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Jordan School District says graduation rate edging up as counselor contacts rise
Summary
District counseling leader Stacy Worthen reported incremental gains in graduation rates and large increases in school-counselor contacts across Jordan School District during the board's May 13 study session, and described training and staffing expansions behind the numbers.
Stacy Worthen, counselor consultant for Jordan School District, told the board May 13 that the district's high school graduation rate has risen from about 88 percent in 2018 to about 90.4 percent and that the district has reduced seniors with credit deficiencies by 96 percent.
Worthen said the counseling program has expanded the number of recorded contacts between counselors and students or parents districtwide from 50,896 in an earlier baseline year to 93,748 so far this year. "By this year, and this is right now without quarter 3, we're up to 93,748 contacts, which is phenomenal," she told the board.
Why it matters: The district ties counseling work to its Portrait of a Graduate and to academic outcomes. Worthen and board members framed rising counselor contacts as an early-phase investment: more outreach and prevention now, with the expectation that long-term relationships will support students and, eventually, greater independence.
The board heard details by school level and about how staff document contacts. Worthen said average per-high-school-counselor interactions rose from about 1,060 to 1,953 (quarter 4 data not yet included). She also described differences by level: high school interactions are largely academic and career planning while middle schools show a higher share of mental-health-related contacts. At the elementary level, Worthen said fully staffing elementary counselors produced a jump in contacts (average interactions up from 2,640 to 4,280; total elementary interactions rising from 44,887 to 84,061 through quarter 3).
Program supports and next steps: Worthen described a counselor staffing model that includes four specialists who cover feeder systems and district training that includes quarterly in-service training and monthly PLCs. She said new-counselor training will be expanded at the request of counselors for the 2025-26 school year. Board members asked for additional disaggregated data and for follow-up on whether the district is meeting its target of four counseling contacts per secondary student per year.
No formal board action was requested or taken during the presentation; staff said they would provide more detailed, school-level trend data at a future meeting.
