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School Counselor Connection
Monthly updates for Arizona School Counselors
January 2024
Happy New Year! We hope you had an enjoyable winter break and hope 2024 is off to a good start for you.
We need your help in identifying lead counselors in districts across the state. Please take a minute to complete our survey. ADE is looking to provide additional support to lead counselors by hosting quarterly meetings in which lead counselors can connect with others across the state in similar roles. We will have discussion topics set for each meeting, as well as time for networking and connection. We are looking forward to starting these meetings in 2024. Please complete this survey by January 16 to let us know if you have a lead counselor in your district. This may be someone who oversees the school counselors and student services staff, or is the point of contact for district college and career readiness initiatives. Thank you for your cooperation in this endeavor.
School Counselor Connection is brought to you by: Andrea Glenn, Director of Post-Secondary & Community Engagement and Emily Brown, School Counselor Director at the Arizona Department of Education.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the winner of 2023 ACTE National Counseling & Career Development Award, Kristina Guy. Kristina currently serves as a counselor at the West-MEC Northwest Campus. Additionally, Kristina serves on the AzSCA Executive Board. We are so proud of Kristina's accomplishments!
ECAP Updates
For those of you working with students in grades 9-12, Education and Career Action Plans will be due by April 30, 2024. If your plans are complete, you can submit at any time prior to the due date. We recommend logging into EMAC and familiarizing yourself with the EMAC system before the due date to ensure your tasks are submitted on time. ECAPs are required for all public high schools including charters. Plans need to be uploaded in the EMAC system. Please ensure that your current staff is assigned the correct role and anyone that has left your district has been removed. The two required compliance tasks are the Implementation Plan and the Student Sample Plan. Please note that the Student Sample Plan is only required for schools NOT utilizing the My Future AZ platform.
We have compiled a variety of resources to ensure you find success with ECAPs this year.
My Future AZ Updates
We are currently offering two virtual trainings a month.
Returning User Training: Provides a more in-depth overview of the different user types and features of our platform. Time will be given for questions and answers at the end of the session.
Best Practices/Office Hours: Highlights one feature of our platform and some strategies for implementation. At the end of this session, we will have a question and answer session.
Professional Development Opportunities
Hatching Results
The Hatching Hour: Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 9am-10am Pacific Time / 12pm-1pm Eastern Time
Register for this FREE webinar.
Virtual Events: https://www.hatchingresults.com/virtual-events
Use of Data in School Counseling Institute: Virtual learning sessions
March 11, 2024, https://www.hatchingresults.com/uodof-mar-2024
The Use of Data in School Counseling 2e: 7-Part Series:
Wednesday, January 12, 2024 - Tier 2 Interventions and Root Cause Analysis
Wednesday, March 8, 2024 - School Counseling for Systems Change
Wednesday, April 26, 2024 - Sharing Results and Flashlight Presentations
The Use of Data in School Counseling 2e: Intermediate/Advanced: April 19, 2024
Continuing Education Classes: https://arizona.hatchingorders.com/
Lunch and Learn
Date: Wednesday, January 17th
Time: 11:30-12:30 PM
11:30 AM - Start of Session (Welcome and Icebreaker)
11:40 AM - Speaker One Foster Care students resources and facts about the FAFSA by ADE's Joey Taylor (25 minutes w/ questions)
12:05 PM - Speaker Two CSS from review by Aliento's Pedro Gonzales Aboyte (20+ Minutes w/ questions)
We hope you are able to join us!
Please see the flyer below to get registered.
Arizona College Access Network
If you have not had the opportunity to become an AzCAN member, you can join here for free!
Some noteworthy features of the new CAP courses include:
CAP scholarships are available, and the request is built into each course registration.
Courses are accessed on the Canvas platform.
Courses are completely updated and redesigned to meet the needs of Arizona college access practitioners – course content is relevant, timely, and focused on immediate implementation with Arizona students and families, middle school through high school.
Courses only require a maximum of 15 seat hours to complete.
The 2023-2024 CAP Training Course Schedule is now available and all fall courses are open for registration.
Are you looking to remove deficiencies from your school counselor certificate?
Hatching Results: Hatching Results partners with California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) to offer courses for school counselors for continued education. These courses allow Arizona School Counselors to complete the 6 semester (credit) hour deficiency to renew their certificates in the three-year window who apply for certification under options B, C, and D.
AZCAN College Access Professionals Training Courses: AZCAN partners with Lindenwood University to provide CAP Training Courses. Arizona School Counselors can complete the 6 semester (credit) hour deficiency to renew their certificates in the three-year window who apply for certification under options B and C. If using the CAP courses to remove deficiencies, there will be an option to pay Lindenwood University $75 for each course to receive one graduate semester (credit) hour starting January 2024.
Options B and C require completion of six semester hours of courses in any of the following areas: school counseling, college and career guidance, or academic advising. These courses would fall under the categories of college and career guidance or academic advising.
The courses would not be accepted for the Standard School Counselor certificate under the
Option D: Completion of a graduate program in academic advising. This option requires six semester hours of courses in any of the following areas: social and emotional development, mental health counseling, trauma and disaster counseling, multiculturalism in counseling, theories of counseling, the foundation of school counseling, or child and adolescent counseling.
For additional certificate questions check out the ADE Certification Unit website.
ACTEAZ Summer Conference
AzSCA Free Webinar for Members
ASCA National Model presented by Marci Bieber, Lead Counselor for Peoria Unified School District, will be held on January 23 from 9:00am-10:00am on Zoom. If you are interested in attending, please register on the AZSCA website.
All Grade Levels Resources
National School Counseling Week 2024
National School Counseling Week - American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
School Mental Health Professionals in Arizona
A huge shout-out to our amazing professional organizations in the collaboration of this one-page document outlining the roles of mental health providers within schools. The document was a collaborative effort of the Arizona School Counselors Association, the Arizona Association of School Psychologists, the School Nurses Organization of Arizona, the School Social Work Association of Arizona, and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. We hope you find this document useful in trainings and meetings with various stakeholders.
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) Updates
Accessing Behavioral Health Services in Schools: AHCCCS has everything you need to know about accessing behavioral health services. Please visit their page: Accessing Behavioral Health Services in Schools to gain information for schools, parents, universal referral form, approved providers, and more.
School Feedback Form: AHCCCS wants to hear from you and help! Please share your feedback with them on your experience working with community behavioral health providers. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSjIRzPfSFksMRjwYa6XVchmK471g6Oe7fL0cSURTDaq_Azg/viewform
College and Career Competencies Project
In partnership with ADE, the College and Career Competencies (CCCs) Project invites you to tune into the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 Professional Learning Series, The Skills that Matter: Developing College and Career Competencies in Students. We plan to share various information and strategies to support your understanding and implementation of self-efficacy, assertiveness, and self-regulation.
Registration is required for each session. Please view the attached flyer with details of upcoming sessions and registration links. Sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Each topic will be a two-part series. Consecutive attendance is encouraged but not required. The trainer will provide a brief overview in Part Two of each series for attendees who could not attend Part One.
Topics include:
Teaching Students Respectful Communication: A Two-Part Series in Assertiveness
Part One: February 6, 2024
Part Two: February 13, 2024
For more information or if you have any questions, please email Pattie Noonan.
ADE Free Tutoring Program
Do you have students that could benefit from tutoring? Study Smart Tutors is providing through ADE. Tutoring begins Mid-January. Please view the flyer below for more information.
Study Smart Tutors is also looking for tutors. If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a tutor, learn more here.
High School Specific Resources
Tribal College Dual Enrollment
The Better FAFSA is now open!
Free Spring Training Tickets for Seniors
Exciting news! We're delighted to announce our second-year partnership with the Arizona Cactus League to boost FAFSA engagement for the high school class of 2024.
The first 750 Arizona high school seniors who complete the FAFSA and submit a spring training submission form will receive four tickets to attend a spring training game this season – a fantastic home run for all!
This promotion kicks off on January 8, with FAFSA submissions accepted before that date. Spread the word about this fun and exciting FAFSA incentive, and help your seniors score tickets to a memorable spring training experience!
Ask Benji- Your Digital FAFSA Assistant
Ask Benji is looking for any Spring or Winter nudges that your students/users will want to know. Submit a nudge by completing the form below if you have an event about Vocational & trade school, College, FAFSA, or Career resources!
If you are new to Ask Benji check out their School Resource page to get started.
2024 CTE Month® Video Contest
ACTEAZ is hosting a video contest for CTE students to promote Career and Technical Education by creating a video public service announcement (PSA) to support CTE Month® by increasing awareness and understanding of the benefits of CTE.
The online submission system for the video contest is now open. All videos and included forms must be submitted by January 8, 2024.
Grand Prize:
$500 awarded to the Team or Student
Video will be publicized on ACTEAZ media outlets
Video will be shown at the 2024 Arizona CTE Summer Conference
Second Place:
$250 awarded to the Team or Student
Video will be publicized on ACTEAZ media outlets
Third Place:
$150 awarded to the Team or Student
Video will be publicized on ACTEAZ media outlets
Winners will be announced February 1, 2024.
Visit the CTE Month website for more information.
FFA and Agriculture Related Scholarships
Outstanding Phoenix Youth Leader of the Year
Current Phoenix high school students committed to making Phoenix a better place should apply for this prestigious award. Application is open until February 23. Interested students can learn more on the website.
Email Distribution List
Do you have colleagues who didn’t receive this email? Please use this form to add/update their information in our database.
Emily Brown- School Counselor Director
Email: Emily.Brown@azed.gov
Website: https://www.azed.gov/cte/counselors
Location: Arizona Department of Education
Phone: 602-542-5353
Andrea Glenn- Director of Post-Secondary & Community Engagement
Email: Andrea.Glenn@azed.gov
Website: https://www.azed.gov/ccr
Location: Arizona Department of Education
Phone: 602-364-4799
School Counselor Director at ADE