The Alabama State Department of Education presented an updated statewide school counseling plan to the State Board of Education, saying the draft — the first substantive update in 22 years — is under expert review and will be released for public comment.

Department officials and members of the counseling task force told the board the work began this spring, included more than 100 expert reviewers in the field, and was developed with representatives from local school systems and higher education. Blake Busman, course of study administrator, said the task force organized between March and April, met in May through August to build the draft and is now processing feedback from an expert review that is due the Monday after the briefing.

The draft, according to presenters, sets a new vision and mission for school counseling in Alabama, reorganizes learning standards for grade clusters, aligns counseling to the department’s multi-tiered system (MTSS) model, and adds guiding principles that emphasize student-centered outcomes and “active parent and family engagement.” Monique Mack, a counseling specialist, said the plan treats parents as partners rather than a generic stakeholder group.

Board members pressed staff for specifics on how the plan defines a “school counselor.” Presenters said the draft uses the professional title “school counselor” (previously written as “guidance counselor”) and clarifies responsibilities: school counselors are certified, employed by districts, lead the school counseling instructional program and are not the providers of clinical therapy in schools unless parents opt in and appropriate medical/clinical requirements are met. Sean Stevens and Busman emphasized the plan distinguishes school counseling duties from contracted mental-health or therapeutic services.

Board members also asked about a proposed counselor-evaluation component. Presenters said the draft includes the idea of a program assessment and an eventual evaluation rubric for counselors similar to one the department developed for school librarians. The department said annual program assessments already require teacher, parent and student input; the new plan would make program expectations and counselor skills more explicit and support development of an evaluation tool.

Timeline and public comment: staff said the department will post the full draft for public review and invited board members to share the forthcoming press release. Presenters asked board members not to expect a board vote the next month; the current presentation was described as a progress update. The department asked for time to gather expert-review feedback, revise, and return to a future work session before recommendation for adoption.

The department asked the public to submit feedback during the posted review window and said the department will aggregate comments for the task force to consider before the next board presentation.

The board received the update without a formal vote during the work session.