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Article Excerpt
It is well documented that clinical supervision in school settings is underutilized. One hypothesis for this situation is the lack of fit between current supervision models that emphasize the supervision of individual counseling and the multiple roles of school counselors within comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs). The authors propose the School Counseling Supervision Model (SCSM) as an extension of J. M. Bernard's (1979, 1997) Discrimination Model. The SCSM uses a 3 (focus of supervision) x 3 (supervisor role) x 4 (CSCP domain) matrix. Examples are provided for potential supervision interventions using the SCSM. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed.
********** During the past decade, national organizations including the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the American Counseling Association (ACA), and the U.S. Department of Education have more strongly endorsed the implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs; ASCA, 2003; Campbell & Dahir, 1997; Dahir, 2001; Sink & Yillik-Downer, 2001). Designed and modeled after the work of Gysbers and Henderson (2000), as well as Myrick (2003), CSCPs were developed in response to the contemporary educational reform agenda (Dahir, 2001). CSCPs reconceptualize school counselor roles and functions because they de-emphasize remedial counseling services, minimize administrative and clerical duties of school counselors, and increase school counselors' professional accountability (Paisley & Hubbard, 1994; Paisley & Peace, 1995). Consequently, proponents of CSCPs claim that they replace historically reactive and crisis-orientated school counseling with a full spectrum of preventive programming to meet educational and learning goals for all students (ASCA, 2003; Dahir, 2001). Currently, CSCPs are the most widely used organizational framework within the school counseling profession (Green & Keys, 2001; Gysbers & Henderson, 2001; Sink & MacDonald, 1998).
As a result of the growing body of empirical research indicating the efficacy of CSCPs (Hughey, Gysbers, & Starr, 1993; Lapan, 2001; Lapan, Gysbers, & Petroski, 2001; Lapan, Gysbers, & Sun, 1997; Nelson, Gardner, & Fox, 1998; Sink & Stroh, 2003; Whiston & Sexton, 2001), a majority of states have formally adopted some variation of their own CSCP (Gysbers, Lapan, & Blair, 1999; Sink & MacDonald, 1998). The most common components of CSCPs include four functional domains for school counselors: (a) large-group guidance; (b) responsive counseling and consultation: (c) individual advisement; and (d) programmatic planning, coordination, and evaluation, often referred to as systems support (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000).
clinical Supervision of School Councelors
Although individual clinical supervision has long been an integral part of school counselor training (Bradley & Fiorini, 1999; Brott & Meyers, 1999; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2001: Dahir, 2001) and is acknowledged as a necessary component of school counselor practice (Crutchfield & Borders, 1997: Page, Pietrzak, & Sutton, 2001: Paisley & McMahon, 2001; Sutton & Page, 1994), it is fair to say that clinical supervision has yet to establish a substantial presence in school counseling contexts (ASCA, 2003; Crespi, 2003: Crutchfield & Borders, 1997: Page et al., 2001). According to the ACA Code of Ethics (Section C.2.d., ACA, 2005), counselors have a responsibility to monitor their effectiveness, seeking supervision when appropriate. Despite this mandate, a preponderance of professional school counselors are not involved in any clinical supervision once they are employed as a school counselor (Crutchfield & Borders, 1997: Page et al., 2001; Sutton & Page, 1994).
Remley and Herlihy (2001) explained the absence of clinical supervision in schools by suggesting that supervisors may lack a comprehensive understanding of the setting, population, needs, context, and tasks of a school counselor. Others have asserted that increased focus within professional school counseling on components of the CSCPs, rather than on the person of the counselor, may have exacerbated the already...
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