"[Until now,] counselors didn't have the training or data to help kids fix the fact that they screwed up in fifth grade," said Bemak, who added that with the new approach, this will change.
Susan Sears, also from of Ohio State University, said, "The school counselor is the only professional who can span the administration and faculty as well as bringing in the community." In that way, she said, counselors are in a "unique position" to make changes in the kind of education a school provides individual students.
According to The Education Trust, the goal of the initiative is to have school counselors:
* focus on issues, strategies, and interventions that will assist in closing the achievement gap between poor and minority students and their more advantaged peers;
* increase the number of poor and minority students, as well as other students, completing school academically prepared to choose from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college;
* facilitate student learning, improving academic achievement, creating access and support for all students to a rigorous academic preparation; and
* foster conditions that ensure educational equity, access, and academic success for all students K-12.
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