Accountability

Accountability is probably the most difficult aspect of the school counseling to comprehend. There is a lot that goes into the accountability process and it is so crucial to the profession. After reading both Chapter 7 and the article for this week, I definitely have a clearer understanding of the importance of accountability and what it can do for a school and a school counselor. Often times accountability has been looked at as a way to measure the services provided but I have learned that the results being seen are far more beneficial to a program. Accounting for a school counselor’s time is necessary but does not tell us what they have done for their school. How has their time benefited the students and the environment?

I think the most important concept I gained this week is that showing our results and demonstrating accountability is providing reasoning for our field. School counselors already struggle with their purpose, role and place in a school. Each and every school has a different perspective on how beneficial a school counselor is to that environment. Displaying what our services can actually do for a school and the students is giving us a purpose to be there. "What are school counselors supposed to accomplish and what practices illustrate effective functioning?" (Dollarhide & Saginak, p. 119, 2012) It also shows all of the stakeholders how we can help in different areas and that we are all working towards a similar goal. Gysbers (2004) demonstrates that the school counselor's survival is dependent on accountability. It is the issue that keeps resurfacing and seems to provide the most evidence that our role matters.

The article provided a good background of how accountability is necessary and how it has come to be what it is today. The themes that were discussed at the end of the article sum up pretty well how I feel about the topic of accountability. As a school counselor I need to take on the mindset that this is a part of my everyday duties in a school. It can improve the work I am doing and the services being provided to my students, so I should be accounting for what my services are doing all the time. The second theme looks at the results of counseling work. When interpreting the results, schools can determine what is most important to focus on and gain involvement and support from all stakeholders. Lastly, the article demonstrated that talk is not enough. For years it has been stated that accountability is crucial yet until action is taken, we are helping no one. Small steps can be taken in every school that will help to account for the results occurring.

Now that I am convinced that accountability will help me and can impact the program, I want to gain a better understanding as to the specific tactics I can use to collect data and interpret it. Going through the chapter I saw how different types of data can benefit a school counselor and provide information to make clear and measurable goals. However, actually collecting that information and finding creative ways to measure it is what I am unsure about. What techniques are being used by school counselors who follow ASCA??


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

Gysbers, N. C.  (2004).  Comprehensive guidance and counseling progams: The evolution of accountability.  Professional School Counseling, 8(1), 1-14.