Counselor - Junior High

Katy ISD•Katy, TX

About The Position

The school counselor uses leadership, advocacy, and collaboration to meet students’ developmental, educational, and social-emotional needs while supporting school staff. The school guidance and counseling program includes guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support. Guidance curriculum promotes effective growth and development through groups; individual planning helps students pursue personal, academic, and career goals; responsive services address immediate concerns; and system support develops, maintains, and improves the counseling program and school community.

Requirements

Master’s degree in counselor education.
Valid Texas counseling certificate.
Minimum three years of classroom teaching experience.
Knowledge of counseling theories, counselor ethics, and school counseling procedures, including student appraisal and career development.
Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Ability to instruct students and manage their behavior.
Ability to maintain emotional control under stress.
Moderate lifting may be required.

Responsibilities

Provide large- and small-group guidance lessons, including classroom guidance.
Conduct small student counseling groups to address specific needs.
Coordinate peer programs by selecting, instructing, and supervising student peer mentors. Programs may address study skills, tutoring, peer facilitation, and career development.
Help students explore, select, and follow through on options for achieving life goals and appropriate placement.
Help students explore their interests and characteristics through self-assessments, inventories, interviews, and processing information about themselves.
Conduct group counseling for students experiencing difficulty with normal developmental tasks.
Provide empathetic individual counseling to help students identify problems and causes, consider potential solutions and consequences, and choose appropriate actions.
Consult with parents, teachers, school personnel, and community agencies about strategies to address and resolve student concerns.
Maintain and share current self-exploration, post-secondary, career, and community-resource information with students and parents.
Provide referral sources using professional resources in the school and community.
Develop the campus counseling program by assessing student, faculty, and community needs and designing a program to address them.
Collect and use data to evaluate the counseling program, identify areas for growth, and determine potential changes.
Plan and implement staff development related to counseling and social-emotional learning.
Develop materials for staff development, classroom guidance, and group counseling consistent with program goals.
Plan and lead parent guidance programs, which may include sharing information or building skills to help parents become more effective.
Provide high-quality customer service to assist students and promote the school counseling program and school community.