Primary Purpose:

To coordinate transition activities within a team comprised of the student, parent/guardian, educators, and service providers, to ensure that transition activities and services are addressed and implemented for each eligible student. Plan, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive school counseling program at assigned campus. Counsel students to fully develop each student’s academic, career, personal, and social abilities and address the needs of special population students. Deliver guidance curriculum in various group sizes. Educate students of skills necessary to address troublesome circumstances, support students in challenging situations, and assist students with needed resources to navigate crisis situations.

Be familiar with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Be familiar with Federal and State Regulations. Work closely with guidance department on early childhood and post-secondary options. Works closely with administrators, teachers, and guidance or High School counselors to facilitate transition programming. Networks with all appropriate community agencies and organizations.

Develops and maintains a working relationship with businesses, agencies, and organizations which provide Early Childhood and post-secondary services for students with disabilities. Communicates with parents, students, staff, community/adult service providers and agencies about issues related to the successful transition of special education Early Childhood, Middle and High School students.

Qualifications:

Education/Certification:

Master’s degree in counseling from an accredited college or university

Valid Texas school counselor certificate

Special Knowledge/Skills:

Knowledge of counseling procedures, student appraisal, and career development

Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills

Ability to instruct students and manage their behavior

Ability to present information in one-on-one, small group, and large group situations to students, parents or guardians, and district staff

Experience:

Two years creditable experience as a classroom teacher

Major Responsibilities and Duties

Guidance Curriculum

Plan, organize, implement, and deliver structured group lessons according to the district’s guidance curriculum to improve students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness, personal health and safety, post-secondary planning and readiness, and other developmental needs.
Teach the school guidance curriculum components through the use of effective instructional strategies and planned structured groups considering diverse student populations and needs for differentiated instruction.
Work with students, staff, parents or guardians, and the community to identify priorities where students will be served through the guidance curriculum component. Collaborate across curricular areas to integrate guidance lessons into content area curriculum.
Create a balanced curriculum by using well-planned and intentional activities and materials, incorporating guest speakers, and offering engaging delivery techniques, including technology tools.

Responsive Services

Use accepted theories and effective techniques of developmental guidance to respond to problematic or critical incidents to support students and offer services in time of need.
Use preventive activities to remove barriers that interfere with a student’s educational, career, personal, and social development.
Implement remediation practices to assist students in coping with problem situations or unwise choices. Identify precipitating and antecedent factors, effective and ineffective approaches to dealing with the circumstances, and provide feedback to guide future decisions.
Use specialized skills to support students in crisis situations requiring immediate response. Maintain a healthy and safe school environment by collaborating with district staff, parents or guardians, and local officials.
Provide continued support to students in need through individual counseling, small group counseling, consultation, or referral to services outside the school or district.
Serve as an impartial, non-reporting resource for interpersonal conflicts and discourse involving two or more students, including accusations of bullying.

Individual Planning

Create school counseling services that are developmental and age appropriate and provide information or literature that highlights related topics to students, teachers, and administrators.
Assist individual students and their parents or guardians in monitoring their academic, career, personal, and social development as they progress in school.
Act as a student advocate, leader, collaborator, and systems change agent. Advocate for a school environment that acknowledges and respects diversity and ensures equitable access and placement in courses and programs for minority, disenfranchised, homeless, and other special populations.
Interpret standardized test results, offer career development activities, provide strategies for grade level transitions, and guide students in individual goal setting and planning including creating and reviewing personal graduation plans and providing information about post-secondary opportunities.

System Support

Collect, summarize, and interpret testing data to plan, create interventions, guide students, and address specific student needs.
Conduct an annual program audit to inform accountability, action plans, time management, and systemic change.
Participate in campus-based school improvement planning and goal setting.
Provide parent or guardian and staff training and consultation to foster student educational, career, personal, and social development.
Clearly articulate and communicate the counseling program’s management system and related program action plans to campus and district staff, parents or guardians, and the community.
Participate in staff development and continuing education opportunities to improve job-related skills and research to identify best practices in implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.

Other Related Duties

Compile, maintain, and file all reports, records, and other documents.
Comply with policies established by federal and state law, State Board of Education rule, and board policy. Comply with all district and campus routines and regulations.
Adhere to legal, ethical, and professional standards for school counselors including current professional standards of competence and practice.
Follow district safety protocols and emergency procedures.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Supervise assigned counseling aide(s) and administrative assistant(s).

Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:

Tools/Equipment Used: Personal computer and peripherals; standard instructional equipment

Posture: Prolonged sitting; frequent standing, kneeling/squatting, bending/stooping, pushing/pulling, and twisting

Motion: Frequent walking

Lifting: Regular light lifting and carrying (less than 15 pounds); occasional physical restraint of students to control behavior

Environment: Work inside, may work outside

Mental Demands: Maintain emotional control under stress; may work prolonged or irregular hours

*Includes information from the Counselor Job Description and Evaluation Form distributed by the Texas Education Agency.

Greenwood Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation) or disability, in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources. In accordance with Title IX, the district does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational program or activities. The requirement not to discriminate extends to employment. Inquiries about the application of Title IX to employment should be referred to Title IX Coordinator, Superintendent Elliott 2700 FM 1379, Midland, TX 79706, eelliott@greenwood.esc18.net, (432) 683-6461, to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of Education or both.