The school counseling program at Pendergast Elementary is dedicated to helping every student reach their academic, career and personal/social goals. The counselor works closely with students, parents, teachers, and administrators to assure that all students have the best opportunity to be successful not only at Pendergast Elementary but in high school and beyond. The direction of the program is based on the American School Counseling Association National Model (2005), which focuses of four key areas to deliver services to students
Guidance Curriculum – Guidance curriculum are structured developmental lessons designed to assist students in achieving the desired competencies and to provide all students with the knowledge and skills appropriate for their developmental level. The guidance curriculum is infused throughout the school’s overall curriculum and is presented systematically through classroom and group activities.
Topic of guidance lessons include Empathy Training, Impulse Control, Anger Management, Bully and CyberBully Prevention. Additionally, students learn 21 thinking skills through the course of their time here at Pendergast Elementary to help them on academics and testing. Because we are a Kids at Hope school, the counselor also infuses lessons of goal setting for the four destination points in life, as well as ask student to identify people in their life who are their "aces."
Individual Student Planning – School counselors coordinate ongoing systemic activities designed to assist students individually in establishing personal goals and developing future plans (preparing academically for the next grade, preparing for high school, setting post-secondary goals).
Responsive Services – Responsive services are activities meeting individual students’ immediate needs, usually necessitated by life events or situations and conditions in the students’ lives. These needs require counseling, referral, peer helping, mediation or information. Students, parents and teachers can request this service in times of crisis.
Systems Support – Like any organized activity, a school counseling program requires administration and management to establish, maintain and enhance the total counseling program. For example parent/teacher/counselor conference, staff development, observation student in the classroom.
Because the school counseling program uses a data driven approach to counseling each intevetnion that counselors provide is targeted based on every students individual need.
Below, I illustrate some examples of these intervetions following an Response to Intevention (RTI Model). All students will receive general guidance counseling servies such as guidance lessons and individual planning. As students demonstrate that more is needed to help them be sucessful in schoolm the counseling department together provides targeted inteventions to support the student as he or she progresses through Pendergast Elementary.