WHAT DOES AN ACADEMIC COUNSELOR DO?

Published: Oct 30, 2024 - The Academic Counselor provides comprehensive support by guiding students through college, major, and career exploration while maintaining accurate academic records. Collaborates with teachers, social workers, and counselors to address students' academic, social, and emotional needs, ensuring seamless integration for mid-semester enrollees. Monitors student progress toward graduation, tracks transcripts, and delivers essential reports for state requirements and school documentation.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Academic Counselor

1. Academic Counselor Duties

  • Data Analysis: Demonstrate the ability to analyze school-based and Crossroads assessments to identify scholars’ abilities, aptitudes, achievements, and interests to support overall success.
  • Assessment Interpretation: Analyze assessments and inventories provided by Crossroads and interpret standardized test results and other assessment data to guide students in individual goal setting and planning.
  • Needs Assessment: Provide analysis of scholars’ needs, document contact hours, and collect outcomes data on a regular basis.
  • Ethical Standards: Uphold ethical standards of the profession and established standards and competencies set for counselors.
  • Professional Development: Maintain good professional character and commitment to professional growth.
  • Confidentiality: Respect ethical boundaries by honoring the confidentiality of scholar information.
  • Collaboration: Collaborate with supervisors and other staff members to problem-solve and offer services to scholars and families in professional and appropriate ways.
  • Counseling: Advise students and parents on their learning needs through a counseling session.
  • Appointment Management: Fix appointments and conduct demo sessions either online or through home visits on a daily basis.
  • Educational Guidance: Create the need for smart learning and advise students and parents about various TG Campus courses.
  • Sales Negotiation: Handle objections and price negotiation to generate sales revenue.
  • Product Knowledge: Learn/upgrade product knowledge and sales skills to achieve and exceed growing sales targets.

2. College and Academic Counselor Details

  • College Counseling: Serve as primary college planning counselor to assigned students.
  • College Consultation: Meet with students and parents to discuss college selection and the college application process.
  • Guidance Material Development: Develop and prepare appropriate college guidance materials.
  • Event Planning: Assist with planning and implementation of college-related events and meetings for students and parents.
  • Mini Fair Coordination: Assist with the planning and hosting of college mini fairs and college information days.
  • Testing Implementation: Assist with the planning and implementation of standardized testing.
  • Liaison Role: Serve as a liaison between students, parents, and colleges during the college application process.
  • Recommendation Writing: Write comprehensive letters of recommendation for college admissions for all assigned students.
  • College Visits: Visit colleges and universities and attend professional conferences.
  • Scheduling: Complete scheduling of rising juniors and seniors.
  • Academic Counseling: Serve as primary academic counselor (Case Manager) to assigned students.
  • Case Management: Serve as a Case Manager to students on academic probation or with other academic concerns.
  • Academic Planning: Assist in the development of academic plans for students with academic difficulties.

3. Academic Counselor Responsibilities

  • Curriculum Development: Plans and facilitates a rigorous and engaging curriculum of workshops that aligns vertically to workshops taught in the other grade levels.
  • Collaboration: Collaborates to create, implement, and refine schoolwide, gradewide, and classroom-based systems, routines, and procedures.
  • Workshop Facilitation: Provides workshops for students and families/guardians on college and career readiness, including financial aid preparation, as well as summer opportunities such as pre-college programs, internships, volunteer, and academic opportunities.
  • Bridge Program Coordination: Co-facilitates week-long summer bridge programming for students in preparation for the college application process.
  • Relationship Management: Develops, manages, and maintains relationships with CBOs.
  • Community Collaboration: Plans and executes collaborative workshops for the school community with CBO partners.
  • Academic Counseling: Provides academic counseling to a select caseload of students.
  • Progress Monitoring: Ensures students in counseling caseload make satisfactory progress toward credit accumulation and on-time graduation.
  • Parent Communication: Communicates proactively with parents/caregivers of students regarding academic performance.
  • Needs Assessment: Identifies academic and non-academic needs of students and connects students with resources based on those identified needs.

4. Academic Counselor Accountabilities

  • Career Counseling: Counsels students on colleges, majors, and career exploration.
  • Collaboration: Actively communicates and collaborates with grade team teachers, social work team, and counseling team to ensure holistic support of students.
  • Case Management: Maintains up-to-date case notes for each student on the caseload.
  • Internship Research: Researches and provides information on after-school and summer internships, jobs, programs, and/or college-campus experiences for students.
  • Transcript Management: Enters transcripts for new students into the database within the allotted time frame.
  • Record Keeping: Maintains accurate and up-to-date transcripts.
  • Documentation Management: Maintains accurate records of all student documents.
  • Schedule Accuracy: Ensures that student schedules accurately reflect academic progress toward graduation, including students who enroll mid-semester.
  • Teacher Support: Assists teachers when students enroll mid-semester, making sure that teachers receive guidance on integrating the students into coursework and ensuring that previous grades, credits, and evaluations are handled appropriately.
  • Graduation Tracking: Keeps abreast of all high school graduation requirements and tracks student progress toward graduation.
  • Report Generation: Constructs reports as needed for state reporting, transcripts, and report cards.

5. Academic Counselor Functions

  • Test Administration: Manages test administration and logistics for PSAT/SAT I and relevant accommodations.
  • Enrichment Coordination: Connects students to summer enrichment activities, including accelerated coursework, extracurricular activities, mentoring, internships, and employment.
  • Career Counseling: Helps students research and understand their postsecondary career and educational options.
  • Application Assistance: Assists with student preparation of applications for internships and jobs.
  • Event Coordination: Helps to coordinate high school awards receptions and graduation ceremonies.
  • Administrative Support: Contributes to the school’s smooth and efficient operation by fulfilling required administrative duties and responsibilities and maintaining open and proactive communication with colleagues.
  • Relationship Building: Builds strong relationships with students and families through consistent communication and by following through on commitments.
  • Credit Monitoring: Ensures that students and families/caregivers understand credit and Regent accumulation in relation to students’ postsecondary goals.
  • Score Counseling: Counsels students on the importance of Regents scores, GPA, and SAT scores as they relate to students’ postsecondary goals.
  • Academic Intervention: Facilitates 1:1 and group academic interventions.

6. Academic Counsellor Overview

  • Course Counseling: Understand the requirements and provide course details to students, fresh graduates, and professionals who walk into the center or call over the phone.
  • Enrollment Management: Enrollment of candidates to courses following the company terms and conditions.
  • Workshop Facilitation: Giving seminars and conducting workshops along with the team is a part and parcel of the job.
  • Lead Management: Call up leads generated by the marketing team and counsel them for courses based on their requirements.
  • Student Relationship Management: Keep a good rapport with all enrolled students.
  • Event Participation: Take active participation in different events organized by the academy.
  • Attendance Monitoring: Monitor and follow up with students’ attendance at required Evening Study.
  • Academic Conference Facilitation: Conduct student academic conferences.
  • Progress Monitoring: Monitor student progress toward graduation.
  • Parent Communication: Communicate with students' parents regarding academic and social/emotional performance.
  • Intervention Support: Serve as a member of the academic, personal, and social intervention support team (Strategies Team).
  • Administrative Support: Provide effective administrative support by monitoring, maintaining, and performing special projects and carrying out ongoing functions as assigned by and discussed with the Coordinator of College and Academic Counseling.
  • Cultural Competency: Support equity and excellence by ensuring the execution of culturally competent counseling and other interactions with students and families.

7. Academic Counselor Tasks

  • Academic Advising: Advises graduate students about meeting degree and certificate requirements.
  • Course Selection Support: Assists students with the selection and registration of courses, addressing issues that affect academic performance.
  • Referral Management: Makes appropriate referrals to other university student services offices.
  • Faculty Communication: Communicates with faculty regarding students in academic distress or facing other issues.
  • Diversity Support: Works with other university departments that support a diverse student body.
  • Process Improvement: Provides recommendations and solutions to streamline advising processes to improve students’ academic performance and increase student success and graduation.
  • Progress Monitoring: Monitors and evaluates each student’s academic progress throughout the year.
  • Issue Resolution: Assists students with the resolution of problems that arise after periodic degree and certificate audits, changes of major, graduation, and other issues in graduate academic affairs.
  • Degree Clearance: Conducts degree clearance for graduating students, maintaining and updating student files.
  • Prospective Student Engagement: Meets with prospective JLC Master’s students.
  • Recruitment Event Participation: Participates in on-campus recruitment and conversion events.
  • Orientation Support: Attends orientation activities for new students.
  • Application Review: Reviews applications for JLC Master’s students and provides recommendations to the program director.
  • Course Coordination: Coordinates with the program director, department chair, and assistant to the department chair on graduate course offerings.

8. Academic Counselor Roles

  • Academic Planning: Conduct one-on-one meetings with parents and students to develop a 4-year academic/social-emotional plan, discuss college and career goals, and select classes each year.
  • Progress Monitoring: Monitor students’ academic progress throughout the year and create student success plans.
  • Group Counseling: Conduct group sessions to address academic and social issues that may hinder progress, such as study skills, stress management, executive function issues, social media problems, and transitions to high school or between grades.
  • Special Education Support: Work with students who learn differently.
  • Teacher Collaboration: Collaborate with teachers to implement accommodations.
  • Accommodation Requests: Assist with making requests for accommodations to the College Board and ACT.
  • Report Interpretation: Know how to read and interpret psycho-educational reports.
  • Administrative Collaboration: Collaborate effectively with the school’s administration, faculty, and staff in all aspects of the counseling process.
  • University Collaboration: Work alongside top-ranking universities abroad, focusing on English-speaking countries.
  • Student Inspiration: Share ideas and inspire young learners to achieve their life goals in education and career aspirations.
  • Educational Consulting: Consult and provide education solutions through product expertise to match the best-fit school or university to customers.
  • Application Assistance: Assist students with a complete school/university application process.

9. Academic Counselor Additional Details

  • Student Intervention: Meet with students to determine reasons for low grades and provide appropriate intervention based on assessment.
  • Parent Communication: Communicate with parents regarding student challenges when additional intervention 
  • Research and Reporting: Complete miscellaneous research, reports, and letters.
  • Intervention Recommendation: Provide recommendations regarding a student’s need for intervention, switching classes, and academic or mental health needs.
  • Teacher Collaboration: Work with teachers to support student academic needs.
  • Specialist Collaboration: Work with learning specialists to best support student needs.
  • Student Onboarding: Meet with assigned new students and freshmen at the beginning of the year to review the time management worksheet.
  • Communication Management: Monitor, manage, and respond to phone calls, emails, and comments from teachers, parents, and students regarding academic and emotional concerns.
  • Academic Monitoring: Monitor, manage, and respond to academic concerns.
  • Student Counseling: Counsel students experiencing academic, transitional, emotional, and social difficulties.
  • Progress Communication: Communicate with student advisors, the division head, dean of students, assistant head of school, and parents regarding student progress.
  • Community Referral: Provide referrals to community resources for testing and long-term counseling.

10. Academic Counselor Essential Functions

  • Parent Communication: In conjunction with the division head, prepare letters notifying parents of students' academic status as needed, including occasional probationary periods.
  • New Student Support: Meet with parents of assigned new students and provide support.
  • Conference Coordination: Coordinate parent/teacher conferences for academic, transitional, emotional, and social difficulties.
  • Email Management: Review, assess, and respond to parent and teacher emails referencing concerns, forwarding them to the appropriate Division Head if needed.
  • Teacher Training: In conjunction with the learning specialist, inform and educate teachers about interventions required for accommodating students with learning differences.
  • Event Logistics: Arrange logistics for presentations to faculty, parents, and students each year, including a yearly presentation on depression and stress.
  • Information Sharing: Provide college counselors, the registrar, assistant head of school, academic affairs, and the division head with information and proposed courses of action for students with academic, social, behavioral, or emotional concerns.
  • Crisis Counseling: Provide short-term triage counseling to students in crisis.
  • Meeting Participation: Attend weekly faculty meetings, new parent orientations, back-to-school nights, Open Houses, and Q&A sessions.
Relevant Information
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