Counseling conference at NKU will explore ways to reduce school violence

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (March 13, 2013) – From 2000 to 2009, there were 31 school shootings in the United States. In the 38 months since, there have been 31 more.

While this senseless school violence can never be fully eliminated, there are things schools can do to intervene and prevent tragedies from occurring. Northern Kentucky University will host the inaugural National Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference next week to explore this issue and others ranging from college readiness and working with gifted students to reducing bullying.

The conference, March 18-19 at the NKU METS Center (3861 Olympic Blvd, Erlanger), is the result of a collaboration between the NKU School Counseling Program, NKU Center for Educator Excellence and the Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The timing couldn’t be better; Cincinnati will also be hosting the American Counseling Association’s national conference next week.

The conference will focus on equipping professional school counselors with skills to choose evidence-based interventions and the tools to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs by measuring the impact of interventions on critical measurements such as test scores, grade-point-averages, post-secondary going rates, attendance rates, office referrals and drop-out rates. It will bring experts from across the nation through the American School Counselor Association, American Counseling Association, Education Trust’s Transforming School Counseling Initiative and the College Board’s National Office for School Counselor Advocacy. Professional school counseling experts from across the country will lead discussions about what works in professional school counseling, how it works, how to measure that it works and which critical data elements are impacted.

With most schools facing declining resources and increased expectations – particularly in light of escalating school violence nationwide – the stakes have never been higher. The National Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference is ideal for professional school counselors, school administrators, state education leaders and school counselor educators.

The cost to attend the conference is $185. Online registration is available. On-site registration will also be available.

For more information, contact Dr. Jennifer Stansbury Koenig at (859) 572-1984 or [email protected].