An essential tool in every student's life be it in academic, social life, family issues, or personal life is a counselor. A school counselor is a significant tool that prepares the students for their next level of experience, both academic wise and life in general. This paper identifies four student needs, one from each category as stated in "Student Needs Assessment (Middle School)," (n.d.) and the responsibilities of the school counselors in each need. In this assessment, I will choose; dealing with peer pressure in the first category. In the second category, I will select managing my time better. In the third category, I will state that my school is involved in developing my education plan, while in the fourth category I am for the opinion that I will continue with my education after high school.
The role of school counselors in academics, career, and college planning is the most vital role in helping the students maximize their success. According to Blackhurst and Auger, (2008), they play an essential role in helping the students explore their careers and build their expectations in college. According to Knight, (2005), the students should develop a mindset of going to college and start exploring their careers as early as they are in their elementary levels, to be able to compete in the competitive labor market in the future. The school counselors use databased interventions to rate every student with their needs, get to understand the condition they are in, and know the best guidance they can give to them.
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The school counselor and school principal relationship is the most significant factor that determines how effective the exercise will be ( Gilfillan, 2017) . When they effectively work together, they can solve most of the issues affecting the students. The school principal must cooperate with the school counselor to sensitize students on why it is critical to speak to the school counselor whenever they are facing issues to do with peer pressure and have a schedule for such students to facilitate them to talk to the counselor. The school counselor needs most of the support from the school principal, and they both must come up with a schedule within the school time, and prioritize them, just like the curriculum activities.
Peers can be supportive and have a positive impact, help each other’s development both socially and emotionally, and can be detrimental at the same time, with bad influences. The development of peers starts at the early stages of childhood, and having a good counselor who understands the children determines their behaviors as they grow, their development mentally and their social interventions with other people. Having a good counselor will influence the students to develop a passion for completing their studies and further until higher education. The students will create a positive attitude towards the school, and have the desire to study since they have enough support to concentrate on their studies, improving on their performance. A counselor is a reflection of how the students will become. A counselor who is not time cautious but is advising students on how to keep time is a misleading one. According to the American School Counselor Association, (2014), time management is more of a psychological factor that the counselor must instill in the students' minds. Through having the right skills, students will be able to develop expertise in planning their time and maximizing it. Their behaviors will shift from being time wasteful and learn how to schedule their day, improving on their performance in their studies.
To create student-focused school-wide programs for all the students, the school counselor must have a data showing the backgrounds of all the students and based on this data; they can know what every student requires in terms of guidance and counseling. Most of the students from poor backgrounds may find it hard to cope with the standards of the students from the wealthy backgrounds, which could create a boundary between them or force them to engage into behaviors like theft to bridge the gap. Dealing with this pressure can be quite hard; hence the school counselor must come up with strategies to bridge this gap and make all the students feel equal. In time management, it is vital for the school counselor to have data showing the performance of all the students and with no discrimination whatsoever, help every student having challenges in school performance due to time management, know how to plan well their schedules for an improvement. The school counselor must use databased interventions from the students' opinions to understand how the school is helping to improve on their development, both academically, socially, morally and in their future careers and get to understand the root cause of any unsatisfied case. It is in every parent’s wish for his or her children to successfully continue with their studies and venture in their dream careers. Therefore, the school counselor will take to check in to areas where the students are not satisfied and the main reasons why they do not want to proceed with their academics and address appropriately.
References
American School Counselor Association. (2014). Mindsets and behaviors for student success: K-12 college-and-career-readiness standards for every student. Alexandria, VA: Author .
Blackhurst, A. E., & Auger, R. W. (2008). Precursors to the gender gap in college enrollment: Children's aspirations and expectations for their futures. Professional School Counseling , 11 (3), 2156759X0801100301. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2156759X0801100301
Gilfillan, B. H. (2017). School Counselors and College Readiness Counseling. Professional School Counseling . https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X18784297
Knight, J. L. (2015). Preparing elementary school counselors to promote career development: Recommendations for school counselor education programs. Journal of Career Development , 42 (2), 75-85. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0894845314533745
Student Needs Assessment (Middle School). Retrieved from http://wvde.state.wv.us/forms/counseling-assessment/?level=m
