THREAD: GOOD NEWS ABOUT HS COUNSELORS

In a really good thread about kids getting into college yesterday, @jselingo claimed the "typical counselor-to-student ratio is 1:464."

HS counselors do amazing work and are underappreciated. But in the HS context, that number is wrong. https://twitter.com/jselingo/status/1113897686766374917

I'm not criticizing @jselingo. He didn't come up w/ that ratio. It's from an @ASCAtweets and @NACAC study using @EdNCES data. I cited a *worse* # in a @TheAtlEducation piece. The # isn't wrong per se but it's misleading if we're talking college counseling. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/09/the-neglected-link-in-the-high-school-to-college-pipeline/500213/

The problem with saying that the "typical counselor-to-student ratio is 1:464" is that the ratio is for K-12, not for HS. If you use the @EdNCES table generator, you can see how @ASCAtweets and @NACAC got their numbers. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/tableGenerator.aspx

The student:conselor ratio for K-12 looks *really* bad, especially since @ASCAtweets recommends a ratio of 250:1 or less. Almost no one is hitting that #. BUT it's only this bad if you include K-8.

When you include K-8, the ratio grows a lot. K-8 kids *need* counselors, to be sure, but not as many as or as often as do HS students navigating the move to college or work. So, we should separate the pools. Certainly @NACAC should since it's focus is HSCollege.

I used the @EdNCES table generator (so, same data source) to calculate the student:counselor ratios for every state and DC from 2014/15 (the year the @ASCAtweets and @NACAC used in their study) to 2016/17. Here's what I found.

In 2016-17 the national average was 237 students per counselor. The recommended @ASCAtweets is 250:1 or less. In fact, 34 states are below 250. 16 states and DC are above it, but Florida is really close.

There's more good news. Since the @NACAC and @ASCAtweets report, which used 2014-15 numbers, 30 states have actually improved their student:counselor ratio. Let's credit those organizations and writers who have covered this issue for helping make that imporovement.

ASIDE: DC stands out on this chart so much that it needs looking into. It could be bad reporting to @EdNCES . If not, then it's really troubling that our nation's capital is failing HS students in this way.

Caveat 1: the @ASCAtweets / @nacac calculations are crude. They simply take the (number of students)/(number of FTE counselors) in a state. Schools come in many sizes, however, so it is proabably better to look at this on a district level. I can do that if you want. Let me know.

Caveat 2: This is not an argument that things are fine. That 250:1 recommendation strikes me as too high when you think about all the paperwork a counselor has to do to complete a student's application + advise students + deal with so many other issues and crises.

Caveat 2 (cont.): Counselors are vital, and the work that @ASCAtweets, @NACAC, reporters, and scholars do to call attention to them is also vital. We should make it easier for counselors to help students.

BUT getting the numbers right and celbrating progress matter too.

So, let's say it altogether.

The national ratio of students:counselors in high schools is 237:1 (not 464:1).

Here are the numbers for each state.

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