California Department of Education
Taking Center Stage – Act II

Time for counseling and mental health

Typically, schools do not need to schedule counseling into the school day. However, in many schools, the counselor may provide elective courses, such as peer mediation and service-learning opportunities, that are part of the master schedule. Students who need specific behavioral or emotional health counseling make appointments to visit counselors either before, during, or after the school day. Advisory teachers and counselors work together to meet the intellectual as well as the socioemotional needs of students. If a class period is not routinely designated during the school day, schools that have advisory and study skills periods are able to release students for counseling when it does not interfere with any other classes.

In the Spotlight

Castaic Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2003 model, Castaic Union Elementary School District. Castaic Middle School’s six-period schedule provides time each morning for an advisory period. Link to Castaic’s schedule from the Schools to Watch™ page on the California League of Middle Schools (CLMS) (Outside Source) Web site (click on Daily Schedule).

John Glenn Middle School of International Studies (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2004 model, Desert Sands Unified School District. Counselors meet with sixth graders in their ATLAS (Approaches to Learning Academic Seminar) class, where monthly counselor workshops address important social and academic topics.

Richard Henry Dana Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2006 model, Wiseburn Elementary School District. Students take an elective on service-learning from the school counselor. They receive training in leadership and tutoring skills and then meet with elementary school students to help them with academic tutoring.

For more on counseling, see the California Results-Based School Counseling and Student Support Guidelines (2007) (PDF; 873KB; 85pp.), the section on Counseling in Chapter 8, “Safety, Resilience, and Health,” and the section on Advisory programs (homeroom) in Chapter 5, “Relationships.”

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