Authors discuss the importance of school counselors addressing spiritual and religious issues in ethically meeting the developmental and cultural needs of K-12 students. Domains of spiritual and religious competence for professional counselors, published by the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC, 2009), are examined in relation to their relevance for professional school counselors. The authors introduce expert-reviewed Spiritual and Religious Competencies for School Counselors to supplement the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) School Counselor Competencies (ASCA, 2012). Implications for practice are presented along with strategies for integrating the competencies into a comprehensive school counseling program.

No abstract

This article illustrates standards blending, the integration of core academic and school counseling standards, as a culturally alert responsive services strategy to assist in closing the achievement gap while also enhancing employability skills and culturally salient career competencies. The responsive services intervention described in this article resulted in knowledge gains in both the school counseling and language arts curriculum competencies for a diverse group of 78 high school students. The article includes implications for school counseling practice.

In this article, standards blending–-the integration of core academic and school counseling standards–-is demonstrated as a culturally responsive strategy to assist in closing the achievement gap for a group of third-grade African American males. The small-group intervention described resulted in knowledge gains in both the school counseling and academic curriculum content areas. All participants also reported experiencing increased self-esteem.

The effectiveness of an existing peer mediation program in a diverse, suburban elementary school was examined. Peer mediation was available to all students (N = 825). Three-year longitudinal data showed significant reductions in the school's out-of-school suspensions after implementation of the peer mediation program. Mediation training also resulted in significant mediator knowledge gains pertaining to conflict, conflict resolution, and mediation, which was maintained at 3-month follow-up. All mediation sessions (N = 34) were successful in resolving conflict, and mediators as well as participants viewed the peer mediation program as valuable.

No abstract

No abstract

On the basis of the ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014) and ACA‐endorsed competencies, the ability to address spirituality and religion is a recommended skill set of counselors. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) addresses the “spirit” in the standards; however, in the training of students, additional focus could be placed on this competency. The authors introduce expert‐reviewed standards to be considered as a 9th core curriculum area of the CACREP Standards (CACREP, ) titled Spirituality and Religion.