20th Anniversary Celebration of the ASCA National Model at ASCA Conference
/Upper-Left: Dr. Hatch cuts the cake at the National Model 20th Anniversary Celebration. Center: ASCA Model Task Force members and current ASCA Board of Directors with keynote speaker Henry Winkler. Upper-Right: Dr. Hatch hanging with the Fonz. Bottom: The Hatching Results team at ASCA 2023.
Our founder and CEO, Trish Hatch, PhD, was recognized in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the ASCA National Model at the 2023 ASCA Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA. In front of over 5,000 attendees, Executive Director Jill Cook thanked members of the ASCA Model Task Force for their contributions to the development of the ASCA National Model.
This recognition included Hatching Results Executive Director Paul Meyers, who was involved through the entire ASCA Model writing process when he served as consultant to the California Department of Education. Jill then took a moment to call out a special thank you to Dr. Hatch and her co-author Dr. Judy Bowers for their work co-authoring the ASCA Model Draft and first two editions.
Speaking from the podium, Jill stated, “And we all know that this would not have happened without the constant and continuous force that were the two lovely individuals who took all of that input and conversation and put it to paper: The late Judy Bowers, and Dr. Trish Hatch.”
Following the general session, Task Force and ASCA Board Members were invited backstage and met the keynote speaker, Henry Winkler, cut the celebratory cake, and had a photo taken. See pictures of the event in the adjacent collage. A short clip from the general session is also available below.
From Dr. Hatch:
“I am truly grateful to everyone at ASCA for the incredible opportunity to reconnect with The National Model Task Force members and to be honored along with my dear friend and colleague Judy Bowers (posthumously) for our work on the ASCA National Model. It was truly a labor of love for our profession. Prior to the ASCA conference, ASCA asked all task members to answer some questions regarding their role in the ASCA Model. Excerpts from my replies were used to contribute to the article ASCA provided in the magazine given out at the conference.”
Continue for Dr. Hatch’s full Q&A with ASCA.
Dr. Trish Hatch’s personal copy of the original draft version of the ASCA National Model
On the Creation of the First ASCA National Model
Why was the Model needed when it was created?
ASCA developed the National Model for school counseling programs as the next logical step after developing the ASCA National Standards. When Dr. Carol Dahir authored the ASCA National Standards in 1997, it soon became the single most legitimizing document in the history of the profession. In the years that followed, the standards served as the foundation for the development of a comprehensive school counseling program. Some states and districts began creating standards-based comprehensive programs, while others were in need of more direction and support. Specifically, there was a need to standardize and institutionally legitimize the role of a school counselor because across the country there were many theories about the “appropriate roles of the school counselor.”
While the standards legitimized the school counseling profession by indicating what students should know and be able to do, they did not provide school counselors the necessary tools to develop a comprehensive program. The Model provided school districts and state departments with the tools they needed to develop their own comprehensive programs aligned to the national standards. The Model was created to provide a framework for states and school districts to create an evidence-based, data-driven, comprehensive school counseling program. Essentially, the ASCA National Model was needed to operationalize the National Standards, and to maximize the full potential of the standards by providing a mechanism with which school counseling teams would design, implement, manage, evaluate, and improve their programs for students’ success.
What was your role in the creation of the first Model?
I was honored as an ASCA Board member to be called on to co-author the ASCA National Model with my friend and colleague Judy Bowers. At the time (2001), I was an ASCA National Standards trainer in multiple districts, integrating them with the Comprehensive School Counseling Programs work of Norm Gysbers, the results-based work of Curly and Sherry Johnson, and the equity work of Pat Martin and Reese House at the Education Trust.
I was asked to assist in facilitating the Arizona Summit (the first of three) in June 2001, which consisted of national school counseling experts with the goal of garnering input and subsequent consensus for the framework that Judy and I would then use to write the ASCA National Model. Over two and a half days, we had deep and thoughtful discussions. We came to an agreement on a list of assumptions, criteria, and four major components: Foundation; Delivery; Management; and Accountability.
Judy and I collected all of the meeting input and agreements (from charts and scribes) and then set off to begin our writing. We prepared and presented a draft overview at the ASCA Leadership Development Institute (LDI) that summer, which also served as an opportunity to assess and review dozens of state school counseling models charting various components (mission, vision, etc.). We also presented and collected feedback at the ASCA Delegate Assembly and to the National Standards trainers at the ASCA Conference that summer.
During the fall of 2001, I began piloting the new model in seven districts in Riverside County, CA, while Judy piloted it in Tucson, AZ. We met multiple times and continued to make revisions adding samples and examples from Moreno Valley Unified, CA. We submitted a new draft at the second Summit in May 2002 held in Washington, DC. Notes from the second Summit brought additional revisions, followed by the release of the final draft, which was provided to attendees at the 2002 ASCA Annual Conference in Florida. I prepared and provided a three-hour intensive workshop with Judy on the draft of the ASCA National Model to over 200 conference attendees.
After the conference, we reviewed the hundreds of documents from the four-month national public comment period on the “Draft” and provided another revision to participants at a third Summit in November 2002. Judy and I spent the rest of the year meeting together, revising, editing, and faxing pages to ASCA for formatting, reviewing, and checking every detail and reference. The final version (the first edition) was released in June 2003.
Did you have an idea of the impact it would have?
NOPE! I hoped it would, but I never dreamed the Model would be as popular as it has become. I suppose I was a bit naive when I agreed to take this on - I was in a doctoral program researching the impact of the National Standards at the time. When we presented about the Model at the Counselor Education sessions at ASCA, I had no idea how they would react to us - two former school counselors, now school counseling central office administrators - writing what would become the seminal document for the profession. They could have rejected it, but instead most embraced it! We are forever grateful to all of our school counseling leaders that participated in the three Summit team meetings who were committed to making it better. Judy and I just wanted to do a good job and honor our profession and our mentors, the pioneers of the profession who supported us in this work (Norm Gysbers, Curly Johnson, Bob Myrick, and Carol Dahir). The Model created the alignment we needed in school counseling programs and started conversations about data and accountability that were lacking in the profession of school counseling. Looking back, it was an incredible opportunity, and I'm grateful to ASCA for it.
In your opinion, why is the Model effective?
The ASCA National Model resolves some of the professional challenges that have plagued our profession since its infancy - the lack of institutional legitimacy, political/social clout, and organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The ASCA National Model aligns programs, policies, practices and procedures, and it has influenced and infiltrated every part of the profession, including the ASCA position statements, ASCA Professional Standards, ASCA Ethical Guidelines, and more! I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a unifying document that our profession so desperately needed and that has served as a catalyst for improved professional legitimacy.
Respectfully Submitted,
Trish Hatch, PhD
