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Role of the School Counselor
The primary role of the high school counselor is to be a student’s advocate, providing each student with the opportunity to acquire the academic, civic, and social skills essential to graduating from high school and becoming productive citizens who respect themselves and others. In addition to working with students, counselors are a part of the educational team including parents, teachers, administrators, and specialists. This team works in a partnership assisting students in meeting Kingswood Regional High School graduation requirements and in planning post-secondary options. Each student is assigned to a school counselor who will follow the student through his or her high school years, allowing an opportunity for the counselor and student to develop a working relationship. Students may seek a counselor’s assistance with any or all types of questions and concerns. Academics, work habits and study skills, post-secondary planning, and personal concerns are all common issues of high school students. When seeking a conference with a counselor, students and parents may directly contact their counselor via the counseling secretary. Parents are encouraged to call the counseling office whenever they have questions or concerns about their child’s well-being or welfare. Individual concerns about a specific course or class are best addressed directly with the subject teacher. Communication is particularly important whenever there is an illness, death, separation, divorce, stress, or other family crisis. The counseling center curriculum includes a number of activities and services such as: • New student registration • Schedule development • Course selection and course registration • Monitoring student academic progress • Attend parent/teacher conferences • Participate in IEP and Section 504 meetings • Consultations with teachers, administrators, parents and students • Provide mediations for students to help resolve conflicts • Assist with freshmen year transition • Development of Four Year Plans • Individual counseling and small group counseling • Academic counseling • Personal counseling • Provide crisis intervention • Post-secondary counseling • Processing applications to independent schools and post-secondary programs • Coordination of referrals to outside resources • Home tutoring for students with extended illness • Communications between school and home • Orientation programs • Parent information programs • College Board Testing • PSAT administration • AP Exam administration • SAT (11th Statewide testing) • Scholarship programs |
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