Northern Kentucky school districts receive grants to expand elementary and secondary counseling programs

Three grants total about $3 million

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (Sept. 5, 2014) — A collaboration between the Northern Kentucky University School Counseling Program, the Northern Kentucky Center for Educator Excellence (NKCEE), the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services (NKCES), and four local school districts has received three grants from the U.S. Department of Education to support elementary and secondary school counseling.

The grants provide about $3 million in funding for school counselors in Campbell County School District, Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District, Silver Grove Independent School District, and Williamstown Independent School District.

Grants build on previous Department of Education grants — totaling $2 million over the past two years — which are managed by the NKCES and evaluated by the NKCEE.

The program provides funding to establish or expand elementary and secondary school counseling programs, with special consideration given to applicants that can demonstrate the greatest need for counseling services in the schools to be served; propose the most innovating and promising approaches; and show the greatest potential for replication and dissemination.

The grants will create a counseling laboratory model, created through a partnership with the NKU School Counseling Program. Under this model, NKU school counseling students will provide service learning projects and other innovative evidence-based interventions within the participating schools. Specific interventions will include Student Success Skills as well as Drug and Alcohol Prevention programs to enhance student engagement and increase family involvement in student learning. Special attention is given to students with family in active military duty through small group interventions.

The three grants will provide an additional 8.5 school counselors, one school psychologist, and one social worker to Northern Kentucky schools, adding to the existing 11 counselors funded through the two  previous grants. In three years, grants awarded to the NKCEE, in partnership with the NKCES, have brought over $5 million dollars and funded an additional 19.5 school counselors for our region.