PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public Relations/Advocacy

Below is an example of a press release you may use to put in your local newspaper and/or district newsletter as part of your professional campaign to enhance local and state knowledge about our profession.

Sample Press Release

School counseling programs in Wisconsin schools implemented by a licensed school counselor are conducted in collaboration with the school and community to promote positive change. School counseling programs are driven by district, state and national data to create developmental interventions and preventative programming that monitor student progress and provide continuous improvement for all students.

Numerous studies suggest that comprehensive school counseling programs aid in achieving higher graduation rates, higher standardized test scores, higher parent/school involvement, improved academic achievement, effective crisis response and violence prevention programming as well as lower truancy rates, and easier school and career transitions.

As a profession, school counseling is experiencing a paradigm shift from a supplemental service to an integral part of the educational process. School counselors provide the educational leadership to promote healthy choices, maintain safe school environments and help students achieve personal, career and academic success.

National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) will be celebrated from Feb. 5-9 to focus on the unique contributions made by professional school counselors within U.S. school systems. As part of this week our district will (provide any district promotional activities). Any parent or community member with specific questions or concerns can contact their student's professional school counselor. More general information can be found on the district website (insert school website if you have a counseling page), the Wisconsin School Counselor Association website http://www.wscaweb.com, or the American School Counseling Association website http://www.schoolcounselor.org.

Public Relations Advocacy Tips for School Counselors

1. Create brochures, view books, conferencing manuals, and advisory manuals for community/ administrative/board presentations.  Information about presentations can be found on ASCA’s website and in the February 2007 American School Counselor Magazine.
2. Join and be active in your professional organizations, these organizations provide networking, message boards, trainings and up to date legislative information.
3. Create a professional development plan using district goals and your school counseling team goals to devise a plan for obtaining the training you need to provide state of the art comprehensive school counseling services for all students.
4. Display and advertise your credentials.  I recently wrote an article for our local newspaper to inform the community about the vast credentials, community involvement and comprehensive school counseling services in our district.
5. Raise your voice. Become familiar with legislative concerns pertaining to school counseling programs.
6. Show leadership: Effective leadership is evident when there is strong counselor commitment to organize programs around student competencies and when the counselor’s time is devoted to the design, implementation and accounting of a comprehensive school counseling program.
7. Tie your guidance plan with the district’s plan. Join or lead district planning committees to input and infuse comprehensive school counseling goals. Many schools are designing district goals to create stronger rigor and relevance in education.  What is more relevant than designing an individual career plan?
8. Work with your administrators/ask to meet with principals, pupil service administrators, curriculum directors, and the district administrators on a regular basis, share information from the trainings you have attended, share your professional development plan and your comprehensive school counseling plan.
9. Create a school counseling manual with your district team and an advisory board, set yearly goals for your guidance team and meet with your district’s guidance team on these shared goals.  Solicit board approval for your manual.
10. Document your activities. Create an accountability report card, use data to make your point. Tie your data in with district goal’s.  Start slow; add additional data annually. Examples of SPARCs (Accountability Report Cards) are on the ASCA website.  Information about these report cards will be offered at the annual WSCA conference.

Public Relations Toolkit