Comprehensive School Counseling Programs

During the 2021 legislative session, the Legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5030, which was the result of a multi-year effort by the Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA) and other statewide advocates to clarify the role of the school counselor in alignment with current best practices. SSB 5030 requires districts to develop and implement a comprehensive school counseling program (CSCP) for all schools within the district that addresses students’ social/emotional, academic, and career development in alignment with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model.

The best way to structure your CSCP is to focus on three essential components - academic, career, and social emotional development. RCW 28A.320.610.

Professional Development

Current Opportunities

Stay up to date on upcoming professional learning opportunities for comprehensive school counseling by visiting pdEnroller. Offerings are updated throughout the year and may include webinars, workshops, communities of practice, and other learning opportunities. May events offer FREE Washington State clock hours. 

Browse current OSPI Comprehensive Counseling professional learning — pdEnroller

One Demand Resources

Looking for recorded webinars, presentation slides, templates, and implementation resources? Visit the Washington School Counseling Resources group page within the OER Commons to access on-demand learning and practical implementation tolls. 

Explore Comprehensive School Counseling Resources — OER Commons

Required CSCP Components

Component #1: Alignment with State and National Standards

Comprehensive school counseling programs should align with the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success standards, which includes the three domains of School Counseling:

• Academic Development
  • Promote strategies and activities for elementary, middle, and high school counseling that optimize the learning potential of each learner and support the relationship between academic development and readiness for career, college, and life.
• Career Development
  • Assist students in the early exploration and development of their postsecondary plan and goals.
• Social Emotional Development
  • Provide a proven foundation of social-emotional growth that helps students manage their emotions and develop effective interpersonal skills.

Component #2: Provide a Process for Identifying Student Needs

Incorporate the following tools and strategies:

• Use of time data
• Program results data
• Stakeholder engagement data (data about communications with administrators, parents, students, and stakeholders)

Component #3: Explain How Direct & Indirect Services Will Be Delivered

This process may align well with the existing school and district MTSS continuum of student supports, evidence-based practices, team-driven shared leadership, and family, student, and community engagement. Incorporating school counseling activities into the school’s and district’s MTSS is an important step to coordinating student support.

Component #4: Establish an Annual Review and Assessment Process

• Using the data collected to identify student needs that drive the interventions and supports provided during the year. School counselors report their outcomes and results to administrators and interested parties.
• The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends that school counselors use the following 2 templates to evaluate their program:
  • Classroom and Group Mindsets & Behaviors Results Report template
  • Closing-the-Gap Results Report template
• Data to consider may include participation, mindsets and behaviors changes, and student outcomes, including but not limited to, changes in attendance, discipline rates, postsecondary pathway attainment, grades, course choices, and behavior across all student groups.

Implementation Details

• Each school's CSCP must be implemented by a certified school counselor or other qualified certified ESA staff.
• For the time staff are contracted to implement the CSCP, they must allocate 80% of their work time to providing direct and indirect services to students.

CSCP Implementation & Improvement Cycle

Washington districts are no longer in the initial transition toward implementing CSCPs. However, CSCP implementation and continuous improvement look different in every district. For districts seeking a starting point or a structure for strengthening existing practices, the cycle below outlines a general process for developing, implementing, assessing, and improving a CSCP aligned with SSB 5030 requirements and the ASCA National Model.

This work takes time, and districts vary in their capacity to make and sustain change. Fully implementing and solidifying a comprehensive program may take multiple years. Once established, a CSCP requires ongoing review and improvement to remain responsive to student needs and aligned with state requirements and the ASCA National Model.

Step 1: Establish the Foundation

Focus: Build districtwide understanding of comprehensive school counseling and establish the leadership, direction, expectations, and foundational structures needed to guide implementation across schools.

Key Actions and Milestones: 

• Identify district and school CSCP leaders
• Develop or update the district CSCP plan
• Establish program beliefs, vision, and mission
• Clarify district and school-level roles, duties, and use of time
• Define districtwide program expectations and alignment to standards
• Use data to review current strengths, needs, and gaps

Step 2: Support Districtwide Implementation

Focus: Put the district CSCP plan into practice by providing schools with clear expectations, shared tools, professional learning, and support for delivering consistent services based on student needs. 

Key Actions and Milestones: 

• Establish districtwide implementation priorities
• Provide shared planning and management tools
• Support annual goals and calendars
• Expand Tier 1 access across schools
• Strengthen targeted student supports
• Collect implementation and ASCA results (access, life-readiness, academic success) data
• Adjust support based on early findings

Step 3: Strengthen and Align Systems

Focus: Improve the quality, consistency, and coordination of CSCP implementation across the district while aligning school counseling with MTSS, district priorities, and other student-support systems. 

Key Actions and Milestones:

• Strengthen services across all domains
• Align the CSCP with district systems
• Improve consistency across schools and grade levels
• Use disaggregated data to identify inequities
• Strengthen collaboration across roles and departments
• Review counselor staffing, time, and responsibilities
• Share districtwide progress and results

Step 4: Evaluate, Sustain, and Improve

Focus: Evaluate districtwide implementation and student outcomes, identify areas for improvement, and maintain the leadership, resources, and systems needed to sustain an effective and equitable CSCP.

Key Actions and Milestones:

• Evaluate program implementation and outcomes annually
• Identify practices to continue, revise, or expand
• Address gaps in access and outcomes
• Update district priorities and supports
• Communicate program results and impact
• Maintain leadership, staffing, and resources
• Revisit earlier steps as needs change

Ongoing: Maintain ASCA-Aligned Practice

Maintain a districtwide comprehensive school counseling program aligned with Washington requirements and the ASCA National Model. Use local data, program results, and student and family input to strengthen implementation across schools and respond to changing student needs.

District CSCP Examples

The Washington school district CSCP plans below are shared as examples of how districts are developing and organizing Comprehensive School Counseling Programs to align with SSB 5030 and the ASCA National Model. They are intended to provide ideas and inspiration, not model plans or templates for adoption.

Each plan reflects the unique context, priorities, and needs of the district that created it. Districts should use local data, stakeholder input, and community priorities to develop and refine their own CSCPs. We are grateful to the districts that have generously shared their work to support learning and collaboration across Washington.

• Burlington-Edison School District CSCP
• Cheney School District CSCP
• Kelso School District CSCP
• Moses Lake School District CSCP
• Peninsula School District CSCP

Implementation Support Templates (SSB5030)

For Boards of Directors

• CSCP Transition Plan Template
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: A Transition Plan MUST be adopted by the school board before the 2022-23 school year.
  • The purpose of this tool is to provide a guiding framework, to be used in conjunction with the District Self-Assessment & Template, to support the creation of districts’ transition plans. The transition plan is to be adopted by your school district by the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
• CSCP Policy Template
  • Utilize this template to document and inform stakeholders about your district’s CSCP Policy.
• CSCP Procedure Template
  • Utilize this template to document and inform stakeholders about your district’s CSCP Procedure.
• CSCP Plan Resolution Template
  • Utilize this template to document and inform stakeholders about your district’s Board Adoption of the CSCP and Transition Plan.

For Districts

• District Self-Assessment
  • This tool has been developed to support all districts in deep, intentional thinking about how the CSCP is planned, delivered, evaluated, and improved to support high-priority, district-aligned student outcomes.
• District CSCP Template (Updated version coming soon)
  • This template will assist districts in organizing the information from their Self-Assessment into an actionable CSCP, in alignment with SSB5030.

For School Counseling Practitioners

• Practitioner Alignment & Planning Tool
  • This tool has been developed to support all school counseling practitioners in implementing CSCPs in alignment with their district’s CSCP plan.

 Please note: Updated templates and resources in alignment with ASCA 5th Edition are in development and should be ready for use in the 27-28 school year.