CERTIFIED SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Job Summary: The certified school counselor provides leadership in the school through the implementation of a comprehensive, data-driven school counseling program aligned with the district and school’s mission to promote academic, social/emotional, and college/career development, while ensuring equity and access for all students.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Holds or be eligible for a Florida Department of Education certificate in school counseling as specified in Administrative Rule 6A.4.0181, which requires a master’s degree or higher in guidance and counseling or counselor education.
- Demonstrates the ability to design, implement, analyze, and document outcomes of a comprehensive school counseling program based on national and state standards.
- Demonstrates the ability to support student achievement, social/emotional development, and college/career readiness.
- Abides by the American School Counselor Association’s Ethical Standards for School Counselors (updated 2016).
- Demonstrates the ability to work with diverse groups.
- Demonstrates the ability to effectively communicate, both orally and in writing.
- Demonstrates knowledge of technology and software applications appropriate to job responsibilities.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
A. Student Success for All
- Designs and implement a data-driven, comprehensive school counseling program for all students to address barriers to student learning and to close the achievement/opportunity gap.
- Spends a minimum of 80 percent of time providing direct services and 20 percent indirect services.
- Direct services include, but are not limited to, school counseling core curriculum, individual counseling and student planning, classroom lessons, small group counseling, and preventative and responsive services.
- Indirect services on behalf of students include, but not limited to, referrals for additional assistance and consultation/collaboration with parents, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders to create a learning environment promoting educational equity, access, and success for every student.
- Delivers programs that promote students’ development of essential mindsets and behavior standards including, but not limited to, learning skills, social skills, self-management skills, and college/career readiness skills.
- Reviews and disaggregates student achievement, attendance, and behavior data to identify and implement interventions with current knowledge of promotion, retention, and graduation requirements.
- Uses school data to identify and assist individual students who do not perform at grade level and do not have opportunities and resources to be successful in school.
- Creates yearly, data-driven goals that advance student outcomes in areas of academic, social/emotional, and college/career development.
- Uses the skills of leadership, advocacy and collaboration to create systemic change to improve the academic, social/emotional, and post-graduate success of all students.
B. Promoting Positive School Climate
- Acts as a systems change agent in collaboration with the school leadership team to ensure a safe, supportive, and respectful school climate that promotes the social/emotional and academic development and success of all students.
- Fosters family and community partnerships to support the social/emotional and academic development of all students.
- Infuses cultural competence, ethical and professional competencies in planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating the comprehensive school counseling program.
- Provides preventative education and skill building along with counseling for students during times of transition, separation, heightened stress and critical change.
- Uses appropriate responses and a variety of intervention strategies to meet the needs of the individual, group or school community before, during and after crisis response.
- Supports the continuum of mental health services, including prevention and tiered intervention strategies, and collaborates with both school-based and community mental health providers to enhance student success.
C. Leadership and Advocacy
- Develops and communicates a school counseling mission statement that is specific, concise, clear and comprehensive, describing a school counseling program’s purpose and vision of the program’s benefits for every student in alignment with the school, district and state missions.
- Uses student data to demonstrate a need for systemic change in areas such as course enrollment patterns; equity and access; and achievement, opportunity and/or information gaps.
- Advocates for student equity and access to a world-class education that leads to high school graduation and fosters post-graduate success.
- Analyzes and reports outcomes of the school counseling program and goals, which are presented in the context of the overall school and district performance.
- Utilizes technology effectively and efficiently to plan, organize, implement and evaluate the comprehensive school counseling program.
- Uses legal and ethical decision-making based on standards and principles of the school counseling profession and educational systems, including district and building policies.
- Collaborates with school staff in the analysis of student performance data, rigorous goal-setting, and development of effective action plans for improving academic, social/emotional, and post-graduate outcomes for all students.
D. Additional Job Functions
- Follows adopted policies and procedures in accordance with School Board priorities.
- Performs other duties as specified in local, state and federal rules, laws and statutes.
Proposed January 2018 by the Florida School Counselor Association based on input from District Leaders. Revised based on open comments from FSCA members and District Leaders, April 2018.
