<p> To highlight exemplary school counseling programs, in 2003, the American School Counselor Association developed the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) as an acknowledgement for those schools that have implemented a comprehensive school counseling program based on the ASCA National Model (American School Counselor Association, 2016b). Since the inception of the RAMP program, 668 schools have earned the RAMP designation. Of those, 189 have current RAMP status and 469 have had RAMP status at some point but have let it lapse. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contributed to a school’s decision to continue or discontinue the pursuit of subsequent RAMP designations. This mixed-methods study surveyed 238 schools of various levels (e.g., elementary, middle and high school) located in 36 states. Following the analysis of the questionnaire data, six in-depth interviews were conducted. Two of the interviews were with schools that had earned multiple-consecutive RAMP designations, two were with schools that earned multiple RAMP designations in non-consecutive years, and two were with lapsed RAMP schools. </p><p> The findings of this study indicate that current RAMP schools and lapsed RAMP schools that did not have significant turnover within the counseling department from the time of their original RAMP designation, report to be currently implementing comprehensive school counseling programs regardless of their current RAMP status. Additionally, schools that were unwilling to pursue subsequent Re-RAMP designations were likely to cite multiple barriers or challenges that include: time, a lack of support or understanding from school administrators and staffing turnover. Finally, the results indicate that schools are more willing to pursue the Re-RAMP designation if they have a variety of supports in place and perceive the benefits of the designation to be valuable. </p><p> Implications of these findings for the association’s management, improvement and support of the Recognized ASCA Model Program are discussed. Further areas for research regarding the various components of comprehensive school counseling programs are suggested.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10974695 |
| Date | 05 January 2019 |
| Creators | Fitzgerald, Amanda R. |
| Publisher | University of Pennsylvania |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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