Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) The following
words and terms, when used in this section, have the following meanings, unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
Comprehensive school counseling program--provision of a guidance curriculum,
responsive services, individual planning, and system support as described in
Texas Education Code (TEC), §33.005(b).
(2) Duties that are components of a
counseling program--work activities related to the development, implementation,
and evaluation of a comprehensive school counseling program as described in
TEC, §
33.005(b).
(3) School counselor--the position described
by TEC, §
21.003, and Chapter
239, Subchapter A, of this title (relating to School Counselor
Certificate).
(4) School
counselor's total work time--the amount of time, reported in hours, that a
school counselor is contracted to work as a school counselor for a school
district during a school year.
(b) School districts shall require each
district school counselor to track and document, using a standardized tracking
tool, as established by each district, the time spent on work duties performed
by the school counselor throughout a school year. This tracking tool shall:
(1) include the following components:
(A) the total work time worked by the school
counselor for the year;
(B) the
total time spent on the following duties that are components of a counseling
program developed under TEC, §
33.005:
(i) provision of a guidance
curriculum;
(ii) responsive
services for students;
(iii)
individual planning for students; and
(C) the total time spent on duties that are
not components of a counseling program developed under TEC, §
33.005, including time
spent in administering assessment instruments or providing other assistance in
connection with assessment instruments (except time spent in interpreting data
from assessment instruments); and
(2) be maintained by the district in a format
that can be made available to Texas Education Agency (TEA) upon
request.
(c) School
districts shall annually assess the district's compliance with the policy
adopted under TEC, §
33.006(d).
The assessment shall include:
(1) work time
tracking documentation as described in subsection (b) of this section for each
school counselor in the district;
(2) the number of school counselors whose
work was in compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §
33.006(d);
and
(3) the number of school
counselors in the district whose work was not in compliance with the district
policy adopted under TEC, §
33.006(d).
(d) The assessment described in
subsection (c) of this section shall be maintained by the school district in a
format that can be made available to TEA upon request.
(e) Not later than October 15 of each year,
TEA will request the following information from a randomly selected sample of
school districts, with district responses required to be submitted to TEA not
later than November 15 of each year in the format requested by TEA:
(1) a copy of the district policy adopted
under TEC, §
33.006(d);
(2) a copy of the district annual assessment
as required by subsection (c) of this section;
(3) the number of school counselors in the
district from the previous school year;
(4) the number of school counselors in the
district whose work is determined by the district to be out of compliance with
the district policy adopted under TEC, §
33.006(d);
and
(5) any other findings,
conclusions, or analysis included in the annual assessment required by
subsection (c) of this section, including proposed strategies to address any
lack of compliance with the district policy adopted under TEC, §
33.006(d).
