Creating Connected Counseling: Initiative to Restructure High School Counseling and Guidance Services to Raise the High School Completion Rates of All Students

The Saint Paul Public Schools (Minnesota) Connected Counseling initiative, begun in 2003, is focused on redesigning both the content and delivery of school counseling programs in Saint Paul’s seven comprehensive high schools. Funded by the Bush Foundation, the initiative is an effort aligned with the Foundation’s goal of raising high school completion rates for all students. This report describes the progress of Connected Counseling as of January 2007. The Connected Counseling Model shifts the focus of school counselors from concentrating exclusively on one-on-one support to individual students to creating school-wide comprehensive standards-based school counseling programs in order to reach ALL students. Connected Counseling stresses the leadership role that school counselors play in developing school-wide improvement strategies in alignment with the district’s strategic goals. Connected Counseling draws on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model for comprehensive school counseling programs.