High School Counseling Department

Counseling Beliefs

• We believe all students will achieve and meet high standards resulting in college and career readiness.

• We believe that individual strengths, culture and the social/emotional needs of all students should be respected and valued.

• We believe the role of a school counselor is to provide a data driven, developmental program designed to meet the needs of all students through curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support.

• We believe that a comprehensive school counseling program must be aligned with the district strategic plan as well as state and national standards.

• We believe that school counselors are leaders who advocate and collaborate with others to create equitable access to rigorous curriculum and opportunities for self-directed personal growth and resiliency.

• We believe that school counselors must collaborate with families, staff, and community resources to address student developmental needs, primary prevention, and continuous student’s achievement.

• We believe that school counselors must abide by the ASCA professional school counseling code of ethics.

The North Shore school counseling program strives to empower students to become independent and productive individuals through a developmentally age-appropriate program. School counselors provide support in the area of academic, social, personal and college and career counseling services. We work collaboratively with other disciplines to ensure that our students are strong communicators and collaborators who can think and problem solve creativity while upholding personal and civic responsibility.

Students in the North Shore school district have the opportunity to work with a state-certified school counselor in a variety of different capacities, whether it is through classroom lessons, group, or individual counseling.

School Counselors support students personally and socially, academically and with college and career readiness.

School counselors help students grow personally and socially in:

• Developing self-knowledge
• Making effective decisions
• Developing relationship skills
• Making healthy choices
• Resolving conflicts

School counselors assist students in educational planning by:

• Setting, reflecting, and reaching goals
• Developing a positive attitude toward learning
• Understanding individual learning styles
• Developing an educational plan
• Providing academic advising
• Improving study and test-taking skills
• Recognizing and utilizing academic strengths

School counselors help students become college and career ready by:

• Exploring college and career opportunities
• Developing skills in college and career decision-making
• Analyzing the interrelationships of interests and abilities
• Understanding college and career readiness
• Using college and career planning tools to determine postsecondary options

School Counseling Services are delivered in three ways: individual student planning, responsive services and/or through consultation.

Individual Student Planning

School counselors work with students to identify short- and long-term academic, personal-social, and college and career goals. Utilizing these goals, counselors help students and families identify current and future courses of study, possible barriers to success, and solutions. In this way, school counselors and students are able to plan for goal-attainment while also reinforcing problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Responsive Services

School counselors are able to provide assistance to students and schools in moments of need through individual and group or classroom lessons. By building relationships with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members, counselors are quickly able to respond to one child or an entire school with resources and support.

Consultation

The school counselor is available to parents, teachers, and other educational professionals to discuss student concerns and develop proactive plans for student achievement. School counselors are knowledgeable about the educational process; child and adolescent development; and local, state, and national resources. Through this collaboration and their awareness of the "whole" child, school counselors are able to build bridges to academic success.