Duties and Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with all school staff to create a positive learning community.
• Take an active role in analyzing local, state, and national data to develop and enhance school counseling programs. 
• Create data-driven goals and strategies that align with the school improvement plan to improve student learning. 
• Discuss annually the comprehensive school counseling program with the school administrator. 
• Provide input in the selection of professional development for the school staff that meets the needs of students and choose professional development activities that foster their own professional growth. 
• Mentor and support colleagues to improve the academic success of students.
• Implements the improvement of counseling services by staying current in research and best practices. 
• Promote professional growth for all educators and collaborate with colleagues to improve the profession.
• Promote awareness and responsiveness to learning styles, cultural diversity, and individual learning needs. 
• Collaborate with staff in building relationships with students that have a positive impact on student achievement. 
• Implementation of initiatives to improve the education and development of all students.
• Demonstrate ethical behaviors.
• Create an environment that is inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive, and flexible. 
• Model and teach behaviors that lead to positive and nurturing relationships.
• Collaborate with teachers to ensure that the presentation of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study is relevant to a diverse student population. 
• Actively select materials and develop activities that counteract stereotypes and incorporate histories and contributions of diverse cultures. 
• Recognize the influence of culture on a child’s development and personality. 
• Help others understand how a student’s culture, language, and background may influence school performance and consider these influences in the programs and services they provide.
• Maintain high expectations, including graduation from high school, for students of all backgrounds.
• Counselors collaborate with school and community personnel to help meet their needs identifying these needs using data, referrals, observation, and other sources of information. 
• Collaborate with others to create a customized plan of action that provides follow-up services to meet students’ varied needs.
• Improve communication and collaboration among the school, home, and community in order to promote and build trust, understanding, and partnerships with all segments of the school community. 
• Seek solutions to overcome barriers that may stand in the way of effective family and community involvement in the education of students.
• Support the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, 
• Align content standards and implement program models developed by professional organizations in school counseling. 
• Support equity and access to rigorous and relevant curricula for all students. 
• Develop and apply strategies to enhance student success.
• Address the academic, career, and personal/social development of all students.
• Support the mission and goals of the school and district by providing technical assistance to all curricula areas as they align components of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to their content areas/disciplines. 
• Support teachers and other specialists’ use of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to develop and enhance students’ twenty-first-century skills and promote global awareness.
• Use data to develop comprehensive programs that meet student needs. 
• Deliberately, strategically, and broadly incorporate into their programs the life skills that students need to be successful in the twenty-first century. 
• Spanning the academic, personal/social, and career domains and include leadership, ethics, accountability, adaptability, personal productivity, personal responsibility, people skills, self-direction, and social responsibility.
• Provide resources to staff to enhance student strengths and address student weaknesses.
• Use academic, behavioral, and attendance data to plan appropriate programs for students. 
• Discuss the comprehensive school counseling program with school administrators and communicate the goals of the program to stakeholders. 
• Consult and collaborate with colleagues, parents/guardians, and other stakeholders to ensure that students’ needs are addressed.
• Create programs responsive to cultural diversity and student needs.
• Employ technology as appropriate to enhance the delivery of their programs.
• Assist all students with developing academic, career, and personal/social skills. 
• Assist students utilize sound reasoning, understand connections, and make complex choices. 
• Assist students in learning problem-solving techniques that incorporate critical thinking skills such as identifying problems, recognizing options, weighing evidence, and evaluating consequences. 
• Encourage students to use these skills to make healthy and responsible choices in their everyday lives.
• Listen responsively to students, colleagues, parents/guardians, and other stakeholders in order to identify issues and barriers that impede student success. 
• Use a variety of methods to communicate effectively in support of the academic, career, and personal/social development of all students. 
• Assist students in developing effective listening and communication skills in order to enhance academic success, build positive relationships, resolve conflicts, advocate for themselves, and become responsible twenty-first-century citizens.
• Use systematic and critical thinking about the impact of the comprehensive school counseling program on student academic, career, and personal/social development. 
• Analyze student achievement, behavior, and school climate data, as well as feedback from students, parents, and other stakeholders to continually develop their program. 
• Evaluate the effectiveness of their program based on these data.
• Participate in continued, high-quality professional development that reflects a global view of educational practices, includes twenty-first-century skills and knowledge, aligns with the State Board of Education priorities, and meets the needs of students and their own professional growth.
• Actively investigate and consider new ideas that improve student academic, career, and personal/social development as well as the school counseling profession. 
• Collaborate with students, staff, parents, and other stakeholders to implement these ideas.
• Administer and interpret tests within the testing program.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

In order to deliver a comprehensive school counseling program, the professional school counselor should understand and be competent in the following areas:  

• human growth and development
• core components for helping relationships
• cultural diversity
• societal change and trends
• student learning
• academic success
• evaluation of student needs
• group and individual counseling techniques
• career development
• use of data
• use of technology
• leadership
• advocacy
• systemic change
• legal/ethical guidelines
• collaboration with internal/external stakeholders
• research/program evaluation
• interaction with educational professionals.