School Counselors Overwhelmed by Huge Caseloads

A recent article by Diane Rado, with the Dallas Morning News, talks about the struggle of high school guidance counselors to provide personal attention to students.

The Dallas Independent School District board voted last week to pay $2.1 million for outside organizations to help students navigate the college application process. High school guidance counselors want to provide more personalized service, but can't. It's just a numbers game.

The article states that the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per counselor.

Our experience is Mentoring and Academic Counseling is the first step in the process and takes a lot of time and individualized attention.


The National Association of College Admissions Counseling, State of College Admissions Report, September 2008 reported the following public school student to counselor ratios:
-Virginia: 455:1
-Maryland: 374:1

I applaud the Dallas Independent School District board for addressing the issue.