Counselors Scarce in School Districts Across the Bay Area
May 5, 2009
A new analysis of school counseling data for K-12 students shows that very few Bay Area school districts meet the national recommendation of having one counselor for every 250 students.
As the nation marks Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, the data, provided on kidsdata.org, reveal that of the 98 Bay Area school districts for which 2008 data are available, only four met this American School Counselor Association standard. More than 40 percent of districts had either no counselors or a counselor-to-student ratio greater than 1:1,000, more than four times the national recommendation.
Availability of counselors is significant at all school levels. In high school, it indicates the support that is available for students in preparing for college, including understanding what courses to take, being aware of financial aid options and knowing how to apply. Research also shows that school-based counseling plays an important role in promoting the positive development of young people and helping them to make responsible choices as they move into their teen years. A growing body of research underscores the relationship of social and emotional health to a student's ability to achieve academically.
Comparisons at the county level show that much of the Bay Area also is faring worse than the state, which had an overall counselor-to-student ratio of 1:686. Of the six Bay Area counties, only two had a better ratio than California - Marin (1:560) and San Francisco (1:525). However, over the last decade, the counselor-to-student ratio improved in all Bay Area counties, as well as in California.
These data are among the many measures of children's emotional well being available on kidsdata.org. Other related indicators from the site include school district data on students' feelings of connectedness to school; county-specific rates for suicides, self-inflicted injuries and hospitalizations for mental health problems; parental concern about child depression; and parental ratings of their child's ability to get along with other children.
The importance of school-based counselors also was underscored in a 2005 study commissioned by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, "School-Based Counseling for Preteens in San Mateo County: A Study of Key Issues Affecting the Emotional and Behavioral Health of Preteens and an Examination of Available Services." The report recommended increasing the number of school counselors and including social and emotional health curriculum as part of the regular school day for preteens.
Contact: Andy Krackov, senior director of public information, at (650) 736-0677 or andy.krackov@lpfch.org, if you have any questions.
To sign up for monthly updates about news, events and data regarding Bay Area children, visit http://www.lpfch.org/signup/index.html.