Applying APA's learner-centered principles to school-based group counseling. (General Features).

Like most educators, school counselors assist students with a wide range of concerns and abilities. Counselors should not approach their profession with a "cookie-cutter" set of plans and interventions that fail to meet the needs of their constituents (Paisley & McMahon, 2001; Sink & McDonald, 1998). Similarly, the educational reform literature advocates that school professionals restructure the schooling process from a teacher-centered approach to a learner-centered perspective, focusing on the qualitative experiences, interests, talents, backgrounds, and requirements of individual students as well as how learning, motivation, and achievement can be encouraged in every learner (see McCombs & Whisler, 1997). Since the school counseling profession is strongly influenced by the educational reform movement (Bemak, 2000; Herr, 2001), counselors ought to revisit their program's framework, components, and interventions to determine if they are in accordance with educational mandates. Herr recently suggested that the reform measures provide further impetus for counselors to sharpen their planning skills, implement a comprehensive perspective on their services and roles in the schools, and produce relevant outcomes that are aligned with the learning goals set by the district and school administration. By using a learner-centered approach, school counselors have a solid theoretical and research foundation for their comprehensive guidance and counseling programs (CGCP; Sink, 2002).

Recasting a school counseling program, however, is not an easy or welcomed task. Counselors already feel the burdens of program implementation and management (Sink & Yillik-Downer, 2001). Fortunately, several counseling functions naturally lend themselves to a learner-centered pedagogy. For instance, school-based group counseling is especially well suited to such a focus. This article first introduces the American Psychological Association's (APA) learner-centered principles (LCPs; APA, 1997) and provides a brief rationale for infusing them into CGCPs. Second, using small group counseling as an illustration, we explain how counselors can apply a learner-centered approach to their work.

APA's Learner-Centered Principles

For decades, the call for the transformation of public education has been expressed from a variety of political sectors. With the publication of A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) and the subsequent passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act (U.S. Congress, 1994), educators face mounting pressure to raise achievement, while at the same time, are asked to effectively serve the highly diverse learning needs of American students.

Given the gravity of the personal and social problems experienced by millions of students today, this restructuring challenge must extend to these concerns as well (Green & Keys, 2001; Keys & Bemak, 1997; Texas Education Agency, n.d.). The APA (1997), in response to the educational reform mandates, published a series of learner-centered principles that target students' academic, personal, and sociocultural formation. Derived from developmental theory and extensive research, the LCPs provide school counselors, teachers, and administrators with useful guidelines for making learning relevant, engaging, and purposeful for all students (Sink, 2002).

According to Lambert and McCombs (1998), LCPs assume that students:

1. Possess distinct perspectives or frames of reference, contributed to by their cultural history, the home environment, interests, goals, beliefs, and ways of thinking.

2. Demonstrate individual differences, including emotional states of mind, learning rates and styles, stages of development, abilities, and feelings of efficacy.

3. Construct their own knowledge within a process that makes learning realistic, meaningful, and personally engaging. Connections need to be made with how prior knowledge and experience influence current learning.

4. Work best in an environment that encourages positive interpersonal relationships and interactions, safety, and order. Learners must feel appreciated, acknowledged, respected, and validated.

5. Are naturally curious and interested in learning about and mastering their world.

Essentially then, LCPs presuppose that students create, at least to some degree, their own personal and social meanings about their world. By articulating and communicating those meanings, discovering how the meanings are constructed, and emphasizing self-awareness and self-reflection, the educative process will be enhanced (Forster, 1997). Counseling and guidance approached with these suppositions in mind contribute, for example, to students' ability to adapt, tolerate diversity of ideas and behavior (i.e., are more open-minded and mentally flexible), and self-regulate their thoughts, feelings, and actions (Forster).

An example of how the APA's learner-centered principles have been integrated into a state program can be seen in Texas' State Board for Educator Certification (1997) learner-centered proficiencies. Texas educators have determined what they believe to be the necessary proficiencies for school counselors to posses in a learner-centered school counseling program. These are:

1. Learner-Centered Knowledge: The professional school counselor applies a broad knowledge base that includes understanding developmental patterns in children, adolescents, and adults; variations in human development; and the effects of the environment on learners' development, achievement, and behavior.

2. Counseling--A Learner-Centered Process: The professional school counselor participates in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of a comprehensive developmental school guidance and counseling program that fosters each learner's sense of self-direction, self-motivation, and empowerment.

3. Learner-Centered Professional Development: As a reflective practitioner dedicated to all students' success, the professional school counselor demonstrates a commitment to learn, improve, and maintain professional ethics and personal integrity.

4. Equity in Excellence for All Learners: The professional school counselor promotes equity in excellence for all learners by acknowledging, respecting, and responding to diversity while building on similarities that bond all people.

5. Learner-Centered Communication: While acting as an advocate for all students and the school, the professional school counselor demonstrates effective professional and interpersonal communication skills.

The LCPs also take into consideration the multiplicity of perspectives, experiences, and sociocultural backgrounds of students. No longer can a majority worldview be seen as the most viable and interchangeable for all students; rather, how people conceptualize and experience the world tend to be highly subjective and socially mediated (Sexton & Griffin, 1997; Vygotsky, 1978). In this regard, school counselors and those who educate them are beginning to recognize that students' knowledge and beliefs about what is "true" in society are, to some extent, cultural and intellectual constructions arising from the social environment (e.g., Forster, 1997; Neimeyer, 1998).

In summary, a learner-centered perspective, derived from LCPs, suggests that professional school counselors plan, implement, manage, and evaluate their programs within a sociocultural and developmental framework, with an eye toward fostering life-long learning and a genuine concern for the diverse personal, social, academic, and career needs of their students (Green & Keys, 2001; Sink, 2002). In this age of school reform initiatives as well as the push for accountability, standards, and high-stakes assessments, how can school counselors infuse LCPs into their CGCPs' components (i.e., guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, system support)? School-based group counseling is one responsive service that lends itself to the integration of LCPs. In the next section, we explore ways in which these principles can be readily infused into existing small groups.

Implications for School-Based Group Counseling

Similar to what Texas' State Board for Educator Certification (1997) has recommended, we argue that school districts and states must first adopt a CGCP (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000). This perspective serves as the scaffold for the facilitation of various learner-centered interventions. Briefly reviewed, a CGCP is developmental and systematic in nature, sequential, clearly defined, accountable, holistic, and integral to the educational mission of the school and district. It operates under the premise that an effective school counseling program should serve all students by considering the diversity and individual differences that are valuable to all in our rich multicultural society (Campbell & Dahir, 1997; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000; Lee, 2001).

Within an effective CGCP, small group counseling is a key responsive service and one that is inherently learner-centered (Gysbers & Henderson, 2000; Jacobs, Harvill, & Masson, 2001). For example, small groups' topics, goals, curricula, formats, norms, and evaluation processes ought to stem from the members' needs, perspectives, capabilities, and interests. Moreover, groups are often characterized by active, voluntary membership, individually set goals, and a sense of personal responsibility for learning, growth, and change. High levels of trust, acceptance, personal commitment, and involvement by members are key (Myrick, 1997).

In the following sections, we explore various ways small groups can be more learner-centered. Several considerations for maintaining this perspective are discussed, including issues such as the nature of the group topic, group membership, goal setting, the role of the leader, process versus content, and evaluation. Most of the ideas presented here are not new; however, they are reconceptualized using the LCPs as guidelines. They can also serve as reminders to nascent and experienced school counselors as they develop and implement their group techniques.

Choice of Group Topic

Although not unheard of, it would be largely antithetical to the learner-centered philosophy for one to decide upon on a topic and then find students to fill the membership. As an alternative, a learner-centered approach suggests that the group theme is derived largely from the expressed needs of the students (Corey & Corey, 2001). Simply stated, the group experience and knowledge gained should be relevant and meaningful to students' lives (Lambert & McCombs, 1998).

How can the genuine needs of the students be determined? As counselors and other educators plan, implement, manage, and evaluate their CGCP, they periodically administer a targeted and anonymous needs assessment to school staff, parents, and students. These survey results can be used to estimate the perceived concerns of the school's constituents as well as the types of groups needed in particular buildings (Berube & Berube, 1997; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000; Schmidt, 2000). In planning the group, the highly ranked "problem" areas are given top priority (e.g., anger management, friendship, divorce, social skills). In an effort to ensure that group topics are derived from the needs of the students, school counselors might also use a confidential "counselor suggestion box" in which students place ideas for group topics and other general concerns. Moreover, school counselors may periodically hold focus groups in which students have a chance to voice their opinions on relevant concerns within the developmental domains of a CGCP (i.e., personal-social, educational, career). For additional information on how to plan and conduct these focus groups, see Web sites developed by McNamara (1999) and Marczak and Sewell (n.d.).

Group Membership

Oftentimes, school counselors facilitate groups in which the nature of the topic seems to promote homogeneity in its membership. For example, groups on divorce issues may be limited to students whose parents are separating or already divorced; groups related to sexual orientation may be restricted to gay, lesbian, or bisexual students; and groups associated with substance abuse may be confined to students struggling with these challenges.

Even as homogeneity in group membership is perhaps the norm in many schools, student heterogeneity is an important factor within a learner-centered framework. John Dewey (1938), a seminal philosopher in this movement, believed that schools should act as communities--as mini-democracies--and ought to reflect the constituency of the community-at-large. Correspondingly, small groups should be a "demographic heterodox" and reflect the "real social universe" (Yalom, 1995, p. 261), where individual differences are represented and experienced by the participants.

School counselors can encourage diversity in group membership by reaching out to all segments of the school population. By selectively managing group composition and actively inviting participation from a wide array of students, counselors can fulfill LCP 13. It reads as follows:

   Learning is most effective when differences in learners' linguistic,
   cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into account. The same basic
   principles of learning, motivation, and effective instruction apply to all
   learners. However, language, ethnicity, race, beliefs, and socioeconomic
   status all can influence learning. Careful attention to these factors in
   the instructional setting enhances the possibilities for designing and
   implementing appropriate learning environments. When learners perceive that
   their individual differences in abilities, backgrounds, cultures, and
   experiences are valued, respected, and accommodated in learning tasks and
   contexts, levels of motivation and achievement are enhanced. (APA, 1997)

To illustrate this principle, school counselors can choose, for example, 16 students who have expressed interest in a social-skills group. By dividing the students into two subgroups, membership composition can be managed so that the student diversity, including skill level and ethnicity, is purposefully distributed. Additionally, although participation by students should be voluntary (Corey & Corey, 2001), school counselors can encourage diverse involvement from a learner-centered perspective by meeting with students from all segments of the student population and ensuring that all of their needs are heard (e.g., needs assessment, focus group).

Drawing on LCP 13 (APA, 1997) then, counselors should use heterogeneity to maximize opportunities for all participants to acquire new methods for positive social interaction. Carroll and Wiggins (1997) reinforced this idea, arguing that "a mixed group may provide a more in-depth and powerful learning experience for those involved, as variety in personality and group conflict are more like society at large" (p. 20).

Diversity in knowledge and learning styles may also facilitate peer helping as more advanced students work with less capable children. Vygotsky (1978) emphasized the magnitude of social factors in education, noting that knowledge acquisition occurs within a particular sociocultural context. He noted the increased potential for students to learn under the guidance of skilled adults and more able peers (i.e., mentors), coining the phrase "zone of proximal development" or ZPD. This zone is the difference between what students can do on their own and what can be accomplished with the support of another more capable person. Consequently, a range of skill-levels and abilities, combined with intense peer interactions and mentoring, should facilitate student and group learning.

Additionally, as suggested in LCP 13 (APA, 1997), school counselors must be highly sensitive to how different cultural perceptions and learning styles affect and are influenced by the group process. For example, students from certain cultures may be uncomfortable talking openly about personal feelings or their family concerns, while other students may forge ahead in the group process, acting as guides and models for others (Lee, 2001). In sum, diversity among group members should be encouraged, respected, valued, and accommodated.

Goal Setting

The formation of both individual and group goals is integral to the process and effectiveness of any group. It is important that what students learn, whether in the classroom or in a group, have personal meaning and relevance; activities that are perceived by students as having some relation to their own personal interests, needs, or goals are likely to energize them toward greater engagement in the learning process (McCombs, 1998). More specifically, allowing students to form and articulate personal and group goals serves several purposes in a learner-centered school: (a) Students become invested and motivated in their own learning as they form and commit to goals that are useful for daily life (LCP 7: "Motivation to learn ... is influenced by the individual's emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking"; APA, 1997)); (b) Personal goals for students individualize the learning and assessment process. Students are not in competition with one another, but are working toward objectives unique to their own characteristics, capabilities, and needs (LCP 12: "Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experiences and heredity"; APA, 1997)); and (c) The formation of group goals requires that perspectives of all group members be considered. Cohesion among group members is strengthened as students collaborate to formulate goals and a common vision (LCP 11: "Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others"; APA, 1997)).

Although group members must individually select personal goals (Corey & Corey, 2001), school counselors should initially facilitate a discussion of the group's overall goals, providing broad examples. Some might include: Become aware of how one's culture affects personal decisions, recognize that others struggle, too, find ways to resolve personal problems, provide others with useful feedback, and become sensitive to the needs and feelings of others (Corey & Corey, p. 138).

The Role of Group Leader

In a learner-centered approach, the role of the group leader, not unlike the traditional roles discussed by Corey and Corey (2001), is that of facilitator, guiding and supporting students through the group process while modeling appropriate behavior and communication skills (e.g., listening, openness, giving and receiving feedback). McCombs (1998) stressed the importance of talking and listening to students in a learner-centered school, where educators show respect for students' diverse voices and perspectives, model social responsibility for students, and serve as co-learners with students. She also suggested that the responsibility for learning is shared between students and educators. The group leader does not simply deliver structured curriculum, but rather designs engaging meaningful and relevant activities for students to learn, assessments that encourage student reflection and input, and catalysts that are individualized to the needs and abilities of students.

Small group leaders focusing specifically within the context of LCPs assist students to maximize the intersection of their ZPDs (Brown & Ferrara, 1985; Vygotsky, 1978). Students are given opportunities for growth through mutual interaction with more capable peers and the group leader. For example, a leader facilitating a "friendship group" may pair a more socially skilled student with one less so. The latter student will learn through close interactions with the more advanced pupil and by the observation of adaptive social skills demonstrated in the group experience. On the other hand, the more "practiced" collaborator appears to gain by learning how to model and explain appropriate behavior, communication, and interaction skills (e.g., Gallimore & Tharp, 1992; Tudge, 1992; Wink & Putney, 2002).

The role of the leader as facilitator is also one that views the needs, abilities, and interests of students as driving the process, content, and expectations of the group. A learner-centered group counselor targets not only outcomes, but the group process and dynamics as well. The leader provides the mobilizing activities, but the group members, as much as they are developmentally able, need to be mutually responsible for their own personal growth and learning as well as the development of the group as a whole (Corey & Corey, 2001; Smead, 1995).

Process Versus Content Groups

Similar to traditional classroom teaching, large group guidance activities and many small groups are often content-laden. That is, the focus is on teaching students certain behaviors, skills, and information without much regard for individual differences. While learner-centered group counseling is not structure-free or content-free, process is key. The focus is on the relationships, reflections, and exchanges among group members and the leader (Smead, 1995). Smead clarifies content and process in group counseling as follows:

   Content refers to what group members are talking about, the subject of the
   present conversation ... process refers to the nature of the relationship
   among group members who are communicating with one another.... In group
   counseling the purpose is to provide a safe environment for children to
   explore their feelings, values, attitudes, and ideas about themselves and
   their behavior, with behavioral and attitudinal changes as a result. The
   group members are encouraged to participate fully by making connections
   with one another and being supportive and encouraging of one another's
   situations and attempts to change behavior. (p. 9)

Smead (1995) noted that "by focusing on process, group members learn to express and hear feelings, give and receive feedback, and support one another in the here and now" (p. 10). The process is the relationships in the learner-centered group (i.e., the thoughts, feelings, and behavior occurring within the group). It is through these social interactions that members derive personal meaning, come to terms with reality, and convey their culture; it is how students learn to negotiate their world (Gergen, 1997).

Evaluation of the Group

Small group counseling in a learner-centered school necessitates a focus on the individuality and the socio-cultural experiences of each student. As such, the evaluation process necessitates a focus on the quality of growth, learning, and change of each member. Just as the needs, interests, abilities, and personal goals are different for each group participant, not surprisingly the outcomes may be as well.

In addition, evaluation is not a static activity. It is continuous, occurring throughout the group experience and often after the group has ceased to formally convene. In fact, the Association of Specialists in Group Work (1989) presented in its ethical guidelines that group counselors should attempt to engage in ongoing assessment, including following up with members after termination of the group to determine if members have reached their goals.

Appropriate learner-centered evaluation methods for school-based counseling groups include pretest and posttest surveys to assess qualitative changes in attitudes or beliefs (Smead, 1995), individual follow-up interviews and classroom observations as well as post-group meetings (Corey & Corey, 2001). Like Marzano (1998), Corey and Corey recommended, for example, journal writing as an important self-reflective process to assess student metacognition and various aspects of self-regulation (e.g., motivational characteristics of learning; Pintrich & Zusho, 2002) in the classroom:

   We ask ... that members keep process notes in a journal. On the basis of
   their journal notes, which are private, they write several reaction papers
   describing their subjective experience in the group as well as what they
   are doing outside the group.... By writing, members are able to focus on
   relevant trends and the key things they are discovering about themselves.
   (p. 268)

Such an evaluative tool utilizes students' conceptual frameworks (e.g., cognitive schemas), allowing students and counselors to link students' unique sociocultural perceptions to behavior and feelings. For example, because Hispanic-American students may conceptualize family relations differently than those from a European-American home (e.g., Baruth & Manning, 1992), school counselors should examine these self-evaluations within each group member's sociocultural context.

Not to be forgotten is the group leader's self-evaluation (see Smead, 1995, for assessment suggestions). McCombs and Whisler (1997) also focused on the importance of self-assessment of educators in a learner-centered school. Self-assessment and self-reflection allow counselors and other educators to take responsibility for their own professional growth. In addition, such assessment and reflection allow educators to be a part of the learning process as they reflect on their own practices and effectiveness, rather than existing separate from it. For example, leaders can assess how well they followed learner-centered principles in the formation and process of the group. Was the group homogenous or heterogeneous? Did the needs of the students drive the content? Were meaningful and relevant learning opportunities facilitated for all group members? Were appropriate group behaviors and skills modeled? Were the structure and content too restrictive?

Summary and Concluding Remarks

Small group counseling is an important way school counselors can both meet and embrace the unique needs and capabilities of learners. In considering the group topic, membership, goal setting, role of the leader, process, and evaluation, learner-centered school counselors should carefully consider the following issues:

* Diversity is integral to the group counseling process. Heterogeneous group membership not only reflects more accurately the diversity of persons in the school, community, and world, but it also provides students expanded opportunities for learning through varied interpersonal interactions.

* The learning experience should be very meaningful and relevant to group members. Issues and topics covered in group counseling should be driven by the needs expressed by the members, not solely by external pressures (e.g., teacher referral, convenience). Having group members formulate personal and group goals as Corey and Corey (2001) suggested facilitates change and growth that is personally significant to students.

* Students construct, in large part, their own knowledge and frame their experiences based on social interaction. Thus, the group experience must emphasize dialogue, negotiation, and mutual feedback. Curriculum-driven or content-focused groups may be revised so that they are more student-focused, where the learners' real world concerns are given primary consideration. While content remains important, students should be given the flexibility to help guide the process and pacing.

* The role of the group leader should be that of facilitator, modeling for group members appropriate behavior and skills while providing for them stimulating experiences within an accepting, caring, and supportive environment in which to grow, learn, and change.

* Evaluation of the group should be largely self-reflective with opportunities for members to self-assess their progress and growth. Group facilitators should be sure to assess their effectiveness and development as leaders and life-long learners.

Group counseling is obviously not a new intervention, nor is the idea that consideration of the individual needs and capabilities of students is critical to promote student learning. What is new, or what has become more pressing, however, is the increasing necessity felt by school counselors to develop interventions that not only accept the variety of students they wish to serve, but embrace and value cultural, socioeconomic, and ethnic diversity, including varieties of learning styles, educational strengths and weaknesses, experiences, and backgrounds that students bring to the school building every day (Lee, 2001).

The practical application of educational reform initiatives can seem daunting to teachers, administrators, and school counselors. By using APA's principles as guidelines, learner-centered school counseling groups can be implemented over time. The next step in the process will be to weave these principles into other important dimensions (e.g., guidance curriculum, large group guidance lessons and activities) of the CGCP.

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Heather R. Stroh, assistant researcher, is a doctoral candidate, Washington School Research Center, and Christopher A. Sink, Ph.D., NCC, LHHC, is a professor, Department of School Counseling and Psychology; both are with Seattle Pacific University, WA. E-mail: [e-mail] and [e-mail]

The authors would like to express their appreciation to the Washington School Research Center for its ongoing financial support.