Amended in Senate April 29, 2015

Amended in Senate April 8, 2015

Senate Bill No. 451

Introduced by Senator Lara

February 25, 2015

An act to amend Section 49600 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction and services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 451, as amended, Lara. Pupil instruction and services: educational counseling.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to provide a comprehensive educational counseling program for all pupils enrolled in the schools of the district, and, if the program is provided, requires educational counseling to include both academic counseling and career and vocational counseling in specified areas.

This bill begin delete would instead require educational counseling to include academic counseling in specified areas, and would provide that educational counseling may include specified areas, including, among others, career and vocational counseling. The bill end delete would state the Legislature’s intent that school counselors begin insert also end insert perform specified begin insert other end insert functions and begin delete services, and end delete begin insert services to support pupil learning and achievement and would specify that educational counseling may also include counseling in specified other areas, including, but not limited to, individualized review of a pupil’s career goals. The bill end insert would require professional development related to career and vocational counseling to include strategies for counseling pupils in specified areas. The bill would make a conforming change by deleting a provision relating to school counselors providing services prior to January 1, 1987.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 49600 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

49600.  

(a) The governing board of a school district may
provide a comprehensive educational counseling program for all
pupils enrolled in the school district. It is the intent of the
Legislature that a school district that provides educational
counseling to its pupils implement a structured and coherent
counseling program.

(b) For purposes of this section, “educational counseling” means
specialized services provided by a school counselor possessing a
valid credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services
who is assigned specific times to directly counsel pupils.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that school counselors do
all of the following:

(1) Engage with, advocate for, and provide support for, all pupils
with respect to learning and achievement.

(2) Plan, implement, and evaluate programs to promote the
academic, career, personal, and social development of all pupils,
including pupils from low-income families, foster youth, homeless
youth, undocumented youth, and pupils at all levels of academic,
social, and emotional abilities.

(3) Use multiple sources of information to monitor and improve
pupil behavior and achievement.

(4) Collaborate and coordinate with school and community
resources.

(5) Promote and maintain a safe learning environment for all
pupils by providing restorative justice practices, positive behavior
interventions, and support services.

(6) Intervene to ameliorate school-related problems, including
issues related to chronic absences.

(7) Use research-based strategies to reduce stigma, conflict, and
pupil-to-pupil mistreatment and bullying.

(8) Improve school climate and pupil well-being.

(9) Enhance pupils’ social and emotional competence, character,
health, civic engagement, cultural literacy, and commitment to
lifelong learning and the pursuit of high-quality educational
programs.

(10) Provide counseling interventions and support services for
pupils classified as English learners, eligible for free or
reduced-price meals, or foster youth, including enhancing equity
and access to the education system and community services.

(11) Engage in continued development as a professional school
counselor.

(d) Educational counseling shall include academic counseling,
in which pupils receive counseling in the following areas:

(1) Development and implementation, with parental
involvement, of the pupil’s immediate and long-range educational
plans.

(2) Optimizing progress towards achievement of proficiency
standards.

(3) Completion of the required curriculum in accordance with
the pupil’s needs, abilities, interests, and aptitudes.

(4) Academic planning for access and success in higher
education programs, including advisement on courses needed for
admission to public colleges and universities, standardized
admissions tests, and financial aid.

begin insert

(5) Career and vocational counseling, in which pupils are
assisted in doing all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(A) Planning for the future, including, but not limited to,
identifying personal interests, skills, and abilities, career planning,
course selection, and career transition.

end insert begin insert

(B) Becoming aware of personal preferences and interests that
influence educational and occupational exploration, career choice,
and career success.

end insert begin insert

(C) Developing realistic perceptions of work, the changing work
environment, and the effect of work on lifestyle.

end insert begin insert

(D) Understanding the relationship between academic
achievement and career success, and the importance of maximizing
career options.

end insert begin insert

(E) Understanding the value of participating in career technical
education and work-based learning activities and programs,
including, but not limited to, service learning, regional
occupational centers and programs, partnership programs, job
shadowing, and mentoring experiences.

end insert begin insert

(F) Understanding the need to develop essential employable
skills and work habits.

end insert begin insert

(G) Understanding the variety of four-year colleges and
universities and community college vocational and technical
preparation programs, as well as admission criteria and enrollment
procedures.

end insert

(e) Educational counseling may also include counseling in any
of the following:

(1) Individualized review of the academic and deportment
records of a pupil.

(2) Individualized review of the pupil’s career goals, and the
available academic and career technical education opportunities
and community and workplace experiences available to the pupil
that may support the pursuit of those goals.

(3) Opportunity for a counselor to meet with each pupil and, if
practicable, the parents or legal guardian of the pupil to discuss
the academic and deportment records of the pupil, his or her
educational options, the coursework and academic progress needed
for satisfactory completion of middle or high school, passage of
the high school exit begin delete examination, end delete begin insert examination or its successor, end insert
education opportunities at community colleges, eligibility for
admission to a four-year institution of postsecondary education,
including the University of California and the California State
University, and the availability of career technical education. That
discussion shall also address the availability of intensive instruction
and services as required pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
37254, for up to two consecutive academic years after the
completion of grade 12 or until the pupil has passed both parts of
the high school exit begin delete examination, end delete begin insert examination or its successor, end insert
whichever comes first, for those pupils who have not passed one
or both parts of the high school exit begin delete examination end delete begin insert examination, or
its successor, end insert by the end of grade 12. The educational options
discussed at the meeting shall include, to the extent these services
are available, the college preparatory program and career technical
education programs, including regional occupational centers and
programs and similar alternatives available to pupils within the
school district.

(4) Identifying pupils who are at risk of not graduating with the
rest of their class, are not earning credits at a rate that will enable
them to pass the high school exit examination, begin insert or its successor, end insert or
do not have sufficient training to allow them to fully engage in
their chosen career.

(5) In schools that enroll pupils in grades 10 and 12, developing
a list of coursework and experience necessary to assist each pupil
in his or her grade who has not passed one or both parts of the high
school exit begin delete examination end delete begin insert examination, or its successor, end insert or has not
satisfied, or is not on track to satisfy, the curricular requirements
for admission to the University of California and the California
State University, and to successfully transition to postsecondary
education or employment.

(6) Developing a list of coursework and experience necessary
to assist each pupil in middle school to successfully transition to
high school and meet all graduation requirements, including
passing the high school exit begin delete examination. end delete begin insert examination, or its
successor. end insert

(7) In schools that enroll pupils in grades 6 to 12, inclusive,
developing a list of coursework and experience necessary to assist
each pupil to begin to satisfy the curricular requirements for
admission to the University of California and the California State
University.

(8) Providing a copy of the lists developed pursuant to
paragraphs (6) and (7) to a pupil and his or her parent or legal
guardian, ensuring that the list of coursework and experience is
part of the pupil’s cumulative record.

(9) Informing each pupil who has failed to pass one or both
parts of the high school exit begin delete examination end delete begin insert examination, or its
successor, end insert of the option of intensive instruction and services.

(10) Developing a list of coursework and experience for a pupil
enrolled in grade 12, including options for continuing his or her
education if he or she fails to meet graduation requirements. These
options shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Enrolling in an adult education program.

(B) Enrolling in a community college.

(C) Continuing enrollment in the pupil’s current school district.

(D) Continuing to receive intensive instruction and services for
up to two consecutive academic years after completion of grade
12 or until the pupil has passed both parts of the high school exit
begin delete examination, end delete begin insert examination or its successor, end insert whichever comes first.

(11) Providing a copy of the list of coursework and experiences
developed pursuant to paragraph (10) to the pupil and his or her
parent or legal guardian, ensuring that the list of coursework and
experience is part of the cumulative records of a pupil.

(12) Offering and scheduling an individual conference with
each pupil in grades 10 and 12 who has failed to pass one or both
parts of the high school exit begin delete examination end delete begin insert examination, or its
successor, end insert or has not satisfied, or is not on track to satisfy, the
curricular requirements for admission to the University of
California and the California State University and to successfully
transition to postsecondary education or employment, and
providing the following information to the pupil and his or her
parent or legal guardian:

(A) Consequences of not passing the high school exit
begin delete examination. end delete begin insert examination, or its successor. end insert

(B) Programs, courses, and career technical education options
available to the pupil as needed for satisfactory completion of
middle or high school.

(C) Cumulative records and transcripts of the pupil.

(D) Results of standardized and diagnostic assessments of the
pupil.

(E) Remediation strategies, high school courses, and alternative
education options available to the pupil, including, but not limited
to, informing the pupil of the option to receive intensive instruction
and services for up to two consecutive academic years after
completion of grade 12 or until the pupil has passed both parts of
the high school exit begin delete examination, end delete begin insert examination or its successor, end insert
whichever comes first.

(F) Information on postsecondary education and training.

(G) The score of the pupil on the English language arts or
mathematics portion of the California Standards Test administered
in grade 6, as applicable.

(H) Eligibility requirements, including coursework and test
requirements, and the progress of the pupil toward satisfaction of
those requirements for admission to four-year institutions of
postsecondary education, including the University of California
and the California State University.

(I) The availability of financial aid for postsecondary education.

begin delete

(13) Career and vocational counseling, in which pupils are
assisted in doing all of the following:

(A) Planning for the future, including, but not limited to,
identifying personal interests, skills, and abilities, career planning,
course selection, and career transition.

(B) Becoming aware of personal preferences and interests that
influence educational and occupational exploration, career choice,
and career success.

(C) Developing realistic perceptions of work, the changing work
environment, and the effect of work on lifestyle.

(D) Understanding the relationship between academic
achievement and career success, and the importance of maximizing
career options.

(E) Understanding the value of participating in career technical
education and work-based learning activities and programs,
including, but not limited to, service learning, regional occupational
centers and programs, partnership programs, job shadowing, and
mentoring experiences.

(F) Understanding the need to develop essential employable
skills and work habits.

(G) Understanding the variety of four-year colleges and
universities and community college vocational and technical
preparation programs, as well as admission criteria and enrollment
procedures.

end delete begin delete

(14)

end delete

begin insert (13) end insert  Personal and social counseling, in which pupils receive
counseling pertaining to interpersonal relationships for the purpose
of promoting the development of their academic abilities, careers
and vocations, and personal and social skills.

(f) Professional development related to career and vocational
counseling shall include strategies for counseling pupils pursuing
postsecondary education, career technical education, multiple
pathways, college, and global career opportunities.

(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting
persons participating in an organized advisory program approved
by the governing board of a school district, and supervised by a
school district counselor, from advising pupils pursuant to the
organized advisory program.