Community-Engaged Teaching Grant

With support through the Community-Engaged Teaching grant, more intentional community advocacy was initiated by students enrolled in the online school counseling graduate program. The grant funded additional resources to revamp the COUN 4840: Educational Strategies & Policies course, including a course consultant, course book and materials to adjust curriculum, and funding to support a graduate research assistant who is assisting with the research study associated with this course revamp. The purpose of this course revamp is to enhance graduate school counseling students’ self-competency surrounding their advocacy knowledge and skills.  

Advocacy is crucial for anyone working in the educational system. However, school counselors have the responsibility to support every student in their growth in academics, social-emotional learning, and college/career readiness. This responsibility means learning how to advocate is essential from their time in the training program. To emphasize the necessity in this role, students enrolled in the course learn the nuances of advocacy through a systematic model ranging from individual actions to advocate to macrosystems of change. The funding from this grant has provided me as the course instructor valuable insights to resources and strong school counselor advocates who have recommended substantial changes to the courses. 

One of the ways that students enrolled in the course have demonstrated growth in their advocacy knowledge and skills in through the completion of a major four-part assignment in the course. Students are required to select a topic related to school counseling and a) develop a policy brief, b) identify and connect with community partners, c) locate and analyze state, regional, and national data to support advocacy, and d) implement advocacy efforts to begin change. Since the students enrolled in the school counseling program live across the country, their impacts are widespread while still having local change in their communities. Examples of their advocacy have included developing suicide prevention programs for school district staff, promoting policy changes for undocumented students to receive financial aid in post-secondary schooling, creating ways to develop more after school programming to support student safety and academic success, and enhancing education around safe gun practices. The students enrolled in the course are highly encouraged to select advocacy topics that have personal and professional meaning to them to continue with these efforts after the class ends. So far, students have described the impact of this work on them individually and the responsibility they have to advocate on behalf and alongside all P-12 students. Students have shared the encouragement they have to go beyond their comfort zone and challenge the current norms to improve the lives of their P-12 students.