Each school year, school counselors must address challenges and support students in developmentally appropriate ways and with evidence-based strategies. Even schools in the same school districts can experience vastly different challenges based on the populations that they serve. For this Assignment, imagine that you are employed as a school counselor at your local school. Your school administration has requested that you develop an Advocacy Leadership Plan (ALP) to address a challenging issue that is affecting its student population. This ALP will help the administration to understand how school counselors can work collaboratively with others to support the needs of the students.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review the Learning Resources.
• Research local issues affecting the student population in your grade level of choice (K-8 or high school) using news articles, news stories, and/or consultations with current educators. Consider reaching out to a school counselor in your area currently employed in your school level of choice.
• Select a prevalent student-centered issue you can address with an Advocacy Leadership Plan (ALP).
• Consider all the stakeholders that could be leveraged to support the student with the issue you have selected.
• Review the Assignment requirements and guidelines.

Develop an ALP in which you:

1. Research a prevalent issue affecting the student population in your grade level of choice [primary (K-8) or high (9-12)]. This must be a student-centered challenge relevant to the role of school counselors. You may use news articles, news stories, consultations with current educators, etc. to find your topic of concern. Note: The grade level should be different from the grade level that you select for your Final Project.
2. Identify the relevant stakeholders, inside and outside of the school environment, that might be used to support students with this issue.

Based on information obtained from your research and your knowledge of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model, Action Plans, and Closing-The-Gap plans, you will develop an ALP that is appropriate for your grade level of interest [primary (K-8) or high (9-12)]. This plan should be organized, creative, and written so that it is relevant to all key stakeholders.

You will create a Padlet account and create your ALP using this modality. In your plan, you must include course learning resources, textbook resources, journal articles, and other relevant resources to support your ALP. You are also required to use at least 4 creative media resources in your plan, which can include photos, videos, or collaborative resources (such as Pinterest, blogs, or YouTube). Once completed, you will submit the link to you Padlet of your final ALP. In your plan, you must include references for all sources used in APA format.

In your Advocacy Leadership Plan, you must include the following information:

1. The Advocacy Issue
   • The advocacy issue for a student-centered challenge based on your research and its effect on students in terms of student achievement, attendance, or behavior
   • Identify the grade level [primary (K-8) or high (9-12)] that your advocacy issue addresses
2. The Program
   • A description of a program that responds to the student-centered challenge
   • References of evidence-based strategies or techniques that support your program
3. The Program Goal
   • A program goal that uses the SMART format
4. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors
   • ASCA Mindsets and behaviors addressed by your program (provide with bullet points)
5. Involving StakeholdersList all key stakeholders required for your program to be successful (parents, teachers, community members, school counselors, administrators, etc.)
6. • Provide each stakeholder’s specific role in the program
   Resources

   Required Readings

   American School Counselor Association. (2013). School counselor leadership: The essential practice (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.

   • Chapter 5, “Accountable Leaders”
   • Chapter 6, “Leading for Equality”

   American School Counselor Association. (2019a). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.

   • ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success
   • Program Focus
   • Program Planning

   American School Counselor Association. (n.d.b). Template for developing a school counseling program goal in SMART-goal format. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/AS...

   Feed Your Brain (Optional Resources)

   American School Counselor Association. (2019d). RAMP resources. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/...

   Gay, J. (2019, July 1). Classroom lessons that work. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/jul...Note: You will need to be an ASCA member to access this optional article

   Hanson, K. (2019, March 1). A bibliocounseling dream team. Retrieved from http://www.ascaschoolcounselor-digital.org/ascaschoolcounselor/march_april_2019/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1468451#articleId1468451.