Copley High School Smoke Signals - Copley-Fairlawn City Schools

What Does a School Counselor Do?
• CLASSROOM GUIDANCE – Counselors work cooperatively with staff to provide vocational, college, career,
and financial aid information.
• INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING – Counselors are trained to help resolve personal, social, educational, and career
development issues.
• GROUP COUNSELING – Counseling may be provided in small groups to help students with concerns about
relationships, personal matters, and developmental tasks.
• PARENT CONSULTATION –Counselors will conduct parenting meetings, facilitate conferences, and offer
appropriate information for situations as they arise.
• STAFF CONSULTATION –Counselors assist staff members in obtaining knowledge and skills, e.g. learning
styles and test interpretation.
• CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMUNITY – Counselors may refer students and their families to
community agencies when long-term counseling is needed to help with more serious personal, social, or
educational concerns.
• ADMINISTRATIVE/CLERICAL ACTIVITIES – The counseling staff will administer standardized tests,
oversee the scheduling process, and review college applications.
• PROGRAM MANAGEMENT – Counselors work collaboratively with other school/community members on the
development of the Guidance Program by identifying and gathering guidance resources, designing activities, and
assessing and evaluating their impact.
• PUPIL APPRAISAL –Counselors will assist in the collaborative effort to identify students’ strengths, needs, and
interests through intervention assistance, team assessments, multi-factored evaluations, individual career plans,
etc.
What is confidentiality?
The Guidance Office is a place a student or parent may come to discuss concerns confidentially.
Confidentiality means that personal concerns will not be shared with others. However, counselors are required
by law to contact other adults if a situation arises that puts someone in physical or emotional harm.
What might bring a student to the Guidance Office?
• I’m here because other students are giving me a hard time.
• I don’t have any idea what I want to do after graduation.
• I am having problems with one of my teachers.
• My girlfriend/boyfriend dumped me.
• I need help figuring out how to get better grades.
What might bring a parent to the Guidance Office?
• I need to communicate with all the teachers about a situation at home and/or a medical need.
• I need some suggestions on how to improve my child’s study habits.
• Which courses does my child need to get into college?
GET YOUR NEW HIGH SCHOOLER OFF TO A GOOD START THIS YEAR.
1. Set up a study routine. High school teachers give longer assignments and expect students to take more responsibility for
their own learning. Get your teen into a regular study routine. Every day at the same time, he/she needs to block out at least
one hour for studying or reading materials.
2. Encourage your teen to be active. Kids who are more active in school activities do better in school.
3. Think about what your teen wants to do after high school. If he/she plans to go to college, now is the time to start taking
the necessary classes and earning the grades. Senior year may be too late to take all the classes he/she will need.
4. Make sure your child gets enough sleep. Research shows that teens are sleep deprived. You can’t change the starting time
of your teen’s high school, but you can make sure he/she goes to bed at a reasonable time every night. While he/she may
never agree to take a “nap,” if you suggest it’s “power sleeping,” he/she may get a little extra sleep after school before
studying.