#AskExcelinEd: How can we help school counselors by supporting student pathway navigation and career exploration?

Innovation
Quality

The first week of February is a special time: it’s both National School Counseling Week (#NSCW21) and the beginning of #CTEMonth. These simultaneous events highlight the intersections of school counseling and CTE – especially, the importance of high-quality pathway navigation, advisement and career exploration.

The attention could not come at a more urgent time. Even before COVID-19, school counselors were notoriously over-stretched. They are tasked with providing high-quality instruction and services across three domains (Academic, Career and Social/Emotional) for huge numbers of students. In 2018-19, the student-to-counselor ratio was 430-to-1, much higher than the American School Counselor Association (ASCA)-recommended 250:1. On top of that, school counselors are often assigned non-counseling duties that further stretch their ability to effectively reach all students.

School Counselors Need Support Now More Than Ever

The pandemic’s impact on students’ and families’ physical and mental health, financial security, and learning exacerbates the challenge of supporting all students’ needs. ASCA’s “State of the Profession 2020” report highlights the additional duties school counselors have undertaken related to COVID-19:

In addition to new COVID-related duties, the report highlights the day-to-day challenges school counselors face in the pandemic:

These additional duties and challenges highlight the many ways that school counselors are working to meet the immediate needs created by the pandemic. This work is absolutely critical and cannot be understated. Students must be engaged, healthy and emotionally supported to be able to learn and develop their career pathway plans. School counselors are often the only adults in school buildings with the ability to provide many of these supports.

However, none of the additional COVID-19 duties and challenges reported by counselors specifically address academic and career advisement (pathway navigation). As the pandemic continues to disrupt students’ lives and learning, high-quality pathway navigation and career exploration will become increasingly important to ensuring students are prepared for success in college and careers that look different because of COVID-19.

It’s clear that school counselors have been stretched beyond their capacity to meet students’ and families’ needs. This creates the opportunity – and responsibility – for other adults (educators, parents, etc.) to provide this critical support for student pathway navigation and career exploration.

How Can We All Help Counselors?

Every adult can – and should – play a role in ensuring that each student has access to vital, data-driven pathway navigation and advisement.

There are many ways to support students’ pathway navigation and career exploration – the key is starting the conversation and keeping it going.

Solution Areas:

College & Career Pathways, Teachers & Leaders

About the Author

Melissa Canney is the Director of Innovation Policy for ExcelinEd.

Solution Areas:

College & Career Pathways