Guiding the School Counselor: An Overview of Roles and Responsibilities (Archived)
Challenge
View the movie below and then proceed to the Initial Thoughts section (time: 1:31).
Transcript: Challenge
Narrator: Mr. Hunter is a retired military officer who is beginning a second career in school counseling. He has taken a job as the school counselor in a consolidated 7th through 12th grade school in a small rural district. There are approximately 125 students per graduating class, and he currently has 550 students in his caseload. In addition, 66 of those students currently meet eligibility for special education, and 22 of their cases involve transition plans this semester. Consequently, Mr. Hunter is scheduled to attend several IEP meetings in the next few weeks. While Mr. Hunter’s school counseling training prepared him for general school counseling roles, he is feeling overwhelmed with all of his special education responsibilities. Furthermore, he feels unprepared to work with students with disabilities. He does not know what his role is supposed to be at these IEP meetings or what types of services he is to provide to the students. He wants to provide good support to students with disabilities but is not sure how to do so.
Here’s your Challenge:
How can Mr. Hunter effectively manage his school counseling responsibilities?
What are the roles and responsibilities of school counselors when working with students with disabilities?
How can school counselors keep up with all of their responsibilities and also remain current?
