• Facilitate short-term small group counseling
• Provide immediate and short-term individual counseling
• Work collaboratively with teachers and staff
• Consult with parents
• Provide information and/or referrals for community resources to families

Why do we need elementary school counselors?

• A deliberate and comprehensive approach to teaching children social and emotional skills can raise their grades and test scores, increase enthusiasm for learning, reduce behavior problems, and enhance cognitive functioning.
• Students who receive social skills instruction do better academically and socially but the reverse is not true (academic instruction does not increase social/emotional skills).
• There is a strong connection between emotions and learning. Students who can recognize and manage strong emotions are better learners.
• Students who attend schools with a comprehensive guidance program do significantly better on standardized tests such as the ITBS and WASL than students who attend schools without a comprehensive guidance program. The longer the students are in schools with comprehensive guidance programs, the more they outperform their peers on standardized tests.
• Prosocial behaviors exhibited by students in the classroom were found to be better predictors of academic achievement than were their standardized test scores.