Every student matters: enhancing strengths-based school counseling through the application of mattering.

Mattering to others involves individuals' perceptions that they are important and are valued by other people in interpersonal relationships and within systems. Mattering is a foundational concept that can inform the implementation of comprehensive, K-12 Strengths-Based School Counseling (SBSC; Galassi & Akos, 2007) programs and can allow counselors to facilitate improvement in school climate, student social functioning, and academic motivation and achievement. This article provides an outline for mattering-focused SBSC program activities. Specifically, the authors describe possible applications of mattering to counseling, classroom guidance, systemic consultation, advocacy, and school climate change.

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Our nation's current educational theme is that no student will be left behind, that every student matters. However, do students truly believe that they matter to others in their schools? If they do, does it make a difference in their academic achievement and motivation and their healthy development and well-being? The need to matter, to feel significant to others, to be needed, wanted, and valued, is integral to healthy social and emotional development (Dixon Rayle, 2006; Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981; Schlossberg, 1989). However, research indicates that not all children and adolescents perceive that they matter to others at home and at school (Dixon Rayle, 2005; Dixon Rayle & Myers, 2004). This article outlines mattering as part of the foundation of Strengths-Based School Counseling (SBSC) programs, describes mattering-focused activities, and provides case examples of the integration of mattering in school counseling with students, classroom guidance, and systemic consultation and advocacy efforts.

Mattering to others complements what we know about the childhood and adolescent periods of the lifespan, rife with rapidly changing emotions and frequent questioning of self (Kroger, 1999). In addition to the demands placed upon them by parents, teachers, friends, and society, children and adolescents struggle to form their individual identities while also navigating successful relationships in which they matter to their significant others. In describing the consolidation of identity development, researchers have highlighted children's and adolescents' needs regarding a sense of belonging and the importance it plays in their dally relationships (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Erikson, 1963). However, mattering to others is thought to differ from individuals' sense of belonging because perceptions of mattering occur through individuals' interpretations of the quality and quantity of others' individualized attending behaviors toward them (Dixon Rayle, 2005), whereas belonging is thought to be more group oriented.

In other words, mattering to another person most often occurs between two people and belonging is conceptualized as belonging to larger groups of individuals (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Dixon Rayle, 2005). Although thought to differ from belonging, mattering has demonstrated relationships to positive outcomes some of which are similar to belonging (e.g., reduced depression and anxiety, greater wellness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction). It appears that children and adolescents are in periods of the lifespan during which a sense of mattering to specific others may be of critical importance within family, friend, and school groups (Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981). Feelings of mattering to peers and adults require constant nurturing through a strengths-enhancing environment that supports formal and informal mentoring from adults (Dixon Rayle; Dixon Rayle & Myers, 2004; Kroger, 1999).

Mattering is a foundational relationship concept that can bring individuals within a school together, and as a potential addition to the Foundation element of the ASCA National Model[R] (American School Counselor Association, 2005), mattering can be integrated into a school counseling program's philosophy and mission. The goals of the ASCA National Model suggest that school counselors are central in schools and should be most concerned with the positive development and enhancement of strengths for each and every one of their students across all domains (i.e., academic, career, and personal/social) in order to create environments that enhance and sustain students' personal strengths and academic achievement (ASCA, 2005). Mattering can be an essential component of a school counseling program's mission. By seeking to promote mattering through the school counseling program via an array of services to all students, the school counselor affirms his or her understanding of the critical place that mattering occupies in healthy emotional and social development of young people. Moreover, integrating mattering into the foundation of SBSC programs can enhance counselors' abilities to facilitate improvement in school climate, student social functioning, and academic motivation and achievement.

MATTERING IN SBSC PROGRAMS

Mattering in Individual and Small Group Counseling

Because all individuals need others to pay attention to them, take interest in them, and consider them important (Rosenberg, 1985), it is not surprising that students would flourish in school counseling relationships through which they feel that they matter. Individual counseling and small group counseling appear to be activities through which school counselors can integrate mattering in its most natural of forms--through counseling relationships.

Students may engage in counseling with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness; they may feel as if they are invisible to others and do not matter. In fact, many students may behave in socially unacceptable or inappropriate manners (better known as "at-risk" behaviors) in order to gain attention from adults and peers, thus attempting to matter to others (Dixon Rayle, 2006; Elliott, Kao, & Grant, 2004). Even if students gain attention from others through socially inappropriate actions, these students' perceived invisibility may dissipate for them at least for a time. Thus, they will matter to someone, even if that person is punitive or abusive to them. Through individual and/or small group counseling relationships, strengths-based school counselors are in positions to show students that they care, that the students matter to them and to the school (Dixon Rayle). Students are likely to become more engaged in the counseling process/relationship and may be more productive in counseling, show efficacious outcomes, and have a greater sense of trust and accountability when the school counselor employs techniques designed to enhance student perceptions of mattering (Dixon Rayle).

Some specific ways that school counselors can enhance mattering are (a) verbally and nonverbally attending to students; (b) demonstrating how important students are to school counselors and to the counseling process by acknowledging students' continual attendance, participation, opinions/ideas, and completion of out-of-counseling goals and homework; and (c) illustrating to students that school counselors actually rely on them for successful counseling goals and outcomes because it is up to them to apply what they are learning from their counseling experiences (Elliott et al., 2004). Assessments of students' perceptions of mattering in individual and small group counseling can take the form of mattering-based pre-surveys and post-surveys that focus on students' perceptions of mattering to their school counselor or others (i.e., the General Mattering Scale by Marcus & Kitayama [1991] or the Mattering to Others Questionnaire by Marshall [2001]), but they also can take place throughout counseling with verbal check-ins.

Mattering in Classroom Guidance

Through planned, consistent classroom guidance lessons, school counselors have opportunities to reach every student and to promote students' academic, personal/social, and career development. If these classroom visits take place regularly and often, counselors are sending a message to students and teachers that the students matter to them and to the school. As counselors visit with students each week or every other week, they can conduct classroom guidance lessons that involve each and every student in the classroom in some specialized way. By focusing on every student's individualized involvement during classroom guidance, counselors allow the opportunity for each student to have meaningful participation and to matter to the group and the lesson. This type of planning/instruction models to teachers just how critical it is to show students how each one of them can matter in the classroom by having them involved in a specialized manner.

Specifically, if counselors design lessons that call upon each student to play a role in the activities based on their individual academic and personal strengths, they invite students to be a critical part of a team. For some students, this may mean roles such as leading small groups of other students in discussions or activities, and for other students, it may involve organizational activities such as passing out items and collecting items at the end of lessons. This approach nurtures a strengths-enhancing environment where all students' individual strengths are valued and important. Again, assessments of students' perceptions of mattering after a series of classroom guidance lessons can take the form of mattering-based pre-surveys and post-surveys that focus on students' perceptions of mattering to their school counselor, teacher, and other students.

Mattering in Systemic Consultation Activities

School counselors are frequently called upon to conduct consultation activities with teachers, parents, administration and school staff members, community members, and other stakeholders. Just as in individual and group counseling, counselors can use both verbal and nonverbal methods to create a sense of mattering to others in consultation activities. By carefully attending to what consultees say and do, and by using active listening skills as well as nonverbal cues that indicate positive regard (leaning in, eye contact, etc.), school counselors can communicate to consultees that their concerns are important and their presence is valued. Verbally, counselors can validate consultees by stating how important their concerns are and how critical it is that they care enough to seek out and be involved in consultation concerns. Traditional consultation sessions in schools have been problem-driven and highly emotionally charged. By combining a strengths-based approach with letting all consultees know that they and their ideas matter and are valued, school counselors can reduce the amount of distress that participants often experience in meetings and simultaneously create strengths-enhancing environments that focus on positive solutions.

Focusing on solutions during the consultation process (Kahn, 2000) can defuse the blaming, accusatory atmosphere of family-school meetings about student issues. Letting all of the participants know that they matter at school by simply telling them so, by following up if they are absent, and by presenting a warmly empathic presence, counselors can enhance the solution-focused consultation model. Adding the mattering component may seem like a small effort, but it has the potential to be a key in creating an atmosphere where all participants feel welcomed, wanted, and valued.

Mattering Through Advocacy Efforts and School Climate Change

Advocacy is one of the key components of the ASCA National Model[R] (2005) and of the SBSC perspective (Galassi & Akos, 2007). Although advocacy involves removing barriers to education access and equity for all students, it also requires promotion-oriented advocacy that focuses on solutions rather than problems. Regularly, school counselors are expected to work with various members of the school and community populations to reduce potential barriers in a planful, systemic way and offer meaningful strengths-based solutions that empower and honor students.

The concept of mattering can be used to help school counselors both identify barriers to academic success and plan diverse solutions for removing them. The basic idea that school staff members care enough to be aware of these barriers sends a message to students that they matter to the adults in the building. However, the ways in which the school counselor engages with students, colleagues, and the community can amplify the message of mattering. For example, by surveying all students in a school about barriers the students perceive at school, a counselor sends the message that everyone's voice needs to be heard. By then following up on student suggestions in a timely and respectful way, the counselor can further magnify the feeling of mattering in the school.

Building a positive climate for learning is another major goal for both the ASCA National Model and SBSC, and once again, mattering can easily be incorporated into these models. Mattering can be used as both a barometer of climate and an agent for positive change. When counselors begin to assess the climate of their schools, a key question for students, parents, and staff might be, "Do you feel like you matter here?" Assessing mattering in the school climate can be as simple as paper-and-pencil mattering-based surveys that focus on individuals' feelings of importance and whether others depend on them and care about them (i.e., the General Mattering Scale by Marcus & Kitayama [1991] or the Mattering to Others Questionnaire by Marshall [2001]); small focus groups with teachers, parents, or students; or verbal "monthly mattering check-ins" during classroom guidance lesson visits, in newsletters home and on the school's website, and at teachers' and staff meetings. When stakeholders genuinely feel as if they matter to the school and to its mission and goals, it is likely they will be even more invested in maintaining the positive climate. Teasing out what sorts of policies, activities, and relationships nurture feelings of mattering can help guide the climate building in a school.

School counselors can have a positive impact on school climate by letting other faculty members, parents, and students know that they are important to the success of the school as a whole. This can be achieved via interpersonal interactions wherein the counselor uses active listening and empathy to strengthen relationships, as well as by instituting policies that build a sense of mattering. Policies such as visiting students' homes or having parent conferences when a decline in school work or behavior is noted rather than waiting for the parent to come to the school, including students in Individualized Education Plan and other intervention meetings, and including students and parents in the decision-making process at the school all convey a message that these people matter to the administration of the school.

CONCLUSION

The powerful experience of mattering to others is an essential aspect of healthy emotional and social development for all people, especially students in K-12 schools. Children and adolescents struggle with the developmental tasks of belonging and social identity development, and when they matter to others at school they can gain positive attitudes and the desire needed to succeed. Adopting mattering-focused activities in K-12 SBSC programs can help school counselors facilitate improvement in school climate, student social functioning, and academic motivation and achievement. The future of mattering in the school counseling profession includes research, training, and practical opportunities for enhancing the lives of all students both academically and personally. In a strengths-based K-12 school environment, no student is ever overlooked; each and every student matters.

References

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Andrea L. Dixon, Ph.D., is an assistant professor with the Department of Counselor Education, University of Florida, Gainesville. E-mail: [e-mail]

Catherine Tucker, Ph.D., is an assistant professor with the College of Education, Indiana State University, Terre Haute.