After reviewing the data collected from six trainings, the NoVA SCLT members discussed the need for a more advanced training for experienced supervisors who had completed the introductory training.
The six school districts that participate in the NoVA SCLT employ approximately 1,300 school counselors.
The authors wrote a formative evaluation for each training and shared it with members of the SCLT for review and discussion as part of the auditing.
Seventeen percent of introductory training participants had attended a previous NoVA SCLT supervision training; 86% of training 2.0 participants had attended one or two supervision trainings and 10% had attended three.
The supervision training programs sponsored by the NoVA SCLT have been well received by participants and have addressed the need for training called for in the literature (Blakely et al., 2009; Cigrand, Wood, & Duys, 2014; Gordon & Luke, 2012; Moyer, 2011; Uellendahl & Tanenbaum, 2015).
Results from this study demonstrate that the collaborative leadership through the NoVA SCLT is meeting the need for school counselors' supervision training.
(2003) offered suggestions concerning implementation of the ASCA National Model (2005) and praised the efforts of the Northern Virginia School Counseling Leadership Team (SCLT) to educate practicing professional school counselors, directors of school counseling programs, and school administrators in Northern Virginia about the model.
This article reviews the need for and evolution of the SCLT, its goals, accomplishments, and future plans, and it offers suggestions and guidelines for convening local advocacy teams in other states and localities.
The SCLT serves as a model for effective collaboration and advocacy for professional school counselors and counselor educators.
The Northern Virginia SCLT started informally in 1999 when two counselor educators (the first and second authors) contacted supervisors of counseling from local school systems to set up individual meetings and discuss potential collaboration.
The first major achievement of the SCLT was to contact the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and request a meeting.
The SCLT representatives met with the VDOE School Board president in July 2001.