School counselors get relief, students get time

By Emily Richmond

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 | 6:48 a.m.

Guidance counselor Willie Hutson is too busy to figure out exactly how many Sierra Vista High School students are assigned to his care this year.

"I don't count them . I just serve them," said Hutson, whose campus is one of the most overcrowded in Clark County. "That's what I am - a public servant."

Sierra Vista has eight guidance counselors to serve 3,434 students - a ratio of 429 to 1. That's 29 more students for each counselor than the districtwide average, and that number is considered way too high. The ratio recommended by national guidance counselor groups is 250 to 1.

Hutson is responsible for making sure seniors are on track to graduate, guiding juniors through the maze of college entrance exams and helping sophomores and freshmen adjust to the demands of high school. There aren't enough hours to permit one-on-one sessions with many of his students, so Hutson catches them when he can.

"You have to be there for them," Hutson said. "It might not be in the office. It might be in the halls between classes. You work it out."

You do unless, in addition to traditional guidance counselor tasks, you are asked to oversee testing.

Since the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act took effect in 2002, the number of required standardized tests has soared for Nevada's students. And so have the responsibilities for schools to coordinate and administer the exams. At many campuses, most of the duties have fallen to guidance counselors.

Then the Nevada Legislature stepped in. During the recent session, lawmakers sought to address Nevada's graduation and dropout rates, which are poor when compared with other states', although they have improved slightly in recent years. Lawmakers proposed a remedy: Students should get more time with guidance counselors.

But the counselors pointed out that their workday was crammed full and included too many hours engaged with testing.

Assembly Bill 212, requiring school districts to limit the amount of time counselors spend coordinating and administering tests, became law on July1.

"Every year we've given our counselors more duties, most related to testing," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, the bill's lead sponsor. "How can we expect our counselors to help students if we don't give them the time to do that?"

The legislation also requires that counselors meet individually with incoming ninth graders to draft a four-year academic plan, which must be signed by students and parents.

In the past Hutson tried to finish his test coordinator duties before or after school, so it wouldn't cut into his time with students. Less than two months into the new academic year, he has already seen his testing-related tasks sharply reduced.

"It's a blessing," Hutson said of the new law.

The Clark County School Board gave preliminary approval Tuesday to incorporate the new requirements into the district's regulations. Counselors will continue to be involved in testing that relates directly to students' postgraduate opportunities, such as Advanced Placement exams, but not tasks related to routine testing, said Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the district.

"Those things are gone (from the job description). It has been clearly communicated to the principals as well."

The School Board also expressed concern about the number of instructional days given over to testing, an issue also raised by the Legislature. An interim study is under way to determine whether some tests could be consolidated or eliminated, Kohut-Rost said. In the meantime, the district has a moratorium on adding any standardized tests and has dropped several of the annual exams not mandated by the state.