ASCA Conference 2018

In one week I'll be leaving on a jet plane for my yearlong study/travel leave in England. But before I go I'm squeezing in three and a half days at the ASCA conference in Los Angeles! My school district generously paid for my attendance at this conference with the agreement I would share what I learn with my counseling colleagues. Hence my very first blog posting! My plan is to then continue to use this forum to record my learning experiences while on my study/travel leave; including information from my UCLA extension courses in College Advising.    

Although I've attended the state CASC conference before this is my first time attending the ASCA national conference. There are approximately 3500 school counselors from all over the nation here! The opening keynote speaker was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar! It was interesting to hear him share his thoughts on some of the important issues facing our nation today. 

Of the three sessions I attended on day one, my favorite was Let's Have Cake: The College Admissions Knowledge Evaluation presented by Dr. Tim Poynton & Bernalyn Ruiz from the University of Massachusetts Boston and Dr. Rich Lapan from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The College Admissions Knowledge Evaluation (CAKE) is an interactive quiz assessing the knowledge students and families need to make informed college decisions. Their findings from a sample group of approximately 1500 high school students were not surprising: first generation and economically disadvantaged students had lower CAKE scores. Better counselor ratios and ASCA model implementation were related to higher CAKE scores!  The CAKE will be available free of charge to counselors by request.  I definitely plan to use this evidence-based tool, as a pre-post survey, with juniors and seniors. 

The session I found most helpful from day two was Rising Seniors Head Start on the College Application Process by Dr. Anita Perry and Tonni Grant from the Fort Worth Independent School District.  They shared their journey creating a College Application Boot Camp program for rising seniors.  Although we already do something similar at my high school, I was impressed by the large-scale effort of their district wide program, which serves 21 high schools. Each high school is allotted 35 spots for the "middle of the road" student who they believe would benefit from a two-day intensive head start on the college application process.  The program is held at a local university and offers a multitude of workshops including; senior calendar and timeline, testing dates, financial aid and scholarships, college majors, college entrance essays, and selection of best-fit college.  The second day of the program is a college fair offering engaging activities and a lot of swag! The program is partial funded from community organizations and higher education partnerships.  They shared all their planning resources and activities with us.  I love that they included sessions on college majors and selection of best-fit colleges.  I hope to incorporate these topics into our college application bootcamp.  

Two more conference days still to come.  Stay tuned.  


Find out more about The California Association of School Counselors at http://www.schoolcounselor-ca.org/

Find out more about American School Counselor Association at http://www.schoolcounselor-ca.org/