Affiliation Connects Department, Initiative

After an extensive transformation of SHSU’s educational leadership and counseling department’s school counselor preparation program, the department and the College of Education have been accepted as a part of the Transforming School Counseling Initiative.

The initiative, coordinated by the Education Trust’s National Center for Transforming School Counseling, in Washington, DC, charges universities to evaluate its school counselor preparation program curriculum “dramatically” in order to ensure that the program is as “current and up-to-date that there is,” according to Judith Nelson, assistant professor in the department.

“We have two school counseling courses, and we have changed those to be less mental-health oriented and more student-achievement oriented,” Nelson said. “We’ve not only changed the names of the courses, but we have changed the content.

“The names and the content now reflect the new role of the school counselor, which is to be a school leader, to be an advocate and to be accountable for the program,” she said.

Nelson, who worked with EDLC faculty members Mary Nichter and Carol Parker, as well as outside consultant Carol Reid, to reform the program, said SHSU will now become a model for other universities that want to undergo a similar transformation.

“The center is pleased with the number of institutions that are willing to work and formally commit to partnership with their staff in accomplishing what it believes is critically important work in the profession of school counseling,” Nelson said.

Because of the official affiliation of the two entities, which began Sept. 15, SHSU has now become a part of the network of the National Center for Transforming School Counseling, will be listed on the center’s Web site, and will receive e-mailed updates, newsletters and notices of importance relevant to the center’s cause.

In addition, SHSU will be responsible for reporting the progress the school counselor preparation program is making in meeting the essential elements of the initiative on a yearly basis.

“The Center hopes that Sam Houston State University will be an exemplar for other universities in Texas to join the initiative and also appear on the website in the future,” Nelson said.

For more information about Transforming School Counseling Initiative, visit www.edtrust.org.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Sept. 29, 2006
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