School Counseling to Close the Achievement Gap: A Social Justice Framework for Success

School counsellors can play a powerful role in closing the achievement gap by incorporating principles of social justice - that is, equity and advocacy for all students - into their practice. This new resource for pre-service and in-service counsellors addresses the reasons why some students are more likely to encounter academic failure (racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism), and challenges readers to play an active role in bringing about the conditions for student success. Offering a variety of vignettes, strategies, activities, and reflective individual and group study questions, the book provides the framework for how school counsellors can mitigate the impact of negative factors hampering academic performance and healthy development. The book details six functions of a school counsellors that move schools toward more just practices and, ultimately, to higher test scores and increased student achievement.

About The Author:
Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy received her Ph.D. in counseling and educational development from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her areas of research specialization include multicultural school counseling, school counselor multicultural self-efficacy, and urban school counselor preparation. She has written numerous book chapters and refereed articles on issues pertaining to diversity in school counselor education. Dr. Holcomb-McCoy is a former elementary school counselor and kindergarten teacher.