GRASP School Counselor

GRASP High School Counselor

This position is responsible for providing a comprehensive school counseling program that supports an identified at-risk population of students in grades 9-12 in all areas of counseling with an emphasis on community, family, and work/career skills readiness. This is a dedicated GRASP grant-funded position focused exclusively on a limited caseload of identified at-risk students. This position cannot be used for any other responsibilities or roles, including serving as a "regular" counselor or filling allotted FTE positions.

It is in addition to the school's normal complement of counselor positions.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide a comprehensive developmental program of guidance and counseling to assist identified at-risk students in the areas of academic achievement, attendance, soft skills, career/educational decision-making, college readiness, personal/social development, and conflict resolution.
• Consult with parents, teachers, administrators, and supporting agencies concerning the needs and abilities of students.
• Review data to develop and inform the school counseling program and evaluate the program's impact on the school's instructional goals.
• Utilize responsive counseling, initiating individual and group sessions for students' academic, social, and personal concerns.
• Act as a consultant, to school staff, parents, and community members.
• Promote the school guidance and counseling program to students, school staff, parents, and the community.
• Conduct individual counseling with at-risk students in areas of need.
• Conduct group counseling with at-risk students in areas of educational, academic, career, and social/emotional needs.
• Coordinate with school staff to provide supportive instructional classroom activities that relate to student, academic, career, and social/emotional needs.
• Interpret results of group and individual tests for students, staff, and parents.
• Work in collaboration with the building school counselor, nurse, social worker, and community agencies.
• Serve as a member of the Student Support Team.
• Ensure at-risk students receive appropriate career development assistance. (See also item 18 for GRASP-specific postsecondary exploration activities.)
• Consult with school staff and parents on student problems and concerns as needed or requested.
• Promote the utilization of community resources, services, and agencies.
• Attend and participate in professional development activities, workshops, seminars, and conferences in order to maintain expertise in the counseling field.
• Conduct in-depth student analyses to understand population needs and establish an appropriate caseload of off-track and/or at-risk students, creating individually tailored plans and programs of study to meet each student's unique academic, personal, social, and career development needs.
• Establish and lead a comprehensive support team for each student on the caseload, coordinating services across school staff, families, and community agencies.
• Engage caseload students in discovering, examining, and exploring postsecondary options, including college visits, career exploration, and workforce readiness activities, utilizing student travel funds (up to $10,000) as approved in the grant budget.
• Implement a structured counseling program specifically designed to support at-risk caseload students, within the $10,000 program cost limit outlined in the GRASP grant.
• Maintain accurate and ongoing data collection including Beginning of Year (BOY), Middle of Year (MOY), and End of Year (EOY) submissions tracking student interventions, academic progress, attendance, and discipline.
• Partner with the school counseling team to develop and implement a cluster counseling plan addressing identified at-risk students.
• Collaborate with the assigned GaDOE GRASP program specialist to ensure that interventions and strategies are aligned with identified needs and grant program expectations.
• Complete all GaDOE-required reporting templates including data trackers, pre/post student surveys, and the GRASP action plan template describing the focus of interventions, strategies, and resources utilized.
• Submit Counselor Monthly Impact Reports to the Office of School and District Improvement (SDI) to assess the effectiveness of grant initiatives throughout the grant period.
• Participate in End of Year (EOY) Focus Interviews with students, administration, and the GaDOE program specialist.
• Develop a sustainability plan for counseling activities and programs initiated during the grant period.
• Attend all required GaDOE-sponsored GRASP training events
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Principal or district office leadership.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

The work environment characteristics are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually…