Effective Schools

As I was reading Chapter 2, one of the major themes that jumped out at me was the idea that in order to make schools effective all stakeholders need to be working together and working towards similar goals.  Part of my responsibility as a future school counselor is that I am able to understand the workings of a school environment and advocate for the students' needs and rights.  In doing this, I must be communicating with all of those stakeholders and forming some positive connections.  When thinking to my past, many of the negative interactions or memories from school come from a lack of communication/support amongst the school board, community, administrators, and teachers.  What is most important in making these positive connections in my eyes is individual responsibility.  Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) talk about how everyone in the school system is putting blame on someone else within the system.  The more we put blame onto someone else the less that gets accomplished.  It may be the easy way out but no one is standing up and taking the risk to change what isn't working.  "If it takes a village to raise a child, then we are all accountable for the education our young people receive in our schools" (Dollarhide & Saginak, p. 20, 2012).  This quote stuck with me because I truly feel that we are all accountable for the success in our school systems.  If as a counselor I see something that isn't functioning correctly then I should take the initiative to try and fix it.  Counselors fall in between everyone else that is involved and sometimes it may fall on us to be that positive form of communication and understanding among all that are involved.

Another key point that the chapter makes is that the two most important things to promote effective schools are a caring environment and emphasis on holistic development.  It seems to me that both of these points come about from all involved working together and everyone taking individual responsibility to do what is best for the students.  More and more I am seeing the importance of the school counselor's role and how so much responsibility can be put onto them.  While everyone should be responsible and taking that initiative, the school counselor is the most involved with the most amount of students.  I could see how many people may feel the school counselor should be doing something about it.  In the introductory case study to the chapter, the principal tells the counselor that the school cannot be changed but that she must change the student.  With this negative view that so many have about school systems, it seems extremely difficult to accomplish much of anything.  I believe that school counselors can be the start to some of these conversations within the school and can create positive change.  Going out into the world with the ideas and concepts from a class like this can be beneficial to our future school systems.  Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) also mentioned the importance of respect and with this respect you can do a lot.  As a school counselor if I can form healthy relationships based on respect in my school setting then I will have a greater chance in having an effective school or facilitating positive change to move towards that goal.

Dollarhide, C. & Saginak, K. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.