Press Releases

College Board Receives $680,000 Grant to Train New College Counselors

12/13/07

NEW YORK—To fill the growing need for college counselors in California, the College Board, supported by a $680,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation, has pledged to train new school counselors to promote the development of a college-going culture at public schools with diverse student populations. The goal of the program is to increase by 20 percent the number of students in participating districts, especially underrepresented students, enrolling in college over the next five years.

“We believe that training counselors to be effective in guiding students through the college readiness and enrollment process will affect all students, but most of all students from low-income backgrounds—especially first generation students—who do not have ready access to the information and skills needed to enroll and succeed in college,” said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board.

A recent U.S. Department of Education study found that 82 percent of students whose parents graduated from college enrolled in college right after high school, compared to 54 percent of students whose parents were high school graduates and only 36 percent of those whose parents did not complete high school. Underrepresented and recent immigrant students are much more likely to have parents in the latter two categories, making the need for providing extra assistance and information to these students even more crucial.

“With an average of more than 1,000 students per counselor, California has had the highest student-to-counselor ratio in the country,” said Kris Zavoli, senior director for state government relations and regional membership for the College Board’s Western Regional Office. “California state legislative bill AB 1802 authorizes the hiring of approximately 2,500 new counselors to lighten the overall caseload. One of school counselors’ many tasks is college counseling. The next logical step is to design a training program for counselors to help them in this important work.”

“The program we are developing will address the knowledge, competencies and skills needed for effectively counseling students about their college and career options. In this way, we will institutionalize a school culture in which the counselor is the leading advocate for college planning,” said Pat Martin, vice president in charge of the National Office of School Counselor Advocacy at the College Board.

The new training program for public school counselors in California will begin by offering a series of three research-based, field-tested workshops to new counselors: College Advising Basics, Preparing All Students for a Full-Range of Postsecondary Options and Building a College-Going Culture in Schools. They will feature the use of College Board resources such as the “College Counselor Sourcebook,” and such programs as CollegeEd®, MyRoad™ and online SAT® materials. The workshops will be supplemented with a weeklong summer institute to provide a more in-depth experience. A workshop for district directors of counseling will help them identify the greatest challenges facing counselors in their districts, set priorities for future professional development and ensure that school counseling is central to the education reform efforts in their districts.

To ensure systemic and long-term results, the grant will also allow for the development of a train-the-trainer model in which at least two experienced counselors in each participating district are trained to give workshops. These lead counselors can then train others so that the skills and knowledge needed for effective college counseling are spread throughout the district.

Currently, very few schools of education in California offer a graduate-level course in college and postsecondary counseling. The initiative will develop such a course for university schools of education to pilot in the fall of 2009, which will then be evaluated for inclusion in the required curriculum.

All portions of this initiative will follow the recommendations for counselor training in the College Board’s “Keeping the Options Open” and the “Statement on Counselor Competencies” from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. NACAC specifies that information regarding standardized college admissions testing should be included in school counselor training. Other recommended topics include students’ career and/or technical education options after high school and how to conduct a college search.

The initiative will serve as a model for training school counselors in other states.

The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,400 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT®, and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, and concerns.

About The James Irvine Foundation

The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundation’s grantmaking is organized around three program areas: Arts, Youth and California Perspectives, which focuses on increasing public understanding of critical issues facing the state. Since 1937 the Foundation has provided over $1 billion in grants to more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations throughout California. With current assets of over $1.8 billion, the Foundation expects to make grants of $75 million in 2007 for the people of California.

CONTACT: Nancy M. Viggiano, The College Board, (212) 713-8052, nviggiano@collegeboard.org