One of the obstacles to academic achievement, according to The Education Trust, has been the way guidance counselors are used. Often burdened with complex scheduling duties and the responsibility to do individual and group therapy, they are rarely educational advocates for students -- and sometimes, are the exact opposite. Many adults and current students can point to a guidance counselor who steered them away from more rigorous classes, telling them that they weren't destined for college and would only be setting themselves up for failure. In the words of Education Trusts' Patricia Martin, "We've been sorting and selecting and teaching some a very rigorous and others a watered down curriculum."

A new Education Trust program, funded by a $3.5 million grant from the DeWitt Wallace Readers' Digest Fund, will work to transform the office of guidance counselor from that of therapist and gatekeeper to one of advocacy of educational excellence.

The program will begin with six partnerships between universities and local school districts. Each partnership will work on such issues as changing school counselor preparation programs and changing the way school districts use counselors.

The six partnerships are between: California State University-Northridge and Los Angeles Unified School District; Indiana State University and Vigo County Public School Corp.; Ohio State University and Columbus Public Schools; State University of West Georgia and Clayton County Public Schools; University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County Public School District; and the University of North Florida and Duval County Public Schools.

Fred Bemak, from Ohio State University's School of Education, said that the grant "has generated tremendous excitement." He also said it has spurred a partnership between the Columbus mayor's office, the school system, and state officials so that the new training of school counselors will be used to its fullest by the partner school systems.

"[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.