- Counseling 21st Century Students for Optimal College and Career Readiness
- A 9th-12th Grade Curriculum
- By Corine Fitzpatrick and Kathleen Costantini
- Book Description
Counseling 21st Century Students for Optimal College and Career Readiness A 9th – 12th Grade Curriculum 2nd edition is a response to the overwhelming need that counselors and students confront in the fast changing global world economy. Fifteen percent of our high schools’ students drop out or do not graduate in 4 years (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_coj.asp). Half of those who remain, graduate without the skills for college or a job. While there are many new initiatives to foster excellence in our schools, very few of these initiatives, and in particular curricular initiatives, have focused on counselors. Yet counselors have an enormous impact on student achievement and post secondary goals. This book and web site offer counselors an action-based curriculum that will meet the needs of 21st century high school students, help to foster their growth and ambition, and engage them as constructivists in learning what they need to succeed beyond high school.
Counseling 21st Century Students for Optimal College and Career Readiness A 9th – 12th Grade Curriculum takes a comprehensive, developmental approach, focusing on 9th-12th grade students, rather than solely on those in 11th and 12th grade. Specific topics discussed include successful transition to 9th grade; using technology in the college and career advising process; assisting and advising students in college research and application; working with parents; and helping seniors make successful transitions to college. This book also provides a model for developing and enhancing a successful college advising office as well as essential advice on optimal methods of working with parents and with students with learning disabilities. The described curriculum is geared for use by school counselors, college advisors, and in graduate counseling student courses designed for learning this necessary set of skills needed to counsel high school students about going on to college. There is also a special focus on those students in urban and rural schools to enable them to have the same enriched experiences in their college and career advising program as those students in private and suburban schools.
At our website http://www.optimalcollegeandcareerreadiness.com, counselors, teachers, and administrators will find useful information to assist them in their essential work with students and families. Included on the web site is easy access to the tables, exercises, and charts contained in the book. In this way, materials may be reproduced so that students may benefit from the practical, hands-on experience that is critical in our approach to an effective college and career readiness curriculum. In addition, the web site provides a means of communication with the authors as well as a posting of events of the authors’ presentations. The web site is an indispensable tool for counselors, teachers, administrators, and graduate school educators in the vital work of helping students understand and achieve their collegiate and career goals.
Author bios:
Kathleen Costantini, MA
Kathleen Costantini, MA, has over twenty-five years experience as a teacher, administrator and college advisor in diverse, urban school settings. As the Social Studies chairperson at Notre Dame School in Manhattan and at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, she was responsible for curriculum in grades 9 – 12 and implemented Advanced Placement and honors classes. Later, she was the chairperson of the Language Arts (K – 12) department at Marymount School in Manhattan where she coordinated the school-wide English and reading program. Kathleen was also the Assistant Director of College Advising at Regis High School in New York and the Director of College Advising at Marymount School. As a consultant at In-Tech Academy (MS/HS 368, NYC DOE) in the Bronx, New York, she assisted in the development of study skills and college advising programs as well as the formation of a school-wide advisory system. Kathleen is a guest lecturer at Manhattan College where she has taught graduate classes in Professional Writing and Counseling the College Applicant. In addition, she has a private practice assisting students and their families in the college search and application process. Most recently, Kathleen is the author of An Allegheny Triumph of Justice, Carrie Williams’ Courageous Fight for Equal Rights in the Early Jim Crow Era (35th Star Publishing).
Corine Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Corine Fitzpatrick, Ph. D., a licensed NYSTATE psychologist and mental health counselor, has over 20 years of experience in K – 12 education including work as a high school teacher, a counselor, and a psychologist. Recognizing early in her career the importance of college advising for inner city students, she developed some of the strategies that form the basis of this book including the first Teacher-Advisor system in a New York City Catholic School. Currently, she is a professor in the School of Education at Manhattan College in New York City; she is the chair of the Graduate Programs in School Counseling, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy. In 2009, she was the recipient of a $400,000 grant focusing on innovative College Advising activities for high school students in New York City and on the enhancement of the expertise of counselors to provide best practices in college advising through professional development courses. In 2015, she partnered with Yonkers Public Schools in a 7 year GEAR – UP grant (Gaining Early Education and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) that has focused on a cohort of their school students, following them from 8th grade through first year in college. She is also a member of the Board of NEWYORKEDGE (https://newyorkedge.org/), a non-profit that works with over 30,000 middle school and high school students to bridge the opportunity gap among underserved students.
