• Guidance Curriculum

    • Teach students to develop transferable skills for success
    • Typically taught in the classroom through planned lessons

    Individual Planning

    • Assist students in making individual goals for their academic and career futures
    • Provide parents and guardians with information on postsecondary education

    Responsive Services

    • Intervene on behalf of students whose circumstances put their educational, career, personal, and social development at risk
    • May be preventative, remedial, or crisis-oriented

    System Support

    • Identify and coordinate resources and activities that indirectly benefit students
    • Assess data to support an effective school counseling program

     

  • Recommended Program Balance Service Distribution

    Program Balance

  • Texas Administrative Code Chapter 61, in addition to TEC 33.006(d) indicates that school counselors should spend "at least 80 percent of a counselor's total work time on duties that are part of a counseling program developed under TEC Section 33.005".

    "For purposes of this subsection, time spent in administering assessment instruments or providing other assistance in connection with assessment instruments, except time spent in interpreting data from assessment instruments, is not considered time spent on counseling. Each school in the district shall implement the policy. A copy of the policy shall be maintained in the office of each school in the district and made available on request during regular school hours to district employees, parents of district students, and the public.”

  • Tracking counselor time is outlined in 2 TEC §33.006(d)-(h):

    • (d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), the board of trustees of each school district shall adopt a policy that requires a school counselor to spend at least 80 percent of the school counselor's total work time on duties that are components of a counseling program developed under Section 33.005.  For purposes of this subsection, time spent in administering assessment instruments or providing other assistance in connection with assessment instruments, except time spent in interpreting data from assessment instruments, is not considered time spent on counseling.  Each school in the district shall implement the policy.  A copy of the policy shall be maintained in the office of each school in the district and made available on request during regular school hours to district employees, parents of district students, and the public.
    • (e) If the board of trustees of a school district determines that, because of staffing needs in the district or at a school in the district, a school counselor must spend less than 80 percent of the school counselor's total work time on duties that are components of a counseling program developed under Section 33.005, the policy adopted under Subsection (d) shall:
      • (1) include the reasons why the counselor needs to spend less than 80 percent of the counselor's work time on duties that are components of the counseling program;
      • (2) list the duties the counselor is expected to perform that are not components of the counseling program; and
      • (3) set the percentage of work time that the counselor is required to spend on components of the counseling program.
    • (f) A school district may not include a provision in an employment contract with a school counselor under Chapter 21 that conflicts with the policy required by Subsection (d) or, except as provided by Subsection (g), has the effect of authorizing a school principal or school district superintendent to require a school counselor to generally perform duties that are not primarily related to a counseling function.
    • (g) A school district to which Subsection (e) applies may not include a provision in an employment contract under Chapter 21 with an affected school counselor that has the effect of requiring the counselor to generally perform a duty that is not primarily related to a counseling function unless the duty is specified in the district's policy under Subsection (e)(2).
    • (h) Each school district shall annually assess the district's compliance with the policy adopted under Subsection (d) and, on request by the commissioner, provide a written copy of the assessment to the agency on or before the date specified by the commissioner.  The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this subsection.

    Additionally, school districts should know TAC §61.1073 Annual Assessment of School District Compliance. This statute explains the time-tracking component.

  • For updates on the 6th edition of the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs, please check out TxSCHOLAR!