School Counselors’ Use of the ASCA Closing-the-Gap Action Plan Template to Address Educational Disparities

Abstract

The American School Counselor Association Closing-the-Gap Action Plan template is a tool created to help school counselors identify educational gaps and track interventions. We applied a transcendental, phenomenological qualitative research method to explore school counselors’ use of the template to advocate for students. Our findings demonstrate the rationale for using the Closing-the-Gap Action Plan template and we discuss how school counselors use it for advocacy. We also present implications for using the template as a training tool for school counselors in training.