Santa Clara Unified highlights comprehensive school counseling program, reports gains in middle- and high‑school interventions

The Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees heard a presentation on the district’s comprehensive school counseling program from Amy Herron, the district lead counselor, on the evening the board met. Herron told trustees the program uses an 80/20 model that delivers a common “tier 1” curriculum across all middle and high schools and a targeted “tier 2” set of interventions tailored to site needs.

Herron said the counseling work centers on academics, social‑emotional learning and college and career readiness and aligns to the American School Counseling Association national model. “School counselors are the only educators on a school campus who have the big picture view, where they're tracking things like attendance and discipline and A through G completion and graduation rates,” Herron said.

Trustees heard concrete examples and outcome data from multiple sites. At Peterson Middle School, counselor Amarina Fedani said a three‑lesson “getting ready for high school” unit produced a 315% increase in students who knew the number of credits required for graduation and a 10% drop in students reporting nervousness about starting high school after the lessons. At Santa Clara High School, counselors Katie Weeks and Daniella Asuela reported a 56.7% increase in freshmen who said understanding personality preferences would help them choose careers and a 20.65% drop in F grades from quarter 1 to the end of the fall semester after revised classroom lessons and translated materials were used.

Bookster Middle School’s Homework Club was presented as a tier‑2 intervention. Counselor Marcy Van Horn said the club—run Tuesdays and Thursdays with university student tutors—recorded a 95% attendance rate, served about 61 students during the year and was associated with a 22.2% decrease in Ds and Fs (comparing quarter 2 to quarter 3) and a 9% increase in As and Bs among participating students.

Wilcox High School counselors Adam Rios and Christina Watkins described a targeted effort focused on 9th‑grade Hispanic students who had one or two Ds or Fs in quarter 1. Wilcox developed five workshops (career exploration, executive functioning and academic planning among them), individualized monitoring and a parent night. Rios reported a 45% increase in the target group’s understanding of post‑secondary career options and a 143% increase in students’ understanding of how to create an individualized post‑secondary plan.

Herron said two schools are pursuing the Recognized ASCA (American School Counseling Association) program designation and that the counseling department is using data to refine interventions and to “close opportunity gaps for those who have historically been underserved.”

Board members praised the presentations and data. Trustee Canova said the work is “critically important.” Trustee Muirhead and others noted the presentations showed a clear data‑driven process linking identification of needs, targeted interventions and measurable outcomes. Student Trustee Brown thanked counselors for their on‑campus work and said middle school presentations had noticeably improved.

No formal board action was required on the counseling presentation. Earlier in the meeting trustees voted 7–0 to move item L‑1 (the counseling presentation) forward on the agenda so presenters could be heard.

The district said it will continue to expand tier‑2 offerings, follow up on sites pursuing national recognition, and use the RAMP/RAMP‑style data process to refine target groups next year.