School Counseling

The Role of a School Counselor

School counselors support students’ academic success by:

• Leading the development of a safe and caring school culture.
• Delivering a school counseling program based on data identifying student needs.
• Delivering information to students and teachers within the school counseling curriculum on best practices in mindsets and behaviors (i.e., learning strategies, self-management skills, social skills) and metacognition skills (McGuire, 2015) critical in academic success.
• Providing relevance to academic effort and educational pursuits by assisting in students’ career planning and future career-related goals.
• Working with administration, teachers and other school staff to create a school environment encouraging academic success and striving to one’s potential (Stone & Clark, 2001).

Secondary School Scheduling

Counselors work closely with building leaders to create and change student schedules for courses offered in the school and in the district’s virtual program, the Personal Learning Academy (PLC).

School counselors play a critical role in students’ career development by:

• Introducing careers and the world of work beginning in lower elementary grades (pre-K–3)
• Providing opportunities to engage students in “life roles including learner and worker” (Gysbers, 2013)
• Providing learning and experiential opportunities for students to acquire behaviors and skills for career readiness (Gysbers, 2013)
• Working with students to identify their interests, abilities, specific career clusters (Stipanovic, 2010) and postsecondary plans (many states mandate an academic/career action plan as a graduation requirement)

Career Counseling

School counselors play a critical role in students’ career development by:

• Introducing careers and the world of work beginning in lower elementary grades (pre-K–3)
• Providing opportunities to engage students in “life roles including learner and worker” (Gysbers, 2013)
• Providing learning and experiential opportunities for students to acquire behaviors and skills for career readiness (Gysbers, 2013)
• Working with students to identify their interests, abilities, specific career clusters (Stipanovic, 2010) and postsecondary plans (many states mandate an academic/career action plan as a graduation requirement)
• Helping students understand the connection between school and the world of work
• Helping students plan the transition from school to postsecondary education and/or the world of work (ASCA, 2014)
• Advising students on multiple postsecondary pathways (e.g., college, career-specific credentials and certifications, apprenticeships, military, service-year programs, full-time employment with a family-supporting wage) (Chicago Public Schools Multiple Postsecondary Pathways Framework)
• Connecting students to early college programs (e.g., dual credit/dual enrollment).
• Collaborating with administration, teachers, staff, and decision-makers to create a postsecondary-readiness and college-going culture
• Providing and advocating for individual pre-K through postsecondary students’ college and career awareness through exploration and postsecondary planning and decision making, which supports students’ right to choose from the wide array of options after completing secondary education
• Identifying gaps in college and career access and the implications of such data for addressing both intentional and unintentional biases related to college and career counseling
• Working with teachers to integrate career education learning in the curricula
• Providing opportunities for all students to develop the mindsets and behaviors necessary to learn work-related skills, resilience, perseverance, an understanding of lifelong learning as a part of long-term career success, a positive attitude toward learning and a strong work ethic
• Recognizing and supporting essential developmental factors key to future successes, such as self-efficacy and identity, motivation and perseverance (Savitz-Romer & Bouffard, 2013)

Social and Emotional Counseling

School counselors play a critical role in supporting social/emotional development as they:

• Collaborate with classroom teachers to provide the school counseling curriculum to all students through direct instruction, team-teaching or providing lesson plans for learning activities or units in classrooms aimed at social/ emotional development (ASCA, 2019)
• Understand the nature and range of human characteristics specific to child and adolescent development
• Identify and employ appropriate appraisal methods for individual and group interventions that support K–12 students’ social/emotional development
• Know and utilize counseling theories to inform both direct and indirect services providing support to K–12 students’ social/emotional development
• Use assessment in the context of appropriate statistics and research methodology, follow-up assessment and measurement methods to implement appropriate program planning for social/emotional development
• Select and implement technology in a school counseling program to facilitate K–12 students’ social/emotional development
• Serve as a referral source for students when social/emotional issues become too great to be dealt with solely by the school counselor, including crisis interventions