An Antiracist Framework for Evidence-Informed School Counseling Practice

Abstract

School counselors are charged with creating comprehensive school counseling programs that recognize and affirm the wholeness and humanness of students, families, and their communities (Holcomb-McCoy, C., Mayes, R. D., Cheatham, C., Sharp, S., and Savitz-Romer, M. (2020). Antiracist school counseling: A call to action [webinar]. Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success, American University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjNaB2L3Vc). However, despite our best efforts, many school environments operate in ways that harm BIPOC students (Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press). School counselors are uniquely positioned to be leaders in antiracist efforts and can influence a shift in school culture by using evidence-based practices across academic, career, and social/emotional domains. This conceptual article has four primary goals: (a) provide a working definition of antiracist school counseling; (b) outline key components of developing a critical consciousness as a foundation to antiracist school counseling practice; (c) describe a framework for engaging in evidence-informed, antiracist practice as a part of MTSS to support strategies that interrupt and dismantle harmful school policies/practices across all domains of service; and (d) provide recommendations for school counselors and school counselor educators who are committing to antiracist practice.