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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

FSCA eNews Update - November 2012


Follow-Up from the FSCA 2012 Convention
Thank you once again to the over 400 participants, exhibitors, sponsors, and volunteers who attended the 2012 convention. FSCA is already preparing for the 2013 convention which will continue to provide high quality and relevant school counseling professional development, resources, opportunities for networking, and fun.
  • Click here to watch a brief photo show of the convention and professional recognition banquet.
  • Click here to download presenter files (click on Download).
  • Save the Date! The FSCA 2013 Convention will be held at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront Hotel OCTOBER 31, 2013 TO NOVEMBER 2, 2013.
  • Congratulations to our 2012 Professional Recognition Award Recipients.
FSCA 2012 Governing Board Elections
At this time of year, the Florida School Counselor Association (FSCA) solicits candidates for its Governing Board.  Please help us identify the next generation of Florida’s school counseling leadership by seeking an elected office or by encouraging those you believe to be talented leaders in your area to become candidates for one of the following FSCA offices:
  • President Elect (President-Elect, President, Past-President) 2013-2016
  • Elementary School Level Vice President, 2013-2015
  • Middle Level Vice President, 2013-2015
  • District Supervisor Level Vice President, 2013-2015
  • Region 2 Vice President (Crown) 2013-2015 (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam St. Johns, Union)
  • Region 4 Vice President (West Central) 2013-2015 (Charlotte, Collier, Desoto, Glades, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas Polk, Sarasota)  
Elections will be held in early December and terms of office begin on July 1 and end on June 30. 
Click here to  download a nominations packet.
 
Updated Resources and Information
  • FSCA News You Can Use. FSCA continues to maintain a very active BLOG and Twitter Feed filled with links to important resources, tools, announcements, and timely information. Click here to access Here are the most recent. 
  • Updated FSCA RAMP Resources page.
  • Updated ASCA School Counselor Competencies Available: The ASCA School Counselor Competencies have been updated to more closely mesh with the new edition of the ASCA National Model. Download an updated copy. Or, if you are a digital subscriber to the ASCA National Model, next time you access your book via the Web, it will automatically have the most recent competencies in it.
  • Attend the ASCA Conference at a Discount. Register by Dec. 31, 2012, for the ASCA Annual Conference, June 30-July 3, 2013, in Philadelphia and save! Give yourself an early Christmas present, and lock in our cheapest conference rates. Always a stellar professional development opportunity - and a lot of fun too - the ASCA Annual Conference helps you meet all your training needs in one place. Learn more or register today.
  • Did you know that you can purchase the newly published ASCA Model 3rd edition at a FSCA discount and free shipping? Click here to learn more.
FSCA Asks for Your Feedback
If you have not already, please take a couple of minutes to complete FSCA's bi-annual member survey. Your feedback is important to us and helps to drive decisions in all areas of our mission. Click here now to complete the survey.
FSCA's Goals
  1. Professional development opportunities in areas of critical need are made available to all professional school counselors in the state.
  2. Timely, relevant information exists that supports professional school counselors and student advocacy.
  3. Legislative policy exists that supports professional school counselors and child advocacy.
  4. Leaders at local and state levels champion and lead change initiatives.
  5. FSCA maintains an organizational structure and administrative functions that facilitate the accomplishment of the goals and objectives.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Eight Components of College and Career Readiness Counseling

Advocacy and Policy Center

Register Now for This Week's Webinar on NOSCA's Eight Components of College and Career Readiness Counseling


Please join the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center's National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) as we continue our fall series of webinars. These 60-minute, content-packed webinars will provide participants with the information, knowledge and skills to ensure that all students — especially underrepresented student populations — are college and career ready.

It's not too late — registration is still open for this week's webinar on college and career readiness.

Nov. 28
Tools and Resources to Meet the Needs of Young Men of Color

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, 1–2 p.m. EST

Moderator:
•  Jennifer Dunn, Director, The College Board, NOSCA

Panelists:
•  Nancy Barile, Teacher, Revere High School
•  Alfredo Martinez, 11th-Grade Student, Revere High School
•  Jose Padilla, 11th-Grade Student, Revere High School
•  Rawlings Toglan, 12th-Grade Student, Revere High School
•  William Truong, 12th-Grade Student, Revere High School


Gain insights into the knowledge, skills and transformative practices necessary to effectively assist the young men of color in your school. Learn how to use the workbook that accompanies the Transforming the Educational Experience of Young Men of Color Journal (both downloadable on the NOSCA website) to encourage dialogue about the needs and experiences of young men of color. Hear from students as they share their stories, challenges and hopes for the future.
Interested in obtaining more information, knowledge and skills to enable college and career readiness?
Sign up for the last webinar in our fall 2012 series:

School Counselors and FAFSA Completion: Systemic Best Practices to Increase FAFSA Submissions and Completions in Your School
Dec. 12, 2012, 1–2 p.m. EST
Register now

You can also view our archive of past webinars.
Download the PowerPoint presentations or listen to the recordings.

Please share this information with your colleagues.

For more professional development, join us in the Big Easy for our annual conference, Destination Equity 2013, at the New Orleans Marriott in the heart of the French Quarter. Register today.

We appreciate your support.

Pat Martin
Assistant Vice President
The College Board
National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA)


Important links

To learn more about NOSCA, visit nosca.collegeboard.org.
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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving from FSCA


Happy Thanksgiving from the
Florida School Counselor Association
 
FSCA hopes that your day will be filled with joy, gratefulness, and peace. FSCA is thankful for all that you do for kids and their families. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
 
Sincerely,
 
Russell Sabella
Florida School Counselor Association
Join Our Mailing List!
Florida School Counselor Association | P.O. Box 752 | Safety Harbor | FL | 34695-0752

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Seven Florida Schools Win National Blue Ribbon Awards


DOE Press Office
 (850) 245-0413
Seven Florida Schools Win National Blue Ribbon Awards
Tallahassee, Fla., November 8, 2012 - The Blue Ribbon Schools program selected seven Florida public schools as 2012 national award winners. Leaders from each school will be presented an award signifying their Blue Ribbon status during the program's conference on Monday, November 12, in Washington, D.C.

To be eligible for the national award, schools must be ranked among the highest in their state or have demonstrated dramatic gains in overall student achievement in both reading and mathematics. This year, only 219 public schools nationwide were selected to be honored during the annual award ceremony.

"Achieving the level of excellence set by the Blue Ribbon Schools Awards is no easy task," said Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart. "These schools are a model for others to follow, creating classrooms designed for student success."

The program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools in one of two performance categories. Schools recognized in the "Exemplary High Performing" category must be among their state's highest performing schools, as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. The second category, "Exemplary Improving," recognizes schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds who demonstrate the most progress in improving student achievement levels.

Congratulations to the following Florida public schools selected in the Exemplary High Performing Schools category.

West Melbourne Elementary School for Science, Brevard County
West Shore Junior/Senior High School, Brevard County
Imagine Charter School at Weston, Broward County
Christina M. Eve Elementary School, Miami-Dade County
Killearn Lakes Elementary School, Leon County
Lincoln Avenue Academy, Polk County
Partin Elementary School, Seminole County
For more information about the BRS program, visit National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

2012 National Survey of School Counselors


  
Nov. 13, 2012
Issue 20
Advocacy in Action
Your go-to series for innovative research, tools, practices and ideas for college preparation, affordability, admission and completion.
Inside Today’s Issue

NOSCA reports
Download the 2012 National Survey of School Counselors reports to read more about how school counselors and their administrators are poised to chart the course of their students' college and career success.

College Preparation & Access
college keys compact
Join us on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. for a free webinar, NOSCA's National School Counselor Survey 2012: Counselors and Principals Weigh In on Critical Issues. Hear about the new survey findings and how they compare to the 2011 inaugural survey.
Register today
Join us on Nov. 28 at 1 p.m., for a free webinar, NOSCA's Tools and Resources to Meet the Needs of Young Men of Color.
Register today

College Affordability & Financial Aid
my college dollars
Download the 2012 Trends in College Pricing and Trends in Student Aid reports to read the latest and most accurate information that can help improve college-going decisions.

College Admission & Completion
Download two new policy papers released at College Board Forum, Diversity in the Balance (parts I and II), released at College Board Forum that provide guidance and insight into the case Fisher v. University of Texas. Read about steps universities and colleges should actively consider with respect to their enrollment and diversity policies and practices while the case is being deliberated by the Court. The Forum PowerPoint presentation (.pdf/352KB) is also available as a pdf.

Get Involved!
Sign up and receive additional information about the innovative work the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center is doing to transform education!

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The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center was established to help transform education in America. Guided by the College Board’s principles of excellence and equity in education, we work to ensure that students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed in college and beyond. We make critical connections between policy, research and real-world practice to develop innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in education today.
advocacy.collegeboard.org


Monday, November 12, 2012

Florida Board of Education Pushes for Elimination of State-Mandated Textbooks


By Leila Meyer10/26/12

School districts in Florida may soon have freedom to choose which textbooks and educational materials to use in their classrooms, including digital materials, such as e-books and Internet resources.

In a letter to members of the Florida Board of Education (BoE), Vice Chairman Roberto Martinez suggested that the BoE should make the elimination of state-mandated textbook adoption a legislative priority for 2013.

Read full story here.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Position Announcement - Project Coordinator


Hiring Salary/Salary Range: $75,000 to Negotiable
Source: http://sss.usf.edu/whatsnew/posting0008470.html

Duties: The Project Coordinator serves as the administrator at our Tallahassee office for the Student Support Services Project (University of South Florida), a discretionary project from the Florida Department of Education. The Project Coordinator is responsible for collaboration and coordination with the Project Director, strategic planning for the Student Support Services Project, supervision and support of the project professional staff (School Psychology, School Counseling, School Social Work, School Nursing, School-based Medicaid) and support staff.

Minimum Qualifications (Education & Experience): Masters degree or higher in Education or directly related field. Five years of experience at the state education department and/or district leadership levels.

Preferred Qualifications (Education & Experience): Experience in Student Services, Exceptional Student Education and/or District/School Leadership teams. Preference is given to state and district level leadership experience. Experience with staff supervision and problem-solving. Experience working with inter-agency collaboration. Experience with systems level problem-solving. Experience with the organization of Student Services and Exceptional Student Education within a MTSS model, including allocation, delivery and evaluation of those services. Experience with developing, delivering and evaluating professional development programs and activities. Experience with the use of technology in the delivery of instructional and instructional support services to accelerate student growth and an understanding of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model.

Special Skills/Licenses/Training/Certifications Necessary: Knowledge and experience with instructional support personnel performance evaluations. Knowledge and experience with Multi-tiered System of Supports/Response to Intervention. Knowledge/experience with the development, implementation and evaluation of federal and/or state statutes/regulations. Understanding the relationship between student services and student academic/behavior outcomes within a return on investment model. Understanding of the Common Core State Standards and the implication of the implementation of those standards for student services and ESE personnel.


• Click on Administration button.
• Scroll to bottom of screen and search by Posting Number — 0008470. Click Search button.
• Click “View” under “Project Coordinator” for detailed job description and link to online application.

2012 National Survey of School Counselors


Counselors and administrators shared their perspectives on the biggest obstacles counselors face in their efforts to adopt the Eight Components as their overall approach to counseling students.


This report, True North: Charting the Course to College and Career Readiness, demonstrates that school counselors and their administrators share a vision for their schools and agree on a path to realize it. In the past, the more than 130,000 school counselors nationally have struggled to define their profession. Now, faced with an incontrovertible need to improve student achievement, school counseling is no longer at a crossroads. The 2012 National Survey of School Counselors, supported by a supplemental survey of school administrators, provided powerful evidence that school counselors and their administrators know true north — and they are poised to chart the course of their students’ college and career success.