School Counselor

School Counselor

Utilizing leadership, advocacy, and collaboration, school counselors improve students social and emotional development, promote student success, provide preventive services, and respond to identified students needs by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program that addresses academic, career, and personal/social development for all students.

Counseling: Conduct structured goal-oriented counseling sessions in systematic response to identified needs of groups of children. Themes could include academic skill building, social skill development, emotional de-escalation, career awareness, conflict resolution, family issues and making healthy choices. Assist primary students with the transition to middle school. Assist middle students with the transition to high school. Provide individual and group counseling to meet the needs of the student population. Coordinates and implements school-wide prevention activities. Provides crisis intervention and responsive services. Stay current on research and best practices in social-emotional learning.

Consulting: Provide information and skills to parents, faculty, administration and the community to assist them in helping students in academic, career and social development. Assist with designing staff professional development and training to support effective implementation of social-emotional learning in schools. Consult with principals, school counselors, school psychologists, teachers, and administrators regarding the social and emotional needs of students. Take a leadership role in the infusion of social emotional learning and counseling content into the curriculum, staff development and parent education programs. Develop educational workshops for parents and the community to build investment in SEL. Assist parents in addressing and supporting student problems and issues. Refer students and their parents, as needed, to appropriate specialist, special programs and/or outside agencies.

Coordination/Collaboration: Advocate for equal access to programs and services for all students and families. Work collaboratively with district departments and school campuses to integrate social-emotional learning programs aligned with the district's strategic plan. Coordinate and deliver resources to school buildings to promote students' social-emotional learning. Coordinate parent education programs to assist students in making a smooth transition from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school and in planning post high school options. Collaborate and provide support to faculty. Utilize community resources in addressing the needs of students and families.

School System: Participate in school design making and in activities, which contribute to the effective operation of the school. Collect and analyze data to make decisions and adjustments to SEL curriculum and initiatives. Cooperate and collaborate with other professionals in enhancing the education of students. Communicate with the administrators, teachers and staff, parents and students as to the role of the school counseling program in the overall educational process of the school. Participate in school and district initiatives and provide internal support to faculty. Contribute to short-term and long-term planning of district-wide SEL integration. Participate in school teams such as SIP, PBIS, Targeted Team, etc.

Accountability: Monitors student academic performance, behavior and attendance and assists with appropriate interventions. Maintains accurate records and reports. Measures student academic performance, behavior and attendance and assists with appropriate interventions.

Professionalism: Exhibits positive human relations skills. Demonstrates proficiency in written and oral communication. Adhere to the ethical standards of state and national counselor associations. Adhere to preferred practices prescribed by state and national school counselor associations. Demonstrate knowledge of local policies and state and federal laws pertaining to school counseling. Demonstrate personal growth and professional development.

Knowledge and Critical Skills: Hold an Illinois Type 73 School Service Personnel certificate Master's degree required. Demonstrated leadership skills Demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills Knowledge of collective bargaining contracts, Board of Education policies, Illinois School Code and Labor Laws. Knowledge of standards for counselors (national level)

Experience: Previous work experience in a school/educational setting or related environment preferred. Experience: None required.