Overview
The San Diego Unified School District's Counseling & Guidance Program supports teaching and learning by assuring that all students achieve academic success and develop life skills through the acquisition of academic, career, and personal/social competencies, which will prepare them for meaningful participation in a diverse, changing world.
Credentialed school counselors provide comprehensive school counseling programs that incorporate prevention and intervention activities through school-wide assemblies and activities, classroom guidance lessons, intentional guidance groups, individual counseling, and collaboration with outside community resources. Counselors also assist students in ensuring they meet high school graduation requirements. The Crisis Response Team provides support to students, families and staff in the event of a crisis, emergency or traumatic situation. Counselors are also responsible for administering violence prevention curriculum and character education programs.
School counselors will:
- Design and implement a comprehensive school counseling program based on the National Standards for School Counseling Programs and the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) National Model
- Ensure that students will receive guidance curriculum in the areas of academic, career, and personal/social development.
- Provide intervention services for students experiencing academic and personal/social barriers to learning.
- Provide guidance and information to students and families to ensure success in student attendance, behavior, and graduation, and prevention of drug use and violence.
- Provide resources to staff to ensure that each school counseling center is a family-friendly environment.
- Ensure that students have access to a safe school climate necessary for academic and social/emotional growth.
- All school counselors hold Bachelor's Degrees, with most school counselors holding Master's Degrees in the areas of Education, Counseling and Guidance, Social Work or Marriage and Family Therapy. All school counselors in SDUSD hold a PPS credential from the state of California.
Programs & Services
The Counseling and Guidance Department provides a number of programs and services in order to help students achieve success and develop life skills in three personal competency areas.
Achieving Academic Success
From Pre-K to grade 12, credentialed school counselors support the school staff and parents in helping our students achieve competencies at each grade level. The following are examples of ways in which credentialed school counselors contribute to student academic success:
- Test-taking strategies
- Study Skills
- Tutoring programs
- Small counseling groups
- 4-year educational plan
- Understanding Enrollment Options Programs and Services
- Understanding Emotional Intelligence(EQ) and the barriers to learning
- GEAR UP: The 6-year GEAR UP grant provides a set of comprehensive services for low-income students and their families to ensure they receive necessary information, motivation and preparation to enter postsecondary educational programs, as well as to firmly establish new approaches to student support and college going cultures that permanently increase college going rates among low-income populations.
Achieving Career Development Success
Credentialed school counselors utilize career development lessons and strategies to help students understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and training, and the world of work. The following are examples of how credentialed school counselors contribute to career development success:
- Career awareness and exploration
- Goal setting
- Service learning
- High School Graduation Fact Sheets
- High School Graduation Guides
- School to Career
- Scholarship Guides
- Links to programs, such as CAL-SOAP, that advise and inform students about college admissions, financial aid, and achieving academic success.
Achieving Personal and Social Success
Credentialed school counselors work with the staff and community to provide support for students to be safe and healthy. The following are examples of how credentialed school counselors contribute to personal and social development:
- Life Skills Education
- Safe and Drug Free Schools
- Tobacco Use and Prevention Education
- Early Mental Health Initiative (EMHI): Grant funded program currently at 27 elementary sites that targets K-3 students experiencing mild to moderate school adjustment difficulties. The goals of the program are to enhance young students' social and emotional development, increase the likelihood that students will succeed in school, increase their personal competencies related to life success, and minimize the need for more intensive and costly services as they grow older.
- Project ASPIRE: Grant funded program currently at 12 elementary sites that promotes a comprehensive approach to school counseling and lowers the student to counselor ratio to 500-1.
- Small intentional guidance groups (will vary site to site)
- Anger Management/Impulse Control
- Problem Solving
- Grief and Loss
- Social Skills
- Behavior Intervention
- Parent Education
- Violence Prevention Curriculum (Second Step, Don't Laugh at Me, Get Real About Violence)
- Character Education
- California Healthy Kids Survey and Youth Risk Behavior Survey (every two years)
- Community Collaboration and Referrals
- Crisis Response Team
- Access to District Crisis Response Team
- Counseling and Guidance Fact Sheet: English | Spanish
- Counseling and Guidance Newsletter (Summer 2008)
- American School Counselor Association
- California Association of School Counselors
- California Healthy Kids Survey Results:
Elementary
| Secondary
- California State University System
- California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP)
- Community Partners
- Curriculum Resources
- Resources for Parents
- San Diego Community College District
- University of California System
- ASCA National Standards Crosswalk Form
- Application to be a School Counseling Fieldwork Student
- Application to be a Site Supervisor of a Fieldwork Student
Attendance Exemption Request (formerly Exemption Report)
- Authorization For Use or Disclosure of Health Information: English | Spanish
- Guidance Action Plan
- Guidance Results Report
- Intentional Guidance Action Plan
- Intentional Guidance Results Report
- Instructional Study Team (IST/SST) Referral: PDF
| Word
- Instructional Study Team (IST/SST) Summary and Plan: PDF
| Word
- Suicide Risk: English | Spanish
- Suspected Child Abuse
• Form (PDF |
Word )
• Instructions
Contact Information
Counseling and Guidance Department
Wiggin Center
4350 Mt. Everest Blvd., Room B17
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 503-3180 - Phone
(858) 573-8898 - Fax
