1st Edition
Advancing Equity-Focused School Counseling for All Students Confronting Disproportionality Across PreK-12 Schools
Using author narratives, this book brings attention to racial disparities that currently exist in schools within the historical context of pivotal legal cases in America while emphasizing the importance of assessing and supporting students through a culturally appropriate lens that recognizes student strengths.
The authors provide current and historical frameworks through which school counselors can develop a more socially just and liberation-orientated school counseling program. These frameworks center and unveil the ways in which social rank, segregation, and racism influence development, particularly for Black and Brown children. The book underscores the value of community partnerships and the role of strategic partnerships to support a college culture, particularly for student populations with historically limited access to higher education. Readers will also learn about misconceptions of racially and ethnically minoritized children and the related impacts on misdiagnosis and overrepresentation in special education.
School counselors looking to ensure equity and social justice within their classrooms, analyze their own privilege, and support students of all backgrounds will find this timely text indispensable in creating a program that fosters understanding and growth.
Part I: History, Identity, and Advocacy: Describing Equity within Schools 1. Introduction: Developing a Framework for Action 2. Identity Development of Racial/Ethnic Minoritized Children 3. The History of Education and Racial Disparities in Schools 4. Preparing the School Counselor for Advocacy: Developing a Theoretical Framework for Action Part II: Reimagining Equity within the School Counseling Profession 5. Community-driven, Evidence-based Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Leadership 6. College and Career Counseling, Aspirations and Achievement 7. School Counselor Identity, Consultation, Collaboration and Supervision 8. Neurodiversity and Exceptional Children 9. Culturally Sustaining Ethical School Counseling Practice 10. The Intersection of Technology, Crises, and Future Directions 11. Conclusion: Authors’ Call to Action
Biography
Sam Steen holds a PhD in Counselor Education and is a Licensed Professional School Counselor in Virginia.
Shekila Melchior holds a PhD in Counselor Education and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia.
Amber Brenae Sansbury-Scott, M.Ed. and PhD Candidate in Education, investigates family engagement with Head Start teachers and families.
"This amazing gem of a book integrates the fields of school counseling and the educational and developmental sciences in its strengths-based focus on racial and ethnically minoritized people, with a historical focus that simultaneously provides an action plan to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities."
Pamela W. Garner, Professor of Childhood Studies in the School of Integrative Studies and Human Development and Family Science at George Mason University
"This book is a must-read for school counselors interested in building a deeper understanding of students of Color and their experiences within systemically racist school systems. With an impressive scope, Steen, Melchior, & Sansbury have unapologetically centered the voices, experiences, and cultural assets of students of Color in PreK-12 Schools. The body of work within this book has the potential to inform school counseling programs, policies, and practices that promote equity and opportunities for all students. And "all students" means "all students," including those historically marginalized."
Joseph M. Williams, Professor, Counselor Education, and Supervision, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
"This book provides concrete strategies and information that will be helpful for students in a school counseling program. The chapters are succinct, easy to read, yet full of important information that will be useful to any school counselor in training who wants to adopt an antiracist mindset and effect change for racialized and marginalized populations."
Dr. Dana Griffin, Associate Professor, Associate Editor, Professional School Counseling, School of Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
