Investing in Counselors, Investing in Students: A Leadership Imperative

School counselors are one of the most underutilized strategic assets in K–12 education. While the demands of running a school often lead to creative staffing decisions, assigning counselors to roles outside their training is not just inefficient; it’s counterproductive. Counselors are uniquely trained in student development, academic planning, mental health support, and postsecondary readiness. When school leaders fully align their roles with School Counseling program models, they can transform the academic and behavioral culture of their buildings. But too often, this potential is lost due to a mismatch between needs and deployment.

In many schools, counselors are pulled away from their core responsibilities and reassigned to non-counseling tasks that fill staffing or supervision gaps. Duties like hallway monitoring, lunchroom coverage, or daily sign-in procedures are often given to counselors when support staff are limited. While these tasks may seem minor or necessary in the moment, they chip away at the time counselors need to meet with students, deliver SEL instruction, conduct needs assessments, and design targeted interventions. Every hour spent outside their scope of training is an hour not spent addressing student needs that directly impact outcomes like attendance, behavior, and graduation rates¹.

Another common misuse is relying on counselors solely for crisis response. While trained to de-escalate and support students in crisis, this reactive model prevents them from focusing on prevention: the work that builds student resilience and addresses issues before they spiral. Without dedicated time to implement social-emotional learning, small group counseling, and individual planning, the system becomes one of triage rather than transformation².

Often, administrative responsibilities are layered on top of these reactive roles. Counselors may find themselves managing testing logistics, coordinating paperwork, or processing documentation for compliance. These tasks may need to get done, but they don’t require a counseling degree; assigning them to highly trained professionals with a mental health and development background dilutes the impact they were hired to make³.

It’s also not uncommon for counselors to be excluded from schoolwide planning conversations. Despite their training in data analysis, behavioral intervention, and student support, they may be left out of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), SEL leadership teams, or school improvement meetings. When counselors are absent from these critical planning spaces, decisions are made without their insights, often resulting in piecemeal or inconsistent approaches to student support⁴.

Compounding all of this is the fact that many school counselors are working under overwhelming caseloads. In some cases, a single counselor may serve 400 to 700 students—far above ASCA’s recommended ratio of 1:250. Without boundaries on their role and with unrealistic student loads, burnout is inevitable; and students don’t receive the quality or frequency of support they need⁵.

I experienced this firsthand with one of the counselors on my team. When I first began working with her, she was diligent and deeply committed to students, but clearly exhausted. I could tell she was carrying far more than she should have been—constantly running from one urgent situation to another, her calendar packed with tasks far removed from the actual work of counseling. When we sat down for a midyear check-in, she told me: “I don’t feel like I’m doing what I was trained to do. I’m here all the time, but I don’t know if I’m making a difference.”

That conversation was a wake-up call. Instead of continuing to layer responsibilities on her, we took a step back and mapped her duties against the ASCA National Model. Together, we identified the core counseling functions that aligned with student achievement and wellness: direct counseling services, classroom lessons, individual planning, and collaboration on MTSS and SEL initiatives. We built in protected time for her to do those things; we advocated for clerical help where possible; and we stopped assigning her to general coverage tasks.

Within a few months, everything shifted. She began leading small group interventions again. She tracked student progress and presented data at team meetings. She delivered classroom SEL lessons on a rotating schedule and started developing a college and career planning series. Most importantly, she came to me one afternoon and said, “I finally feel like I’m doing what I was meant to do.”

That single change didn’t just restore her sense of purpose, it made a tangible difference for the students. Attendance improved; student referrals dropped; and we started seeing increased engagement in schoolwide planning meetings, where her voice now had a regular seat at the table.

This experience affirmed what the research already tells us: counselors are most effective when their time is protected and their role is clearly defined. According to the ASCA National Model, school counselors should spend at least 80% of their time on direct and indirect services to students. This includes delivering a comprehensive school counseling curriculum focused on academic development, college and career readiness, and social-emotional learning. Counselors should be part of the school’s leadership infrastructure; they should have access to data and the ability to act on it; and they should not be routinely pulled into duties that fall outside their scope of training⁶⁷⁸.

It’s understandable that staffing challenges and budget constraints push schools into difficult choices. But using counselors as general support staff to save money in the short term often leads to greater costs down the line, more student behavioral issues, more referrals, less academic progress, and higher dropout risk⁹. When school counselors are allowed to do their jobs, they vastly prevent those outcomes from occurring.

As educational leaders, we can’t afford to overlook the strategic value of our counselors. They are not spare hands to fill gaps; they are highly trained professionals with the capacity to drive change, increase achievement, and build systems of care that support every student. Especially in under-resourced environments, honoring their role is one of the most impactful investments we can make in the health and success of our schools.

References

1. American School Counselor Association (2021). ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs. Alexandria, VA.

2. Carey, J., Harrington, K., Martin, I., & Hoffman, D. (2012). A statewide evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of ASCA National Model school counseling programs in rural and suburban Nebraska high schools.

3. ASCA. (n.d.). Appropriate vs. Inappropriate Activities for School Counselors. Retrieved from: www.schoolcounselor.org

4. Sink, C. A. (2005). Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Academic Achievement – A Review of the Literature. Professional School Counseling.

5. Bruce, M. A., & Bridgeland, J. M. (2012). The 2012 National Survey of School Counselors: True North – Charting the Course to College and Career Readiness. College Board Advocacy & Policy Center.

6. ASCA National Model (2021). Implementation Guide.

7. McGannon, W., Carey, J., & Dimmitt, C. (2005). The Current Status of School Counseling Outcome Research. Amherst, MA: The Center for School Counseling Outcome Research.

8. ASCA (n.d.). School Counselor Use-of-Time Assessment. Retrieved from: www.schoolcounselor.org

9. ASCA. (2021). The School Counselor and Budgetary Support. Retrieved from: www.schoolcounselor.org