THE NEED

It is commonly believed that career and college counseling solely guides students toward the "right career" or "right college." However, the impact of career and college counseling goes beyond that and profoundly influences various aspects of the school, student outcomes and well-being, stakeholder relationships, and the economy holistically. Studies reveal that schools equipped with adequate guidance and counseling services witness:

• Improved academic performance
• Increased engagement and learning in classrooms
• Stronger relationships between schools and parents
• Improved mental health and well-being (reduced academic distress and anxiety) among students
• Lower rate of student suicides during competitive exam settings
• Furthermore, this contributes positively to the economy by improving performance in the most suitable careers

Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting the significance of career and college counseling, only a tiny fraction of schools have access to these services or fully comprehend their true importance.

With increased awareness and the integration of counseling in schools, it's crucial to examine the scope of this function and its impact on different school systems. While academic curricula have structured and defined goals that can be quantified to measure success, counseling lacks a unified definition or structure, leading to the absence of clear outcomes and measures of success. Consequently, as mentioned above, key stakeholders often overlook the qualitative benefits of counseling. This can hinder the evolution and optimization of counseling outcomes.

Enrich is a program specially developed for school leadership, who have the macro view and responsibility of the school's overall success, to bring the counseling function to the fore in a systematic and structured manner to enhance student success. Hence, this program will focus on how schools plan, report, and evaluate the activities of the counseling department to maximize student success.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

A program built to deepen the understanding of the school leadership on college and career counseling in schools, to identify both the vision and the strategy in which school leaders can build and nurture the practice of career and college counseling in schools, making this function structured, well-supported and geared to achieve desirable outcomes.

The primary purpose is to clearly understand how to identify goals, design a bespoke implementation plan, evaluate performance, and plan for the growth of the counseling function, keeping student success at the center stage in the process. A school leader's experience, position, and support are invaluable and critical to developing a holistic and efficiently functioning counseling practice in a school ecosystem.