Supervision of School Counseling Leadership for School Counselors in Training

The importance of leadership has been well documented in the school counseling professional standards and extant scholarship. First of all, leadership is a vital component of a school counselor’s professional identity (ASCA, 2016). Leadership is also central to the ASCA National Model from the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2012, 2019a) and the development and implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program (Peters et al., 2018; Young & Miller Kneale, 2013). For example, the preamble of the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (ASCA, 2016) declares that school counselors are leaders “who create systemic change by providing equitable educational access and success by connecting their school counseling programs to the district’s mission and improvement plans” (p. 1). Likewise, the ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards and Competencies (ASCA, 2019b) require school counselors to “demonstrate leadership through the development and implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program” (p. 4). Collectively, these professional standards and extant scholarship position leadership as an integral part of school counselors’ professional roles and responsibilities in promoting successes of all pre-K–12 students and social justice in schools.

Due to the centrality of leadership within school counseling (Shields et al., 2018; Young & Dollarhide, 2018), researchers have established that preparing school counselors in training to demonstrate leadership capacity is essential, with a call to action for school counselor trainees to lead within the contexts of school, family, and community (ASCA, 2019a, 2019b; Dollarhide et al., 2008; Young & Miller Kneale, 2013). For instance, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) highlighted that leadership identities, skills, and practices need to be covered in the curricula of training programs for school counselors (2015, pp. 32–33). Therefore, leadership competence is crucial in the preparation of school counselors. However, despite such a strong focus on school counseling leadership, research exploring leadership training, mentorship, and practice for school counselor trainees is scarce. For that reason, counselor educators and supervisors must serve as the vanguard for the development of leadership among school counselors in training (Luke & Peters, 2020).

Although the literature and practice regarding school counseling leadership remains in an earlier stage of development (Peters et al., 2018), we used the existing literature and standards to augment and expand the scholarship addressing the intersections of school counseling leadership and supervision (i.e., supervision of school counseling leadership). We build upon the assertions of other scholars to argue for the expansion of supervision to include the supervision of school counseling leadership (Luke & Peters, 2020; Storlie et al., 2019). Despite the reported need for a systematized mechanism to support identity and leadership development among school counselors in training (Luke & Peters, 2020), little scholarship has addressed the supervision of school counseling leadership. This absence of literature addressing the supervision of school counselor trainees as leaders implies a lack of emphasis on leadership development in the preparation of future school counselors.

The following sections review the current literature on school counseling leadership, supervision in school counseling, and supervision of counseling leadership. We then use the ASCA National Model (2019a) to outline strategies with which school, university, and site supervisors can promote the identity and competence of school counselors in training as leaders. Last, we outline gaps in current theory and practice regarding the supervision of school counseling leadership, and discuss future directions for research, training, and practice.

School Counseling Leadership

School counseling leadership is discussed across the school counseling literature (Gibson et al., 2018) and in professional standards (ASCA, 2016), professional competencies (ASCA, 2019b), and the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2012; 2019a), demonstrating that school counseling leadership is “less of an option and more of a professional responsibility” (Gibson et al., 2018, p. 1). Given the documented value and importance of leadership, the school counseling literature has seen an increase in articles addressing leadership (Peters et al., 2018). A good example is the special issue of Professional School Counseling (PSC) on school counseling leadership in practice (Young & Dollarhide, 2018) that collected outstanding research on this theme, including six qualitative, four conceptual, and two quantitative studies, and one mixed-methods study. This special issue expanded the general understanding of school counseling leadership by addressing critical issues, including leadership models, leadership factors, and social justice issues (Young & Dollarhide, 2018).

The existing scholarship on school counseling leadership documents an emerging trend toward models of and frameworks for school counseling leadership (Bowers et al., 2018; Harris et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2018; Michel et al., 2018; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018; Shields et al., 2018). The models act as conceptual frameworks that delineate the constructs and practices of school counseling leadership. Other scholars have deconstructed school counseling leadership and extracted the essential characteristics of school counselor leaders (Young et al., 2015), thereby furthering both the school counseling profession’s operationalization of school counseling leadership and the training of school counselor leaders. Increased research on developing instruments relevant to school counselor leadership (Gibson et al., 2018; Young & Bryan, 2018) is providing tools with which to recognize, measure, and develop leadership competence in school counselors. Within the developing scholarship, a few studies have focused on school counseling leadership training (Michel et al., 2018; Miller Kneale et al., 2018) and leadership identity development (Henfield et al., 2018). However, only limited models or guidelines exist to aid school counselors in multicultural, social justice, socioecological, and anti-oppressive leadership. These gaps limit future school counselors in developing leadership skills, knowledge, and competence to improve the academic, career, and social/emotional outcomes for pre-K–12 students.

Despite the recent PSC special issue on leadership and leadership’s position as a cornerstone of the ASCA National Model (2012, 2019a), the scholarship on school counseling leadership lacks systematization and clarity and remains multidirectional (Peters et al., 2018). Arguably, the intentional development of a systematized process for supporting, training, and supervising school counseling leaders could support educators, researchers, and practitioners in developing a dynamic, multicultural, social justice, and anti-oppressive leadership identity. A systematized process would necessitate a commitment to including diverse persons, communities, and contexts in its development and maintenance to ensure it meets the needs of various stakeholders and ultimately supports pre-K–12 students’ success across school–family–community systems (Wines, 2013). These assertions are further supported by Erford et al. (2014), who, after conducting a meta-analysis of 15 years of content, concluded that articles in PSC on leadership and supervision remained scarce. Thus, further scholarly endeavors are warranted to facilitate and inform research, training, and practice.

Supervision for School Counselors in Training

In school counseling training programs, individual, triadic, or group supervision is specified as required elements of practicum and internship (CACREP, 2015). Both practicums and internships are vital experiences for school counselors in training, allowing them to build upon the scaffold of coursework and begin applying learned attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and actions in real school settings (Ockerman et al., 2013; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018). Supervision is the signature pedagogy for supporting and training novice school counseling students during their clinical fieldwork experiences (Tang, 2019). Thus, university and site supervisors act as mentors and gatekeepers tasked with supporting the professional identity, counseling, and multicultural and social justice competence of school counselors in training during practicums and internships (Krell & Donohue, 2018).

Although research on school counseling supervision is necessary and emerging (Kemer et al., 2022), Bledsoe et al. (2019) analyzed 50 years of content (from 1968 to 2017) and found that scholarship specific to school counseling supervision remains scattered and inconsistent. School counseling scholars have reported that the extant scholarship focuses predominantly on general and common themes of supervision across counseling specialties (Bledsoe et al., 2019). More specifically, Tang (2019) asserted a dearth of scholarship focusing on the development and testing of supervision models specific to school counseling. Scholars have acknowledged the benefits of using creative techniques in school counseling supervision, including sand tray supervision, bilateral art, bibliosupervision, and video journaling (Kemer et al., 2022; Krell & Donohue, 2018; Luke & Peters, 2019). Krell and Donohue (2018) introduced and encouraged the use of supervision mapping as a tool for school counselors in training, faculty supervisors, site supervisors, and the group supervision process in graduate practicum experiences. Increased scholarly attention to research and practice on supervision specific to school counseling is warranted to gain a deeper understanding of such supervision (Bledsoe et al., 2019; Krell & Donohue, 2018; Tang, 2019). Moreover, increased research is needed concerning multicultural, social justice, and anti-oppressive supervision models and practices, including cultural matching, civic engagement, identity development (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, and affectional orientation), and social-cultural assets. Although leadership grounded in multiculturalism and social justice is related to the professional identity and practice of school counselors, the literature has yet to explicitly explore the process and practice of the supervision of school counseling leadership.

Supervision of Counseling Leadership

Few scholarly works have explored the relationship between supervision and leadership within counseling and related professions (Evans et al., 2016; Luke & Peters, 2020; Storlie et al., 2019). Glosoff et al. (2012) concluded that synergy existed between counseling leadership and supervision and noted a need for further inquiry. Evans et al. (2016) argued for providing site supervisors with training in leadership theory and skills to support their competence and development as supervisors supporting school counselors in training. Storlie et al. (2019) found five themes in site supervisors’ leadership and advocacy practices: modeling, involving, engaging, empowering, and pushing. This grounded theory investigation resulted in a model to help site supervisors address leadership and advocacy within site supervision. Collectively, these scholarly works were used by Peters et al. (2020) to further extend the literature by arguing for supervision as a signature pedagogy for counseling leadership training and preparation and the development of a model for the practice of leadership supervision. Two studies (Luke & Peters, 2020; Peters & Luke, 2021b) supported the use of individual, triadic, and group supervision as a strategy to promote leadership development and argued that this would provide a more robust, systematized, and pragmatic structure for supporting leadership development than the traditional apprenticeship or service-learning models of leadership training, given the supervision requirements and infrastructure built into school counseling preparation programs.

Peters and Luke (2021b) extended their support for a model to guide the supervision of leadership by developing one, the Supervision of Leadership Model (SLM), which consists of an expansion of Bernard’s (1979) discrimination model and the socially just and culturally responsive counseling leadership model of Peters et al. (2020). Peters and Luke (2021b) described the SLM as an atheoretical process model of the supervision of leadership that university and site supervisors could imbue with theory-based and developmental frameworks, interventions, and practices. The SLM consists of five leadership actions as initial points of entry (i.e., personal, skill, relational, community cultural, group-system), three foci as possible pathways for development (i.e., intervention, conceptualization, personalization), and three role postures (i.e., teacher, counselor, consultant; see Peters & Luke, 2021b). Peters and Luke (2021b) proposed that the five points of entry provide school counselors in training and supervisors with a tool to discuss and practice leadership skills grounded in multiculturalism and social justice. These can aid trainees and supervisors in their ability to support academic, career, and social/emotional development among pre-K–12 students from diverse communities.

Although the supervision of counseling leadership is a relatively new supervisory and pedagogical practice (Peters & Luke, 2021b), it addresses an important gap in the profession by providing educators and supervisors with an increased ability to guide the leadership development of school counselors in training (Luke & Peters, 2020). Because leadership is identified as an integral part of counselors’ professional identity and practice (CACREP, 2015; Luke & Peters, 2020; Peters & Luke, 2021b), the supervision of counseling leadership can be used to cultivate school counselor trainees’ leadership characteristics (Young & Bryan, 2015, 2018); leadership attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and actions (Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018); and leadership roles and responsibilities within the ASCA National Model (Peters et al., 2018; Shields et al., 2018). Supervision can also socialize school counselors in training as multicultural, social justice, anti-oppressive leaders (Peters et al., 2020; Wines, 2013). Such advancements in training and socializing future leaders necessitates that school counseling programs, curriculum, and supervisors integrate and account for the longstanding and evolving needs of the profession and those the profession seeks to serve (e.g., anti-oppression, antiracism), requiring the inclusion of diverse, innovative, and interdisciplinary perspectives across socioecological systems (see Peters & Luke, 2021b). The supervision of leadership can also be used adjunctively to support the positions of the ASCA National Model and standards on school counseling leadership. The act of concretizing and supporting school counselor educators and site supervisors can help develop the next generation of leaders in multicultural and social justice school counseling (Peters & Luke, 2021a; 2021b). Specifically, the supervision of leadership has potential to be a signature pedagogy for school counseling programs (Luke & Peters, 2020; Peters & Luke, 2021b). School counselor educators and supervisors must collectively serve as models, mentors, professional shields, and providers of brave spaces (i.e., a space for critical social-cultural learning, growing, and supporting community members) to school counselors in training, given that multicultural, social justice, and anti-oppressive leadership can be difficult and risky for school counselor trainees due to the power differentials across educational stakeholders (e.g., administrators, parents, community members), systems of oppression, and difficulties associated with enacting leadership, especially for school counselors in training from marginalized communities.

Supervision Strategies for School Counseling Leadership Within the ASCA National Model

According to the Ethical Standards for School Counselor Education Faculty (ASCA, 2018; A-2. and F-4.), leadership is a focus of school counselor education and preparation. School counselor educators are required to have a strong foundation of awareness, knowledge, and leadership skills and be dedicated to promoting the leadership development and competence of school counselors in training. However, professional attention and scholarship have yet to adequately address how to support school counseling students in developing leadership competence and development as described by the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019a). We build upon the emerging scholarship on the supervision of leadership as a signature pedagogy with the potential to facilitate leadership development and identity among school counselors in training.

Given the longstanding professional recognition of the ASCA National Model in the school counseling field, some scholars have used it to inform the research and practice of school counseling supervision (Murphy & Kaffenberger, 2007; Quintana & Gooden-Alexis, 2020). Murphy and Kaffenberger (2007) developed a school counseling supervision format within the 2012 ASCA National Model framework for the supervision of master’s-level practicum and internship students. Although scholars have written about the supervision of school counseling in relation to the 2012 ASCA National Model (Murphy & Kaffenberger, 2007), the updated version of the model (ASCA, 2019a) warrants more time and effort on the part of researchers and practitioners to keep abreast of the most updated model as reflected in multifaceted domains of the school counseling field (Quintana & Gooden-Alexis, 2020).

Designing and developing a comprehensive school counseling program is a critical task for school counselors in providing effective school counseling programs and practices. As defined in the ASCA National Model (2019a), school counseling programs should be “comprehensive in scope, results-oriented in design and developmental in nature” (p. 12) to meet various needs and promote students’ success in academic performance, college/career readiness, and social/emotional development. Furthermore, in school settings, school counselors serve in a unique leadership capacity; that is, they are professionally defined and trained to be leaders to make school counseling programs happen and effect meaningful changes in schools. Thus, we argue that designing and implementing a high-quality school counseling program is an important goal of supervision of school counseling leadership for school counselors in training. To support this goal, we explore the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and programmatic levels of utilizing supervision to facilitate school counseling leadership within the four quadrants of the ASCA National Model: define, manage, deliver, and assess (ASCA, 2019a).

Define

Define is the foundational domain of the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019a), in which a series of professional standards delineate each component of a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program and the related practices, roles, and responsibilities of a school counselor. Within this domain, three sets of standards guide school counselors across the stages of their professional development (i.e., school counselors in training, new school counselors, experienced school counselors), implementation, and assessment of their school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a). These three standards include: ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 college-, career- and life-readiness standards for every student (ASCA, 2021), ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (ASCA, 2016), and ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies (ASCA, 2019b). Across each of the professional standards is the underlying ideology that school counselors are leaders.

Narrowing down the scope of the define domain of the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019a), the definition can be modified from defining the school counseling profession at large to school counseling leadership specifically. Within this domain, examining the personal and professional leadership definitions, attitudes and beliefs, and behaviors of school counselors in training is a foundational task for supervisors. To do this, school counselor supervisors should first invite school counselor trainees to participate in reflective activities on leadership beliefs (Young & Miller Kneale, 2013), such as understanding how leadership makes sense to individuals as they progress in the school counseling profession, and how multicultural identities may influence their leadership beliefs. Then, supervisors can help school counselors in training identify their leadership characteristics and the barriers to employing them in their practicum or internship sites (Quintana & Gooden-Alexis, 2020). Through a thorough examination of personal beliefs on leadership in school counselor roles, supervisors facilitate an increasing development of awareness in school counseling leadership among school counselors in training. Also essential is discussion between school counselor trainees and supervisors of how the practicum or internship instructor and site supervisor can support trainees in developing leadership goals that are grounded in the ASCA National Model and in multiculturalism, social justice, socioecology, and anti-oppression (Peters & Luke, 2021a). Such goals may require that the instructor and supervisor serve as a professional shield and brave space to support the school counselors in training in achieving their leadership goals related to improving career, social/emotional, and academic outcomes for all students.

Young and Miller Kneale (2013) identified “having a vision” as being a crucial characteristic of school counseling leadership (p. 6), embodied in a vision statement written by a school counselor in the beginning phase of designing a school counseling program. To develop this school counseling leadership characteristic, school counselor supervisors should guide school counselors in training to conceptualize a vision for their school counseling program proposal, and then to write a formal vision statement aligning with the overall vision of their practicum or internship school site. Arguably, this vision should include multiculturalism, social justice, and anti-oppression. As suggested by Young and Miller Kneale (2013), the school counseling leadership visionary planning template can be a helpful tool for school counselor supervisors and school counselors in training to construct their visions. Further, supervisors need to engage school counselor trainees to articulate their visions to different population and in different ways to communicate diverse needs of all stakeholders and motivate cohesive work toward common goals (ASCA, 2019a).

The development of leadership identity is the foundational goal and an ongoing task of supervision of school counselors in training. Supervisors need to cultivate school counselor trainees’ leadership attitudes and beliefs by developing their understanding of school counselor leadership roles and tasks. For example, school counselors are required to lead comprehensive developmental school counseling programs (ASCA, 2019a). That critical task requires school counselors in training to position themselves as leaders and change agents in school systems (Peters et al., 2018). When trainees face doubts from themselves and others, supervisors need to help them process leadership difficulties and develop leadership courage (Dollarhide et al., 2008). For example, supervisors can engage in role plays with school counselors in training to help them react professionally to everyday situations of misunderstanding or misappropriation of school counseling practices (Bowers et al., 2018) in their practicum or internship school sites. Scholars have indicated that all school counselors are able to learn and practice leadership competence (ASCA, 2019a, 2019b; Dollarhide et al., 2008). More important, a continuous endeavor for school counselor supervisors is to increase school counselor trainees’ willingness and confidence to take on leadership roles in school systems. The extant literature has also documented the benefits of supervisors introducing relevant leadership resources to school counselors in training to facilitate self-learning (Young et al., 2015). For example, a supervisor can support school counselors in training in exploring leadership characteristics based on their developmental levels and personal needs, which can assist trainees in identifying one objective at a time to develop school counseling leadership characteristics, such as being resilient, being patient, being assertive in communication and collaboration, being student focused in program design, and being an advocate (Young et al., 2015).

Furthermore, multiculturalism and social justice are two forces that need to be integrated in understanding and practicing school counseling leadership (Peters & Vereen, 2020; Wines, 2013). As leadership role models, school counselor supervisors should conduct frequent reflection with school counselors in training on multicultural identities and associated privileges and oppressions in and beyond their school systems, based on which school counseling leadership is developed and actioned for those pre-K–12 students who are marginalized in realizing their highest potential.

Manage

Manage is the next domain of the ASCA National Model and contains assessments and tools for school counselors to effectively and efficiently manage comprehensive developmental school counseling programs (ASCA, 2019a). Paramount to the school counselor role is the development and implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program, a primary means through which school counseling leadership is demonstrated (ASCA, 2019b, B-PF 7). In this vein, the supervision of school counseling leadership can help school counselors in training navigate managerial assessments and tools to develop, implement, and assess their school counseling programs. Scholars like Gibson et al. (2018) and Peters et al. (2018) also contended that the supervision of school counselor trainee leadership should include ongoing support and guidance for trainees to design and implement successful comprehensive, developmental school counseling programs. The ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies (ASCA, 2019b) lists nine ways to demonstrate leadership by developing and implementing a comprehensive school counseling program (B-PF 7, p. 4). Supervision of school counseling leadership can target those identified criteria to help school counselors in training put leadership into action.

Young and Miller Kneale (2013) highlighted the importance of school counselor leaders engaging in school-wide and district-wide decision-making processes and aligning the school counseling program’s vision and mission to the school’s overall improvement goals. To make this all happen, school counselors need to consider the context of demonstrating leadership and to play appropriate leading roles in different situations. At the school level, principal leadership and school counselor leadership need to be differentiated in conceptualization but integrated in practice (Young & Miller Kneale, 2013) so as to improve school climate and student achievement. For example, school counselor supervisors can assign school counselors in training to schedule meetings with the principals of their practicum or internship schools and establish shared leadership relationships by discussing similarities and differences of principal leadership and school counselor leadership and aligning visions and missions to achieve the goal of improving students’ learning environment (Quintana & Gooden-Alexis, 2020). Moreover, beyond the school level, school counselors are responsible for building school–family–community partnerships (Peters et al., 2018). Thus, school counselor supervisors need to spend time with school counselors in training to explore barriers and skills related to building relationships with other stakeholders such as teachers, families, and community workers who have impacts on student learning and development outcomes.

Building and maintaining interpersonal relationships is a key area of supervision of school counselor trainee leadership when managing school counseling programs (Bowers et al., 2018; Gibson et al., 2018; Young & Bryan, 2018; Young et al., 2015). To begin with, supervisors can help school counselors in training identify and develop exemplary relationship attributes in communication and collaboration (e.g., being assertive, communicative, and supportive) with diverse school, family, and community stakeholders (Young et al., 2015). For example, supervisors can help connect school counselors in training to school administration and school boards for program support (Gibson et al., 2018), practice school counselor trainees’ persuasion skills to gain buy-in from stakeholders for implementing their school counseling programs (Young & Bryan, 2018), help trainees build linkages with important district decision makers (Gibson et al., 2018), and have an advisory council for ongoing inquiries about school counseling program-related issues (ASCA, 2019a); these are all suggested ways for leadership to manage school counseling programs.

Time management is another critical aspect of managing a developmental school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a). As Bowers et al. (2018) stated, school counselors are commonly assigned duties unrelated to school counseling services, which causes school counselors to lack sufficient time to devote to designated school counseling work. Therefore, in the supervision of school counselor leadership, supervisors can first develop an assignment for school counselors in training to summarize a list of tasks and hours that took away from essential school counseling responsibilities during their practicum or internship (Havlik et al., 2019). With this list, supervisors can then help school counselors in training advocate for appropriate use of their time as school counselors. For example, supervisors and school counselors in training can advertise, through posters or an information workshop, the rule that “No more than 20% of a school counselor’s time should be spent in program planning and school support activities” (ASCA, 2019a, p. 20) and the list of appropriate and inappropriate activities for school counselors (ASCA, 2019a, p. 111).

Deliver

The deliver domain of the ASCA National Model specifies direct and indirect activities and services that school counselors provide to and for students (ASCA, 2019a). These direct student services include individual counseling, group counseling, school counseling classroom instruction, appraisal, and advisement; indirect student services encompass consultation, collaboration, and referrals (ASCA, 2019a). These activities and services are developmentally tailored to students and diverse communities with different needs in academic performance, career/college readiness, and social/emotional development (ASCA, 2019a). School counseling leadership is demonstrated by school counselors’ systematic selection and intentional implementation of those services based on the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors (ASCA, 2019a, 2021). In this regard, the supervision of school counseling leadership prepares school counselors in training with substantial methods of delivering leadership and advocacy in a variety of activities and services to diverse stakeholders and communities (Peters et al., 2020).

A multitude of leadership frameworks could guide supervisors regarding school counselor trainees’ leadership dispositions and activities (Bowers et al., 2018; Lopez & Mason, 2018; Michel et al., 2018; Miller Kneale et al., 2018). Such frameworks or theories include the social-emotional leadership framework (Bowers et al., 2018); the Listen, Evaluate, Advocate, Disseminate (LEAD) training model (Michel et al., 2018); the adaptation of the Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) Principles and Practices of Leadership Excellence (PPLE) to the school counseling context (Peters et al., 2018), and the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) as a leadership framework for school counselors (Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018). Supervisors can support school counselors in training in implementing a leadership framework or theory that aligns with them professionally and with their developmental school counseling programs. This can help trainees deliver school counseling services by following the tenets and principles of the identified leadership framework or theory.

For direct services, supervisors need to guide school counselors in training in designing and implementing a series of activities by referring to the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success (2021), which leads to more effective comprehensive, developmental school counseling programs (Bowers et al., 2018). For instance, Lopez and Mason (2018) contended that school counselors should play active roles and demonstrate leadership capabilities when creating and delivering counseling curricula that are aligned with program goals, such as using leadership to gain support and buy-in for the counseling curriculum through collaboration.

For indirect services, Bowers et al.’s (2018) social-emotional leadership framework, a synthesis of social/emotional and leadership skills, can be incorporated in supervision to develop school counselor trainees’ competency in becoming social/emotional school leaders. For example, school counselors in training can learn to foster social/emotional opportunities for students and other stakeholders to manage stress, regulate emotions, and shape supportive and collaborative relationships, which in turn help cultivate an inclusive, supportive, and positive school climate (Bowers et al., 2018). To make this happen, Miller Kneale et al. (2018) also emphasized the regular use of consultation between school counselors in training and other stakeholders. The school–family–community collaboration also is crucial for school counselors delivering both direct and indirect services to and for students.

Assess

Assess is the last component of the ASCA National Model. It aims to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a). This process requires school counselors to regularly appraise the development of school counseling programs and identify areas for further improvement, through which leadership is demonstrated by school counselors committing to continuous improvement and full implementation of the school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a). When the assess domain is applied to the supervision of school counseling leadership, both supervisors and supervisees can benefit from engaging in periodical leadership evaluations to identify leadership development progress and needed improvements. These assessments can also motivate and inform further leadership development for school counselors in training, particularly related to their identity and development as multicultural, social justice, and anti-oppressive leaders.

In recent years, school counseling leadership instruments have received increased attention (Gibson et al., 2018; McKibben et al., 2017; Young & Bryan, 2018). For example, Gibson et al. (2018) developed an instrument with 20 items identifying school counseling leadership attitudes and skills; Young and Bryan (2018) constructed the School Counselor Leadership Survey that assesses five areas: interpersonal influence, resourceful problem solving, systemic collaboration, social justice advocacy, and professional advocacy; and McKibben et al. (2017) designed the Counseling Leadership Behavior Scale. Supervisors can select appropriate instruments as midterm and final evaluation tools for tracking and evaluating school counselor trainees’ leadership development. The use of these instruments can also provide the supervisor and school counselors in training with opportunities for mutual reflection on the effectiveness of their work on promoting school counseling leadership in practicum and internship sites.

A necessary assessment step is tracking ongoing progresses of the school counselor trainees’ school counseling program at their practicum and internship site on a frequent basis. Thus, midterm and final evaluations of school counseling programs are indispensable to identify ongoing achievements and areas for improvement. Equally important are voices from other key stakeholders, such as school administrators, teachers, and parents/guardians, on school counseling programs. Supervisors and school counselors in training can invite multiple voices to evaluate their school counseling programs periodically. However, instruments for evaluating school counseling programs are lacking. We suggest that supervisors adapt the aforementioned instruments or create new surveys for this aim. Another helpful tool for supervisors assessing school counseling leadership performance of school counselors in training is to refer to the identified nine ways of demonstrating leadership through the development and implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program in the ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies (B-PF 7; ASCA, 2019b). School counselors in training can use this as a checklist for forming school counseling leadership objectives, and supervisors can evaluate school counselor trainees’ leadership actions in those nine areas. Finally, at the end of the practicum or internship time, supervisors are encouraged to support and guide school counselors in training in preparing to document and present their school counseling program results. For example, supervisors can instruct school counselor trainees to use the Classroom Results Report, Small-Group Results Report, or Closing-the-Gap Results Report as helpful guiding resources provided by the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019a).

Implications

Leadership is a critical skill needed in the field of school counseling to create comprehensive school counseling programs that ensure equitable access to education and promote successful learning experiences for all students (ASCA, 2016, 2019a; Shields et al., 2018; Young & Dollarhide, 2018). However, some have argued that school counselors tend to stray from their roles and responsibilities as leaders within school communities (Young & Miller Kneale, 2013). Thus, the need is urgent for school counselor educators and supervisors to train school counseling students to demonstrate leadership capacities as early as possible during their practicum and internship experiences (ASCA, 2019a, 2019b; CACREP, 2015; Dollarhide et al., 2008). Moreover, developing multicultural, social justice, and anti-oppressive school counseling leaders is an immediate need to ensure school counselors create systemic change through implementing a comprehensive school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018). This article offers several potential applications for supporting and building school counselor trainees’ leadership attitudes, knowledge, skills, actions (Gibson et al., 2018; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018), and professional and leadership identities (Gibson, 2016; Peters et al., 2018) necessary for school counselors in training, counselor educators, supervisors, and researchers.

First, unlike the existing training models used to promote school counselor leadership development (e.g., apprenticeship, didactic training, mentorship, field site experience), the supervision of school counseling leadership can provide school counselors in training with a structured and developmental approach supported by the infrastructures within school counselor training programs (Luke & Peters, 2020). By embedding the supervision of leadership within the program (e.g., within a practicum or internship), school counselor educators and supervisors can have more oversight into and agency over the process, ensuring that school counselors in training receive the proper leadership training and support they need to become school counselors. Such advancements in the training and supervision of school counseling leadership are essential, given that school counselors in training have reported few opportunities to develop leadership skills, lack of confidence in their leadership capabilities and experience, and a struggle to view themselves as leaders in their school communities (Gibson et al., 2018; Scarborough & Luke, 2008). School counselor educators should collaborate with university and site supervisors to advocate for and support school counselors in training in building their leadership capabilities throughout their practicum and supervision periods (Luke & Peters, 2020), thus increasing the likelihood that school counselor trainees will be prepared to be leaders when they become practicing school counselors.

Next, given the lack of scholarship documenting how school counseling leadership is supervised (Peters & Luke, 2021b), this article can support school counselor educators and supervisors in their ability to conceptualize and incorporate leadership into their current supervision practices across pre-K–12 levels. The ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019a) provides guidance on strategies for incorporating the supervision of leadership into school counselor educators’ and supervisors’ work. This includes understanding how leadership is embedded within each of the four sections (i.e., define, manage, deliver, assess). The ASCA National Model can also be used in conjunction with the SLM or related atheoretical supervision models to facilitate the process of the supervision of leadership. The SLM remains the only counseling-specific supervision model aimed at promoting leadership identity and development (Peters & Luke, 2021b). Arguably, when combined, the use of the ASCA National Model and a supervision of leadership model can provide school counselors in training and school counselor educators and supervisors with a mechanism to support the enactment of leadership that will ultimately aid school counselors in training in the roles and responsibilities as outlined in the field of school counseling and its attendant literature. However, given the recent emergence of the practice of supervision of leadership both at large and within school counseling literature, there is a need for additional conceptual and empirical scholarship that explores and investigates the supervision of school counseling leadership (LeBlanc & Borders, 2021; Luke & Peters, 2020; Peters & Luke, 2021b; Storlie et al., 2019). Preservice is one place for this to develop under careful supervision of school counseling leadership.

Last, future qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research is needed on the topic of supervision of school counseling leadership. Given the unique roles and responsibilities of school counseling leadership and supervision, this research should examine the practice of supervision of leadership, including the process, efficacy, and fidelity. Moreover, school counseling scholars can use methods like grounded theory or the Delphi method to investigate the supervision of school counseling leadership or to develop a model and competencies to further operationalize the supervision of school counseling leadership in conjunction with the ASCA National Model. Researchers may also be able to use discourse analysis or multidimensional scaling analysis to explore the efficacy of the SLM or other related models and, in turn, build a knowledge base about how such models of supervision of leadership are executed. Likewise, given the recent development of instruments related to school counseling supervision (Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2021) and leadership (McKibben et al., 2017; Young & Bryan, 2018), researchers could focus on developing instruments that can be used to assess leadership identity, attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and actions among diverse school counselors in training (Gibson et al., 2018; Peters & Vereen, 2020). Such advancements in the scholarship would provide school counselor educators and supervisors with additional tools to assess properly the strengths and areas of improvement in educating school counselors.

Conclusion

A school counselor’s core mission is to promote social justice for all students by eradicating the inequity that hinders pre-K–12 students’ academic, college/career, and social/emotional development (ASCA, 2016). Supervised practicum and internships in school settings are the most valuable experiences for school counselors in training as they become competent and effective leaders, advocates, and change agents and realize their professional goals. Leadership is a critical capacity and practice for school counselors in training who wish to initiate and implement comprehensive school counseling programs at their practicum and internship sites. Providing quality supervision to school counseling practicum and internship students is crucial for developing their identity and competence (Luke & Peters, 2020; Peters & Luke, 2021b).