By Megan Wehring
DRIPPING SPRINGS – A local school was recognized for its counseling program.
For the third consecutive year, Rooster Springs Elementary and counselors Karey Carroll and Kimberlee Guerrero have garnered the prestigious CREST (Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas) award by the Texas School Counselor Association (TSCA) for the 2022-23 school year.
“Everything is made easier and more possible when you have leadership support,” said Tisha Kolek, director of counseling and health services. “I think that’s true for this campus here … Not to take anything from our other campuses; they all have wonderful comprehensive school counseling programs. It’s optional to put all of that into a packet and submit it for state recognition.”
CREST is a continuous improvement program that gives school counselors an opportunity to demonstrate effective communication and a commitment to obtaining results. It helps counselors evaluate their counseling programs, promote their programs to stakeholders in their district, demonstrate the effectiveness of their guidance and counseling programs through empirical means and implement the Texas and national models for school counseling programs.
CREST looks at the counseling program in five categories:
• Introduction to the School and the Role of the Professional School Counselor
• Program Implementation Cycle
• Foundational Components
• Four Service Delivery Components
• Program Curriculum
Each counseling team prepares an online submission that highlights the five categories and communicates what the counseling program is doing to help students succeed. Each submission is evaluated and scored by members of the TSCA CREST evaluation team comprised of Texas school counselors.
