Six universities and a Washington nonprofit organization won a $3.5 million grant last week to focus the training of prospective guidance counselors on the academic needs and career goals of high school students.
Universities Involved
California State University—Northridge |
The universities will work with the Education Trust, a Washington-based group dedicated to improving schools, especially in low-income communities, to revise their curricula and recruit members of minority groups into the profession. The grant recipients also will work with their local schools to help them free up counselors so they can spend more time advising students of their options for higher education and careers.
Educators have long said that counselors are overworked and are often unqualified to help students choose and apply to colleges and prepare for careers. (“Split Personality,” April 29, 1998.)
Over the next three years, the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund will give $450,000 to each participating university: California State University-Northridge, Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ohio State University in Columbus, the State University of West Georgia in Carrollton, the University of Georgia in Athens, and the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
The Education Trust will receive $875,000 over that same period to help the universities make the changes they map out.
The DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund is a New York City-based foundation committed to school reform and career development for children in low-income communities. The foundation, which was created by the bequest of the magazine’s founder, already has granted more than $13 million to similar programs to improve the skills of counselors.
