What are the responsibilities and job description for the School Counselor - High School position at Rice Independent School District?
Primary Purpose:
Plan, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive school counseling program at assigned campus.
Counsel students to fully develop each student’s academic, career, personal, and social abilities and
address the needs of special population students. Deliver guidance curriculum in various group sizes.
Educate students of skills necessary to address troublesome circumstances, support students in
challenging situations, and assist students with needed resources to navigate crisis situations.
Qualifications:
Education/Certification:
Master’s degree in counseling from an accredited college or university
Valid Texas school counselor certificate
Special Knowledge/Skills:
Knowledge of counseling procedures, student appraisal, and career development
Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
Ability to instruct students and manage their behavior
Ability to present information in one-on-one, small group, and large group situations to students,
parents or guardians, and district staff
Experience: Secondary counselor experience preferred
Major Responsibilities and Duties
Guidance Curriculum
1. Plan, organize, implement, and deliver structured group lessons according to the district’s guidance
curriculum to improve students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness, personal health and
safety, post-secondary planning and readiness, and other developmental needs.
2. Teach the school guidance curriculum components through the use of effective instructional strategies
and planned structured groups considering diverse student populations and needs for differentiated
instruction.
3. Work with students, staff, parents or guardians, and the community to identify priorities where
students will be served through the guidance curriculum component. Collaborate across curricular
areas to integrate guidance lessons into content area curriculum.
4. Create a balanced curriculum by using well-planned and intentional activities and materials,
incorporating guest speakers, and offering engaging delivery techniques, including technology tools.
Responsive Services
5. Use accepted theories and effective techniques of developmental guidance to respond to problematic
or critical incidents to support students and offer services in time of need.
6. Use preventive activities to remove barriers that interfere with a student’s educational, career,
personal, and social development.
7. Implement remediation practices to assist students in coping with problem situations or unwise
choices. Identify precipitating and antecedent factors, effective and ineffective approaches to dealing
with the circumstances, and provide feedback to guide future decisions.
8. Use specialized skills to support students in crisis situations requiring immediate response. Maintain a
healthy and safe school environment by collaborating with district staff, parents or guardians, and
local officials.
9. Provide continued support to students in need through individual counseling, small group counseling,
consultation, or referral to services outside the school or district.
10. Serve as an impartial, non-reporting resource for interpersonal conflicts and discourse involving two
or more students, including accusations of bullying.
Individual Planning
11. Create school counseling services that are developmental and age appropriate and provide
information or literature that highlights related topics to students, teachers, and administrators.
12. Assist individual students and their parents or guardians in monitoring their academic, career,
personal, and social development as they progress in school.
13. Act as a student advocate, leader, collaborator, and systems change agent. Advocate for a school
environment that acknowledges and respects diversity and ensures equitable access and placement in
courses and programs for minority, disenfranchised, homeless, and other special populations.
14. Interpret standardized test results, offer career development activities, provide strategies for grade
level transitions, and guide students in individual goal setting and planning including creating and
reviewing personal graduation plans and providing information about post-secondary opportunities.
System Support
15. Collect, summarize, and interpret testing data to plan, create interventions, guide students, and
address specific student needs.
16. Conduct an annual program audit to inform accountability, action plans, time management, and
systemic change.
17. Participate in campus-based school improvement planning and goal setting.
18. Provide parent or guardian and staff training and consultation to foster student educational, career,
personal, and social development.
19. Clearly articulate and communicate the counseling program’s management system and related
program action plans to campus and district staff, parents or guardians, and the community.
20. Participate in staff development and continuing education opportunities to improve job-related skills
and research to identify best practices in implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.
Other Related Duties
21. Compile, maintain, and file all reports, records, and other documents.
22. Comply with policies established by federal and state law, State Board of Education rule, and board
policy. Comply with all district and campus routines and regulations.
23. Adhere to legal, ethical, and professional standards for school counselors including current
professional standards of competence and practice.
24. Follow district safety protocols and emergency procedures.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Supervise assigned counseling aide(s) and administrative assistant(s).
Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:
Tools/Equipment Used: Personal computer and peripherals; standard instructional equipment
Posture: Prolonged sitting; frequent standing, kneeling/squatting, bending/stooping, pushing/pulling, and
twisting
Motion: Frequent walking
Lifting: Regular light lifting and carrying (less than 15 pounds); occasional physical restraint of students to
control behavior
Environment: Work inside, may work outside
Mental Demands: Maintain emotional control under stress; may work prolonged or irregular hours
*Includes information from the Counselor Job Description and Evaluation Form distributed by the Texas
Education Agency.
Plan, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive school counseling program at assigned campus.
Counsel students to fully develop each student’s academic, career, personal, and social abilities and
address the needs of special population students. Deliver guidance curriculum in various group sizes.
Educate students of skills necessary to address troublesome circumstances, support students in
challenging situations, and assist students with needed resources to navigate crisis situations.
Qualifications:
Education/Certification:
Master’s degree in counseling from an accredited college or university
Valid Texas school counselor certificate
Special Knowledge/Skills:
Knowledge of counseling procedures, student appraisal, and career development
Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
Ability to instruct students and manage their behavior
Ability to present information in one-on-one, small group, and large group situations to students,
parents or guardians, and district staff
Experience: Secondary counselor experience preferred
Major Responsibilities and Duties
Guidance Curriculum
1. Plan, organize, implement, and deliver structured group lessons according to the district’s guidance
curriculum to improve students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness, personal health and
safety, post-secondary planning and readiness, and other developmental needs.
2. Teach the school guidance curriculum components through the use of effective instructional strategies
and planned structured groups considering diverse student populations and needs for differentiated
instruction.
3. Work with students, staff, parents or guardians, and the community to identify priorities where
students will be served through the guidance curriculum component. Collaborate across curricular
areas to integrate guidance lessons into content area curriculum.
4. Create a balanced curriculum by using well-planned and intentional activities and materials,
incorporating guest speakers, and offering engaging delivery techniques, including technology tools.
Responsive Services
5. Use accepted theories and effective techniques of developmental guidance to respond to problematic
or critical incidents to support students and offer services in time of need.
6. Use preventive activities to remove barriers that interfere with a student’s educational, career,
personal, and social development.
7. Implement remediation practices to assist students in coping with problem situations or unwise
choices. Identify precipitating and antecedent factors, effective and ineffective approaches to dealing
with the circumstances, and provide feedback to guide future decisions.
8. Use specialized skills to support students in crisis situations requiring immediate response. Maintain a
healthy and safe school environment by collaborating with district staff, parents or guardians, and
local officials.
9. Provide continued support to students in need through individual counseling, small group counseling,
consultation, or referral to services outside the school or district.
10. Serve as an impartial, non-reporting resource for interpersonal conflicts and discourse involving two
or more students, including accusations of bullying.
Individual Planning
11. Create school counseling services that are developmental and age appropriate and provide
information or literature that highlights related topics to students, teachers, and administrators.
12. Assist individual students and their parents or guardians in monitoring their academic, career,
personal, and social development as they progress in school.
13. Act as a student advocate, leader, collaborator, and systems change agent. Advocate for a school
environment that acknowledges and respects diversity and ensures equitable access and placement in
courses and programs for minority, disenfranchised, homeless, and other special populations.
14. Interpret standardized test results, offer career development activities, provide strategies for grade
level transitions, and guide students in individual goal setting and planning including creating and
reviewing personal graduation plans and providing information about post-secondary opportunities.
System Support
15. Collect, summarize, and interpret testing data to plan, create interventions, guide students, and
address specific student needs.
16. Conduct an annual program audit to inform accountability, action plans, time management, and
systemic change.
17. Participate in campus-based school improvement planning and goal setting.
18. Provide parent or guardian and staff training and consultation to foster student educational, career,
personal, and social development.
19. Clearly articulate and communicate the counseling program’s management system and related
program action plans to campus and district staff, parents or guardians, and the community.
20. Participate in staff development and continuing education opportunities to improve job-related skills
and research to identify best practices in implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.
Other Related Duties
21. Compile, maintain, and file all reports, records, and other documents.
22. Comply with policies established by federal and state law, State Board of Education rule, and board
policy. Comply with all district and campus routines and regulations.
23. Adhere to legal, ethical, and professional standards for school counselors including current
professional standards of competence and practice.
24. Follow district safety protocols and emergency procedures.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Supervise assigned counseling aide(s) and administrative assistant(s).
Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:
Tools/Equipment Used: Personal computer and peripherals; standard instructional equipment
Posture: Prolonged sitting; frequent standing, kneeling/squatting, bending/stooping, pushing/pulling, and
twisting
Motion: Frequent walking
Lifting: Regular light lifting and carrying (less than 15 pounds); occasional physical restraint of students to
control behavior
Environment: Work inside, may work outside
Mental Demands: Maintain emotional control under stress; may work prolonged or irregular hours
*Includes information from the Counselor Job Description and Evaluation Form distributed by the Texas
Education Agency.
