Counselor Connection

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Early Warning Tool Training

The Early Warning Tool is now available for all grade levels (K-12).

If you are interested in attending a one-hour virtual training, review the options below and save the training date/time and Microsoft Teams link in your Outlook calendar.

I will send out a recording of one of these sessions in the near future.

Friday, Nov. 6 9:30-10:30 a.m. ET Join Microsoft Teams Meeting (502) 694-1960 Conference ID: 205 001 969#
Friday, Nov. 6 1-2 p.m. ET Join Microsoft Teams Meeting (502) 694-1960 Conference ID: 254 620 33#

Need a Lesson?

I recently created this tier 1 lesson for the Commissioner's Student Advisory Council. They identified the need for coping strategies during the pandemic.

Here is a Nearpod that you can use in your own comprehensive school counseling program in order to offer these strategies to your students. Keep in mind whether you want students to participate anonymously or if you want names to be visible if doing the live session option.

This lesson connects to the following ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success:

  • Mindset 1: Belief in development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well-being;
  • Behavior-Self-Management Strategies 6: Demonstrate ability to overcome barriers to learning and 7: Demonstrate effective coping skills when faced with a problem.

School Counselor Use of Time Survey

Counselors:

Every superintendent recently received a survey that is mandated by law to be completed by Nov. 1 of each school year. The local school district superintendent shall report to the department the number and placement of school counselors in the district. The report shall include the source of funding for each position as well as a summary of the job duties and work undertaken by each counselor and the approximate percentage of time devoted to each duty over the course of the year.

Please make sure you are speaking with your district's central office and communicating your data to ensure the Kentucky Department of Education receives accurate information. You also may choose to work with your district in order to create a districtwide system to collect this data.

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CASEL's Reintroduction to Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Check out CASEL's reintroduction to SEL webinar to learn about their new definitions and framework.

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How a Teenage Hockey Player  Is Working to Destigmatize Mental Illness Using #Samehere

Let's work together to destigmatize mental health. Check out this story from ESPN about how a teenage hockey player from Chicago is doing just that using the #Samehere platform.

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Infinite Campus Training Week Scheduled for Nov. 16-19  

Infinite Campus is offering a week-long national virtual training opportunity for customers in lieu of the traditional state-specific in-person training. The national training event includes a variety of topics, as detailed in the National Training Week Session Booklet.

Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff are invited to attend sessions of their choice at no cost. Additional details on the event, sessions offered and schedule are included on the Infinite Campus Virtual National Training Week webpage. To register for sessions, follow the instructions on the webpage.

KDE staff who don’t have access to Infinite Campus will need to complete and submit the KDE access request form requesting access to Campus Community/Passport, which allows users access to Infinite Campus training resources, but not student-level data.

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Suicide Prevention Train-the- Trainer Refresher Course from Kentucky Education Television (KET)

This free, one-hour self-paced course is a guide for school-based or community-based mental health professionals to train school staff to lead Kentucky’s suicide prevention course for students in grades 6-12.

The course also reviews the comprehensive suicide prevention training used with students in Jefferson County Public Schools, how to involve parents, and how to use the tools available for risk assessment and other resources. Topics include how to give students a voice in the training, how to recognize signs of suicidal ideation, how to deal with social media pressures and how students can find help for themselves or their peers in distress.

The course also examines how schools can support student well-being by taking a strength-based perspective on mental health. This course is designed to be a mid-year refresher offered prior to going into winter break.

We recommend schools offer this course in November in an effort to prevent suicide and normalize anxiety, depression and more for their students prior to winter break.

The Kentucky Department of Education would like to thank Sara O'Keefe from KET, Dr. Michelle Sircy from Jefferson County Public Schools and Beck Whipple from the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities for their partnership and contributions to this project.

KDE Seeking Nominations for 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is seeking nominations for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. This is not a scholarship; however, all scholars will be honored for their accomplishments during the National Recognition Program scheduled for Washington, D.C., in June.

Presidential Scholars will be guests of the U.S. Department of Education commissioner during the National Recognition Program and enjoy an expense-paid trip to meet with government officials, educators and other accomplished people. To commemorate their achievement, the scholars are awarded the U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. An in-person ceremony is planned at this time.

Each school may nominate two high school seniors: one male and one female. Educators are encouraged to nominate students who, while demonstrating outstanding scholarship, might not otherwise be nominated through the current ACT/SAT or arts recognition processes.

For the arts component, students must participate in the National YoungArts program. In addition to the general nominations, educators also are being asked to nominate additional students from your jurisdiction to be included as candidates for excellence in career and technical education.

It may be helpful to consider the following questions:

  • What about the student makes him or her stand out as having outstanding scholarship?
  • What special challenges or hurdles has this student overcome while still achieving success in academics, technical education or in the arts?

Students who apply should complete the first page of this application form. The second page must be completed by a counselor or teacher who is most familiar with the student. Email the completed application for the male and female candidate from your school to Kathie Anderson by Oct. 30. 

KDE will select 25 students for the 2021 application and submit these to the national selection committee who will determine Presidential Scholar winners.

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NCAA Eligibility Center COVID-19 Updates

Click this newsletter for updates from the NCAA. Important information your senior student-athletes should be aware of is below:

Given the continuing impact of COVID-19 on the educational environment, the NCAA Eligibility Center has partnered with the NCAA membership to identify the following changes to the initial-eligibility certification process for students who initially enroll full time in a collegiate institution during the 2021-22 academic year. The Eligibility Center will continue to monitor the environment and make necessary adjustments to prioritize health, safety and fairness for all prospective student-athletes.

October 30, 2020

Example of Elementary School Counselor Newsletter

Sarah Akin is a school counselor at Indian Hills Elementary School (Christian County). She is also the next president of the Kentucky School Counseling Association. Check out her school counseling newsletter!

Advanced Placement (AP) Webinar with Gia Kaul from College Board

Gia Kaul spoke to AP coordinators this week about registering for exams and ordering them. Check out a recording of Kaul's presentation.

 

An Antiracist Foundation to School Counseling: Students’ Mindsets & Behaviors

The American University recently pushed out the An Antiracist Foundation to School Counseling: Students’ Mindsets & Behaviors webinar on how school counselors can interact with antiracism.

 

Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

Developed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Community Based Services (or DCBS), Division of Protection and Permanency, this Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect training is free-of-charge.

This content provides instruction for recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect. A required assessment follows this training. Districts determine the delivery method for training completion.

 

Social, Emotional and Academic Development Go Hand in Hand

The research is in and the results are clear: social, emotional and academic development are naturally intertwined and incorporating all three into academic lessons can improve student success.

Check out "The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development" brief from The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development to learn more.

 

Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety (West Ed) Selected Race & Equity Resources

The Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety has compiled these race and  equity resources to support schools in advancing racial justice and creating more equitable systems.

 

Dual Credit Tracker

Does your school have partnerships with several colleges for dual credit? Does this make it hard for you and your students to keep up with what courses students are taking, where? Use this dual credit tracker!

Virtual School Counseling Video for EILA 

This 30-minute learning opportunity about virtual school counseling may help spark some ideas and answer questions about how you can proceed with your services this year. I've had an opportunity to listen to several webinars from ASCA and other organizations on this topic, which helped me build this presentation on virtual school counseling for you.

If you'd like one EILA hour, email Kris Jarboe. Here is the slide deck.

ASCA provides an elementary toolkit, middle school toolkit and high school toolkit for virtual school counseling that contains a wealth of knowledge and resources to help your comprehensive school counseling program. 

 

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Well at Work Podcast from the University of Kentucky's Center on Trauma and Children

I'm so thankful for these University of Kentucky podcasts that normalize the way we are feeling at work. Take a listen!