College & Career Readiness Study Results & Recommendations

Radnor High School students would benefit from two additional staff members in the RHS Counseling Department to support a department restructuring into two sub-departments, School Counseling and College Counseling, which would allow certain counselors to specialize in providing students a high level of mental health care and certain counselors to specialize in academic advising and career and college preparedness.

The recommendations for additional staff and a department restructuring were the outcomes, among others, of a recent College and Career Readiness Study undertaken by RTSD stakeholders and led by study consultant William Yarnell and staff co-chairs Dan Bechtold and Nicole Ottaviano.

The full results of the study and all related recommendations were released in a report published on June 6 and were discussed in more detail at the June 7 School Board Curriculum Committee meeting. 

Full Report (PDF)

Presentation from June 6 Curriculum Committee Meeting

College and Career Readiness Study Webpage

Main Report Recommendations

• "Restructuring the department could significantly and positively impact the ability of counselors to service students for mental health concerns, academic advising, and career/college planning."
• "The model suggested for use by Radnor High School Counseling (RHSC) is a Private School/Divided Model. In this model, the labor is divided between School/Mental Health Counselors and College/Career Counselors."
• "An increase of two staff members would cut down on the current workload and allow counselors more time to spend with students individually. Additionally, dividing labor within the department would allow counselors to focus on one area of counseling and avoid the triage effect."
• "There is no system currently used to track interactions between counselors and students. It is very important that a system to account for every significant meeting a student has with RHSC, individual, academic and college specific, is developed."
• "There is no current universal curriculum for all aspects of RHSC. Schoology can be used to create a unified RHSC virtual curriculum that addresses mental health, academic advising, special needs, and college/career counseling."
• "In order to successfully implement the [recommended] program, a two-year timeline is suggested. If approved, hiring a seasoned College Counseling Chair should be a priority."