School counseling: Partnering with a school district to provide postsecondary opportunities for first generation, low income, and students of color

Abstract

A classroom activity led by district school counselors was conducted in a K‐12 school district to ensure educational equity for students in relation to postsecondary attendance. This took place in a school setting that has a large population of students of color, predominately Latino and African American students, as well as low‐income students. As part of their practicum field experience, university school counseling students were supervised by school counselors at their sites to help provide a readily available and modified curriculum to instruct students about their options related to postsecondary awareness, planning, and attendance, as well as demonstrate career pathways that engender high expectations and college and career readiness. Instruction took place in the classroom as well as in small group settings.

American first-generation college students’ narratives of positive relationships with their school counsellors

“…The ways participants felt supported by their relationships with their school counsellors provides a counternarrative to previous findings about ways school counsellors have fallen short in serving FGCS (Hurwitz & Howell, 2014; Pérusse et al, 2017). It is encouraging that some school counsellors are providing impactful services to FGCS as described by the participants in our study.…”

From Homeless to Student Housing: School Counselor Roles and Experiences in Preparing Students Experiencing Homelessness for College

“…To ensure their success, students experiencing homelessness may need additional support from school counselors to help them remove barriers and become college ready. This may include exposing students to a variety of careers, enhancing opportunities for exposure to college environments, and encouraging students early on to establish goals toward college attendance (Pérusse et al, 2017). College selection is particularly important for students experiencing homelessness.…”

Developing Potential for Postsecondary Attainment: Measuring the Outcomes of an Evidence Based College Readiness Curriculum without the Fear of Statistics

“…School counselors are prepared to assist students in college and career counseling and can take the lead in preparing students to be college and career ready by implementing systematic interventions, and measuring the outcomes (Pérusse, DeRonck &Parzych, 2017). Anxiety around data analysis, and clerical duties may discourage counselors fromcollecting data as a matter of practice (Holcomb-McCoy et al, 2009;Viera& Freer, 2015).…”

“…This intervention also highlights that using a collaborative process to intervene has benefits beyond student outcomes (Cook, Krell, Hyden, Garcia &Denitzio, 2016, National Association of Professional Development Schools, 2017. A school district-university team committed to the preparation of counselors-in-training that actively engages in the school community leads to school counselors that are better prepared to meet the demands of the job (Pérusse et al, 2017). Counselor educators and practicing school counselors gain the opportunity to stay current by working together to impact students.…”

“…This preparation includes the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to successfully complete a college course, and be able to move on to the next course level in the subject area (Conley, 2011). The benefits of exposing school-aged students to college and career information is that it opens the door to higher levels of occupation and socioeconomic status (Pérusse, DeRonck &Parzych, 2017).Student success in the first year of postsecondary education is largely dependent on developing greater college readiness skills at the secondary level (Complete College America, 2012).School counselors are prepared to assist students with developing college and career readiness skills through the implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program (American School Counselor Association (ASCA), 2019). School counselors are expected to collect data to monitor progress, evaluate programs, and identify achievement gaps when students are not performing at the same rate as their peers (ASCA, 2019).…”