Rutgers University Graduate School of Education (GSE) has received a $3.3 million grant to increase the number and diversity of highly trained school counselors to help fill the gap in mental health services in high-need school districts in New Jersey.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grant — part of a federal initiative to expand access to school-based mental health services for students nationwide — will fund the GSE-led Prevention of School Counseling Intervention project.

School counseling is an often misunderstood and under-resourced profession. Lack of school counseling potentially jeopardizes youth development and health. This project will expand essential preventative and responsive mental health services by actively reducing student-to-school counselor ratios in some of the region’s fastest-growing and most ethnically diverse school districts..“

Ian Levy, assistant professor of school counseling at GSE and principal investigator of the project

According to the American School Counselor Association, the student-to-school counselor ratio in New Jersey is 308 to 1, exceeding the association’s recommendation of 250 to 1 and limiting students’ access to mental health services and necessary resources.

Over the five-year funding period, the project will fully cover tuition for 30 new school counselors enrolled in GSE’s school counseling master’s program, who will be trained and placed in New Brunswick, Rahway, Franklin Township and Neptune K-12 school districts. . Project organizers will prioritize recruiting interns from participating school district partners, Rutgers, and minority-serving institutions that are often underrepresented.

The first group of school counselors will begin the program in 2025.

Project participants will also work to develop and implement school counseling course curriculum that aids in the current program’s ability to teach culturally responsive and evidence-based mental health practices for educational settings.

“These efforts not only increase the importance of the school counselor as a mental health professional, but also the need to train school counselors in ways to work with culturally, racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse student groups in schools,” Levy said. “As a result of this project, students will have greater access to school counselors, especially those who are culturally sensitive and able to implement evidence-based mental health practices.”

Kathy Shoemaker, assistant professor of professional practice at GSE, is co-principal investigator of the project.

Consulting and education consultants will assist in the development of course modules in some of the following content areas:

• Social and emotional learning, racial justice, and healing for culturally and linguistically diverse students.
• Advocate for Students in the Environment theory and practice; Youth Participatory Action Research in school counseling practices
• Creative expressionist arts in school psychological counseling practices; and trauma-informed school counseling

“This grant will allow Dr. Levy and Dr. Shoemaker to ensure that school counselors are not trying to solve a problem after it has arisen,” said GSE dean Christopher Span. “Instead, school counselors will be able to alleviate the challenges young people may face before they arise and create the best possible outcome. This can serve as a crucial national model for proactively creating and implementing strategies that prepare young people for the future at their best.”