Upper Darby SD counseling supervisor outlines Chapter 339 K–12 guidance plan, highlights career-readiness gains

James Finch, the district supervisor of K–12 guidance, presented the district’s updated Chapter 339 K–12 guidance plan to the Education and Pupil Services Committee and asked the Board to act on the plan at the March 11 meeting.

Finch said the Chapter 339 plan — a Department of Education framework schools submit to address guidance and career-technical education for grades 9–12 — provides a K–12 continuum of academic, career and personal-social guidance. He told the committee the district has expanded counseling services by placing counselors in each elementary school, described elementary lessons on attendance and early career awareness, and explained that fifth graders receive classroom visits to support transition choices for middle school electives.

In middle school, Finch said students take career-interest inventories and explore postsecondary pathways; at the high-school level, students and families work on postsecondary planning, applications and participation in programs such as dual enrollment and career-day activities. Finch described district partnerships with Delaware County Community College and the Main Line Chamber of Commerce to expand site visits, panels, dual-enrollment opportunities and workforce training connections.

Finch highlighted performance on the Future Ready PA index, saying every district school met or exceeded the statewide career-standards benchmark (98 percent) in 2023–24; he cited statewide average 91.4 percent for comparison and said the district is “outperforming many other schools in the Commonwealth.” He also noted that middle-school career-day activities helped raise an eighth-grade cohort from about 50 percent meeting the benchmark in April (before career day) to roughly 95 percent at the time of the presentation.

The plan includes a new PA Future Focus course for juniors combining a half-credit financial-literacy requirement with a half-credit of career exploration taught by a college-and-career counselor. Finch said the Chapter 339 plan is due March 31 and will be presented for Board action on March 11; he described the plan as part of an ongoing process to align guidance with workforce trends and postsecondary requirements.

Board members asked about parent engagement and access to the district’s Naviance career-exploration tools; Finch said parents have access to Naviance and the district runs transition and information nights, and counselors are available at open houses and by request. He also said communications and interpreter services are used to reach ELL families and that EL students participate fully in guidance programming.