SOAR Courses

EDF 6607 

Presentation and exploration of the program philosophy and mission based on national and local data on student achievement and educational equity.  Study of contemporary social forces and their effect on school counselors’ role in America education.  Development of a philosophy of social action to impact environmental and institutional barriers, which impede student success in rigorous academic course work.

MHS 6530 

This course is designed to provide students with methods, materials, leadership skills, and counseling techniques appropriate for group work in a school setting.  The course will address group and classroom approaches for promoting academic achievement and success in school for the at-risk student.  Principles and practices of group counseling, group dynamics, teaching and training models and skills, teaming and collaboration and working with parent groups will be covered.  Emphasized will be academic, career, college counseling, and school leadership groups.  This course is designed to provide students with methods, materials, leadership skills and counseling techniques appropriate for group work and collaboration with teams in a school setting.

MHS 6407 

Theory and skills for a comprehensive school guidance program: Individual, solution focused, brief counseling theories, group and systems advocacy.

SDS 6940 

In accordance with the conceptual framework, this course is designed to provide students with skills in counseling and consultation, organization and implementation of parent, faculty/staff development activities, and strategies for conducting advocacy and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The course will have as the primary focus, the completion of the 100 clock hour practicum for school counseling. Students learn to manage resources and secure alternative funding, access resources and support the academic achievement of K-12 students.

MHS  6780       

This course is a survey of the ethical, legal, and professional issues facing the school counselor in working with minors in schools.  This course is designed to help educators and School Counselors develop effective written and verbal public communication skills.  An outcome of this course will be that students will understand the realm of legal and ethical codes for school counselors. 

SDS 6310         

Designed to enable counselors to help individuals assess the skills, knowledge, and self-understanding necessary to arrive at appropriate career, educational and lifestyle decisions throughout the life span.

SDS 6832 

Under the supervision of a practicing counselor and a university supervisor, students will demonstrate their knowledge and abilities in the role of career and academic advisors.  This internship will offer advanced studies and practical field experience in conducting career assessments. (300 clock hours)

TSL 6700 

This course provides an overview of key issues related to the schooling of English

Language Learners (ELLs) and struggling readers as they affect school counselors.

Emphasis is placed on such dimensions of diversity as culture, ethnicity, race, language, social class, exceptionality, gender, age, sexual orientation and their implications for educational policy, curriculum, and methodology.

SDS 6000 

This course is designed to enhance the relationship between families/care givers and the school for the purpose of optimizing student behavior for classroom learning. By examining cultural and ethnic communities, it will give the students tools to use when working with families. In addition, students will learn effective ways to include family members as active contributors in their child's education and overall well being. Students will learn how to create collaborative teams that will include school personnel, families and other community resources to promote student learning. The school counselor's role will be explored in managing classroom behavior when conducting classroom guidance and in helping teaches with strategies for managing students from various cultural backgrounds. The classroom environment instructional activities that promote cognitive growth will be examined. This course will look at profiles and characteristics of students presenting potential and active behavior problems. Strategies for preventing and handling on-going behavioral problems are examined.

MHS 6482 

The course provides an examination of personality development throughout the lifespan. Student will study theories of development, focus on physical, cognitive, social and personality in the various phases of life, and will consider the implications for counseling at each developmental stage. Students will construct their own developmental histories and consider the impact on their potential work with counselees.

SDS 6014 

Introduction to the school counseling profession.  Students develop and deliver character education lessons, etc. in large group guidance experiences.  Students join a School Improvement Team (SIT) and continue affiliation until graduation.  Mentorships are established between practicing counselors and students.  Fifty practicum hours are gained through classroom guidance and Saturday seminars with educational leadership students on equity issues.

SDS 6831 

One of the primary goals of this internship is to collaborate with community agencies and resources to help school counselors extend their reach to all students in an effort to remove environmental barriers which impede academic success. Students enrolled in this course will increase their knowledge of brokering and managing resources by visiting and/or having guest lecturers from approximately 20 local community resources such as the Children’s Hospitals, PACE Center for Girls, and Child Protective Services, Big Brothers/ Big Sisters.  Students will apply their knowledge to case studies. 

(150 clock hours)

MHS 6421 

This course provides an in-depth study of the developmental stage and needs of children and adolescents.  Identified are the dominating issues which impede the academic development of children and adolescents in schools, e.g., attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, children and divorce, neglect and appropriate interventions for removing academic barriers are studies and practiced.  In-depth information will be given on school and agency resources to assist students with specialized needs.  Methods of consulting with parents, teachers, administrators, support staff and community agency personnel will be studied and practiced.  Students will participate in the DCPS Resource Fair, CST and IEP meetings, and will act as a consultant to a teacher.  Legal and ethical issues involving Public Law 94-142 (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act will be discussed.

SDS 6830         

Under the supervision of a practicing counselor and a university supervisor, students will demonstrate their knowledge and abilities in the role of individual and small group counseling, collaborator with other educators, and coordinator of guidance services.  Students will demonstrate their ability to establish and maintain a comprehensive school guidance program. (300 clock-hours in schools)

EDF 6480 

Advocacy/Equity (with Ed leadership students): Action based research related to student achievement; qualitative and quantitative methodology for schools; needs assessment; preparation for research and data collection; process assessment; data collection and analysis.  Setting up district-wide data bases for group assessment of achievement outcomes; technical resources for monitoring student academic achievement; computer based statistical analysis; data presentation.

MHS 6600 

This course is designed to provide counselor education students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to function in the role of consultant, one of the primary roles of the school counselor.  A comprehensive model of school consultation will be presented and the student will have the opportunity to implement this model with a teacher.  Particular emphasis will be placed on consultation with parents and teachers.  Students will learn to select appropriate individual family, and group strategies to use with diverse populations.