Bronwen O'Shea 
Table of Contents
Ten years ago, after an 11-year career as a fourth and fifth-grade teacher, I decided to serve students in a new way, so I became a school counselor. This role change has allowed me to expand my impact and assist even more students as they grow and develop. Now, in my current position, I serve approximately 330 eighth-grade students, and I truly enjoy my work.
I find that my previous experience as a classroom teacher has been key to my success in my new role. That experience has helped understand the challenges students face in the classroom and has given me a unique insight into the role of the teacher in every student’s social, emotional, and academic growth. As school counselors like me often serve hundreds of students on a caseload at a time, we need to understand, and have access to, tools that will save time and address specific student needs efficiently and effectively.
While classroom educators have long used edtech resources to support student academic growth and development, many school counselors are relatively new to the power of edtech. The following are 5 ed resources that every school counselor needs to know and implement in a comprehensive school counseling program.
School counselors have a unique role in supporting all learners’ academic, social, and emotional growth, and edtech resources can help.
Here are 5 edtech resources every school counselor should familiarize themselves with and integrate into their daily work:
A Learning Management System
Every school counselor should use a learning management system to effectively communicate with students and staff and to share resources like mental health tips or career exploration tools. In the district where I am employed, I have access to a learning management platform called Schoology to communicate with students. I regularly post updates for career events that I host at school, share mental health tips with students, and post important links for students to access during classroom lessons that I teach during the school year. I also have a counseling request form on my Schoology page that students can fill out and submit to request help with any concerns related to academics, mental health, or conflicts with friends.
This form also makes it easier to keep track of concerns self-reported by the students that I serve, so that I can use this information when choosing a topic for small group counseling or classroom lessons. School counselors are responsible for hundreds of students on their caseloads, and regularly using this type of platform helps me to stay more connected with students virtually.
College and Career Readiness Platforms
A college and career readiness platform is so important for school counselors, especially so at the middle and high school level. These platforms provide a comprehensive set of tools for college and career planning, career assessments, and goal setting.
The South Carolina Occupational Information System (SCOIS) guides students through career planning, helps them explore career options, and takes interest inventories. I use this individualized information when I meet with eighth grade students and their parents for an Individualized Graduation Plan (IGP), which is an annual meeting that students in grades 8-12 are required to attend with their counselor and a parent or guardian to plan courses related to college and career readiness. The career interest inventory that students are required to take before their IGP conferences provides individualized career guidance and allows me to target specific students when I host events for college and job readiness.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Learning Platforms
Platforms like Second Step offer curriculum and tools to help counselors implement mental health and wellbeing into their programs, which is crucial for students’ overall health. These platforms offer structured lessons that teach skills like emotional regulation, decision-making, and empathy, and offer great resources for group or individual sessions to foster a positive school environment. The ready-made lessons and activities on these platforms are easily adapted into the lessons that a counselor teaches in classrooms throughout the school year. This allows the flexibility to address topics that are relevant to your student population from year to year such as conflict management or emotional regulation.
There are also ready-made lessons if you don’t have the time to create an entire lesson on your own! Not only do these platforms assist in helping educators implement socio-emotional topics throughout various topics during the school day, but many of these platforms offer professional development for educators. Coaching, training, and regular check ins are some of the many advantages of hosting an SEL platform for teachers and counselors.
Data Management Systems
Data Management Systems store student data related to academic progress, behavioral issues, attendance, and other factors that inform a counselor’s work during the school year. Counselors can monitor student progress over time, identify trends within the students on their caseload, and ensure that students are getting the support they need. I use a system called PowerSchool to identify students who are failing 2 or more subjects by the end of the first quarter, which helps offer individualized academic support and interventions for at risk students. I also use this platform to monitor student attendance and if there is a need for targeted attendance interventions within the school population.
A data management system is a tool to gather data beforehand so that student interventions are tailored to the specific needs of the population, and afterwards the reports will show whether or not those interventions worked or if new interventions need to be introduced to better address the needs of your students.
A Supplemental Content Resource
It is important that school counselors have access to the vetted, standards-aligned supplemental resources already used by teachers and students. My school district uses Discovery Education Experience, which is provide to schools in South Carolina at no cost thanks to the our State Department of Education. Experience includes lessons, interactive activities, virtual field trips, articles, presentations and more that school counselors can integrate into their curriculum. Many of these resources can also be edited if you prefer to tailor your content to your students’ needs, as I created for my students when there was a need to focus on employability soft skills. I used videos, images, and other media to create a personalized lesson on perseverance for my students.
During the lesson, I added a couple of places for students to answer a question and reflect on their learning, and I also included some activities related to the lesson for students to complete if they were finished early. Discovery Education Experience is easy to use and provides numerous resources that are easily integrated into classroom guidance lessons.
Together, these edtech tools help school counselors like me be more effective in supporting their students’ academic, social, and emotional growth, providing them with the resources and flexibility to make a positive impact.
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