NOSCA: National Office for
School Counselor Advocacy

Advisory Committee

The NOSCA Advisory Team is a selected group of counselors and counselor leaders. There are five members from each region of the country, who meet yearly to provide insight and share their expertise with NOSCA staff members. The Advisory Team Meeting brings together a diverse group of school counseling professionals (including practicing school counselors, district directors of school counselors, counselor educators and school counselor organization leaders) from the field to review, brainstorm and offer guidance in support of NOSCA's mission and objectives. The Advisory Team ensures that work done by NOSCA is cutting-edge, authentic and relevant to today's challenges and issues faced by school counselors and their students.

The College Board established NOSCA as a frontier effort in promoting a national presence for school counseling and to distinguish school counselors as critical players in Educational Reform. Our clear mission is to support school counselors and to focus on their role in advocating equity, access, and college and career success for all students, especially for underrepresented students who may not have been considered for postsecondary education.

The NOSCA Advisory Team members share expertise and suggestions in strategic planning for NOSCA's agenda which includes: professional development workshops for school counselors, targeted areas for outcome research, and priorities for advocacy efforts at the national, state, and district levels.

View All Advisors

Train-the-Trainer Institutes

Regional college and career readiness Train-the-Trainer Institutes are held yearly. At the institutes, up to 60 school counselor ambassadors from across the nation learn to provide cutting-edge professional development to other school counselors in their College Board geographic regions. The goal of the institutes is to promote equity and excellence in assuring college and career readiness outcomes for all students. The institutes develop the skills and knowledge necessary for trainers to help other school counselors transform their practice through leadership and the use of data.

The goals of the regional trainer-of-trainers institutes are to:

1. Meet both the College Board national and regional goals of engaging and providing outreach to school counselors.
2. Provide quality professional development for counselors that will help them better perform their job of getting more students college and career ready.
3. Establish a vehicle or mechanism for building a broader regional professional development menu for school counselors over a period of time.
4. Help school counselors utilize the College Board system for college readiness with greater equity and fidelity.

Urban School Counseling Initiative

The Urban School Counseling Initiative is a three-year structured learning community for district-level counseling leaders and administrative teams from 22 of the nation's largest urban school districts. The goal is to help the teams develop transformative leadership skills and align their districtwide counseling programs with their educational goals. Participating districts engage in leadership development seminars where they are provided with opportunities to tackle important issues facing school counseling programs in large districts, assess the status of their school counseling programs, and receive consultation from a cadre of experts as they develop customized plans for maximizing the effectiveness of their programs.

Cohort I — These nine districts completed their three-year engagement in April 2010: Albuquerque Public Schools, N.M Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, N.C,. Chicago Public Schools, Ill., Dallas Independent School District, Texas; Houston Independent School District, Texas; Milwaukee Public Schools, Minn.; Mesa Public Schools, Ariz.; Polk County Public Schools, Fla.; and San Diego Unified, Calif.

Cohort II — These school districts began their three-year engagement in April 2010: Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia; Austin Independent School District, Texas; Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts; Denver Public Schools, Colorado; Granite School District, Utah; Philadelphia City School District, Pennsylvania; Memphis City Schools, Tenn.; and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tenn.