Today’s teens and students face many challenges both in and out of the classroom, which is why a great school counselor program is so important.
Without counselor programs, students will most likely struggle with issues such as bullying, academic performance, social isolation, and mental health concerns.
We did some research and found out what makes a great school counselor program. There were four that stood out:
- Academic support
- Social/emotional support
- College and career readiness
- Family engagement
Continue reading to learn more about these four key components of a great school counselor program, as well as how to implement them in your school or district.
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1. Academic Support
One of the most important roles of school counselors is to provide academic support to students.
Typically, this takes place in the follow forms:
- Helping students choose classes
- Offering study tips and strategies
- Providing extra tutoring when needed
Studies show that comprehensive school counseling programs are directly linked to student academic achievement.
While it’s not the sole job of counselors to help students with all of their academics, they play an important role in ensuring that students are on track and reaching their academic goals.
And as we’ll see, academic support extends to college and career readiness (we’ll talk about that shortly).
2. Social/Emotional Support
In addition to academic support, counselors also provide social and emotional support to students.
This can take many forms, but often includes:
- Helping students resolve conflicts with peers or teachers
- Encouraging self-exploration and self-awareness
- Offering support for mental health concerns, such as anxiety or depression
- Finding after-school programs that fit a student’s personality
School counselors are often the first line of defense when it comes to students’ social and emotional needs. Often the counselors decision on how to help the student can determine if the student gets the help they need to continue being successful in school.
Counselors often have a close relationship with their students, which allows them to provide the personal touch that many students need during difficult times.
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3. College and Career Readiness
As mentioned before, one of the key roles of counselors is to help students explore their options after graduation.
This often includes:
- Researching colleges and universities
- Assisting with college applications
- Providing information about scholarships
As the student debt crisis and opposition for college is at an all time high, it is important that counselors are there to assist students so they can decide for themselves.
We found that simply providing students and their families with college information and explaining typical college costs, financial aid, and the admissions process (the basics) is often all it takes to ensure that every student has the chance to go to college.
It’s up to counselors to ensure that every student has all the resources they need to plan for their future, whether it involves college, trade school, or something else.
4. Family Engagement
Finally, school counselors that engage families in their students’ education journey are more likely to see success.
There are many ways counselors can engage families, such as:
- Asking them to attend school volunteer activities
- Communicating regularly with families via phone or email
- Involving parents and guardians in parent-teacher conferences
The idea here is to get the parents involved as much as possible in their child’s education. When parents are invested in their child’s schooling, the student is more likely to succeed.
Summary
Counselor programs are meant to teach the next generation that they can be whatever they want. This means being good people who know how to make things happen for themselves and their community.
Fortunately, you can use spotvity’s revolutionary school engagement platform to build a better school counselor program.
With spotivity, you can track in-school and after-school activities, pull reports for each student, and safely track engagement and compare metrics against their peers.
Now schools can gain access to the data they require to make better decisions, and students can be introduced to activities that they will actually enjoy.
Click here to try spotivity for 60 days, totally free.
