For the first time in decades, Missouri’s K-12 school counselors can soon work from a set of revamped learning standards. The state Board of Education has approved the new guidelines, which are optional for Missouri’s public schools to use.
Chrissy Bashore, with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the standards have not been significantly changed since they were first developed in the 1970s.
“The needs of our students and communities, employer expectations, career readiness, skills and schools overall look very differently than they did back in the 1970s. By reworking these standards, curriculum lessons can be more accurately designed to target K 12 students academic achievement and to prepare them for the world of work,” said Bashore.
Susan Perkins, School Counseling Coordinator with Columbia Public Schools, helped to build the guidelines.
“Our school counselors across the state are looking for standards that are more relevant to the needs that we’re seeing in the schools,” said Perkins. “We’re really enthusiastic about the possibility of having a new set of standards, which will help us do our job even better.”
Highlights of the new standards include teaching students the following skills:
*Critical thinking
*Problem solving
*Self-awareness
*Team building
*Setting goals
*Relationship-building
*Decision-making
*Time management to complete assignments
*Being organized to complete assignments
School counselors are on track to begin using the new optional standards next fall.
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