Elementary School Counselor: Elementary School Counselors are certified/licensed educators with the minimum of a Master’s Degree in School Counseling and are distinctly qualified to address the developmental needs of all students through a K-12 Comprehensive School Counseling Program. They guide the work of an equitable education for all students, which requires them to be an advocate, facilitate and/or reinforce systems that ensure that every child has the support they need to achieve academic success. This requires understanding the unique challenges and barriers faced by individual students or by populations of students. This position will provide intensive, culturally responsive student support with a high degree of creativity and problem-solving capabilities.
Elementary School Counselor Expectations: The Elementary school counselor role is, at its core, both proactive & preventive, as well as responsive. It centers around the design and implementation of a guidance curriculum which includes three domains of school counseling. - Personal/Social - teaching students how to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Career Awareness Exploration - setting the stage for self- awareness by fostering curiosity and excitement for the world of work by engaging them in fun activities that invite discovery and exploration around different careers.
Academic - utilizing data to aid in the development of 21st century skills as well as collaborating and planning with school teams around identifying possible interventions for students, working to establish student opportunities for academic remediation as needed, closing the achievement and opportunity gaps.
Other Roles and Responsibilities include:
Data Analysis - Analyzing student data related to academics, behavior and attendance to make strategic decisions around increasing student success.
Access & Equity - Establishing methods to identify and target systemic barriers that deter from equitable educational access; working to provide students with the opportunity for academic challenge resulting in improved student achievement, attendance and behavior.
Collaboration - Maintaining a strong home, school and community connection by consistently communicating and partnering with families; teachers and administrators.
Community Referral - Assist students and families in accessing community support & services in order to reduce barriers to academic success.
Classroom Intervention - Utilizing school counseling curriculum to push into elementary classrooms to support personal/social growth; academic success and career awareness. This may include the development of an Intervention Plan through active participation in team meetings as well as in the School Based Support Team.
Individual counseling - Meet with students on an individual basis in order to address academic, attendance or behavioral needs. In addition, guide them in understanding and accepting themselves, cope with family changes and/or family crises, and develop decision making skills, conflict resolution skills, anger management techniques, as well as, problem solving strategies.
Small group counseling - Meeting with students in a small group setting in order to address