The role and duties of a school social worker can differ greatly by state. The National School Social Work Practice Model and the National Association of Social Workers' school social work standards describe practice approaches and behaviors endorsed by the School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA). The National Evaluation Framework for…

Suicide risk assessment requires counselors to determine client risk factors, warning signs, and protective factors. The content of suicide assessment has received attention in the literature. The guiding principles of the process of suicide assessment, however, have not yet been articulated. This article contains 12 core process principles that…

School psychologists must have a solid understanding of how to evaluate psychological trauma. In their line of work, they have found that the PREPaRE model of school crisis intervention provides important guidance when addressing this issue. Specifically, the PREPaRE model argues that school psychologists need to conduct a needs assessment before…

Many school-aged children have experienced the cruelty of bullying. The impact and effects of bullying have been described extensively in scholarly literature. Unfortunately, the impact of bullying has also made contemporary headlines with the recent rash of school shootings and other forms of school-based violence. The current body of students…

Counseling programs in the California community colleges play a key role in helping students succeed. Over the years, the functions counseling departments perform have increased significantly, further exacerbating the ever-present pressure to serve more students in cost-effective ways. As a result of the expansion of services absent the resources…

School counselors are expected to perform numerous functions, provide many services and additionally be accountable for what they undertake. As a result of all the energy expended in providing services, there is an inadequacy in the counselor's own evaluation of what they do. This leads to lower quality service, innappropriate use of resources,…

Described a staff evaluation program for college resident advisors to help them gauge their effectiveness and identify areas that need improvement. A computerized questionnaire was completed by students. Advisors could learn more about the job requirements and how it was seen by students. (JAC)

Discusses the design and scoring of the writing proficiency exam conducted at San Francisco State University. Explains the program's counseling system for those students who do not pass the proficiency exam. (HTH)

The DURABLE (Discussing, Understanding, Reinforcing, Adapting, Building, Learning, Evaluating) Approach, an organizational intervention that is designed to facilitate implementation of individualized evaluation program (IEP) evaluation, is presented. The need for school psychologists to become actively involved in organizational-level matters in…

Addresses the intricacies of the independent evaluation provision for exceptional children, suggests ways that school counselors can guide exceptional children's parents through this assessment process, and provides a case study example demonstrating the potential harm of an inappropriate independent evaluation. (BH)

A needs assessment is an effective way to evaluate the effects of ongoing guidance program activities. It provides information to assist in the development and implementation of school counseling and guidance programs that meet the various needs of students, teachers, and parents. A seven-step procedure is presented. (Author)

A practicum was designed to train school counselors in recognizing the signs of suicide, assessing suicidal ideation, and managing a suicidal crisis. It was also designed to develop in counselors a more definitive idea of their role in a suicidal crisis. The primary goal was to increase counselors' confidence in their ability to assess and…

College counselors can expand their role from remedial to primary prevention methods of dealing with students. Intervention can be directed at groups determined to be at risk to reduce onset of emotional distress. (JAC)

This paper contains an instrument for evaluating college counselors as esteem-builders, using Borba's Analysis of Self-Esteem. The instrument is divided into five components, each of which should be fostered in a student by the counselor: (1) Security, a feeling of strong assuredness; (2) Selfhood, a feeling of individuality; (3) Affiliation, a…

These conference proceedings deal with vocational assessment procedures which school psychologists can use with handicapped secondary school students, and the role that psychologists can play in this process. The keynote address proposes six basic premises for secondary school psychological services and describes basic vocational assessment models…