What do elementary school counselors do?
Why do we need elementary school counselors?
- Teach classroom guidance lessons
- Facilitate short-term small group counseling
- Provide immediate and short-term individual counseling
- Work collaboratively with teachers and staff
- Consult with parents
- Provide information and/or referrals for community resources to families
Why do we need elementary school counselors?
- A deliberate and comprehensive approach to teaching children social and emotional skills can raise their grades and test scores, increase enthusiasm for learning, reduce behavior problems, and enhance cognitive functioning.
- Students who receive social skills instruction do better academically and socially but the reverse is not true (academic instruction does not increase social/emotional skills).
- There is a strong connection between emotions and learning. Students who can recognize and manage strong emotions are better learners.
- Students who attend schools with a comprehensive guidance program do significantly better on standardized tests than students who attend schools without a comprehensive guidance program. The longer the students are in schools with comprehensive guidance programs, the more they outperform their peers on standardized tests.
- Pro social behaviors exhibited by students in the classroom were found to be better predictors of academic achievement than were their standardized test scores.