Building Great School Counselor-Administrator Teams

By working together, school administrators and guidance counselors can greatly accelerate their impact on school improvement, student behavior, and mental health. With this practical guide, readers will discover a systematic approach for establishing an effective school counselor-administrator team. The authors share strategies and activities to foster trust and transparency, develop an agreed-on decision-making process, build consensus, commit to a continuous-improvement process, and more.

Use this book to develop effective processes for your school counselors and administrators to better support students:

• Navigate the evolving roles of school counselors and administrators to build high-performing teams.
• Examine the concepts of purposeful collaboration and consensus building among school administrators and guidance counselors: the implementation, uses, and benefits to including them in your group decision-making model.
• Learn the six characteristics of high-performing teams: (1) trust and transparency, (2) results orientation, (3) building professional relationships, (4) respect for diversity and divergent thought, (5) an agreed-on decision-making process, and (6) a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Consider ethical decisions for students, parents and guardians, and other stakeholders.
• Participate in professional development activities on leadership, ethical decision-making, confidentiality, crisis management, and more.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Team Effectiveness and Performance
Chapter 2: Legal Precedents
Chapter 3: Ethical Considerations for Different Stakeholders
Chapter 4: Personnel Issues
Chapter 5: Confidentiality
Chapter 6: Abuse and Neglect Reporting and Mitigation
Chapter 7: Student Misbehavior
Chapter 8: Master Scheduling, Supervision, and Testing
Chapter 9: Parent and Guardian Engagement
Chapter 10: Crises
Chapter 11: The Future of the School Counselor-Administrator Team
Appendix: Trauma-Sensitive School Checklist
References and Resources
Index