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- School Counseling
Assessment, Accountability, and Student Support
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Welcome to the School Counseling Department
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School counselors design and deliver comprehensive school counseling programs in three critical areas: academic, personal/social, and career. These three areas, which promote student achievement, are designed to help students resolve emotional, social, or behavioral problems, and they also help students develop a clearer focus or sense of direction. Comprehensive in scope, preventive in design, and developmental in nature, school counseling programs in the Jefferson County School System follow both the American School Counselor Association National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs and the Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance State Model for Alabama Public Schools. The school counseling program is an integral component of the school’s mission. Informed by student data and based on the ASCA National Model, school counseling programs are provided by a state-credentialed school counselor and:
- are delivered to all students systematically
- include developmentally appropriate curriculum
- assist with the improvement of student achievement, attendance, and discipline
Equipped with a total of 88 school counselors, the Jefferson County School System provides services to students through four program components: school guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support.
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Mission and Vision
Mission Statement - To effectively provide a motivating, safe, and trusting environment which empowers all students to become life-long emotional, social, academic, and career-oriented citizens.
Vision - We strive to accomplish this mission by providing a variety of planned, purposeful, and sequential counseling and guidance activities that promote growth in the domains of personal/social, academic, and career development.
The district’s counseling and guidance program, as well as each building-level program, is data-driven by students’ needs and provides outcome-based accountability measures.
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Overview of Program
The school guidance curriculum includes school-wide campaigns and large group activities from kindergarten through twelfth grade, with an emphasis on decision-making; self-understanding; study skills; and career exploration, preparation, and planning. Small group counseling is also offered to students that have similar specific needs.
The individual planning component of the comprehensive school counseling program includes activities that provide every student with an opportunity to plan, monitor, and manage their academic, career, and personal/social development. Individual student planning emphasizes test interpretation, while academic counseling includes post-secondary education, career/technical education, and career planning.
Responsive services are short-term counseling interventions to resolve immediate conflicts/problems, respond to crisis events, and intervene in school-specific situations that disrupt learning. These services include counseling or referral activities to meet the immediate needs and concerns of students. Responsive services include personal counseling, problem-solving, agency referral, and consultation.
System support includes indirect guidance management activities that maintain and enhance the total school counseling and guidance program. Responsibilities in this component include staff relations, community relations, task forces, professional development, support teams, test interpretation, data analysis, and curriculum development.
A comprehensive school counseling program is an integral component of the school’s academic mission. Comprehensive school counseling programs, driven by student data and based on standards in academic, career, and personal/social development, promote and enhance the learning process for all students.
In addition to the school counseling programs, the Prevention and Support Department is designed to work with at-risk students in all grade levels in all 58 Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÒÅÆ. The goal of our department is to support prevention services in an effort to ensure that every school is a safe and healthy environment for all students.