Purpose-Built Solutions for Whole Person Care
School counselors and school social workers have demanding and critical roles that require them to support caseloads of up to 250 students at a time.
In some schools, counselors and social workers work together to holistically support students. As a result, they may use similar intake forms, assessments, and case note frameworks to evaluate student needs.
But first, let’s define some of the key differences between school counselors and social workers.
While school counselors focus on helping students overcome personal, emotional, mental health, and social challenges so they can succeed academically, school social workers examine factors beyond the classroom. Social workers help evaluate other areas that can greatly influence a student’s performance, including family dynamics, poverty, food availability and nutrition, housing stability, and even cases of neglect or abuse. As a result, school social workers may need to work directly with family members, as well as local and state social services agencies to support their students.
School Counselors
School Social Workers
School counselors use progress notes to document session details, including how the student behaved during the session, their presentation, relevant symptoms or concerns, and what the counselor and student discussed.
In some cases, school counselors detail more sparse notes – recording just enough information to capture important features of the session and jog their memories during the next visit. But in cases where a student is experiencing a crisis, more detailed notes may be warranted. Under FERPA, a school counselor’s notes are not deemed education records as long as they serve as a memory aid strictly for individual use by the counselor, are not shared with others, and only include the counselor’s observations and professional opinions. It’s important to note that in most states school counselor notes can be subpoenaed.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Student Standards help school counselors evaluate and support key mindsets and behaviors aligned with a student’s readiness for college, career, and life responsibilities. There are 36 ASCA Student Standards that can be applied to three areas: academic development, career development, and social or emotional development.
School counselors follow a 10-step process to implement the ASCA Student Standards while instructing, advising, and counseling their students.
Want access to the student standards assessment implementation checklist for school counselors? Fill out the form below to get a fillable copy for yourself that you can start using today.
CaseWorthy’s flexible platform adapts to countless case note configurations and workflows for school counselors and social workers. With CaseWorthy, school counselors can easily:
