ASCA positions on child abuse prevention and corporal punishment in schools

¶ … American school Counseling Association (ASCA) holds various positions when it comes to professional school counselors and their conduct with students. The paper will look at three of these positions carefully and compare with my own view, opinion and expectations of what school counselors actually do.

The professional school counselor and child abuse and neglect prevention

ASCA position on school counselor and child abuse and neglect prevention is that; it is the professional school counselor's ethical, legal and moral responsibility to ensure that they report any case or suspected case of child abuse/neglect to proper authorities. They are also supposed to recognize that child abuse is not only limited to their homes but corporal punishment by school authorities is as well considered to be child abuse. ASCA is in support of any legislation which bans using corporal punishment as a tool for disciplining students in schools. The rationale behind ASCA's position is that there has been a significant increase of the cases of child abuse and neglect over the years. Though the society believes that it is the right of parents to discipline their children the way they deem appropriate, it becomes a public affair when this discipline turns abusive. Consequences of abuse and neglect are physical and emotional. State laws require that those in helping professions that have a reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering from abuse should report the situation as required by state laws to the appropriate authorities. Professional school counselors have the mandate of reporting hence they require policies, referral procedures and adequate knowledge. It is only a moral, legal and ethical responsibility of ensuring that one reports any case of child abuse. Since ASCA recognizes that it is the absolute responsibility of these professional school counselors to make sure they report cases they suspect to be of child abuse and neglect, the Professional school counselors have a commitment of ensuring that they come up with strategies of helping to break the child abuse cycle. I totally agree with this position by ASCA since professional school counselor's act as a link to the network of preventing child abuse. Without these counselors then there would be no way of finding out if there are cases of child abuse/neglect as well. Their role is also important as they assist in coming up with ways of helping and guiding students who have gone through abuse and neglect. However, there must be a reprieve or caveat that can take into account the possibility of an abuse taking place without the proper knowledge of the professional school counselor and this may not be out of neglect or negligence. This then calls for the societal approach to stamping out child abuse within the schools and the American society as a whole.

The professional school counselor and high stakes testing

ASCA position is that professional school counselors acknowledge that standardized test results are among the many measures which can be used in assessment of the performance and learning of students. The professional school counselors are advocates of using multiple criteria when making educational decisions on the performance of students and they oppose the use of a single test in order to make important educational decisions that affect students and schools. The high stake tests involve using test scores for the determination of a student's level of achievement. Standardized test results are used for academic placement, retention and promotion, graduation, revision of curriculum and so on. The rationale behind this position is that when results from these standardized tests are the only factor used in making educational decisions, the decisions might not be fully informed since there are other factors that can provide additional information that is necessary related to the achievement of students.

Professional school counselors acknowledge that the standardized tests actually give valuable information that relates to achievement of students. However, these results might just provide a partial picture of the learning of a student when it comes to making important educational decisions. School counselors advocate for using multiple criteria in the process of making a decision. Among the things that are included in the proposed criteria of multiple tests are projects, classroom performance and portfolios. Professional school counselors agree that these standardized tests often create anxiety for the students which is not good for mental development. I agree with this position held by ASCA since I find it unfair to make important educational decisions based on the results of these standardized tests. This is because a student might not be in a right state of mind when they are taking these high school tests, for instance they might be sick. If they do not do well on the tests does it really mean that the student is not good yet they were not in a right state of mind while taking the tests. I support ASCA position of the use of other criteria when making important educational decisions.