SCHOOL COUNSELING K-12 CURRICULUM
Online Lesson Plans (click here for lesson plans)
Welcome to the NYSSCA’s digital platform where school counselors can access school counseling curriculum-based resources such as lesson plans at no cost. This will help you develop or enhance the curriculum for your students. NYSSCA is committed to providing school counselors with high-quality and effective lesson plans to use as inspiration for their own core counseling curriculum.
To find the right resources, simply click the grade level (Elementary, Middle and High School). School counselors can access the latest lesson plans by clicking on the grade level (K-12) and then selecting the one of the three domains of career/college readiness, academic and social/ emotional development.
Lessons and resources are still in development and more will be added after the website is launched. You too will have an opportunity to contribute to this statewide project.
Want to learn more about the background for this curriculum data base, and where we’re going? Scroll down for additional information including how to best utilize and search for lessons on this website.
BACKGROUND
NYSED School Counseling Regulations 100.2(j):
New York State has legislated the most comprehensive and innovative expectations that affect both K-12 school settings and institutions of higher education which initiated in July 2019. These amendments to Commissioner’s Regulations related to school counseling were adopted by the Board of Regents effective, July 1, 2017. The amended regulations impact the comprehensive developmental school counseling program beginning with the 2019-2020 school year and are available at NYSED school counseling webpage.
According to the American School Counselor Association (2019), school counseling programs:
- are based on data-informed decision making
- are delivered to all students systematically
- include a developmentally appropriate curriculum focused on the mindsets and behaviors all students need for postsecondary readiness and success
- close achievement and opportunity gaps
- result in improved student achievement, attendance, and discipline.
The amended regulations include a school counseling core curriculum for the purpose of addressing student competencies related to career/college readiness, academic skills and social/ emotional development by a certified school counselor(s) (100.2(j)(2)(i)(c), 2027).
School counselors need access to students in small and large groups to fulfill this component of the regulation. Utilizing a co-teaching model with other disciplines is a viable approach. CTE and Health courses have curriculum topics directly related to the student standards for school counseling programs and provide opportunity for a lesson provided in whole or part by a school counselor. Likewise, there are opportunities to interface with the ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies and other curriculum areas in a similar fashion. Some districts have developed short courses taught in whole or in part by school counselors to provide relevant lessons. Districts will need to look at availability of staff, master scheduling restrictions, and other practical issues when exploring ways to implement this requirement (Guidance Pertaining to Commissioner’s Regulation §100.2(j) Guidance Programs and Comprehensive Developmental School Counseling/Guidance Programs, 2018).
Using These Resources
The School Counseling Lesson Repository consists of a series of lessons that are developmental, sequential, and grade appropriate in the areas of academic development and social emotional development, and college and career readiness.
The lessons were identified by utilizing publicly available curriculum from state departments of education, school counselor associations, and resources available to us from organizations such as CASEL, the College Board, NACAC, Harmony, etc. and then adapted to utilize the 2021 ASCA Lesson Plan Template.
School counselors can search in the database by grade level and/or domain to identify lessons to use when building or enhancing developmentally appropriate school counseling curriculum lessons. All lessons utilize the 2021 ASCA Lesson Plan Template and are aligned with the 2021 ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success Standards.
It’s important for you to know that the lessons are downloadable and adaptable to your schools’ and students’ needs. The curriculum team completed as many of the categories on the ASCA template as possible leaving some for you to complete or modify.
For example, this section of the lesson plan describes how the lesson was categorized:
Evidence-Based: select one What type of lesson is this?
- Best Practice – this lesson is based on your personal past experiences and positive outcomes or perhaps this is a lesson that you or your colleagues have developed and/or delivered with success.
- Action Research – this works best for a unit of lessons where you want to “measure” the impact of what you are doing with your students. Think of SMART Goals, MEASURE, or another format that what kind of a difference the lessons made.
- Research-Informed – this is a lesson that you found from a source that is trustworthy such as such as CASEL, NACAC, a state department of education, a school counselor association, the College Board, Harmony, etc.
- Evidence-Based – these are lessons or a unit that have strong research support such as Randomized Control (RCT’s) or Quasi-Experimental Design to show positive impact.
Additionally, the curriculum team identified Mindsets and Behaviors standards, which may or not reflect your students’ need. Some school districts align all of their lessons with the Next Generation Standards; this was left blank in most instances for you to fill in. For both of these, you can select the appropriate Mindsets and Behaviors or Next Generation Standards that best reflect what your school and students need.
The Data Collection Plan asks you to provide information on participation (anticipated number of students) as well as the Student Standards Data. This section asks school counselors to administer a pre-/post-assessment aligned with the selected ASCA Student Standards and student learning objectives.
The Data Collection Section asks each school counselor to decide what is appropriate to the purpose of the lesson/unit. If this lesson is part of a unit, you might also have outcome data for achievement, attendance, or discipline with a specific outcome such as improving attendance, etc. It’s important to provide outcome data when you have results at the end of a unit, a quarter, semester, end of year, or targeted goals such as promotion requirements
Acknowledgments
NYSSCA, the New York City Department of Education, and the NYIT School Counseling Department started a collaboration in the spring of 2021 to assist school counselors across New York State to develop a building-based curriculum. This resulted in a repository of lessons for grades K-12 in the areas of academic and social emotional development and college and career readiness. The lessons can be used by school counselors to develop a K-12 curriculum or to complement or supplement existing curriculum/lessons in their school buildings.
The New York State School Counselor Association also wishes to express appreciation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the following individuals for their outstanding contributions and dedication to the development of this Repository of School Counseling Lessons.
Project Coordinator
Carol A. Dahir, Ed.D. New York Institute of Technology
NYIT Curriculum Research and Development Team
Steven Calixte, MS. Ed., NYS Certified School Counselor
Valentina Isaza, Graduate Intern in School Counseling, NYIT, 5th Grade teacher PS18x.
Martine Michel MS. Ed., NYCDOE Educator, NYS Certified School Counselor
Jennifer Silkman MS. Ed. School Counselor
Kira Thomas MS. Ed. NYS Certified School Counselor
Sanata Traore MS. Ed. NYS Certified School Counselor
NYCDOE School Counselors’ Lesson Review and Development Team
Siah B Hagin, MS. Ed., MHC, School Counselor, PS 132 and Community Voices Middle School
Kyeshah Hines, MS.Ed., School Counselor, Spruce Street School, P.S.397
Kristy LeBron, MS. Ed., School Counselor, Gotham Collaborative High School (08×452)
Colleen Powell, MS. Ed., School Counselor, PS 59 The Beekman Hill International School
Sharrone Usher, MS. Ed., School Counselor, MS 244 The New School for Leadership & The Arts
Sugeni Pérez-Sadler, MS. Public Policy, Senior Director, Postsecondary Policy, Office of Safety and Youth Development, NYC Department of Education
Project Assistants
Amallia Sularno, B.A., Psychology Major, class of 2021, Hunter College
Amina Miah, B.A., Physiological Psychology, Hunter College