Dive Brief:
- Schools are facing increasing scrutiny and pressure to ensure that students are ready for college and that they attend — and those efforts are bringing more attention to school counselors, who can play a key role.
- Roughly 103,000 counselors are employed in K-12 schools across the country.
- For districts like Alamosa, CO, counselors are effectively providing students a glimpse of opportunities they might not otherwise consider, as well as coaching on how to get there.
Dive Insight:
Schools looking to focus on and refine their counseling systems are doing so in an atmosphere that’s encouraging that work. The White House, for example, hosted the Counselor of the Year awards this year for the first time and has taken steps to draw attention to the profession. Additionally, the federal government is giving high schools data on which students are applying for federal aid via the FAFSA — a step up over previous sources of information.
Districts are also starting to apply some of the same concepts and skills used to train teachers, including student data analytics, to boost the work of counselors.