************ *   SOAR: Supporters of Academic Rigor

Overview of the School Counseling Supporters of Academic Rigor  (S.O.A.R.) Program

• Emphasizes a social justice agenda, especially those strategies needed to eliminate the achievement gap between minority and low-income students and their more advantaged peers.

• SOAR has worked with The Education Trust as one of six universities selected for The Transforming School Counseling Initiative, DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest, $515,000 (October 1998). Many components of the UNF program have been adopted by other universities such as the selection and recruitment process copied by universities such as the University of Maryland College Park and the New York Institute of Technology.

• Aligned with the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, the standards of the Council for Accreditation in Counseling and Related Educational Programs standards (CACREP) and National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

• Since 1999, SOAR students have presented at national conferences for the American Counseling Association, American School Counseling Association, and the Annual Convention of Florida Counseling Association.

      Field experiences integrated throughout the course work (total 700 clock hours)

In partnership with Duval County Public Schools for:

a) Transforming School Counseling Initiative (1999-present)
b) GEAR UP Grant (1999-2012) Services Delivered at Ribault Middle and High Schools yielded higher achievement on FCAT.
c) GEAR UP Grant (2004-2007) Lee High School