Fund Supports Reforms of School Counselor Education With $3.5 Million in Grants to Six Universities
The Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund has selected six universities to lead a national effort to reform the preparation of public school counselors. The universities, working with public school districts, along with the Education Trust, will share $3.5 million in grants from the Fund to make changes in graduate level training programs so future counselors can better serve elementary, middle and high school students, especially those in low-income communities.
The Fund's program is a response to studies by leading experts that argue for training that will better equip future counselors to support the academic and career development needs of all students. At present, most counselors are taught instead how to deal primarily with the social and personal needs of young people.
"We have heard the calls over the years for this kind of reform based on evidence that effective academic career counseling can help improve student attendance, boost academic performance and lead to more informed choices about college," said M. Christine DeVita, President, Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. "For those reasons, we feel compelled to support those in the counseling field who feel change is long overdue."
Patricia Martin, Senior Program Manger for the Education Trust, said the new training models will give counselors the knowledge and skills necessary to influence education reform efforts designed to help all students achieve high standards. "This work is essential if students are going to participate fully as involved citizens in the 21st century." Martin said.
Including these latest grants, the Fund has invest nearly $17 million in programs to improve the skills of school counselors.
The six universities taking part in the Fund's initiative each received a three year, $450,000 grant to revise their curricula, recruit more diverse candidates to their programs and partner with local school districts to enhance the role of counselors in schools. The Education Trust of Washington, D.C. also received an $875,000 grant from the Fund to work with the six univer4sitites over the next three years as they implement changes to their counselor education programs. The Trust promotes high academic achievement for all students at all levels, kindergarten through college, and focuses on schools and colleges serving Latino, African American and Native American students.
The Universities receiving grants are:
- California State University, Northridge California
- Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
- University of West Georgia, Carrollton Georgia
- The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
- University of North Florida, Jacksonville Florida
Along with the work underway at the participating universities, the Fund will commission a national evaluation of the counseling initiative. The focus will be on learning how the six universities and their partner school districts implement new approaches to better prepare and deploy school counselors. Out of this work, the Fund hopes to learn and subsequently share major lessons that can be used by other universities also interested in transforming and improving their counselor training programs.
National Spotlight on Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology
The Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology is one of six university departments in the United States to receive funding from the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to transform school counseling at the graduate level and subsequently in the schools. The department will receive $450,000 over a three-year period to implement the initiative. Prior to this honor, the department was selected as on e of ten universities along with a partnership school district (Clayton County) to receive a $65,000 planning grant. Of those ten universities, six were selected for the actual implementation grants. Originally, over 70 universities throughout the country had submitted proposals for this very competitive funding from this prestigious private foundation. In his cover letter for the implementation grant, Brent Snow wrote, "By now, my sense is you know why I have such high regard for faculty in my department and our colleagues in Clayton County. This project would be much easier if we were a small counseling department with few students. Because we are not, however, the challenges have been great but the results have been meaningful."
