Background Information and Goal:
In August 2008, AzSCA adopted the ASCA (American School Counselors' Association) Model as the framework for all Arizona school counselors. It is the goal of AzSCA that its Implementation Committee provides a user-friendly guide that is aligned to ADE (Arizona Department of Education) initiatives and to assist Arizona school counselors with developing a comprehensive school counseling program. No matter what stage of implementation your school counseling program is at, this guide is formatted to get you started and RAMP-ready.
What is RAMP?
RAMP is a Recognized ASCA Model Program, which is a prestigious, research-based, national recognition award given to school counselors from ASCA. There are 12 components in the RAMP application and each component is scored by a five-point rubric.
ASCA Implementation Guide for Arizona School Counselors:
The Implementation Committee will provide you with the ASCA Implementation Guide for Arizona School Counselors, which has been written at RAMP Level 5, which is the highest score a school counseling program can earn.
For schools that are just getting started with their ASCA Model implementation, it takes about three years to incorporate the four elements of the ASCA Model successfully. If your school is using the CCBG (Comprehensive Competency Based Guidance) Program, you are off to an great start, because the ASCA Model was based off of the CCBG Program. No matter where you are in the ASCA Model path, your AzSCA Association is here to support and help you.
In this Implementation Committee link, you will also find samples of recent Arizona award-winning RAMPs, so you can see what they include and what each section looks like.
The Implementation Committee's Collaboration with the Research Committee and Professional Development Committee:
When you get to the point in your journey where you collect data to answer the question: How are students different because of the ASCA Model at our school sites? Do not fear! The AzSCA Research Committee is here! The AzSCA Research Committee will be more than willing to help you with the collection of data and the interpretation of it. Their contact information can be found at www.azsca.org/research.
We are in the process of providing an application for counseling departments who would like to participate in a pilot program with the intent to RAMP their school counseling programs. Here are the perks!
- Those who apply to be in the pilot program will have their RAMP application fee paid for, which is $150 ($300 for nonmembers).
- They will have scheduled collaborative workshops with AzSCA members who will help guide them through the RAMP application process. The Professional Development Committee will assist with this as well.
- They will receive the assistance of the Research Committee members to help with the data components of the RAMP application.
Vision:
That all Arizona school counselors have the support they need to fully implement a uniquely tailored ASCA Model Program at their school sites.
Goals:
- To provide a user-friendly guide that is aligned to ADE (Arizona Department of Education) initiatives and that has all the necessary components of a comprehensive school counseling program
- To assist our Arizona school counselors in developing a recognized ASCA Model program, which is uniquely tailored to their school sites, by providing collaborative workshops in collaboration with the Professional Development Committee
- To work in conjunction with the Research Committee to assist counselors in collecting, disaggregating, processing, and looking at their data so they can see how ASCA Model programs impact student achievement and use it as a means to create systemic change where it is necessary.
- To have as many Arizona schools RAMP by June 2013, when the ASCA National Conference will be hosted in our own state of Arizona, during which RAMP recipients will be recognized.
