Although culturally relevant interventions and social justice advocacy will be integrated throughout the text, this chapter focuses on marginalized communities, antiracism practices, and the Black Lives Matter movement as it relates to serving BIPOC students and discusses the impact of cultural mismatch and culturally incompetent school-based interventions. Resources for cultural awareness, knowledge, and skill development will be discussed, as well as the opportunities for addressing the school-to-prison pipeline, historically underserved populations, and the opportunity gap.

In this chapter, students will explore the concept of strengths-based counseling and related interventions as the various roles and specific interventions are applied through this lens as the very foundation to the work of school counselors. Research-based support for this perspective and practitioner guidance is included. Case studies and scenarios demonstrating the difference between a traditional “deficit-based” perspective where a clinician or counselors initial view of a student is considering a “what’s wrong” approach will be compared to a “what’s going well” approach where school counselors collaborate with school staff and partner with students to build on student strengths to ensure academic success and improvement.

As with any profession, the roles, responsibilities, and foci areas will evolve as the technological and societal needs change. This chapter begins by providing foundational knowledge about the school counseling profession and its historical pathway. Key events in the United States have shaped the profession in recent years, leading to identification of the current trends affecting school counselors. Advancements in technology, increasing responsibilities, and future directions will be discussed.

There are two key foci of the ASCA Student Standards. The first focus is the ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College-, Career-, and Life-Readiness Standards for Every Student, which are standards used by school counselors to support students’ academic success, social and emotional learning, and college and career readiness. The second focus is the ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards and Competencies, which delineates standards for school counselors’ professional development and promotes the planning, delivery, and evaluation of comprehensive school counseling programs. Moreover, the authors provide examples of school counseling interventions and ways to overcome potential roadblocks for successful implementation, as well as recommendations for integrating social justice advocacy when using the ASCA Student Standards.

The chapter will serve as an overview of the ASCA National Model and provide a clear connection with the translation from an aspirational ideal of school counseling to the reality of school counseling practice. The four main components of the National Model will be presented, including define, manage, deliver, and assess. This chapter will address and provide examples as to how these components are often offered in current models of PK–12 education—both in brick-and-mortar schools and online academies.