A recent NACAC study confirmed that students who meet one-on-one with a school counselor are significantly more likely to attend college and apply for federal financial aid.
Study findings show that 12th graders who talked about their future plans with a school counselor were:
Seven times more likely to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Three times more likely to attend college
Two times more likely to attend a bachelor’s degree program
NACAC believes school counselors have an important and often under-acknowledged role to play in moving toward the goal of equity in education.
One of NACAC’s core values is that our institutional and individual members strive to eliminate from the education system bias based on race, ethnicity, creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, political affiliation, national origin, or disability. We view this as fundamental to our responsibility as educators.
However, the stark reality is that inequities do exist, and are often strongly associated with race and ethnicity.
For example:
High student-to-counselor ratios School counselors in schools serving large numbers of racial and ethnic minority students face ratios well above the current national ratio of 464:1. According to the Education Trust, a high school counselor who serves predominantly students of color has to serve 34 more students every year than a school counselor who serves fewer students of color, and 27 states are shortchanging either their students of color, students from low-income families, or both. And since black students are more likely than their white peers to cite a school counselor’s involvement in changing their college-going perceptions, such shortages present steep barriers to students of color.
Inequitable access to education resources and college preparatory coursework Evidence of racial gaps in access to school resources is plentiful. Persistent racial and ethnic gaps exist in dual enrollment and college preparatory coursework (AP and IB), which is the foundation for NACAC’s policy priority in support of equitable funding for schools to ensure that all students have access to coursework that will prepare them for education beyond high school.
Implicit bias and cultural fluency There is a substantial and growing body of research documenting individual implicit bias across all industries and facets of American life. College admission counseling professionals, including school counselors, have identified implicit bias and other, more overt, forms of bias as a critical obstacle to serving all students well. As such, NACAC recently created a resource for practitioners wishing to learn more about cultural fluency and bias, and urges school leaders and policymakers to consider the effects of bias on the educational system.
Interaction with a school counselor has statistically significant, positive effects on college-going behavior and ensuring equitable access to school counseling and other critical resources—particularly for racial/ethnic minority students—is an immediate concern to be addressed by policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels.
David Hawkins is NACAC’s executive director for educational content and policy. You can reach him at dhawkins@nacacnet.org.
Editor’s Note: National School Counseling Week, sponsored by ASCA, is always celebrated the first full week in February. Learn more about this year’s celebration and use the comment section below to let us know what you hope your students learn from you.
Every year, I say goodbye to a group of students I’ve shepherded through the college application process. We’ve spent a lot of time together. Obviously, we’ve talked about college. But we’ve also spent a lot of time talking about life, their hopes and dreams, the challenges they’ve faced. As I brace myself for the inevitable separation, this is what I hope they’ve learned from me.
Editor’s Note: National School Counseling Week, sponsored by ASCA, is always celebrated the first full week in February. Learn more about this year’s celebration and use the comment section below to let us know why you love being a school counselor.
Why do I love being a school counselor?
If I had a dime for every time a parent or friend commented, “I don’t know how you do your job,” I think I could pay for my trip to the national conference with money left over to buy treats for the rest of my colleagues all over the country.
My response is always, “I love my job! There is never a dull moment.” And that is the truth.
Editor’s Note: National School Counseling Week, sponsored by ASCA, is always celebrated the first full week in February. Learn more about this year’s celebration and use the comment section below to let us know what drew you to the counseling profession.
There is an iconic scene in the movie Clerks (1994), Kevin Smith’s first film, which centers on a suited man sitting on the floor of a convenience store searching for the perfect carton of eggs.
According to a random customer and the titular clerks, Dante and Randal, this man is suffering from shell shock as a result of working as a counselor.
The customer says, “Well, if your job was as meaningless as theirs, wouldn’t you go crazy, too?”
The American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) School Counselor of the Year award “honors professionals who devote their careers to advocating for the nation’s students and addressing their academic and social/emotional development and college and career readiness needs.”
Coleman, a school counselor and counseling department chair at Jones College Prep in Chicago, IL, has worked to make sure his school takes a holistic approach to counseling.
“As a school with college in our name, there tends to be a great deal of focus and energy placed exclusively on students’ college and postsecondary planning processes,” Coleman told ASCA. “However, we have worked to create a broader awareness that students’ holistic well-being is just as important to their current and future successes.”
Coleman was honored by Jill Biden at a ceremony Friday in Washington, DC.
“It can be so hard to be a teenager. We’ve all been there. It can be so hard to know where you fit in and where you fit in to your community, especially as you plan your future. But Brian gives his students confidence in their abilities. He helps them find the best in themselves, and he pushes them to reach higher,” Biden said.
“He represents the best of this profession, but he’s certainly not alone.”
During a Facebook Live broadcast Thursday afternoon, EducationUSA Branch Chief Fred Boll discussed the message he wants the United States to send to students across the globe.
“The State Department and EducationUSA are focused on sending a clear and positive message to students all around the world that you are welcome in the United States. We want all qualified students to come study in the United States. We have an unparalleled diversity of institutions, opportunities…There are experiences students will have here that they will simply not get anywhere else,” Boll said.
National School Counseling Week kicks off on Monday. The annual five-day event, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), celebrates the many ways counselors make a difference in the lives of students.
Online contests and local events are scheduled across the country, making it the perfect time to highlight the profession we love.
Food insecurity among students is finally getting recognized by the federal government.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that there are at least 2 million students who are at risk of being food insecure and who qualify for SNAP benefits but did not receive them. This number could be significantly higher, but the data available at this time is inconclusive.
This report is the first time the federal government has significantly acknowledged food insecurity on college campuses.
Interested in learning more about international student recruitment in the US?
We’ll be broadcasting via Facebook Live on Thursday, Jan. 31 with EducationUSA’s branch chief Fred Boll. Tune in at noon ET to learn more about EducationUSA resources and priorities, as well as strategies to attract qualified students to the US.
National School Counseling Week
