Comprehensive School Counseling Programs

Contact Information

School Counseling

Maria Muto

Secondary School Counseling Program Supervisor
564-999-3916

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 program is to focus on three essential components - academic, career, and social emotional development. RCW 28A.410.040

Professional Development

Comprehensive School Counseling Webinars

The comprehensive school counseling webinars are statewide and regional professional learning events focusing on connecting practitioners to the national school counseling model, WA MTSS framework, and WA SEL standards, benchmarks, and indicators.

Past Webinars & Resources

Washington School Counseling Resources Group, OER Commons Webinars

Additional PD recordings are available on the Comprehensive School Counseling Programs YouTube playlist.
 

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:
  • 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

  • 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.

Timeline

2021-2022

  • Develop initial district CSCP plan
  • Adopt the CSCP transition plan

2022-2023

  • Using transition plan, begin implementation of CSCP plan

 

District CSCP Examples

OSPI has requested and assembled a handful of sample CSCP plans from school districts across the state. Some are completed plans, while others are works-in-progress. All of them reflect general adherence to SSB 5030 guidelines and structure, which can be used to guide the development of your own district’s CSCP. OSPI will continue to collect example plans for posting.

CSCP 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