How Much Time Should A School Counselor Spend On Direct And Indirect Services

Lunch duty. Recess duty. Car rider duty. Test coordination. Substitute teaching. Schoolhouse counselors, you know the drill. All of those "lilliputian" responsibilities that are totally unrelated to our training or profession, but add up to occupy a LOT of our time. Students take always needed their school counselors, merely in these pandemic times, they need usa more.than.ever! What if there was a way to abet for our role as school counselors, and have some (if not all) of these inappropriate duties taken off of our plate? It's not always an easy road, and if you lot're anything like me, the thought of confronting authorisation or going "confronting the grain" is very scary. The full process may accept a yr (or more!), simply I'thousand here to tell you that it is possible. And the payoff of being able to serve your students in the way that you envision is so, very worth information technology.

In this post, I share with you lot my iv-footstep process for advocating for our profession and removing inappropriate duties from our role. As well, exist sure to bank check out my side by side post, where yous'll hear success stories from practicing school counselors of how they molded their position to all-time serve their students and stakeholders.

Footstep 1: Build Relationships

Earlier we tackle making any major changes to our part, I recommend building relationships starting time. If you lot're new to the chore, or your principal is new to your edifice, you lot definitely can create change right abroad. Only the more trust, buy-in, and respect that you have from your school community, the more than likely you are to be successful in making this role exactly how you want it to be.

There are so many ways to build meaningful relationships with your stakeholders! Here are a few recommendations for y'all that accept worked well for me:

Be a difference maker. Provide relevant, data-driven services that serve a disquisitional demand in your school. Conduct a needs assessment at least twice a year, then evangelize interventions and programming that bring real value to your students, teachers, and families.
Exist present and attainable. Be a smiling confront around your building that others tin count on for support when they need it.
Help teachers, parents, and administrators get to know y'all on a personal level. Teach them about your family, professional person background, where you lot grew up, hobbies, interests, etc.
Discover common ground! Whether it's a guilty pleasure TV bear witness, a musical group, a sports squad, etc., find something in common with those around you to help build camaraderie and connection.

Stride 2: Brand a List of Appropriate and Inappropriate Duties

Per the ASCA National Model, 80% of school counselors' time should be spent on direct (instruction, appraisal and advisement, counseling), and indirect (consultation, collaboration, referrals) pupil services. Only 20% of our fourth dimension should be spent on program planning and schoolhouse support activities. ASCA farther illustrates appropriate vs. inappropriate duties for school counselors in the chart beneath:

In an ideal earth, we wouldn't take any responsibilities from the column on the right. But, with the lack of substitute teachers, inadequate funding for mental wellness in schools, etc., nosotros do have to think that working in a school is all nearly "give and take." For example, although I didn't beloved starting the day with frizzy hair in the Nashville humidity, I did contribute to "off-white share duties" at my schoolhouse by supervising the car passenger line. Helping with auto rider duty showed that I was a team player, and likewise had many added benefits for my function (i.eastward. laying eyes on my students start thing in the morning and starting their day with a smile, parents knowing my face up, etc).

What becomes problematic, however, is when inappropriate duties begin to fill, or fifty-fifty dominate, our fourth dimension. A friend of mine, for instance, spends every unmarried Tuesday and Thursday operating her school's PBIS advantage store. This means that no counseling services of any kind are taking place in her school 2 full days a week! For me, test coordination occupied merely about every minute of my time for 2 weeks in the fall (English Learner testing) and 3 weeks in the jump (country testing). Every school counseling role looks dissimilar, so you need to decide which inappropriate duties are interfering the most with your ability to serve students and stakeholders. Mayhap y'all'd similar to be removed from the specials rotation, finish roofing classes, or supervising recess. Commencement this procedure by making a list of both the appropriate and inappropriate parts of your part. And so, circle which inappropriate duties y'all are going to focus on getting removed from your plate. I would recommend picking your battles and focusing on removing one inappropriate duty at a fourth dimension. But, if you're feeling bold and have a great human relationship with your administrator, you lot may be able to make several changes at in one case to your function! You can see the list of appropriate and inappropriate duties in my position below. I chose to focus on removing test coordination (and was successful at doing so!)

Pace 3: Collect Information

Just about everything that nosotros practice as school counselors is data-driven, and advocating for our role is no different. Naught proves our point ameliorate than hard numbers that show how we are spending our time and how nosotros could be better spending our time. Tracking your time can feel similar a bit of a headache, but at that place are several apps and programs available that make this procedure a lot easier. ASCA recently released a new app that lets you track your fourth dimension – in real time – and compare it to ASCA's recommendations. I have likewise heard good things about EZAnalyze and SCUTA. If these programs experience a bit overwhelming to you, y'all can always simply log your fourth dimension in an Excel spreadsheet, in your Outlook/work calendar, or even with a pencil/paper notebook! Personally, I used EZAnalyze to track my individual and small group counseling, a pad of paper past my work phone to track parent contacts, and my Outlook calendar to runway classroom lessons and meetings. With a petty trial and mistake, you tin find the method that works best for you. The near of import thing is to stick to it! I found that logging my services immediately later on they were complete brought the most consistent results.

Stride 4: Study and Nowadays Data

Once your fourth dimension is tracked and your data is nerveless, I recommend creating a School Counseling Report once each quarter, and once at the end of the schoolhouse yr. This ane-page certificate tells the "story" of your role, through honest information almost the interventions, services, and programming that y'all offered. You can also use it to describe your program highlights such as classroom lesson topics, pocket-size grouping offerings, and special events. This is your chance to brag a bit about the critical value of your program, and shout your worth from the rooftops!

Two more tools to help you showcase the value of your interventions and services are my Pocket-sized Group Counseling Data Summary Written report and Individual Counseling Information Report. They let counselors communicate "need-to-know" data such as counseling goals, progress, and data with stakeholders…and are another great way to share the critical contributions of your program! I recommend bringing them along to your evaluation conferences with your principal (and suggest leaving the names off of the documents to respect student confidentiality!)

One time you experience set to meet with your primary and advocate for the removal of inappropriate duties, your quarterly and counseling data reports will offer hard data and proof of your accomplishments…and assistance you describe what more you could offer if inappropriate duties were taken off of your plate.

Tips for "The Big Talk"

Speaking your truth and advocating for yourself takes both preparation and backbone. Here are some tips for the "big talk" to help brand your conference with your principal as successful equally possible:

Be confident, brave, respectful, and stiff. Keep your goal clearly in mind, and remember, if yous don't speak up for yourself and your profession, who else will?
Share ASCA's chart of appropriate vs. inappropriate duties for school counselors. Then, share your list of your appropriate and inappropriate duties. Compare the two charts and point out whatsoever duties that our national organisation would consider a poor utilize of school advisor expertise and time.
Present your data in a clear, focused manner. Share the difficult numbers on how you are spending your time – both in appropriate duties and inappropriate duties. Bear witness how the appropriate duties are bringing critical value to your school community, but how the inappropriate duties are taking away from your ability to serve students and stakeholders.
Share stories of specific students, teachers, or parents who y'all accept not been able to adequately serve due to a lack of time.
Explain how removing inappropriate duty/duties would allow y'all to instead evangelize appropriate duty/duties more effectively. Describe exciting new programming and services that you could offer instead of allowing inappropriate duties to occupy your fourth dimension.

Fifty-fifty if you present the nearly beautiful information and tell the most compelling stories, it is possible that your main just won't hold. If this is the case, yous have several options. You tin continue gathering data and choose to nowadays to your primary again in the future. You could team up with other counselors and try to bring near modify at the district level by sharing your data with your Managing director of Schoolhouse Counseling or Superintendent. Or, if your voice but isn't beingness heard, you could await for a position in some other school or district that is a amend friction match for your vision.

Have you lot successfully advocated for removing inappropriate duties from your plate? If then, how did you do it? Or, if you oasis't begun this process yet, which tips from this postal service were the most helpful to you in getting started? Please comment below, I'd love to hear from you!