July/August 2014 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber
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“These other activities might include being the hall monitor,
administering tests or even managing the school mascot,” states Derek
Redelman, Indiana Chamber vice president of education and workforce
development. “The bottom line is that a school counselor’s job duties
include a growing catch-all list of non-related activities that takes them
from their primary function. And that needs to be addressed.”
The Indiana Chamber took the additional step of forming an
advisory group to provide feedback on what efforts – programs and
policies – could make the strongest impact. The advisory group included
school counselors, principals, superintendents, community college
partners, youth-serving organizations and government agencies.
“This group of advisors was asked to consider a range of initiatives
that would have the most positive effect on student achievement,
postsecondary attainment and career readiness through counseling
services,” Redelman offers.
The end result was this set of Indiana Chamber goals and initiatives:
•
Continue to raise awareness.
Consider developing a marketing
campaign to expand the postsecondary opportunities made available
for consideration by students.
•
Recognize successful programs and initiatives.
Accomplished
by exploring metrics and potential partners to recognize schools
and/or counseling programs that have demonstrated success. Then
use recognition to highlight a broad range of postsecondary success
opportunities for students.
•
Communicate employer needs.
Explore opportunities for
organized employer tours for students and educators to foster deeper
understanding of career opportunities. Also collaborate with partners
to improve access to web-based information, including IndianaSkills.com.
•
Assist with data accessibility.
Champion the continued development
of the public user interface for Indiana’s longitudinal data system,
which will make it possible for policy leaders to identify the greatest
training and educational needs, and to evaluate progress in meeting
those needs.
•
Create the right accountability incentives.
Continue to work
on school accountability task force.
The
Indiana School Counseling Research Review
, which also includes
comments from 11 personal interviews with key counseling leaders in
the state, was produced by Matt Fleck of Fleck Education and the
Partnership for College and Career Readiness.
RESOURCE:
The
Indiana School Counseling Research Review
full report and executive summary at
“As policymakers, we are increasingly
focused on the need for students to be
college and career ready. The problem
is that too many students and families
still don’t know what that means. This
report highlights the need to redesign
the counseling model, freeing
counselors to focus more on readiness
responsibilities rather than administrative tasks.”
Teresa Lubbers, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education
