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A new program is taking a page from teacher residencies to improve mental health outcomes for California’s most vulnerable students, recruiting and mentoring school counselors in the state’s rural Central Valley.
In partnership with Fresno Pacific University and six school districts throughout Tulare County, the year-long program housed within the county’s California Center on Teaching Careers hopes to curb shortages that have left schools throughout the state with student to counselor ratios at 1:461, nearly double the recommended 1:250.
Since its launch at the start of this school year, the School Counselor Residency project has provided one on one support to a small pilot cohort of twelve counselors and looks to expand statewide. Counselors in training earn a Master of Arts in school counseling and a $45,000 living stipend while being mentored by experienced counselors in their region.
“Through this pathway, we’re truly able to grow our own, which means preparing individuals of our own communities who grew up here, who know parents … students of our own schools, to then be part of our system,” said Marvin Lopez, the Center’s executive director.
The program is hands-on, requiring 1,200 hours of clinical training and field experience, 400 hours beyond the required amount to obtain a credential.
Like other residencies to boost teacher pipelines, the model aims to recruit a more representative pool by eliminating the financial barriers and loans professionals often take on to enter the field.
Graduates of teacher residencies, which the SCR program has been modeled after, stay in their school districts at much higher rates than those who have entered through traditional or other alternative pathways, “stabilizing” the force, according to the Learning Policy Institute. The pools they recruit are also more racially diverse.
