The mission of Troy City School’s Guidance/Counseling Program is to work with the students, faculty, parents, and the local community to facilitate success in the lives of each individual in the areas of academics, career, and personal/social development. Students’ needs are met through educational/career planning, prevention, and crisis intervention, individual and group guidance/counseling.

Philosophy

Counseling is available for all students. The emphasis of the Troy City School counseling program is preventative, developmental and corrective. Students are provided the opportunity to gain and exploration, and to pursue career planning opportunities in a clean, safe, friendly environment. The counselor’s work begins with kindergarten pre-registration activities, or in the case of new students, as they enter school and continues throughout elementary and beyond. The skills needed to complete a life-long journey of learning can be achieved through a planned, developmentally appropriate, and sequential school counseling program that is based on the National Standards for School Counseling Programs.

School Guidance Curriculum

The Troy City School System’s guidance curriculum includes structured experiences presented systematically through classroom and group activities from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The curriculum emphasizes decision making, self-understanding, study skills, career exploration, survival skills, life preparation, and goal planning. This guidance curriculum is a planned, sequential program of Alabama Course of Study objectives for large/small groups, individual activities and guidance sessions that enhance the instructional program and meet the needs of students. This planned program serves as the counselor’s yearly schedule and is further divided into monthly calendars of large/small group sessions, individual activities and counseling logs. The national school counseling standards of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the state model, Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance for Alabama Public Schools, are aligned with the Educate Alabama Standards for counselors. At the beginning of the school term, yearly outlines and monthly calendars are to be disseminated to the local principal, teachers and central office administrators. Examples of school guidance curriculum delivery options within this component may include, but are not restricted to:

Classroom Guidance Activities: Counselors will facilitate, co-lead, or assist in the delivery of guidance curriculum activities. Their activities may be conducted in the classroom, in the guidance center, or in the other school facilities. 

Group Guidance: Counselors will conduct small-group counseling sessions outside the classroom to respond to students’ identified interests or needs. Small-group counseling may be either immediate-response or long-term counseling. 

Parent Workshops and Instruction: Counselors will conduct workshops and information sessions at the local school for parents/guardians to address the needs of the school community and to reflect the school counseling and guidance curriculum. 

Interdisciplinary Curriculum Development: Counselors will participate on interdisciplinary teams to develop and refine curriculum in content areas. These teams develop classroom units that integrate subject matter with the school guidance curriculum, with emphasis on character education. Counselors will assist teachers in the delivery of classroom units that lead to an acquisition of competencies in the domains of effective, social, and employability skills for every student in developmentally appropriate ways.