Test 2

A very interesting op-ed from back in March that I read at NACAC's* website the other day.

The school counselor can and should play such a pivotal role in any student’s college search and application activities. But due to over-sized caseloads and often inadequate professional training, even the best school counselors are unable to provide the support most kids need in identifying and applying to the colleges that are best suited to their interests and needs.

[...]

I have long felt that all high school students would benefit from some required curriculum around the college search and application process. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we taught 10th graders the basics about the college landscape, different courses of study, and the concept of thinking about college as a “match to be made; not a prize to be won”? (This is my favorite quote, by Frank Sachs, former NACAC president.)

Or, what if we showed every first-semester junior which online resources could help identify some of the 4000+ colleges in the US that might be a good fit for them? Too many students and parents rely on highly publicized college rankings to consider which schools they might attend.

How about if we gave instruction to all second-semester juniors on completing the Common Application or advice on developing an authentic essay topic? I recently worked pro-bono with a student whose brother has a severe mental illness. The parents would leave home for months at a time, leaving the student to care for her brother and the house, prepare meals, etc. Despite her good grades and part-time job, she felt ashamed that she had no honors or school activities to report on her applications. She had no idea that she could share her personal story on her application and that it would be so compelling.

My emphasis. Which I'll come back to in just a minute...

First, I have to say that the author - Jill Madenburg - is fundamentally correct; school counselors are overworked and underappreciated. In a typical public high school, a counselor's caseload is more than can be handled. And, as Madenburg points out, many counselors don't have the bandwidth in their day-to-day work to devote real time and resources to work with high school students in the college search process.

But - to the part that I emphasized - I take issue with the notion that all high school students would benefit from required college search classes.

Based on the National Center for Education Statistics data from 2018, just under 70 percent of high school seniors enrolled in college immediately following secondary school completion. While that is a large percentage for sure, if more than 30 percent of students aren't planning on going to college, then why waste their time on a compulsory educational program designed to help students navigate something that they will not be doing.

Instead, why don't we have all high school students take a required class that talks about the various options that they will have after high school?

When a student is in ninth or tenth grade they are still figuring out who they are and the things in which they are interested. That is the time to start the post-secondary education conversation. Will Suzy want to be an engineer? A lawyer? A member of the Armed Forces? A massage therapist? Manage a restaurant? There are so many options that require varying levels of education that forcing students to consider college is not the way to go. Taking a class that sets up realistic expectations of the benefits of continued education and juxtaposes them with the challenges would be a great opportunity for students early in their high school career.

Then, in a student's junior year of high school, as Madenburg suggests, you could offer a course designed to help with the college search process for those that are interested: college essay writing, advice for the Common/Coalition applications, college interview tips, etc.

All too often I think that people in the college counseling community forget that not every high school senior will go on to pursue higher education. At least, not immediately following graduation. It is worthy of mentioning that there is a distinct difference between college counseling and school counseling.

School counselors (formerly referred to as "guidance counselors") are the folks who do everything from help with post-high school plans, to bullying prevention programs, to Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs), to working with troubled youth, and so much more. College counselors are typically found at larger and/or wealthier high schools that have the resources to hire specialists for the college search.

Okay, so all of that said, I nearly forgot the point of the article: easing the burden on the school counseling community. That's where I'm lost. How would creating required high school curriculum for all students (or even some - 70%-ish students) ease the burden? School counselors would be the logical choice to teach these college-search-based courses, right? Since we know that most counselors are already over-worked and have caseloads that they can barely manage, what good would come of adding more work to their already full plates?



[*NOTE: for those who aren't aware, NACAC is the National Association for College Admission Counseling. This is a national organization that provides "knowledge, networking, and ethical standards for college admission professionals".]