Inside Higher Ed (7/29, Stratford) reports that the Administration held a gathering of higher education experts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on Monday focused on “digging into the trenches on school counseling: best practices in college counseling, how to better-train counselors, and how to harness new technology to help students.” The article notes that experts cited increasingly overworked counselors--notably at high schools in low-income areas--and called for more investment.
Nation’s High Schools See Dearth Of Counselors
USA Today (3/23, Clark) reports that high school guidance counselors have “become something of a rare commodity on high school campuses these days,” noting that nationally, the average ratio of counselors to students rose from 457 to one to 471 to one between 2008 and 2011. Noting that the American School Counselors Association says that 250 to one is the “ideal” ratio, the article juxtaposes the dwindling number of counselors with the growing numbers of duties they face.
School Counselors Struggle To Keep Up With Case Loads
US News & World Report (9/17, Bidwell) reports on the issues facing high school counselors in the US and says that the national caseload average “remains nearly twice the recommended rate set by the American Counseling Association, with each counselor seeing 471 students on average.” The article adds that according to data provided by the ASCA, only Vermont and Wyoming “have ratios that meet the recommended case load of 250 students for each counselor.” The article notes that to make matters worse, as school districts eliminate positions, counselors are forced to not only “take on heavier case loads, but they are also expected to pitch in with other administrative and clerical duties.”