School counselor credentials and roles in Florida elementary schools

School Counselor Interview

1. Please explain what counseling credential you have (e.g., license or certificate) and what the qualifications are for this in your state. What examinations, if any, are required (e.g., Praxis)? For this interview, I engaged with Teresa Taylor who is a school counselor at Golden Gates Elementary School in Opa-Locka, Florida. As it relates to certification, Taylor has a masters degree from Florida Atlantic University with a concentration in school counseling. She conducted over 600 hours of her required supervision in various leadership capacities throughout the state. Here primary expertise is with elementary and middle school aged children. She has also received her Florida school counselor certification nearly a decade ago after completing her 600 of supervisory hours. As it relates to the qualifications specify to the state of Florida, each school counselor must either have a Masters degree in school counseling or a complete a certified school counseling program within the state. In addition, a counselor must pas the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST), the professional education exam, and the subject test in school guidance and counseling. Finally, the candidate must submit themselves to a background check and fingerprint processing. According to the Taylor, the entire process can take many years to complete, particularly if the candidate has not completed their master’s degree.

2. What grade levels do you work with and what campuses do you serve? According to my interview with Taylor, she primarily focuses on the elementary and middle school populations as it relates to counseling. She primarily focuses on the Opa-Locka campus where she oversees a student community of roughly 200 to 250 students.

3. How many students are you assigned to work with? Taylor primarily works between a range of 200 to 250 elementary school students

4. How do you describe the differences between a mental health counselor, a social worker, or a school psychologist? In my conversation with Taylor, there are very distinct differences between a mental health counselor, social worker and school psychologist. Here, I was better able to learn about the distinctions and what skills sets are appropriate for each. For one both mental health counselors and school psychologist provide support to students and encourage healthy development. Mental health counselors however focus heavily on the mental elements that can impeded the growth of children. As it relates to Taylor’s role, she helps to ensure that students have a safe and encouraging environment within the school setting. Here, mental health counselors advocate for the needs of all students be enhancing awareness and appraisal methodologies. I also learned that from an elementary school perspective mental health counselor also look to cultivate relationships with parents. This is a very critical element as elementary school children heavily depend on their parents as role models. Here, children will often mimic and immolate the behavior of parents as they attempt to make sense of the world around them. Using these stimuli as a catalyst for student growth, it is important for mental health counselors to cultivate strong relationships with parents. Here, by educating parents about their overall behaviors, counselors can impact the mental health of younger elementary school children. Here mental health counselors have a much broader scope of responsibility.
School Psychologists however are much more focused within a particular discipline. Psychologists’ according to Taylor, is a much more specialized discipline requiring state-issued licenses, a masters degree, and in some cases a doctoral degree. In addition, a school psychology may serve several schools or an entire district. Here a mental health counselor has a broad scope of responsibilities as it relates to their job. If, however, they determine that more specialized resources are needed, they typically engage with a school psychologist who can employ specialized knowledge. Here psychologists can engage in advanced evaluations and techniques collaborating with mental health counselors. Due to these differences in expertise and training, I learned from Taylor that salary ranges can vary dramatically. In 2020, the median salary for a mental health counselor was $55,410 while the median annual income for a psychologist was $75,090.
Social workers according to Taylor, focus heavily on holistic solutions that involve economic, social and behavioral issues. This is much broader approach and requires a broader array of skills and abilities. Social workers often work with students who are oppressed, marginalized, or impoverished. Social workers also have specializations that include substance abuse, welfare, community oppression and more. 5. Describe your relationship with the school principal. Taylor described her relationship with the school principal as very dynamic. They often work together to further certain initiatives that are either mandated by the state or created by senior leadership. Taylor noted that in here role that as a counselor her role helps to improve the overall rating of the school by providing an engaging and welcoming environment for all students to succeed. Taylor noted that many of her students are African-American, Hispanic or Haitian decent. Therefore, it important for her to help provide broad based programs that ensure that all student are mentally prepared to learn in a welcoming environment.

6. How do you implement the ASCA National Model? Here, I learned that Taylor uses a simple formula when implementing the ASCA national model. First, Taylor identifies the need of the student or student population. This is where she collaborates with the principle to better determine what the overall school goals are for the coming period. These goals are then memorialized and discussed with staff members. Next, staff look to align annual student outcome goals, school counseling program activities and interventions with the school improvement goals. From Taylors perspective, she used school counseling action plans and calendars, to further solidify her commitment to the overall objectives. Finally, the ASCA model is completed through demonstration of the impact that the counseling program on overall outcomes. The measure of success can vary through improvement in participation data, improvement in mindsets and behaviors, or a specific achievement. Taylor mentioned that once outcome she is assisting with is moving the school to a “B” rating.

7. How do you use data to show the effectiveness of the school counseling program? Here again, Taylor uses a very simple ASCA approach to show the effectiveness of the school counseling program. Here, she first identifies a SMART goal. For example, during the interview Taylor noted she was charged with assisting the school achieve a “B” rating by helping to improve reading and writing outcomes of students within the academic year. The next step to show the effectiveness of the program according to Taylor, is to assess the identified needs of students. Here, Taylor must identify what issues or barriers are students currently experiencing if these issues can be mitigated through either process change or behavioral change. Here, she used the example of students been tardy, student feeling overwhelmed or other factors. Next, Taylor identifies three ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors reflecting what the school staff hope to accomplish. These behaviors are what are eventually measures to indicate the effectiveness of the school counseling program. These measures can be behavior changes such as students improving their on-time arrival rates, or a quantitative such as improving reading and math scores over the academic period.

8. How have you engaged in advocacy (for students or for the profession)? If so, what did that involve and how did it go? Taylor has long been an advocate for inclusivity and engagement with the minority community of schools. This involved communicating heavily with leadership and the principle to encourage by-in. Next once buy-in is accomplished help to further demonstrate the benefits of the advocacy to other peers and stakeholders. Once this occurs, Taylor looks to collaborate with peers in order to help improve the initiative. Taylor provided the example of cultural training that was proposed after the killing of George Floyd. Here the idea was to promote a much more understanding and inclusive environment as it relates to minority students who would be feeling mixed emotions within the classroom setting.

9. How does understanding and respecting multiculturalism help you as a school counselor? As noted above, Taylor mentions that she has been a champion for multiculturalism throughout her careers and hopes to lower the racial divided that many students will face throughout their academic and personal careers. She was particularly impacted by the recent killing of African Americans by law enforcement. She noted that she helps other counselors and teachers protest many of the social injustices occurring throughout America. She also started initiatives by which to educate other students on how to properly address these issues within a classroom setting.

10. How do you partner with a student’s family and other stakeholder when addressing a student’s issue? Taylor noted that partnering with family and communities is a critical element within her job. Taylor currently works in collier country. Here the workforce is highly educated with roughly 36% of residents with a college degree. The median household income is roughly $70,000, which is higher than the national average. However, for minorities, the demographics vary severely. Here, African Americans and Hispanics lag their white counterparts severely in terms of wealth, income, and employment. Minorites where particularly hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic which disproportionately impacted their labor prospects. This indirectly impacts education within these communities as they don’t have many of the resources to help supplement the education of their children. To mitigate this Taylor, is heavily involve in community initiatives to improve education and access to education for minorities. She also engages the community to help raise funds for products students will need in the classroom particularly as COVID-19 has impacted the manner in which education is administered.

11. What do you do to maintain self-care and wellness? To maintain self-care and wellness Taylor enjoys working out, cycling, and reading. She also enjoys spending time with her family and traveling.

12. What is your personal view about the future of the school counseling profession? Taylor sees the future of counseling changing rather dramatically as new legislation begins to come more into focus nationally. For one, changes in the manner in which children learn have fundamentally changed according to the Taylor. Students now use online channel to learn and interact with other students. Hybrid learning classrooms are now becoming much more common place. How students are evaluated is also beginning to change as the needs for society have changed. Now society requires much more STEM related professions and therefore needs to train is students within these fields. Counseling will be used to help supplement this transition according to Taylor.

13. What information do you wish you would have known when you were a student in your school counseling program? Taylor has no regrets about her school counseling program. She was well prepared and well researched about the program and therefore knew what she needed for success.

14. What would you like to change about your role as a school counselor? Taylor would like to have a much higher leadership focus in her role. She enjoys implement policy changes throughout the school setting and therefore would like to change the role to be much more of a leadership role.

15. Please describe what daily tasks you have as a school counselor. Taylor described her daily tasks as developing and implemented various guidance programs. She also works with students on an individual and small group basis. She spends some time with students helping them work through any complication they may be experiencing personal or in the school environment. She also collaborates with other educators and administrators to ensure counseling programs meet school goals. Finally, Taylor monitors student progress to ensure counseling programs are effective