Now there’s a place School Counseling professionals, students, and parents can turn to for immediate answers, assistance, and information at any time.

It’s Guidance Direct, the unique online resource created education professionals exclusively School Counseling professionals, students, and parents.

Here, in one convenient and accessible place, are all the tools School Counseling professionals need to save time and do a better job, while students and parents find the college and career information they’re seeking. 

RESOURCES FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS AND GUIDANCE DIRECTORS

Never have School Counselors and Guidance Directors had to manage so much information, from keeping up with the latest state requirements to aligning Guidance Department policies with best-practices to college and career planning.

Fortunately, School Counseling professionals now have a powerful new ally at hand, the communications and information resources available 24/7 at Guidance Direct, including:

• Electronic Messaging System connecting School Counseling professionals in schools, districts, and regions throughout your state allows immediate communications with an extensive network of professionals. Now, School Counselors and Guidance Directors don’t have to wait for an educational conference or regional meeting to collaborate, share knowledge, and network.

• Online Knowledge Base of typical questions and answers created by fellow guidance professionals and the Guidance Direct moderator. Have a question about a state requirement, district Guidance Department policy, School Counseling best-practices, or counseling resources? You’ll find the answers with a few quick keystrokes and mouse clicks. It’s like having a research assistant for your guidance department!

• Electronic Library constituting the largest and most up-to-date resource, and containing the latest state School Counseling related requirements, state education department documents, professional development information, and publications. When important guidance department and School Counseling documents are published by your state education department, they are posted immediately in the electronic library.

• State Requirements and Update Notifications make it even easier for you to stay up-to-date on the latest information and requirements. We will notify you by email when important new state education department notices and requirements are issued, enabling you to access electronic copies with a few clicks of the mouse. Rather than waiting for information to trickle down, you will always be up-to-speed and among the first introduced to the latest requirements, notices, policies, dates and deadlines.

• College and Scholarship Search Engines and Databases , two separate comprehensive resources with tools enabling you first to locate colleges that match students’ individual needs, preferences, criteria, and qualifications; and second, to identify scholarships, grants, prizes, fellowships, and forgivable loans for which students may be eligible. These current and extensive databases provide in-depth information for more than 3,700 colleges and more than 5,000 private financial aid programs.

• “Our Students” Tracking Section allowing Counselors and College Advisors to save time tracking the career and college planning progress of their individual students. A convenient single “Our Students” screen shows all students in the school who have used Guidance Direct, with sorting options to help manage caseloads. Counselors can view and print detailed information on each student, including Interest Profiler results, as well as saved occupations, colleges, scholarships of interest, and resumes.

• Summary and Accountability Reports enabling School Counselors and Guidance Directors to produce real-time summary reports to demonstrate college and career planning program performance, and plot college and career planning activities. By means of the user-friendly tools in the secure and password-protected administrative section of Guidance Direct, you can view and print combined data reports.

Other resources and tools that Guidance Direct provides for counselors include: listings of professional development opportunities and college events across the state; positions available; links to other best-of-web guidance sites; and more.

RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS

In addition to this extensive complement of tools for professionals, Guidance Direct also includes a separate complementary section called Career Connections where students and their parents can explore their college and career options and interests, as well as information on financial aid and more. Here’s what Career Connections includes:

• Interest Profiler, a validated and research-based online interest inventory formulated with O*NET Career Exploration tools from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. The Interest Profiler employs a series of interactive questions and answers to help students discover the type of work activities they would enjoy. The Interest Profiler then identifies the student’s strongest work-related interest areas, along with careers that match those interests. Students can explore in-depth descriptions of matching occupations and discover suitable majors and colleges.

• Occupation Search and Database , a comprehensive career planning resource for students and parents offering a powerful search engine that lets students review occupations according to a variety of criteria. In-depth information from the U.S. Department of Labor is available on more than 1,000 occupations.

• College Search and Database, a comprehensive college planning resource designed exclusively for students and parents. With powerful and easy to use tools, students can perform customized searches using characteristics and preferences to identify schools that best meet their needs and interests. In-depth information is available on more than 3,700 schools.

• Scholarship Search and Database , enabling students and parents to identify quickly which scholarships, grants, prizes, fellowships, and forgivable loans they may be eligible for, drawn from a database of more than 5,000 private financial aid programs.

• Resume Writer, providing the tools for students to create, format, save, and print or export a career or college resume, using a simple step-by-step procedure that prompts students for each piece of information, from name and address to objectives, education and training, work and related experience, awards, activities, talents, and references available, while a built-in spelling checker helps reduce entry errors. Students then select from three resume styles, and the program formats their resumes automatically for printing or exporting.

• Career and College Portfolio , a convenient online storage facility holding all the information students have gathered in Career Connections, including Interest Profiler results, careers, colleges, and scholarships of interest, and resumes.

Any School Counseling professional who has ever lost time looking for an answer – or lacked the knowledge base of an extensive network of colleagues – will recognize what an invaluable resource Guidance Direct represents.

Now that Guidance Direct includes Career Connections with college and career information for students and parents as well, this one-of-a-kind website has become an even more powerful resource for educators and communities.

The word is out on Guidance Direct...