SCHOOL COUNSELING
- SSD School Counseling Program Overview
- Roles of School Counselors
- Delivery of School Counseling Services
- SSD School Counselors Directory of Resources
SSD School Counseling Program Overview
The SSD School Counseling program is an essential component of the educational experience of all students. K-12 School Counseling programs address the needs of the whole student. A comprehensive School Counseling program is developmental and sequential in nature. This comprehensive program addresses students’ needs in three domains: academic, social-emotional, and college and career. All students have the right to the benefits of a proactive and preventive program designed to maximize the success for each person. While minimizing the frequency and impact of crises, students' experience of a well-designed school counseling program will better prepare students to meet the challenges of life and work.
Roles of School Counselors
Tabs
Elementary
Role of Elementary School Counselors
Elementary school years set the tone for developing the knowledge, attitudes, and skill necessary for children to become healthy, competent, and confident learners. Through a comprehensive developmental school counseling program, school counselors work as a team with the school staff, parents, and the community to create a caring climate and atmosphere. By providing education, prevention, early identification, and intervention, school counselors can help all children achieve academic success. Elementary school counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic achievement. School counseling programs are essential for students to achieve optimal personal growth, acquire positive social skills and values, set appropriate career goals, and realize full academic potential to become productive, contributing members of the world community.
Middle
Role of Middle School Counselors
Middle school students are characterized by rapid physical growth, curiosity about their world, and an emerging self-identity. Through a comprehensive developmental school counseling program, school counselors work as a team member with school staff, parents and the community to create a caring, supportive climate and atmosphere whereby young adolescents can achieve academic success. Middle school counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic achievement. School counseling programs are essential for students to achieve optimal personal growth, acquire positive social skills and values, set appropriate career goals, and realize full academic potential to become productive, contributing members of the world community.
High
Role of High School Counselors
High school years are full of growth, promise, excitement, frustration, disappointment, and hope. It is the time when students begin to discover what the future holds for them. Secondary school counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic achievement. School counseling programs are essential for students to achieve optimal personal growth, acquire positive social skills and values, set appropriate career goals, and realize full academic potential to become productive, contributing members of the world community.
Delivery of School Counseling Services
A school counseling program is delivered within four program components with a goal being 80% direct student services:
Core Curriculum
Planned instructional program that is comprehensive in scope, preventative in nature and developmental in design provided directly to students. These activities provide direct student instruction or cause or create education activities for students.
Examples: Classroom curriculum instruction, instructional group activities, character education, career awareness and career fairs, Red Ribbon activities, club advisors, assemblies, service learning projects, anti-bullying projects, skill and communication development sessions and business & industry tours.
Individual Planning
Ongoing systemic activities to help a student establish personal, academic, and career goals and plan for the future. These may consist of appraisals and are primarily one-on-one student advisement on careers, academics and behaviors.
Examples: Student cumulative records’ reviews, individual graduation plans (IGPs for middle and high students), test score interpretation, behavior plans, course planning, scholarship advisement, intervention meetings, transcript audits, interest assessments, and welcoming new students.
Responsive Services
Consist of activities designed to meet students’ immediate needs and concerns through primarily individual, small group and crisis counseling. Referrals, consultation and collaboration are indirect services done on behalf of students and are included within the 80% time for direct student services.
Examples: Individual counseling, small group counseling, crisis counseling, student mentoring, peer mediation, student celebrations, home visits, drop-out prevention, parent meetings, teacher consultations, counselor collaborations, military transitions and outside agency referrals.
Systems Support
These are all indirect student activities that support student achievement and/or promote equity and access for all students. They include all non-counseling duties and school counseling program management.
Examples: School duty, counselor professional development, counselor and staff meetings, school counseling advisory council meetings, internship supervision, committees, workshop presentations, use of time assessments, clerical and administrative duties, testing assistance, student registrations, counseling program data development and collection, conferences and community outreach.