HERALD SCHOOLS

Department director provides update on improvements in counseling K-12

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Linda Binion, the director of North Shore Schools’ Counseling Department, updated trustees on Jan. 10 about advances the department has made in its school counseling program for students K-12 based on results from the district’s guidance review.
“This presentation will put into context what has been done over the past 18 months,” said Superintendent Dr. Peter Giarrizzo. “The lifting that needed to be done here was so substantial, and the program has remarkably improved.”
Binion compared the department’s work in developing a comprehensive counseling program to taking a road trip. She said along the way the department had uncovered successes and discovered new opportunities to pass on to North Shore students but mentioned that they also had run into some detours, at which they stopped and worked to figure out how to improve certain processes.
“Ultimately we want to provide an equitable service for all students, and we’re delivering that based on need and data,” Binion said.
Binion said the department is working to transition its function from a “guidance counselor” to a “school counselor” to increase its reach, and from a service model to a program model to “meet kids where they are,” she said.

Guidance Counselor School Counselor
Reactive Proactive/data driven
Provides services to a few students Provides services to all students
Ancillary role to school improvement process/strategic planning Essential role in school improvement/strategic planning
Functions in isolation Functions as leaders

Structured after the American School Counselor Association’s national model, the school counseling program assesses a student’s educational needs, as well as their mental health and behavioral needs, during their entire time in school. ASCA’s model consists of four elements: foundation, delivery, management and accountability. The aim of North Shore’s school counseling program, Binion said, is to increase communication with students, as well as department programming.
In concert with the college search process, North Shore has built a repository of colleges to share with families, expanding its scope wider than the northeastern corridor of the United States, Binion said. “We’re getting [our counselors] to some different locations, and also exploring the trend of students applying to international schools.”
Binion touted the department’s “standing-room only” programs that not only engage participants, but also relay important information. The “Principal For A Day” program at the middle school, for example, gives students a taste of the interview process. And the department’s “GPA Game,” Binion said, demonstrates what college admission counselors look for by rating criteria — such as extracurricular activities and athletics — and watching the averages shift based on those elements.
The department has also taken strides to bridge the gap between the middle and high schools to ease students’ transitions from one grade to the next. They’ve done this by collaborating with other disciplines in the district like special education, English and technology, social emotional learning and mental health to ensure equitability across the board. “By making these connections we want to create a feeling that the counselors are someone the students can rely on,” Binion said.
At the middle school level, the department is teaching students self-regulation and coping techniques to deal with stress and anxiety, such as taking a “brain break” when work becomes overwhelming. Its “Mind Up” program educates students on different functions of the brain to help retain those techniques and give them a better sense of readiness for high school, college and eventually career.
As the road trip continues, Binion said, the department is focused on continuing alignment with the ASCA model and the district’s strategic planning, developing a Counseling Advisory Committee, a comprehensive K-12 counseling plan and an academic and career plan for each student. From its collaborative work with the English department, counseling also hopes to develop a “College Camps” program to better prepare seniors making the jump to higher education. “That is an area of growth for us,” Binion said.
Board president Sara Jones applauded the work. “This shift, considering the K-12 spectrum, is exactly what we’ve been talking about,” she said. Trustee Joanna Commander called the transformation “incredible.”
Trustee Marianne Russo suggested the department distribute college-related resources to students as early as freshman year. “I think some of the information needs to be [made available earlier], not to stress kids out, but to afford children opportunities that they may foreclose themselves to due to lack of information,” she said.