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Abstract

This conceptual article introduces an innovative career development framework that integrates a focus on the social determinants of health within career development and postsecondary readiness counseling. This article provides an overview of career development and postsecondary readiness in schools, reviews the existing literature base on social determinants of health and school counseling, introduces the Career Development and Social Determinants Framework (CDSD-F), and lists implications for school counselors and counselor educators.

Keywords

social determinants of health school counseling career development postsecondary readiness conceptual framework

School counselors have the important role of promoting the career development of their K–12 students. Career is one of the three domains of focus of the school counselor’s comprehensive program, along with the academic and social/emotional domains (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2023a). However, as most school counselors can attest, the three domains tend not to be distinct entities. A synergy exists among students’ academic, career, and social/emotional development when viewing students through a holistic lens. Further, school counselors must work in a multilevel and systemic manner to address policies, barriers, and inequities that prevent students from “comprehensive, holistic, and culturally appropriate career development” (Bright, 2023, p. 10). Thus, I propose a holistic approach for career development and postsecondary readiness work at the secondary school level, also integrating a social determinants of health focus. I developed the Career Development and Social Determinants Framework (CDSD-F) with the hope of giving school counselors a roadmap with which they can positively impact individuals’ access to and opportunities for attaining higher education and career success and satisfaction. This article contains an overview of career development and postsecondary readiness in schools, discussion of the social determinants of health and school counseling, an introduction to the integrative framework at the secondary level, and implications for school counselors and counselor educators.

The School Counselor and Career Development

The National Career Development Association (2003) defines career development as the collection of psychological, economic, and chance factors that influence the character and significance of a person’s work throughout their lifespan. ASCA (2023a) defines career development as “the mindsets and behaviors students need to understand the connection between school and the world of work, plan for and make a successful transition to postsecondary education and work across the lifespan” (para. 1). School counselors, always working in culturally sustaining ways, utilize the ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success (ASCA, 2021) to guide career development programming and assess student learning. Both definitions highlight the importance of work to students’ identities and lifelong outcomes. Relatedly, school counselors can take a systemic approach to career development programming. The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development (McMahon, 2005) details how individuals are interconnected to their systems of influence, and an individual’s uniqueness and wholeness is emphasized in career planning. Thus, school counselors work in a multilevel manner to promote positive career development.

ASCA’s (2023a) position statement The School Counselor and Career Development outlines the rationale behind career development programming and the school counselor’s role within this domain. School counselors introduce students to the world of work, provide learning and experiential opportunities for students to gain skills and behaviors they need for careers, advocate for college and career awareness, and collaborate with others to promote positive career development, among many other tasks (ASCA, 2023a). Students and families rely on school counselors for support and resources more now than ever, given the constantly changing global landscape, the rising costs of college and parallel rising educational requirements in the workforce, and the impact of technology and COVID-19 on learning and development (Fitzpatrick & Constantini, 2022). This is why ASCA (2023a) emphasizes the importance of school counselors engaging in self-reflection and professional development surrounding career trends, traditional career roles, and equity in college and career outcomes. Within career development, school counselors must engage specifically in postsecondary readiness counseling, because students and families depend on school counselors to support their planning and decision making when it comes to their future opportunities, including higher education.

The School Counselor and Postsecondary Readiness

School counselors promote students’ postsecondary readiness (historically, and often still, called “college readiness” by many states’ department of educations) through an intentional focus on preparing all students to make decisions and plans about postsecondary pathways (ASCA, 2023a). The Kentucky Department of Education (2023) defines postsecondary readiness as “the attainment of the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions for a student to successfully transition to the next level of his or her educational career” (para. 1). Whether students decide to pursue the military, a career technical certificate, 2-year degree program, or 4-year degree program upon graduation, school counselors work to ensure equity for all students in being postsecondary ready (ASCA, 2023a).

Approximately 62% of students choose the postsecondary option of enrolling in college directly after high school (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2023). Access to higher education continues to be inequitable, as evidenced by disparities in college enrollment and attainment rates by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Cahalan et al., 2019). These statistics support a need for school counselors to better promote equity in their college readiness counseling services (Brookover & Johnson, 2022). This is especially important in light of researchers’ findings that as levels of higher education attained increase, unemployment rates lessen and income, job satisfaction, health, and well-being increase (Brand, 2023, p. 2). Savitz-Romer (2012) supplied useful guidelines for school counselors to provide college readiness counseling, noting the provision of developmentally appropriate interventions that engage students in creating postsecondary goals and expectations, building an awareness of interests and abilities, and receiving information and support for their college access and success. Impactful college readiness counseling goes beyond the student’s matriculation and includes ensuring success for the student once they are in postsecondary education (Savitz-Romer, 2012). School counselors can address three facets of postsecondary readiness skills and knowledge: (a) cognitive competencies (knowledge and skills to be successful in college coursework); (b) noncognitive competencies (mindsets, behaviors, and skills supporting achievement); and (c) college knowledge, or the procedures and culture of higher education institutions (Conley, 2007; Duncheon, 2021).

The College Board (2010) Advocacy & Policy Center developed the Eight Components of College and Career Readiness Counseling, which are incorporated into the CDSD-F. These eight components are intended to guide school counselors in providing a systemic approach to college readiness counseling. The eight components are: (a) college aspirations, (b) academic planning for college and career readiness, (c) enrichment and extracurricular engagement, (d) college and career exploration and selection processes, (e) college and career assessments, (f) college affordability planning, (g) college and career admission processes, and (h) transition from high school graduation to college enrollment (College Board, 2010).

The brief on the eight components directs that they should be used with a focus on equity (College Board, 2010). School counselors enact curriculum, interventions, and support by customizing their college readiness counseling efforts for their school contexts by exercising cultural sensitivity and continuously collecting accountability data. School counselors enact multilevel interventions, meaning their college readiness services “should be applied at the student, school, family, and community levels” (College Board, 2010, p. 4). This supports a purposeful integration of social determinants of health within career development and postsecondary readiness counseling.

Social Determinants of Health

The social determinants of health are nonmedical factors that influence health and mental health outcomes, meaning the daily living conditions and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life (World Health Organization, 2023). Examples may include food insecurity, housing, basic amenities, access to affordable health care, income, etc. (World Health Organization, 2023). For the CDSD-F, I used the five categories of social determinants identified by the U.S. federal government in its Healthy People 2030 agenda: (a) economic stability, (b) education, (c) social and community context, (d) health and health care, and (e) neighborhood and built environment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Social determinants of health account for between 30% and 55% of health outcomes (World Health Organization, 2023). School counselors, as social justice advocates who seek to promote equity for all students, can thus center social determinants of health in their work, including career development and postsecondary readiness counseling. They can do this by both bolstering positive determinants and working to eliminate negative determinants.

Researchers in school counseling have shown the importance of school counselors understanding and addressing the social determinants of health to promote positive outcomes and students’ well-being. For example, Johnson and Brookover (2021) conducted interviews with 11 practicing school counselors to understand how they were addressing social determinants of health with students and families. The participants shared initiatives they led to promote access to higher education, target food insecurity and housing instability, and increase access to health care. Gantt and colleagues (2021) examined school counseling interns’ experiences addressing social determinants of health, and found that the participants realized the importance of social determinants in their students’ lives but felt unprepared to address them. Thus, the researchers recommended that counselor education programs should increase knowledge of and exposure to the tenets of social determinants of health and related interventions (Gantt et al., 2021). Further, Johnson and colleagues (2023) provided a case for school counselors to utilize prevention programming to address social determinants of health.

Although use of the term “social determinants of health” is relatively recent in the school counseling literature, many counseling studies have examined and created interventions that target social determinants of health (see Johnson et al., 2023, for a list of empirically supported interventions). Several of these interventions were focused on educational access and quality (e.g., Bryan et al., 2022; Ohrt et al., 2009). Still, to my knowledge, no comprehensive, systematic framework exists for school counselors and counselor educators to use in their career development and postsecondary readiness counseling conceptualization and curriculum.

The Career Development and Social Determinants Framework (CDSD-F)

School counselors can integrate social determinants of health into each component of their comprehensive school counseling program (e.g., see Johnson & Brookover, 2021); however, the focus of the CDSD-F is specifically to provide a guide for school counselors in their work in the career domain. To incorporate social determinants of health into their programs, school counselors can consider how the ASCA Student Standards (ASCA, 2021) are impacted by and align with the five social determinants of health domains (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). The CDSD-F is a career development framework designed to provide direction for programming and counseling interventions to promote equitable career and postsecondary outcomes. It blends the core tenets of college and career readiness components and the five domains of the social determinants of health to center equity and access in the career domain.

Rationale and Framework Development

Although researchers have explicated how social determinants of health play a large role in student/youth outcomes (e.g., Cotton & Shim, 2022; Johnson & Brookover, 2021), scholars also have found that school counseling interns and school counselors are often unprepared to address the determinants with students (Gantt et al., 2021; Johnson & Brookover, 2021). Further, school counselors report feeling underprepared to take on the task of promoting career development in their programs (Novakovic et al., 2021). Still, school counselors must focus on career development as one of three domains and are called to promote equitable career outcomes. Inequities persist in career and postsecondary access and outcomes for historically underrepresented students (Cahalan et al., 2019). Thus, a holistic career development framework is needed, with practical suggestions and tools for school counselors to use in their career development efforts. The CDSD-F provides a roadmap for school counselors to guide their needs assessments, program planning, and case conceptualization. It can also be shared and taught to students and families, so they are able to understand career development in a holistic manner. Ultimately, students will benefit and have positive career development outcomes when positive social determinants are bolstered and negative social determinants are addressed.

I have published multiple research articles on both college and postsecondary readiness and on social determinants of health. As a former high school counselor and now a counselor educator, those clinical and research experiences led to my initial conceptualization of the CDSD-F. After an extensive review of existing literature, I collected peer feedback on the emerging framework through leading a roundtable at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision conference and via discussions with several experts on social determinants of health and career development.

The Framework

This section contains suggested career development and postsecondary readiness interventions, mindsets, and goals organized within the five social determinants of health domains (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023), specifically for the secondary (9–12) level. Suggestions fall across four levels of engagement for school settings: student, school, family, and community (College Board, 2010), because school counselors’ actions should focus on the immediate opportunities and barriers of individual students, but also address the entire school environment and structural/systemic determinants (Johnson et al., 2023). This is further supported through the Systems Theory Framework of Career Development (McMahon, 2005), which indicates the need for systems-level approach to career programming. Table 1 represents alignment of these suggestions within the College Board’s (2010) eight components of college and career readiness and the four levels of engagement and systems-level interventions and foci.

Table 1.

The Career Development and Social Determinants Framework (CDSD-F) Suggested Interventions and Foci.

Social determinants of health domain (Healthy People, 2030)	Related components of college and career readiness counseling (College Board, 2010)	Suggested interventions and foci – Level (student, family, school, community)
Education access and quality	• Academic planning for college and career readiness	• Academic counseling – student
	• College and career exploration and selection processes	• Access to school counselors at all levels for all students, with appropriate caseloads – school
	• College and career assessments	• Advanced and rigorous curriculum – student
	• College and career admission processes	• Advocacy – school, community
		• Cognitive and noncognitive skills for college level coursework – student
		• Community partnerships – community
		• Helping students and families with the college application process – student, family
Economic stability	• Academic planning for college and career readiness	• Assisting students experiencing homelessness and undocumented students – student, family, community
	• College affordability planning	• Career and technical courses and programming – student, school
	• Transition from high school graduation to college enrollment	• College-level supports – community
	• College and career exploration and selection processes	• Community partnerships – community
		• Costs/benefits of college education mindsets – student, family
		• Different types of financial aid – family
		• FAFSA completion – family
		• Financial literacy – student, family
Healthcare access and quality	• College aspirations	• College healthcare and healthcare waivers – family
	• Transition from high school graduation to college enrollment	• Mental health and well-being – student, school
		• Student health centers and counseling centers on college campuses – student, family
		• Vaccinations and medical exams needed prior to enrollment – family, school, community
Neighborhood and built environment	• College and career exploration and selection processes	• Access to student housing for all years of college – community
	• Transition from high school graduation to college enrollment	• Access and transportation; universal design – community
		• Community asset mapping – community
		• Conflict resolution and lessening violence amongst youth – student, school
		• Fit in terms of campus environment – student
		• Living on campus, off campus, or staying with family – student, family
		• Safe K–12 schools – school
		• SEL curriculum – student, school
Social and community context	• College aspirations	• Antiracism and trauma-informed interventions – student, school
	• Enrichment and extracurricular engagement	• College-going culture in K–12 schools – school
	• College and career exploration and selection processes	• College social support – student
	• Transition from high school graduation to college enrollment	• Contact with school counselor – student
		• Cultural identities in career and college decision making – student
		• Involving families – family
		• Preparing students for the differences between high school and college – student
		• School belongingness – student, school

More counseling strategies than can be shared here are available for school counselors’ use in their work to promote positive social determinants and reduce negative social determinants within the career development domain. This functions as a starting point and conceptual framework for school counselors, mental health counselors, and counselor educators to formulate plans to address the importance of social determinants of health within their career development and postsecondary readiness work. Further, school counselors should utilize the ASCA Student Standards (ASCA, 2021) and their state’s career development standards to design their comprehensive school counseling programming as aligned with the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019). They must also tailor the framework developmentally for the students and level they work within. School counselors and students will benefit from collaboration and connection with resources and people in the school and surrounding community, including families, higher education institutions, community-based organizations, and outside mental health providers. Ultimately, the core purpose and goal of school counselors utilizing the CDSD-F is to support students and families in career and postsecondary readiness and access, through multilevel interventions focused and guided by the social determinants of health.

Education Access and Quality

This first domain is perhaps the most frequently addressed in current school-based career development practices, because its connection to postsecondary readiness is distinctly clear. This domain focuses on children and adolescents having access to high-quality educational opportunities and doing well in school (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). School counselors are aware that the foundation of K–12 education leads to success in the workplace, and in matriculation and retention in postsecondary education. On an individual level, school counselors can encourage and empower students to take the most advanced and rigorous curriculum, aligned with their skills and interests. This is especially important because rigor impacts postsecondary success and is cited as one of the most important factors in college admissions processes (Blume, 2019). Under the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019), school counselors provide appraisal and advisement to help students select programs of study and make appropriate course selections, and promote the mindsets and behaviors that lead to positive attitudes toward learning (M 6) and identifying academic goals (B-LS 7).

School counselors can also provide academic counseling and connect students to academic assistance programs, tutoring, and literacy programs (Cotton & Shim, 2022). This is important because postsecondary readiness is directly tied to cognitive competencies gained in K–12 coursework (Brookover & Johnson, 2022; Duncheon, 2021). Further, many students need help with noncognitive competencies that improve education and workforce outcomes. These are outlined in the ASCA Student Standards (ASCA, 2021), such as study skills, time management, organization (B-LS 3) and critical thinking and problem solving (B-LS 1). School counselors are uniquely positioned to work at the school level through providing direct and indirect services in Tier 1 and Tier 2 programming focused on these competencies. For instance, the Student Success Skills classroom instruction curriculum (Brigman & Campbell, 2003) provides an empirically supported set of instructional materials to foster these mindsets and behaviors related to career and college readiness (Lemberger et al., 2015; Webb & Brigman, 2006).

Another potential step by school counselors is collaborating with families and community-based organizations in their efforts to improve education access and quality in course planning and academic achievement. These collaborations can help students be aware of their different options after high school. Regarding the college knowledge aspect of college readiness, collaboration with others may help students and families in the often confusing college application process (Brookover & Shaw, 2024; Conley, 2007). This might be particularly important for first-generation students because they do not have parents/guardians who attended college (Poynton et al., 2021). School counselors can provide direct and indirect services to address this gap in college knowledge between first-generation and continuing education students (Brookover & Shaw, 2024; Poynton et al., 2021).

Finally, on a systemic and structural level, much work remains to be done in ensuring all students have equitable access to quality education (Merolla & Jackson, 2019; Shell, 2021). This entails all students having the support and skills needed to graduate high school and be successful in the career domain. Under the ASCA National Model, school counselors use collaboration to lead to systemic change toward a common goal (ASCA, 2019). School counselors must advocate within their communities and in political spaces to change the oppressive structures that exist in educational spaces (Johnson et al., 2023; Shell, 2021). Insisting on access to school counselors at all levels for all students, with appropriate caseloads, is a logical place to start. Research has shown that not all students have access to school counselors at the same rate. For instance, school counselor caseload was negatively correlated with student socioeconomic status in a nationally representative sample (Brookover & Johnson, 2022). Larger student caseloads lead to less time spent on college readiness counseling, yet more time spent on college readiness counseling leads to increased odds of enrolling and persisting in college (Brookover & Johnson, 2022). This shows the importance of this advocacy for the role of the school counselor.

Economic Stability

Healthy People 2030’s goal in this domain is specifically to “help people earn steady incomes that allow them to meet their health needs” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). School counselors must work to ensure all students have a career plan after graduation. School counselors can encourage students to participate in career and technical education courses and programs, especially those that will allow students to earn certifications that will have them career ready when they graduate. For example, high school students in these programs can graduate with an emergency medical technician certification, cosmetology license, practical nursing license, automotive service excellence certification, plumbing or electrician certification, etc. If these programs do not exist at their school, school counselors can advocate for career and technical programs to be available for students. These designations are important, because in today’s workforce, postsecondary education/training, whether 2-year college, 4-year college, trade and technical school, or apprenticeship schools and programs, is more imperative for career outcomes than ever before. School counselors can be advocates by communicating the importance of career and technical training to stakeholders, teaming up with department faculty to promote these programs, and outlining the current needs for these programs to their school board. School counselors use data-informed school counseling programming under the ASCA National Model; thus, they can collect needs data around career and technical education programs in their school (ASCA, 2019).

Unfortunately, poverty and access to higher education are inextricably linked. Families, especially those living in poverty, are struggling to afford higher education as the costs of college continuously rise and needs-based funding for students becomes more limited (Mitchell et al., 2019). Thus, many students are choosing to forego attending college or have the mindset that they lack the resources to do so. School counselors can start by investigating their own mindsets around the costs and benefits of a college education. Recently, a common narrative in the media and wider culture holds that college does not “pay off.” However, research shows that as a person’s level of education increases, their income increases, while unemployment rates lessen and job satisfaction, health, and wellbeing all increase (Brand, 2023). School counselors can encourage students and families to consider keeping college among their options after high school. This can be done in individual counseling or under collaboration though parent workshops, as outlined under the Deliver section of the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019).

School counselors can serve as a resource and support in financial planning for higher education. First, school counselors can ensure that families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and remind them this must be done on a yearly basis, not just for the first year of college. Completing the FAFSA is required to receive financial aid from the federal and state governments, including grants and loans, which are especially important for students in homes without economic stability who cannot afford college out of pocket. School counselors can access FAFSA completion data by state (see https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/application-volume/fafsa-completion-high-school). Relatedly, school counselors should familiarize themselves with the various types of financial aid and net price calculators to share this information with students and families. All of these interventions can take place in individual, classroom, or school-wide programming.

On an individual level, school counselors can assist students with acquiring fee waivers for standardized testing/entrance exams and college applications. If students are experiencing homelessness or are undocumented, school counselors can work with them to correctly file for financial aid. Havlik and colleagues (2021) provided an overview on school counselors working with students who are experiencing homelessness to prepare them to go to college, and school counselors should connect with their local homeless liaison to ensure the student is listed as homeless on the FAFSA. Although undocumented students do not qualify for federal aid, they might qualify for state and/or institutional aid (see https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/undocumented-students). School counselors might also educate students about colleges that use need-blind admission processes.

This domain provides many opportunities to collaborate with community-based organizations and departments within higher education institutions that have financial literacy expertise and focus. Financial literacy and financial health knowledge sharing can begin as early as elementary school, and many organizations provide curriculum or volunteers to work with K–12 students surrounding this topic. One such community-based organization is Junior Achievement USA (https://jausa.ja.org/). Financial literacy and financial health knowledge and skills will help students understand how to save, invest, and budget money when they are in the workforce. Promoting financial literacy is also important for retention in college, because a common reason for dropping out of higher education is financial struggles leading to financial stress (Britt et al., 2017). School counselors can also inform students and families about the supports on college campuses for students surrounding economic stability, such as emergency grant funds, on-campus and local community food pantries (food insecurity), and summer housing for students who are homeless (housing insecurity). Students should be encouraged to research programs at various institutions.

Health Care Access and Quality

The third domain in Healthy People 2030 is health care access and quality. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2023) has a goal to increase access to comprehensive, high quality health care services. Although school counselors are not healthcare providers, they can encourage behaviors and provide information that help increase students’ career and postsecondary readiness through health care access and quality. School counselors can do this in a multilevel way via direct and indirect services, as aligned with the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019).

Students have better outcomes in their K–12 studies, postsecondary education, and careers when they are mentally well. As part of school counselors’ focus on social/emotional development, they can provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions focused on well-being, coping skills, stress management, etc. In addition to providing short-term counseling, school counselors can refer students to outside providers when they need long-term mental health counseling (ASCA, 2020). As in-school providers, school counselors can also support student mental health through Tier 3 interventions, especially when outside providers are not accessible. These actions support students while in K–12 schools and by helping them build and access the resources and supports to continue their career or education beyond high school.

School counselors strive to help all students be career ready; thus, an important goal of school counselors is having students graduate prepared to enter the workforce with the mindsets and skills to succeed in their career journeys. The mindset M 1 (“belief in development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional, and physical well-being”) is related to the concept of work-life balance, which all students will need to master in their future careers to be healthy and well. School counselors can encourage this mindset and behavior standard B-SMS 8 (“demonstrate the ability to balance school, home and community activities”) in their programming. For instance, school counselors can help students learn how to use planners and time blocking, and make sure students understand the necessity of including time for physical and mental self-care activities.

Enrolling in health insurance, receiving required vaccinations, and providing proof of medical exams are health-care-related tasks that are required prior to enrollment in college (Harris, 2011). Most colleges require students to enroll in and pay for a health insurance plan, which can provide an affordable health insurance option for students. However, students and families can submit a waiver if they already have health insurance or want to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace (https://www.healthcare.gov/). If the cost of the college health insurance plan is a deterrent to enrolling, students and families can contact the college. Regarding vaccinations and exams, school counselors can refer students and families to affordable health care in the community, or even work with providers to bring health care services and workers into the school setting (Johnson & Brookover, 2021).

Finally, as part of the understanding that college readiness continues beyond acceptance and matriculation into a higher education institution, school counselors can educate themselves and their students about the health care resources on college campuses. Just as school counselors work to increase access to health and mental health care in K–12 settings, colleges have student health centers and counseling centers with professionals who are there to help college students be the healthiest they can be. Many students, especially first-generation college students, may not know about these campus resources. Small-group instruction in a college preparation group is an opportune setting to discuss the various resources colleges offer with high school students. When inviting admissions representatives to talk with students, or when taking students on campus tours, school counselors can encourage students to ask the college representatives about these supports.

Neighborhood and Built Environment

Next, the neighborhood and built environment domain, which focuses on neighborhoods and environments that promote health and safety (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023), is also related to postsecondary readiness counseling. When students enroll in higher education, the college often serves as their home for several years. As such, school counselors should encourage students to take a comprehensive and holistic approach in deciding where to enroll, and not to decide based solely on the reputation and selectivity of the school. Of course, students may decide to continue living at home with their families rather than moving to on-campus or off-campus housing. This may be an appropriate choice for many students, who feel safe in their families of origin, are not ready for the independence of living on their own or with roommates, and/or want to save money by continuing to live with parents/guardians. School counselors may want to talk through housing options with students. This can be done during classroom instruction, small-group sessions, or individual meetings (ASCA, 2019).

School counselors can advocate to make college tours and trips a possibility for all students, regardless of their financial means, through school-sponsored field trips or travel waivers. Students will have a better idea if a campus environment is the right fit for them when they can see it themselves and talk to current students. ASCA (2019) lists postsecondary site visits as a career activity that furthers the development of students’ educational possibilities. Students should feel comfortable and safe at the school they choose. School counselors may want to share with students that they can live on-campus or off-campus, depending on the school’s policies. School counselors can also suggest questions for students to ask on college tours about what the on-campus housing opportunities are like and if they are offered for all students for all four years of college. This might be especially important for students who are facing housing insecurity. Another important component of the built environment is accessibility, especially for students with disabilities. Some college campuses meet universal design standards while others provide accommodations to a lesser degree. This is not only a topic on which school counselors can help students and families research universal design standards of different institutions, but also an area for advocacy. Transportation needs and access to transportation also fall under this domain—will students need a car or is public transportation accessible to all? Again, school counselors can work with students and families to take an intentional, holistic approach to assessing the neighborhood and built environment of the postsecondary institution to find a school home in which the student feels healthy and safe.

Several components under the neighborhood and built environment domain relate to overall career development. For instance, Healthy People 2030 specifies a goal in the school setting under this domain: “Increase the proportion of elementary, middle, and high schools that have official school policies and engage in practices that promote a healthy and safe physical school environment” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Students cannot gain the necessary career skills and competencies when they are not safe at school. Further, violence among youth is a related target connected to students feeling safe and welcomed at school, and able to focus on learning once there. In this domain, school counselors can continue developing curriculum and providing instruction focused on the ASCA Student Standards (ASCA, 2019) that promote peaceful conflict resolution (i.e., self-management [B-SMS] and social skills [B-SS]); these skills are necessary to succeed in the workforce. This fits into the school counselor’s role in social/emotional learning and development. ASCA (2023b) notes that school counselors address managing emotions and interpersonal skills that enhance learning and create a college and career readiness culture.

School counselors also need to have a solid understanding of the strengths, challenges, and available resources in the community to develop awareness and opportunities for students to learn about postsecondary options. One way to intentionally research the surrounding school community is to use community asset mapping. In this process, a collaborative team of school stakeholders identifies a list and creates a map of existing community resources (Griffin & Farris, 2010). School counselors can ensure that postsecondary supports and resources are included on the community asset map.

Social and Community Context

The final Healthy People 2030 domain is social and community context. Known more simply as social support, it refers to people’s relationships and interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and community members (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Positive relationships with others are an important protective factor, while discrimination, isolation, and mental health stigma are negative determinants (Cotton & Shim, 2022; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). This domain has many potential targets of focus for school counselors. The first is creating a college-going culture in their K–12 schools. A college-going culture is one in which the school counselors communicate that every child will be prepared for college or some postsecondary education, provide ongoing and current college knowledge information, and partner with community members to promote college access (Bryan et al., 2011). This is aligned with the mindset standard M 6: “understanding that postsecondary education and life-long learning are necessary for long-term career success” (ASCA, 2021, p. 2). Second, families should be involved in postsecondary readiness counseling interventions and programming. Student behaviors related to college-going are rooted in family contexts (Roksa & Deutschlander, 2018), and including the family allows students to have informed supports at home. Students should feel empowered to choose whichever postsecondary plan is right for them and their family, whether that is four-year college, two-year college, trade/technical school, the military, etc., but they should have the opportunity and support to accomplish any of these choices.

Next, a student’s feeling of belongingness in the school is important. We see the benefits of feelings of belongingness in students’ academic outcomes (Korpershoek et al., 2020), which in turn impact career and postsecondary readiness. One way school counselors can foster belongingness is by encouraging students to join school-sponsored clubs, organizations, and sports teams. Benefits include fostering identity development while learning and growing in career and workplace skills. Moreover, extracurricular involvement is an important component in college admissions decisions. School counselors can also promote positive relationships between teachers and students, aligned with behavior standard B-SS 3, create “positive relationships with adults to support success” (ASCA, 2021, p. 2). Volungis and Goodman (2017) noted strategies to foster positive communication between teachers and students.

Another essential role for school counselors is serving as change agents in schools to foster antiracist school environments. Discrimination leading to racial trauma has been found to negatively impact students’ college and career outcomes (Edwin & Daniels, 2022). Edwin and Daniels (2022) provided suggestions for school counselors to take an antiracist and trauma-informed approach to implementing career development interventions that address challenges related to social determinants of health, specifically for Black students. School counselors can use many of these interventions to support students, including providing antiracist training and consultation for school staff, fostering college and career mentorship programs, and developing antiracist partnerships (Edwin & Daniels, 2022). To gauge the needs of students and other stakeholders, and to assess the efficacy of school counseling program activities in addressing equity issues, school counselors should consistently review school climate and culture-related data, as mandated in the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019).

School counselors can help students make career plans with their culture at the center. School counselors should encourage first-generation college students to self-identify as such and tailor postsecondary readiness counseling accordingly (see Brookover & Shaw, 2024, for suggestions). When inviting college representatives or current college students to speak with students, or when hosting college fairs, schools must intentionally include and promote historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and their positive campus cultures, especially for students who identify as Black and Hispanic (Brookover et al., 2021). Mentorship programs are also considered best practice due to their relationship to career and postsecondary readiness counseling programming (Edwin & Daniels, 2022). Such programs could be especially impactful when mentors share students’ cultural identities. For students who are entering the workforce directly after high school, community involvement is a positive social determinant of health; mentorship programs and connecting students to others in the community can lead to increased well-being.

Because postsecondary readiness counseling must focus on student outcomes beyond matriculation into higher education, school counselors can also communicate with students the importance of being involved in social groups and campus activities in higher education (King et al., 2021). Research has shown the connection between social support/social capital on campuses and increased academic success in higher education (Mishra, 2020). Relatedly, school counselors should prepare students for the differences between high school and higher education. For example, college norms often differ in terms of teaching styles of instructors, expectations of student initiative and autonomy, class schedules, etc. In a postsecondary readiness group counseling curriculum, school counselors could include a session dedicated to showing high school students a sample of what their college class schedule over a semester might look like, and encourage them to create a weekly plan for studying, taking care of basic needs, socializing, and self-care.

Finally, when students have increased contact with a school counselor and access to information about college and financial aid (Bryan et al., 2022) and a school counselor who spends 21% or more of their time on college readiness counseling (Brookover, 2021), students are more likely to have increased positive postsecondary outcomes. School counselors must interrogate their own biases and mindsets about which students they believe are so-called “college material,” and never underestimate what a student can accomplish with the support of others in their school and community. As noted in the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019), school counselors promote success for all students in their school via mindsets and behaviors for college, career, and life readiness.

Implications for School Counselors

The CDSD-F was developed with the intent to provide school counselors a roadmap for their career development and postsecondary readiness counseling efforts. School counselors are charged with the complex task of promoting positive career development for all, which falls within the college and career domain of the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2019). This is no simple endeavor when school counselors have large caseloads filled with students who represent diverse interests, needs, and strengths. The CDSD-F is designed to empower school counselors with a framework to work in a collaborative, multilevel manner to support holistic career development. Through following the ASCA National Model’s (ASCA, 2019) guidelines to implement programs based on data and delivered systematically to all students, school counselors can and should support students’ career development. In many large school districts, career counseling has been designated to those identified as “career specialists” and many school counselors report feeling unprepared to work with students in the career development domain (Novakovic et al., 2021). Although students benefit from additional supports in the school system, school counselors are called to support K–12 students in career development; thus, the CDSD-F can guide those efforts and aims to improve school counselor self-efficacy.

Many resources are available for school counselors to learn more about career development and postsecondary readiness for K–12 students, such as CareerOneStop, GetMyFuture, My Next Move, O*Net OnLine sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling. I recommend that school counselors utilize the resources and expertise from these organizations.

Ultimately, the school counselor’s imperative is to create a comprehensive school counseling program in which effort and focus are dedicated to career development (ASCA, 2019). This comprehensive program must address and work to correct inequities in the educational system, including career development and postsecondary readiness outcomes. By focusing on the social determinants of health, school counselors can feel more confident that their focus is on equitable outcomes for all students. To best serve all students on their caseloads, especially those who are historically underserved and underrepresented, school counselors should incorporate the suggestions in this article in their comprehensive school counseling program, while furthering their knowledge on social determinants of health and the current workforce and higher education landscapes.

Implications for Counselor Educators

The CDSD-F provides teaching, supervision, and advocacy implications for counselor educators. In terms of teaching, counselor educators hold the responsibility to educate future school counselors on career and postsecondary readiness counseling for K–12 students. Parallel to how career development and postsecondary readiness counseling can feel daunting to school counselors, this task can feel overwhelming to counselor educators. The CDSD-F framework provides a tool to conceptualize and organize course planning. It is aligned with the 2024 CACREP Standards (Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2023).

As far as supervision, counselor educators can use the CDSD-F to encourage school counselors in training to view their students’ career development holistically. Rather than a checklist-style approach to postsecondary readiness counseling, focused solely on the traditional four-year college application process, supervisors can check in about different components of the social determinants of health and this integrative framework during supervision, whether group or individual.

Finally, in terms of advocacy, as the college-going student body becomes more diverse and college costs continue to rise (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2022), school counselors must consider how to support students in postsecondary readiness beyond the application process. Focus must be on how students can thrive and succeed when they are in higher education. Counselor educators are called to advocate for equity in access and success in higher education, and are uniquely positioned to do so, considering their mental health and educational expertise. Further, when teaching, supervising, and engaging in research with school counselors and school counselors in training, counselor educators can emphasize collecting data that tracks inequities and needs of students in career and college planning/outcomes.

Future Research Directions

This integrative framework offers many exciting directions for future research. The clear first step is implementing outcome research on the CDSD-F. Outcome researchers can focus on current school counselors, school counselors in training, K–12 students, specific populations, and/or students and families. For instance, school counselors can be trained in the using the CDSD-F and researchers can measure their perceptions of usefulness and career counseling self-efficacy. Similarly, school counselors in training can provide perspective on the utility of the framework in their counseling at practicum and internship sites. Tracking student and family outcomes (e.g., college knowledge, career decision-making self-efficacy) due to school counselors utilizing the CDSD-F in their work is also important. Although this article focuses on secondary (Grades 9–12) school counseling foci and interventions, the CDSD-F can also be applied to primary levels (elementary or middle school) to support students’ career development at all developmental stages. Further, the CDSD-F is useful not only for school counselors, but for all counselors focusing on career development, especially those working with youth. Hence, the CDSF-F can be applied to mental health counseling, and future research can explore this focus.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Dana L. Brookover

Author Biography

Dana L. Brookover, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University in Villanova, PA. Email: dana.brookover@villanova.edu

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The Career Development and Social Determinants Framework: An Integrative Approach

Abstract

Keywords

The School Counselor and Career Development

The School Counselor and Postsecondary Readiness

Social Determinants of Health

The Career Development and Social Determinants Framework (CDSD-F)

Rationale and Framework Development

The Framework

Education Access and Quality

Economic Stability

Health Care Access and Quality

Neighborhood and Built Environment

Social and Community Context

Implications for School Counselors

Implications for Counselor Educators

Future Research Directions

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

Author Biography

References