July 7, 2025 • 34 mins
In this first episode of the Graded series, we put the ASCA National Model to the test.
What was promised? What’s actually happening? And what grade does it really deserve?
If you’ve ever felt like the model was built for someone else’s school, you are NOT alone!
For over two decades, the ASCA Model has served as the gold standard in school counseling. But for most counselors, the support to make it work just isn’t there.
Not in staffing.
Not in scheduling.
Not in the endless stream of “other duties as assigned.”
You don’t need another pep talk.
You need someone to tell the truth about why the model still isn’t protecting your time- and help you reclaim your confidence in the process.
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Episode References:
Mullen, P. R., Blount, A. J., Lambie, G. W., & Chae, N. (2017). School counselors’ perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction. Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 2156759X18782468.
Shillingford, M. A., & Lambie, G. W. (2018). Contribution of Professional School Counselors’ Values and Leadership Practices to Their Programmatic Service Delivery. Professional School Counseling, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X1001300401 (Original work published 2010)
Wilkerson, K., Pérusse, R., & Hughes, A. (2018). Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Student Achievement Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis of RAMP versus Non-RAMP Schools. Professional School Counseling, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X1701600302 (Original work published 2013)
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⭐️ Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! ⭐️
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Our goal at School for School Counselors is to help school counselors stay on fire, make huge impacts for students, and catalyze change for our roles through grassroots advocacy and collaboration. Listen to get to know more about us and our mission, feel empowered and inspired, and set yourself up for success in the wonderful world of school counseling.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, school counselor .
What if the gold standard forschool counseling is actually
fool's gold?
Ever thought about that?
I'm so glad you're here becausetoday I'm introducing a new
series on the podcast calledGraded.
We're going to take one idea orapproach that you probably hear
(00:21):
about all the time and we'regoing to dissect it piece by
piece.
Is it hype, is it helpful?
Is it holding you back fromdoing what you really should be
doing on campus?
And we're going to give eachone a report card grade.
So if you are ready for somestraight talk, some clarity on
your work and a little bit ofrebellion, you're going to be in
(00:44):
the right place.
This is the School for SchoolCounselors podcast.
So tell me if this has everhappened to you in your school
counseling work.
You walk into a schoolcounselor's office for your
first day at a campus.
The walls are bare, maybe thecomputer is still logged into
the last person's account, theremay be a stack of behavior
(01:06):
charts somewhere, maybe someoutdated referral forms, and you
don't have any student lists,no handbooks, no welcomes.
But in all of this runningthrough your mind, you're
thinking build a comprehensiveprogram.
It's like Field of Dreams.
Right, if you build it, theywill come.
(01:27):
If you build a comprehensiveprogram, it's all going to be
okay.
So you start working on it.
You're making spreadsheets andscopes and sequences and
schedules and you start gettingclassrooms online for lessons
and you feel like you are onfire.
But by the time you get to theend of the first or second week
(01:51):
of the school year, you'retapped out.
You've already been asked tocover classes.
You've been running 504meetings, you've been
supervising hallways and lunchduties and you start thinking
this is not what I signed up forand is it supposed to be like
this.
And then, if you're like mostschool counselors that I've
(02:12):
worked with, there's a littlepiece of you that starts to
wonder and blame yourself.
Have you not done all the rightthings?
Have you not been clearlyconsistent in advocating for
your role, all this baloney thatgets crammed down your throat
about school counseling?
Well, the good news is you arenot the problem.
(02:33):
And today we're going to givethe ASCA National Model a letter
grade For this first episode inthis graded series.
I'm coming out with bothbarrels For this first episode
in this graded series.
I'm coming out with bothbarrels.
I'm going to say the thingsthat you've been thinking and
feeling out loud about whathappens when we give school
counselors a model to followthat has absolutely no
(02:57):
infrastructure, no protectionand no national advocacy muscle
to make it work.
Let's get started All right.
So to have a decentconversation about this, we're
going to hop in the time machineand go back to your grad school
days, where I'm sure the ASCAnational model was probably
(03:17):
quoted as religion in a lot ofyour grad school classes.
That model was first introducedin 2003 by the American School
Counselor Association and thegoal really was to bring some
clarity and structure andconsistency to our profession.
School counseling was kind ofall over the map and you had
(03:39):
people doing all kinds ofdifferent things, and so ASCA
really wanted to dial everythingin and get everybody on the
same page in aligning schoolcounseling programs with some
broader educational goals oncampuses, make sure that school
counselors had some measure ofaccountability because up until
(03:59):
then it was kind of like theWild West and then promote
access and equity for allstudents, and I think those were
great ideas.
I think that the thought was inthe right place.
Since 2003, the model has gonethrough multiple iterations, and
every time they come out with anew version they kind of refine
(04:22):
the core elements of what it is.
Our most current versionemphasizes four different
components, and I bet thatyou're very familiar with those
Define, manage, deliver andassess.
You've probably seen thatgraphic that looks like a
modified diamond right it hasall the little arrows pointing
to the next one Defining whatschool counselors do manage
(04:47):
through tools like annualagreements and use of time,
assessments, delivering directand indirect services and
assessing program results andcounselor performance.
And this national model hasalso popularized a benchmark
that again is repeated likegospel everywhere you go in the
(05:10):
school counseling world, andthat is that 80% of your time
should be spent in direct orindirect service to students.
And then that led to someextras, like the RAMAMP
recognition program to highlightexemplary program
implementation.
I have a lot of thoughts onthat.
You can expect a graded episodeon that one as well.
(05:33):
But really the point is the ASCAmodel tries to paint a picture
of what school counseling lookslike when it's done quote,
unquote, right.
Looks like when it's done quote, unquote right, and really
revolves around that 80% of yourtime in direct or indirect
services.
Things like monthly datareviews, advisory councils,
(05:54):
master schedules of corecurriculum, targeted small
groups, annual outcome reportsthat are tied to program goals.
And if you're not doing that,or if you're not able to do that
, you're told to advocate,educate your administrator,
print the use of time data andprove your case, push for your
(06:18):
role.
And all of that sounds okay intheory, but here's what a lot of
school counselors don't realizeas they're drinking this
Kool-Aid.
And I promise you, I was one ofthose people too.
When I graduated with mymaster's degree and went in to
start my school counseling work,I was the same way.
(06:41):
I spent the whole summer makingcurriculum maps by grade and
cross-referencing grades to thenext grade, and how was I going
to make this all flow and work,and how many small groups was I
going to conduct, and what werethe topics going to be, and how
was I going to do a needsassessment, and on and on and on
and on and on.
I bought into it too, but thereare some other things going on
(07:04):
with this that we don't see orwe don't realize.
Case in point the 80% of yourtime benchmark was not always
part of the ASCA model.
Did you know that?
It was introduced in the thirdedition in 2012.
And it was introduced as kindof a measurable target.
(07:27):
Its intention, I think was toreally encourage school
counselors to focus on studentservices over administrative
duties kind of that shift fromthe guidance counselor idea to
the school counselor idea, fromguidance counselor idea to the
school counselor idea.
And since they introduced that80% idea, they have released
(07:51):
tons of resources which allreinforce this 80% ideal.
They're putting out webinarsand toolkits and award criterias
and visuals and data reporttemplates.
But while all this messaginghas focused so heavily on 80%,
(08:12):
there has been almost no publiceffort from ASCA to help
counselors actually achieve that.
The support for creating theactual conditions that would be
required to meet that number isalmost non-existent.
So when we're talking aboutthings like manageable caseloads
(08:35):
, asca recommends 1 to 250.
I work with hundreds of schoolcounselors in any given week and
I will tell you most typicalratios are running 1 to 500 and
up.
Other conditions that areneeded that are not being
addressed Protected counselortime, relief from non-counseling
(08:57):
duties.
There are admonishments thatthose should not be happening,
but there's no teeth behind themand when things start to go
sideways or we start to feellike we're falling short, no one
steps up and says, hey, let uslead an initiative to inform
educational stakeholders on this, let's make a difference.
No, they push the burden backon you and they say well, you
(09:20):
just need to advocate.
So you try to advocate, right,you schedule the meeting, you
bring your use of time data, youexplain the asker
recommendations and you have allthis clarity and optimism and
you're hoping that youradministrator is going to see
what you're trying to build.
And then what do you get inreturn from that?
(09:41):
If you're lucky, you get a nodin return from that.
If you're lucky, you get a nod,maybe a vague promise that
they'll support you or we'llrevisit this later.
That's typically best casescenario.
More likely what happens is youfracture your relationship with
your administrator.
There's a little bit ofdistrust that grows from that
(10:02):
conversation, or theadministrator now has a chip on
their shoulder anytime anythingabout your day-to-day work comes
up in conversation and again, Iknow this because I work with
so many school counselors weekin and week out and then, after
all that, regardless of whichdirection that conversation went
(10:24):
, typically nothing changes.
You're still a testingcoordinator, you're still
covering lunch duty, you'restill serving as a behavior
interventionist instead of aschool counselor, because in too
many school districts advocacyquote, unquote doesn't lead to
(10:45):
change.
What it actually leads to isprofessional gaslighting, where
you're told you're empowered tomake these statements and to try
to catalyze change on students'behalf.
But really you have nobargaining chips other than the
professional clout that you mayhave built on that campus.
(11:05):
That's it.
You have no control over yourbudget, your staffing, your time
or your autonomy In your schoolcounseling world.
Among your colleagues you mightget praised for your passion,
but directly with youradministrators on your campus
you get penalized for yourboundaries.
(11:26):
In the school counseling worldat large, you're told things
like the national model isflexible, but then on your
campus you try to flex andsuddenly you're labeled
difficult and then you getgaslit.
We're all a school family here.
We need everybody to pitch in.
It's not that bad.
You're only doing a few hoursof lunch duty a week.
(11:48):
Maybe you're just not managingyour time well.
And it takes this systemicfailure of this unsupported
model and conceptualizes it asyour personal flaw.
And if you've been there youknow that over time that wears
(12:08):
you down Because, as this isgoing on, the rhetoric machine
is still running full force inthe background.
Everyone should follow thenational model.
It's what's best for kids, it'sthe standard for school
counseling.
Everybody should want to ramp.
You should be able to hit 80-20.
What's wrong with you if youcan't do that?
You're not advocating hardenough and you start to question
(12:32):
your own competence.
You start to feel like you haveto apologize to ask for support
, and then you start to questionyour own competence.
You start to feel like you haveto apologize to ask for support
, and then you start wonderingam I really cut out to do this
kind of work?
And if you've ever felt any ofthose things, I promise you you
are not the only one.
So when you're told to advocatefor your role and your reality
(12:56):
doesn't shift as a result ofthat, I want you to know that is
not your failure.
You were given a script, butyou weren't given any backup,
and it is my opinion that allschool counselors deserve better
than that.
That's what happens when thistheory of this national model
(13:18):
meets real life, which brings meto what this actually looks
like day to day, when schoolcounselors are trying to serve
students in a system thatdoesn't support the model that
it promotes.
You show up on campus wanting tomeet that standard, but instead
you're tasked out to doeverything but what's in that
(13:40):
model?
Your caseload is 600, 700, 800students for just you.
You've got 30 minutes to prepyour next SEL lesson, but you're
sent down the hallway to covera class or fish a kid out from
under a desk.
You're trying to get some smallgroups off the ground, like
(14:00):
you've been told to do, but youhave 18 teacher referrals for
behavior and none of those kidshas any baseline behavior data.
You want to plan intentionallyand work thoughtfully, but you
are stuck being constantlyreactive in a flood of crises
that you didn't cause and youcan't prevent.
And still, through all of that,you keep getting told that if
(14:24):
you were just doing it right,your calendar would be 80%
direct and indirect services,and so you keep pushing harder.
You keep putting out moredumpster fires, you keep trying
to maximize your productivity,block your time in a way that's
going to allow you to do thework they're telling you you
should be doing, and then itleads to feeling like you can't
(14:46):
say no and you can already hearit coming.
That's when burnout hits.
That's when we have schoolcounselors walking away from the
profession altogether.
So let's be clear about acouple of things, and the first
is that you belong in schools.
How can I be so confident insaying that no one spends the
(15:10):
amount of money that we spendgetting our school counseling
credentials if they don't careabout this job.
We all know, walking into this,that we're not going to become
millionaires in this line ofwork.
We know this and we push onanyway and we spend tens of
thousands of dollars for theprivilege of walking onto a
(15:32):
campus and serving as thatschool's school counselor.
That is a big deal.
And then you've pushed throughall of the baloney that I've
just talked about, day after dayafter day.
So you 1,000% have earned yourseat at the table.
The problem is the model thatyou have been told to follow and
(15:55):
perhaps expected to follow,only works under perfect
conditions.
It's like you trained to be arace car driver and you show up
for the race and there's noracetrack, there's a gravel road
, and you look around for thecars and instead of getting your
race car, you get handed aunicycle and they just keep
(16:17):
saying go faster, just go faster, you'll keep up.
You can do it.
We believe you can do it if youjust want it badly enough, and
you fall off that unicycle.
No one rethinks it and says,hey, maybe that was the problem.
They just say, well, if youreally were passionate about
this, you would find a way tomake it work.
Bless it, friends.
(16:40):
You know I'm right about this.
This is happening in moreplaces than I can count.
It is not about your passionfor your work or even your
professionalism even yourprofessionalism.
(17:01):
This is about a structuralmismatch.
So let's back this up with someevidence, because this should
not just be anecdotal or myopinion right.
If we're going to grade theASCA national model, we better
be bringing receipts.
So in 2019, dodson found thatonly 39% of school counselors
reported implementing the ASCAnational model with any fidelity
(17:24):
.
Take note of that word anyfidelity.
If we flip that stat on itshead, that means that 61% of
school counselors were notimplementing any aspect of the
ASCA national model at all.
Strangely, that feelsvalidating, doesn't it To know
(17:45):
that if you haven't been able tomeet these standards, man, you
are not the only one.
Over half of our colleagues arein the same boat.
Mullen and Crowe 2017 showedthat being overloaded with
non-counseling duties directlycorrelates with burnout.
Schillingford and Lambie 2010confirmed that role confusion
(18:08):
from administrators underminesservice quality.
Meaning, if you don't evenreally understand what it is
that your job is supposed to be,or you don't understand why
you've been pulled so far offcenter from what school
counselors should be doing oncampus.
It's going to undermine yourability to be effective, and
(18:29):
Wilkerson and team 2013 showedthat, even among schools
pursuing RAMP, only those whohad strong administrative
support were able to succeed.
When we translate that phrasestrong administrative support
that doesn't mean theiradministrators believing in them
(18:50):
or their principal saying yes,I think we should do this.
This is best for all kids.
Administrative support is here.
You can have the autonomy tomake your own decisions in your
school counseling program.
Here we're going to fund thethings that you need to meet
these benchmarks.
Hey, here we're going to takeaway all the extra stuff that we
(19:10):
were expecting you to do so youcan focus on ramp.
And here we're going to hireenough people that you're
running a realistic ratio toenable us to meet this ramp goal
.
How many schools do you knowthat are in a position to do
that?
How many districts are youaware of or have you worked in
(19:34):
that have been in a position todo that?
The conclusion from that isclear.
This national model assumes alevel of support that the
majority of school counselorssimply do not have.
But here's the thing.
It's not even a question aboutwhether the national model is
(19:58):
good for us or not.
It's a question of just is itpossible?
And for most of us the answeris no.
But yet ASCA's messaging hasn'tchanged.
The burden is still beingplaced on you to make it work,
you to explain the use of timedata, you to have the tough
(20:19):
conversations, you to push thatmodel up the hill over and over
and over again.
I personally believe that if wecould see large-scale
implementation of the Ask aNational model, it would be
great for students, for schools,for school counselors.
It would be phenomenal.
(20:40):
I have no beef with thecomponents of the national model
, other than they're just notrealistic.
But that's where the reallytough part comes in, because
while we're being told toadvocate for our roles, our
(21:00):
national organization, they havejust totally stepped out.
We get told use the nationalmodel.
The more people that implementit, the more normalized it'll
become.
It'll start to catch on.
People will finally understandwhat school counselors should be
doing.
But, my friend, that is notadvocacy, that is magical
(21:21):
thinking.
And in this magical thinking,asca loves to publish articles
and podcasts and positionstatements about what they think
should be happening.
But what are they not doing.
They're not lobbying forprotected counselor time in any
laws, anywhere, any state.
They're not helping their stateorganizations do that.
(21:43):
They're not pushing backagainst non-counseling duties,
even in a mode of educating thepublic.
Have you ever seen a picture ofan ASCA representative speaking
to a consortium of school boardleaders?
Have you ever seen them onnational television talking
about National School CounselingWeek?
Have you ever seen footage ofthem testifying before any
(22:07):
committees in any legislativeanything anywhere?
No, they're not even showing upin public to provide meaningful
commentary when schoolcounseling goes sideways.
The legislative session inTexas just wrapped up.
I'm going to tell you it was adisaster for school counseling
(22:30):
and not one word from ournational organization.
We are told time and time andtime again to advocate, but
where's the advocacy for us?
Why are we consistently theones being made to absorb the
pressure of making that modelwork, no matter the context,
(22:51):
where now school counselors areblaming themselves when it
doesn't work?
Again, I will say this is not ananti-national model rant.
It may feel like it a littlebit, but I promise you it's not.
I think that the national modelhas been well thought out.
I think it has some veryfundamental components for our
(23:11):
work.
I think it still needs a littlebit of tweaking.
It's not perfect, for sure, butit's getting there.
The problem really isn't withwhat is in the national model
itself.
The problem is, what do we dowith it?
We can hang an ideal on thewall all day long.
I make fun of places all thetime for hanging these mission
(23:32):
and vision statements up on thewalls.
Maybe you work in a place likethat too.
You have to have all theseaspirational things posted
everywhere.
Maybe you have to have them inyour email signatures and stuff
like that.
And then you look around inyour day-to-day work and you go
is anybody really buying this?
Anybody around here reallyinvested in this, or is this
just an image game?
(23:52):
That's kind of what thisnational model feels like,
though my problem is with theimplementation of it, with the
gaslighting of my colleagues andfriends who show up to my
mastermind support andconsultation chats each and
every week saying why can't I begood enough, while they're
running a caseload of 750students wondering why they
(24:16):
can't get to everything.
While they're being made tocarry a walkie-talkie around
campus to be the emergencybehavior response on their
campus, instead of doing thethings they know could move the
needle if they were just giventhe latitude to do those things.
But meanwhile we have anorganization that purports to
(24:38):
advocate for school counselors.
But take a look at their socialfeeds sometime.
See how much advocacy isactually happening, because
their form of advocacy isself-aggrandizing.
Let's throw a banquet, let'shave an awards ceremony, let's
dress up, let's talk about howamazing our school counseling
(25:00):
friends are, and I'm here totell you there is so much to
that backstory.
There's a reason why you don'tsee me represented in any of
those things.
Throwing galas, throwing awardceremonies and banquets and all
those kinds of things.
And even for National SchoolCounseling Week, which should be
the biggest PR event in theschool counseling world, our
(25:22):
national organization focuses ontheir school counselor of the
year award ceremony and leavesall of the promotion and social
media to school counselorsthemselves.
Here are some prompts Print outthis sign, take your picture,
post what it means to me to be aschool counselor.
Post all your thoughts all weeklong.
Post them on our feed.
Do our work for us, which is alot like how we're being told to
(25:45):
advocate for our work.
So I got fired up there.
Let's assign a grade to the ASCAnational model.
So, intentions, I'm going togive this one an A+.
Like I said, I think if schoolcounselors were all able to meet
this national model standard,if they truly had people
(26:08):
advocating on their behalf andpushing this to reality, I think
it would be great.
So, intentions get an A+.
Equity and access that's a D.
We have some places that areable to meet this standard.
We have some states that areactively legislating to meet
this standard and my hat's offto them but there aren't enough
(26:29):
of them.
So, with some school counselorsbeing able to work in programs
that would facilitate the model,I'm gonna give it a D, even
though my heart says it'sprobably an F, because there's
fewer than 20% of schools, Iwould wager, that are in this
situation.
But we'll give it a DPracticality for the average
(26:51):
campus.
We have some states that havelegislated some pieces to
aligning school counselors withthis national model.
I think that's a step in theright direction.
I don't think we have nearlyenough and, knowing what I know
about the way that our stateschool counseling organizations
are supported, I feel confidentin saying that they're not
(27:11):
getting enough support to beable to make this happen.
That being said, we also haveto think about school district
budgets, staffings again, ratios, extra counseling duties, this
wild idea that we should beserving on campuses as behavior
interventionists 24-7, all ofthese things going in.
There are some schools that aremanaging to implement some
(27:33):
components not nearly as many asyou would be made to believe.
Ramp designation, at my lastcalculation, was less than
four-tenths of one percent, soless than one percent of schools
are able to attain thatdesignation.
So for that reason I'm going togive it a D.
All right, and I feel likethat's being generous, but I'm
going to give it a D.
(27:53):
And then, in the category ofthe psychological burden on
school counselors, that's goingto get a big fat F.
Just for the gaslighting aspectalone.
I got a mailer in the mail theother day from ASCA telling me
that they were advocating for meand when I went on their
(28:15):
advocacy page it wasdisheartening that's the nicest
word I can think of for that.
So I'm going to give thepsychological burden an F.
So we have an A plus we have aD and we have an F.
So that is not a pass, myfriends.
The ASCII national model doesnot pass.
We need some change.
We need tiered expectations forschool counseling programs, not
(28:40):
just a one-size-fits-all model,because we are not all one size
.
We have different levels ofstaffing, funding, autonomy all
the things we've all talkedabout.
Plus, we have varying communityexpectations of what a school
counseling program needs to be.
Those are not being recognizedeither, and that's a whole other
conversation.
(29:00):
We need adjusted benchmarks forcampuses so that we know if
we're making the grade.
If you have 800 students you'reresponsible for, you certainly
cannot be expected to achievethe same things that someone
with 400 kids is making happen.
You see what I mean.
So we need to have tieredexpectations and adjusted
(29:23):
benchmarks for those situationsand we need our professional
organizations to start leadingthe fight, not just cheerleading
the model and pattingthemselves on the back for
having built it.
They need to step up and say,okay, now let's figure out how
to really make this happen.
Okay, now let's figure out howto really make this happen.
(29:44):
Okay.
So if you are a school counselorwho is not able to hit that 80%
mark, who is not hitting allfour delivery components of the
ASCII National Model or RAMPstatus, or you don't have a
comprehensive curriculum orwhatever it is, I want you to
know.
You are still a great schoolcounselor.
I want you to know you arestill a great school counselor
If you are adapting yourclinical expertise to the messy
(30:07):
realities of your students'lives and you are keeping
students at the center of things, even when the system is really
trying to push them out.
If you are holding boundaries,if you are doing the best you
can with what you've got and youstill choose to show up
tomorrow.
You are doing the best you canwith what you've got and you
(30:28):
still choose to show up tomorrow.
You are amazing and in thispush through these model
components and the expectationsthat we have set, even for
ourselves, don't lose sight ofthat.
Don't lose sight of how amazingit makes you to continually
walk onto campus, day after day,and raise your hand and say
what's the worst you got?
Give me that it takes a veryspecial person to volunteer for
(30:54):
the kind of work that you doeach and every day, and I am so
thankful for you.
Just as I know your studentsand your families, even if they
don't always communicate it.
They're thankful for you, justas I know your students and your
families, even if they don'talways communicate it, they're
thankful for you too, all right.
So I hope you enjoyed thatbreakdown.
The ASCA national model gets a Dand next, in this graded
(31:15):
podcast series, we are going tolook at the idea of short-term
counseling on school campuses.
I am introducing something thismonth that is called the Smart
Capacity Model.
Remember when I was talkingabout tiered expectations and
adjusted benchmarks?
Well, we're done waiting foranybody to come to their senses
(31:39):
and roll those out, so we'regoing to do it ourselves, and
the Smart Cap capacity model isbeing revealed in our School for
School Counselors Mastermindthis July 2025.
It is designed to be applicablein the real world and adjust
your use of time expectationsbased on your actual caseload,
(31:59):
not an arbitrary standard thatyou know your district is never
going to meet.
The smart capacity model isbuilt to take away a lot of the
shame or embarrassment orfeelings of not good enough that
you may be getting from yourprogram because your schedule
just doesn't have enough hoursin the day, and it helps you
(32:20):
shift in doable ways when thenumbers aren't working in your
favor because you're not incontrol, if you have 500 or 700
or even 900 students Y'all.
I've been there.
I've done that work.
Current caseload is 700, butI've been up as far as nine.
I know this world, and youdon't need more pressure on top
(32:43):
of all those students needingyour assistance.
You need permission to pivot,and that is what this smart
capacity model is going to giveyou.
I don't think that you shouldcontinually beat your head
against the wall, trying to earnrespect, playing a game that
was never designed for you towin, and I am going to change
(33:03):
the rules of that game for youand give you a way to lead on
your campus in a way that issustainable and doesn't make you
question your career path everyFriday afternoon as you walk
out the door.
So if you want to be part ofthat, you need to look at our
School for School CounselorsMastermind.
We are first deploying that toour Mastermind members to get
(33:23):
some feedback, to solidify someof the concepts in there and
make sure it's really goodbefore it goes prime time.
But the other thing is, ifyou're not quite ready to join
the Mastermind, we have alsoopened up registration for our
Best Year Ever event.
This is going to be four nightsof real talk, real solutions,
(33:43):
real world resources for schoolcounselors for the upcoming
school year.
It is 1000% free.
It is not a sales pitch,designed as a workshop You've
probably been in a few of thosein your career.
This is not that we are goingto be throwing stuff at you like
nobody's business.
It's the same resources that weprovide for our Mastermind
(34:04):
members, and we're doing it 100%free of charge Because we
believe that school counselingprofessional development needs
to level up.
It is time to have some reallydown and dirty conversations
about what makes schoolcounseling actually work.
You can find out more aboutthat, as well as the mastermind,
on our website,schoolforschoolcounselorscom.
(34:26):
All right, I hope this got youriled up, just like it got me
riled up, but more than that, Ihope it helped you to understand
that you are not the only onehaving trouble meeting these
benchmarks and that maybe, justmaybe, you are not the problem.
If you need that real-worldsupport and consultation to know
(34:50):
if you're aiming at the righttargets, my mastermind's got you
covered.
Go find out about it atschoolforschoolcounselorscom,
and I will be back soon with ournext episode of graded
short-term school counselingversion.
Have a great week, take care.
Hey, school counselor .
What if the gold standard forschool counseling is actually
fool's gold?
Ever thought about that?
I'm so glad you're here becausetoday I'm introducing a new
series on the podcast calledGraded.
We're going to take one idea orapproach that you probably hear
(00:21):
about all the time and we'regoing to dissect it piece by
piece.
Is it hype, is it helpful?
Is it holding you back fromdoing what you really should be
doing on campus?
And we're going to give eachone a report card grade.
So if you are ready for somestraight talk, some clarity on
your work and a little bit ofrebellion, you're going to be in
(00:44):
the right place.
This is the School for SchoolCounselors podcast.
So tell me if this has everhappened to you in your school
counseling work.
You walk into a schoolcounselor's office for your
first day at a campus.
The walls are bare, maybe thecomputer is still logged into
the last person's account, theremay be a stack of behavior
(01:06):
charts somewhere, maybe someoutdated referral forms, and you
don't have any student lists,no handbooks, no welcomes.
But in all of this runningthrough your mind, you're
thinking build a comprehensiveprogram.
It's like Field of Dreams.
Right, if you build it, theywill come.
(01:27):
If you build a comprehensiveprogram, it's all going to be
okay.
So you start working on it.
You're making spreadsheets andscopes and sequences and
schedules and you start gettingclassrooms online for lessons
and you feel like you are onfire.
But by the time you get to theend of the first or second week
(01:51):
of the school year, you'retapped out.
You've already been asked tocover classes.
You've been running 504meetings, you've been
supervising hallways and lunchduties and you start thinking
this is not what I signed up forand is it supposed to be like
this.
And then, if you're like mostschool counselors that I've
(02:12):
worked with, there's a littlepiece of you that starts to
wonder and blame yourself.
Have you not done all the rightthings?
Have you not been clearlyconsistent in advocating for
your role, all this baloney thatgets crammed down your throat
about school counseling?
Well, the good news is you arenot the problem.
(02:33):
And today we're going to givethe ASCA National Model a letter
grade For this first episode inthis graded series.
I'm coming out with bothbarrels For this first episode
in this graded series.
I'm coming out with bothbarrels.
I'm going to say the thingsthat you've been thinking and
feeling out loud about whathappens when we give school
counselors a model to followthat has absolutely no
(02:57):
infrastructure, no protectionand no national advocacy muscle
to make it work.
Let's get started All right.
So to have a decentconversation about this, we're
going to hop in the time machineand go back to your grad school
days, where I'm sure the ASCAnational model was probably
(03:17):
quoted as religion in a lot ofyour grad school classes.
That model was first introducedin 2003 by the American School
Counselor Association and thegoal really was to bring some
clarity and structure andconsistency to our profession.
School counseling was kind ofall over the map and you had
(03:39):
people doing all kinds ofdifferent things, and so ASCA
really wanted to dial everythingin and get everybody on the
same page in aligning schoolcounseling programs with some
broader educational goals oncampuses, make sure that school
counselors had some measure ofaccountability because up until
(03:59):
then it was kind of like theWild West and then promote
access and equity for allstudents, and I think those were
great ideas.
I think that the thought was inthe right place.
Since 2003, the model has gonethrough multiple iterations, and
every time they come out with anew version they kind of refine
(04:22):
the core elements of what it is.
Our most current versionemphasizes four different
components, and I bet thatyou're very familiar with those
Define, manage, deliver andassess.
You've probably seen thatgraphic that looks like a
modified diamond right it hasall the little arrows pointing
to the next one Defining whatschool counselors do manage
(04:47):
through tools like annualagreements and use of time,
assessments, delivering directand indirect services and
assessing program results andcounselor performance.
And this national model hasalso popularized a benchmark
that again is repeated likegospel everywhere you go in the
(05:10):
school counseling world, andthat is that 80% of your time
should be spent in direct orindirect service to students.
And then that led to someextras, like the RAMAMP
recognition program to highlightexemplary program
implementation.
I have a lot of thoughts onthat.
You can expect a graded episodeon that one as well.
(05:33):
But really the point is the ASCAmodel tries to paint a picture
of what school counseling lookslike when it's done quote,
unquote, right.
Looks like when it's done quote, unquote right, and really
revolves around that 80% of yourtime in direct or indirect
services.
Things like monthly datareviews, advisory councils,
(05:54):
master schedules of corecurriculum, targeted small
groups, annual outcome reportsthat are tied to program goals.
And if you're not doing that,or if you're not able to do that
, you're told to advocate,educate your administrator,
print the use of time data andprove your case, push for your
(06:18):
role.
And all of that sounds okay intheory, but here's what a lot of
school counselors don't realizeas they're drinking this
Kool-Aid.
And I promise you, I was one ofthose people too.
When I graduated with mymaster's degree and went in to
start my school counseling work,I was the same way.
(06:41):
I spent the whole summer makingcurriculum maps by grade and
cross-referencing grades to thenext grade, and how was I going
to make this all flow and work,and how many small groups was I
going to conduct, and what werethe topics going to be, and how
was I going to do a needsassessment, and on and on and on
and on and on.
I bought into it too, but thereare some other things going on
(07:04):
with this that we don't see orwe don't realize.
Case in point the 80% of yourtime benchmark was not always
part of the ASCA model.
Did you know that?
It was introduced in the thirdedition in 2012.
And it was introduced as kindof a measurable target.
(07:27):
Its intention, I think was toreally encourage school
counselors to focus on studentservices over administrative
duties kind of that shift fromthe guidance counselor idea to
the school counselor idea, fromguidance counselor idea to the
school counselor idea.
And since they introduced that80% idea, they have released
(07:51):
tons of resources which allreinforce this 80% ideal.
They're putting out webinarsand toolkits and award criterias
and visuals and data reporttemplates.
But while all this messaginghas focused so heavily on 80%,
(08:12):
there has been almost no publiceffort from ASCA to help
counselors actually achieve that.
The support for creating theactual conditions that would be
required to meet that number isalmost non-existent.
So when we're talking aboutthings like manageable caseloads
(08:35):
, asca recommends 1 to 250.
I work with hundreds of schoolcounselors in any given week and
I will tell you most typicalratios are running 1 to 500 and
up.
Other conditions that areneeded that are not being
addressed Protected counselortime, relief from non-counseling
(08:57):
duties.
There are admonishments thatthose should not be happening,
but there's no teeth behind themand when things start to go
sideways or we start to feellike we're falling short, no one
steps up and says, hey, let uslead an initiative to inform
educational stakeholders on this, let's make a difference.
No, they push the burden backon you and they say well, you
(09:20):
just need to advocate.
So you try to advocate, right,you schedule the meeting, you
bring your use of time data, youexplain the asker
recommendations and you have allthis clarity and optimism and
you're hoping that youradministrator is going to see
what you're trying to build.
And then what do you get inreturn from that?
(09:41):
If you're lucky, you get a nodin return from that.
If you're lucky, you get a nod,maybe a vague promise that
they'll support you or we'llrevisit this later.
That's typically best casescenario.
More likely what happens is youfracture your relationship with
your administrator.
There's a little bit ofdistrust that grows from that
(10:02):
conversation, or theadministrator now has a chip on
their shoulder anytime anythingabout your day-to-day work comes
up in conversation and again, Iknow this because I work with
so many school counselors weekin and week out and then, after
all that, regardless of whichdirection that conversation went
(10:24):
, typically nothing changes.
You're still a testingcoordinator, you're still
covering lunch duty, you'restill serving as a behavior
interventionist instead of aschool counselor, because in too
many school districts advocacyquote, unquote doesn't lead to
(10:45):
change.
What it actually leads to isprofessional gaslighting, where
you're told you're empowered tomake these statements and to try
to catalyze change on students'behalf.
But really you have nobargaining chips other than the
professional clout that you mayhave built on that campus.
(11:05):
That's it.
You have no control over yourbudget, your staffing, your time
or your autonomy In your schoolcounseling world.
Among your colleagues you mightget praised for your passion,
but directly with youradministrators on your campus
you get penalized for yourboundaries.
(11:26):
In the school counseling worldat large, you're told things
like the national model isflexible, but then on your
campus you try to flex andsuddenly you're labeled
difficult and then you getgaslit.
We're all a school family here.
We need everybody to pitch in.
It's not that bad.
You're only doing a few hoursof lunch duty a week.
(11:48):
Maybe you're just not managingyour time well.
And it takes this systemicfailure of this unsupported
model and conceptualizes it asyour personal flaw.
And if you've been there youknow that over time that wears
(12:08):
you down Because, as this isgoing on, the rhetoric machine
is still running full force inthe background.
Everyone should follow thenational model.
It's what's best for kids, it'sthe standard for school
counseling.
Everybody should want to ramp.
You should be able to hit 80-20.
What's wrong with you if youcan't do that?
You're not advocating hardenough and you start to question
(12:32):
your own competence.
You start to feel like you haveto apologize to ask for support
, and then you start to questionyour own competence.
You start to feel like you haveto apologize to ask for support
, and then you start wonderingam I really cut out to do this
kind of work?
And if you've ever felt any ofthose things, I promise you you
are not the only one.
So when you're told to advocatefor your role and your reality
(12:56):
doesn't shift as a result ofthat, I want you to know that is
not your failure.
You were given a script, butyou weren't given any backup,
and it is my opinion that allschool counselors deserve better
than that.
That's what happens when thistheory of this national model
(13:18):
meets real life, which brings meto what this actually looks
like day to day, when schoolcounselors are trying to serve
students in a system thatdoesn't support the model that
it promotes.
You show up on campus wanting tomeet that standard, but instead
you're tasked out to doeverything but what's in that
(13:40):
model?
Your caseload is 600, 700, 800students for just you.
You've got 30 minutes to prepyour next SEL lesson, but you're
sent down the hallway to covera class or fish a kid out from
under a desk.
You're trying to get some smallgroups off the ground, like
(14:00):
you've been told to do, but youhave 18 teacher referrals for
behavior and none of those kidshas any baseline behavior data.
You want to plan intentionallyand work thoughtfully, but you
are stuck being constantlyreactive in a flood of crises
that you didn't cause and youcan't prevent.
And still, through all of that,you keep getting told that if
(14:24):
you were just doing it right,your calendar would be 80%
direct and indirect services,and so you keep pushing harder.
You keep putting out moredumpster fires, you keep trying
to maximize your productivity,block your time in a way that's
going to allow you to do thework they're telling you you
should be doing, and then itleads to feeling like you can't
(14:46):
say no and you can already hearit coming.
That's when burnout hits.
That's when we have schoolcounselors walking away from the
profession altogether.
So let's be clear about acouple of things, and the first
is that you belong in schools.
How can I be so confident insaying that no one spends the
(15:10):
amount of money that we spendgetting our school counseling
credentials if they don't careabout this job.
We all know, walking into this,that we're not going to become
millionaires in this line ofwork.
We know this and we push onanyway and we spend tens of
thousands of dollars for theprivilege of walking onto a
(15:32):
campus and serving as thatschool's school counselor.
That is a big deal.
And then you've pushed throughall of the baloney that I've
just talked about, day after dayafter day.
So you 1,000% have earned yourseat at the table.
The problem is the model thatyou have been told to follow and
(15:55):
perhaps expected to follow,only works under perfect
conditions.
It's like you trained to be arace car driver and you show up
for the race and there's noracetrack, there's a gravel road
, and you look around for thecars and instead of getting your
race car, you get handed aunicycle and they just keep
(16:17):
saying go faster, just go faster, you'll keep up.
You can do it.
We believe you can do it if youjust want it badly enough, and
you fall off that unicycle.
No one rethinks it and says,hey, maybe that was the problem.
They just say, well, if youreally were passionate about
this, you would find a way tomake it work.
Bless it, friends.
(16:40):
You know I'm right about this.
This is happening in moreplaces than I can count.
It is not about your passionfor your work or even your
professionalism even yourprofessionalism.
(17:01):
This is about a structuralmismatch.
So let's back this up with someevidence, because this should
not just be anecdotal or myopinion right.
If we're going to grade theASCA national model, we better
be bringing receipts.
So in 2019, dodson found thatonly 39% of school counselors
reported implementing the ASCAnational model with any fidelity
(17:24):
.
Take note of that word anyfidelity.
If we flip that stat on itshead, that means that 61% of
school counselors were notimplementing any aspect of the
ASCA national model at all.
Strangely, that feelsvalidating, doesn't it To know
(17:45):
that if you haven't been able tomeet these standards, man, you
are not the only one.
Over half of our colleagues arein the same boat.
Mullen and Crowe 2017 showedthat being overloaded with
non-counseling duties directlycorrelates with burnout.
Schillingford and Lambie 2010confirmed that role confusion
(18:08):
from administrators underminesservice quality.
Meaning, if you don't evenreally understand what it is
that your job is supposed to be,or you don't understand why
you've been pulled so far offcenter from what school
counselors should be doing oncampus.
It's going to undermine yourability to be effective, and
(18:29):
Wilkerson and team 2013 showedthat, even among schools
pursuing RAMP, only those whohad strong administrative
support were able to succeed.
When we translate that phrasestrong administrative support
that doesn't mean theiradministrators believing in them
(18:50):
or their principal saying yes,I think we should do this.
This is best for all kids.
Administrative support is here.
You can have the autonomy tomake your own decisions in your
school counseling program.
Here we're going to fund thethings that you need to meet
these benchmarks.
Hey, here we're going to takeaway all the extra stuff that we
(19:10):
were expecting you to do so youcan focus on ramp.
And here we're going to hireenough people that you're
running a realistic ratio toenable us to meet this ramp goal
.
How many schools do you knowthat are in a position to do
that?
How many districts are youaware of or have you worked in
(19:34):
that have been in a position todo that?
The conclusion from that isclear.
This national model assumes alevel of support that the
majority of school counselorssimply do not have.
But here's the thing.
It's not even a question aboutwhether the national model is
(19:58):
good for us or not.
It's a question of just is itpossible?
And for most of us the answeris no.
But yet ASCA's messaging hasn'tchanged.
The burden is still beingplaced on you to make it work,
you to explain the use of timedata, you to have the tough
(20:19):
conversations, you to push thatmodel up the hill over and over
and over again.
I personally believe that if wecould see large-scale
implementation of the Ask aNational model, it would be
great for students, for schools,for school counselors.
It would be phenomenal.
(20:40):
I have no beef with thecomponents of the national model
, other than they're just notrealistic.
But that's where the reallytough part comes in, because
while we're being told toadvocate for our roles, our
(21:00):
national organization, they havejust totally stepped out.
We get told use the nationalmodel.
The more people that implementit, the more normalized it'll
become.
It'll start to catch on.
People will finally understandwhat school counselors should be
doing.
But, my friend, that is notadvocacy, that is magical
(21:21):
thinking.
And in this magical thinking,asca loves to publish articles
and podcasts and positionstatements about what they think
should be happening.
But what are they not doing.
They're not lobbying forprotected counselor time in any
laws, anywhere, any state.
They're not helping their stateorganizations do that.
(21:43):
They're not pushing backagainst non-counseling duties,
even in a mode of educating thepublic.
Have you ever seen a picture ofan ASCA representative speaking
to a consortium of school boardleaders?
Have you ever seen them onnational television talking
about National School CounselingWeek?
Have you ever seen footage ofthem testifying before any
(22:07):
committees in any legislativeanything anywhere?
No, they're not even showing upin public to provide meaningful
commentary when schoolcounseling goes sideways.
The legislative session inTexas just wrapped up.
I'm going to tell you it was adisaster for school counseling
(22:30):
and not one word from ournational organization.
We are told time and time andtime again to advocate, but
where's the advocacy for us?
Why are we consistently theones being made to absorb the
pressure of making that modelwork, no matter the context,
(22:51):
where now school counselors areblaming themselves when it
doesn't work?
Again, I will say this is not ananti-national model rant.
It may feel like it a littlebit, but I promise you it's not.
I think that the national modelhas been well thought out.
I think it has some veryfundamental components for our
(23:11):
work.
I think it still needs a littlebit of tweaking.
It's not perfect, for sure, butit's getting there.
The problem really isn't withwhat is in the national model
itself.
The problem is, what do we dowith it?
We can hang an ideal on thewall all day long.
I make fun of places all thetime for hanging these mission
(23:32):
and vision statements up on thewalls.
Maybe you work in a place likethat too.
You have to have all theseaspirational things posted
everywhere.
Maybe you have to have them inyour email signatures and stuff
like that.
And then you look around inyour day-to-day work and you go
is anybody really buying this?
Anybody around here reallyinvested in this, or is this
just an image game?
(23:52):
That's kind of what thisnational model feels like,
though my problem is with theimplementation of it, with the
gaslighting of my colleagues andfriends who show up to my
mastermind support andconsultation chats each and
every week saying why can't I begood enough, while they're
running a caseload of 750students wondering why they
(24:16):
can't get to everything.
While they're being made tocarry a walkie-talkie around
campus to be the emergencybehavior response on their
campus, instead of doing thethings they know could move the
needle if they were just giventhe latitude to do those things.
But meanwhile we have anorganization that purports to
(24:38):
advocate for school counselors.
But take a look at their socialfeeds sometime.
See how much advocacy isactually happening, because
their form of advocacy isself-aggrandizing.
Let's throw a banquet, let'shave an awards ceremony, let's
dress up, let's talk about howamazing our school counseling
(25:00):
friends are, and I'm here totell you there is so much to
that backstory.
There's a reason why you don'tsee me represented in any of
those things.
Throwing galas, throwing awardceremonies and banquets and all
those kinds of things.
And even for National SchoolCounseling Week, which should be
the biggest PR event in theschool counseling world, our
(25:22):
national organization focuses ontheir school counselor of the
year award ceremony and leavesall of the promotion and social
media to school counselorsthemselves.
Here are some prompts Print outthis sign, take your picture,
post what it means to me to be aschool counselor.
Post all your thoughts all weeklong.
Post them on our feed.
Do our work for us, which is alot like how we're being told to
(25:45):
advocate for our work.
So I got fired up there.
Let's assign a grade to the ASCAnational model.
So, intentions, I'm going togive this one an A+.
Like I said, I think if schoolcounselors were all able to meet
this national model standard,if they truly had people
(26:08):
advocating on their behalf andpushing this to reality, I think
it would be great.
So, intentions get an A+.
Equity and access that's a D.
We have some places that areable to meet this standard.
We have some states that areactively legislating to meet
this standard and my hat's offto them but there aren't enough
(26:29):
of them.
So, with some school counselorsbeing able to work in programs
that would facilitate the model,I'm gonna give it a D, even
though my heart says it'sprobably an F, because there's
fewer than 20% of schools, Iwould wager, that are in this
situation.
But we'll give it a DPracticality for the average
(26:51):
campus.
We have some states that havelegislated some pieces to
aligning school counselors withthis national model.
I think that's a step in theright direction.
I don't think we have nearlyenough and, knowing what I know
about the way that our stateschool counseling organizations
are supported, I feel confidentin saying that they're not
(27:11):
getting enough support to beable to make this happen.
That being said, we also haveto think about school district
budgets, staffings again, ratios, extra counseling duties, this
wild idea that we should beserving on campuses as behavior
interventionists 24-7, all ofthese things going in.
There are some schools that aremanaging to implement some
(27:33):
components not nearly as many asyou would be made to believe.
Ramp designation, at my lastcalculation, was less than
four-tenths of one percent, soless than one percent of schools
are able to attain thatdesignation.
So for that reason I'm going togive it a D.
All right, and I feel likethat's being generous, but I'm
going to give it a D.
(27:53):
And then, in the category ofthe psychological burden on
school counselors, that's goingto get a big fat F.
Just for the gaslighting aspectalone.
I got a mailer in the mail theother day from ASCA telling me
that they were advocating for meand when I went on their
(28:15):
advocacy page it wasdisheartening that's the nicest
word I can think of for that.
So I'm going to give thepsychological burden an F.
So we have an A plus we have aD and we have an F.
So that is not a pass, myfriends.
The ASCII national model doesnot pass.
We need some change.
We need tiered expectations forschool counseling programs, not
(28:40):
just a one-size-fits-all model,because we are not all one size
.
We have different levels ofstaffing, funding, autonomy all
the things we've all talkedabout.
Plus, we have varying communityexpectations of what a school
counseling program needs to be.
Those are not being recognizedeither, and that's a whole other
conversation.
(29:00):
We need adjusted benchmarks forcampuses so that we know if
we're making the grade.
If you have 800 students you'reresponsible for, you certainly
cannot be expected to achievethe same things that someone
with 400 kids is making happen.
You see what I mean.
So we need to have tieredexpectations and adjusted
(29:23):
benchmarks for those situationsand we need our professional
organizations to start leadingthe fight, not just cheerleading
the model and pattingthemselves on the back for
having built it.
They need to step up and say,okay, now let's figure out how
to really make this happen.
Okay, now let's figure out howto really make this happen.
(29:44):
Okay.
So if you are a school counselorwho is not able to hit that 80%
mark, who is not hitting allfour delivery components of the
ASCII National Model or RAMPstatus, or you don't have a
comprehensive curriculum orwhatever it is, I want you to
know.
You are still a great schoolcounselor.
I want you to know you arestill a great school counselor
If you are adapting yourclinical expertise to the messy
(30:07):
realities of your students'lives and you are keeping
students at the center of things, even when the system is really
trying to push them out.
If you are holding boundaries,if you are doing the best you
can with what you've got and youstill choose to show up
tomorrow.
You are doing the best you canwith what you've got and you
(30:28):
still choose to show up tomorrow.
You are amazing and in thispush through these model
components and the expectationsthat we have set, even for
ourselves, don't lose sight ofthat.
Don't lose sight of how amazingit makes you to continually
walk onto campus, day after day,and raise your hand and say
what's the worst you got?
Give me that it takes a veryspecial person to volunteer for
(30:54):
the kind of work that you doeach and every day, and I am so
thankful for you.
Just as I know your studentsand your families, even if they
don't always communicate it.
They're thankful for you, justas I know your students and your
families, even if they don'talways communicate it, they're
thankful for you too, all right.
So I hope you enjoyed thatbreakdown.
The ASCA national model gets a Dand next, in this graded
(31:15):
podcast series, we are going tolook at the idea of short-term
counseling on school campuses.
I am introducing something thismonth that is called the Smart
Capacity Model.
Remember when I was talkingabout tiered expectations and
adjusted benchmarks?
Well, we're done waiting foranybody to come to their senses
(31:39):
and roll those out, so we'regoing to do it ourselves, and
the Smart Cap capacity model isbeing revealed in our School for
School Counselors Mastermindthis July 2025.
It is designed to be applicablein the real world and adjust
your use of time expectationsbased on your actual caseload,
(31:59):
not an arbitrary standard thatyou know your district is never
going to meet.
The smart capacity model isbuilt to take away a lot of the
shame or embarrassment orfeelings of not good enough that
you may be getting from yourprogram because your schedule
just doesn't have enough hoursin the day, and it helps you
(32:20):
shift in doable ways when thenumbers aren't working in your
favor because you're not incontrol, if you have 500 or 700
or even 900 students Y'all.
I've been there.
I've done that work.
Current caseload is 700, butI've been up as far as nine.
I know this world, and youdon't need more pressure on top
(32:43):
of all those students needingyour assistance.
You need permission to pivot,and that is what this smart
capacity model is going to giveyou.
I don't think that you shouldcontinually beat your head
against the wall, trying to earnrespect, playing a game that
was never designed for you towin, and I am going to change
(33:03):
the rules of that game for youand give you a way to lead on
your campus in a way that issustainable and doesn't make you
question your career path everyFriday afternoon as you walk
out the door.
So if you want to be part ofthat, you need to look at our
School for School CounselorsMastermind.
We are first deploying that toour Mastermind members to get
(33:23):
some feedback, to solidify someof the concepts in there and
make sure it's really goodbefore it goes prime time.
But the other thing is, ifyou're not quite ready to join
the Mastermind, we have alsoopened up registration for our
Best Year Ever event.
This is going to be four nightsof real talk, real solutions,
(33:43):
real world resources for schoolcounselors for the upcoming
school year.
It is 1000% free.
It is not a sales pitch,designed as a workshop You've
probably been in a few of thosein your career.
This is not that we are goingto be throwing stuff at you like
nobody's business.
It's the same resources that weprovide for our Mastermind
(34:04):
members, and we're doing it 100%free of charge Because we
believe that school counselingprofessional development needs
to level up.
It is time to have some reallydown and dirty conversations
about what makes schoolcounseling actually work.
You can find out more aboutthat, as well as the mastermind,
on our website,schoolforschoolcounselorscom.
(34:26):
All right, I hope this got youriled up, just like it got me
riled up, but more than that, Ihope it helped you to understand
that you are not the only onehaving trouble meeting these
benchmarks and that maybe, justmaybe, you are not the problem.
If you need that real-worldsupport and consultation to know
(34:50):
if you're aiming at the righttargets, my mastermind's got you
covered.
Go find out about it atschoolforschoolcounselorscom,
and I will be back soon with ournext episode of graded
short-term school counselingversion.
Have a great week, take care.
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