatives.
Authors: Susan Barrett, Lucille Eber, Kent McIntosh, Kelly Perales, and Natalie Romer
Publication Date: April 2018
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon

The School Counselor and Safe Schools and Crisis Response
School counselors are leaders in safe school initiatives and actively engage themselves in fostering safety and responding to critical response situations in schools. School counselors are a vital resource in preventing, intervening, and responding to crisis situations.
Publication Date: 2019
Publisher: American School Counselor Association

The School Counselor and Students with Disabilities
This position statement establishes school counselors are aware of current research and seek to implement best practices in working with students presenting with any disability category and will provide direct and indirect services to students in the least restrictive environment.
Publication Date: 2016
Publisher: American School Counselor Association

Trauma-Informed School Practices Building Expertise to Transform Schools
This textbook in pdf form assists educators in the development of trauma-informed competencies required to transition to a trauma-informed educational environment. It details the foundational principles, how to apply those competencies, and how to sustain the trauma-informed practices.
Authors: Anna Berardi and Brenda Morton
Publication Date: September 2019
Publisher: George Fox University Library

Why Prioritize Behavior Support?
This brief describes why it is critical to continue to prioritize behavior support in addition to academic, social, and emotional supports. With effective behavior support implemented within a PBIS framework, rigorous research has demonstrated that students and educators experience positive outcomes.
Publication Date: March 2021
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon