SchoolCounselingDepartment

WeishanRd.Shuanggang JinnanDistrict,TianjinPRChina300350

SchoolTelephone:+862228592001 Fax:+862228592007SchoolCode:694551CollegeBoardTestCenter:74369 CountryCode:457

ISTisfullyaccreditedbytheCouncilofInternationalSchools(CIS)andbytheWesternAssociationofSchoolsandColleges(WASC)ISTisfullyauthorizedasanInternationalBaccalaureateWorldSchool

ISTSchoolCounselingMission TheISTSchoolCounselingprogramhelpspromotetheoverallwellnessofGRK-12studentsbyofferingacomprehensive,preventative,andaccessibleprogramin the areas of Academic, Personal/Social, Career, and Global PerspectiveDomains.

InternationalModelforSchoolCounseling TheISTSchoolCounselingProgramstrivestoalignwiththeInternationalSchoolCounseling Model to facilitate student development in four domains topromoteandenhancethelearningprocess.StandardsforeachdomainprovideguidanceanddirectionforInternationalSchoolCounselingPrograms.Competenciesdefinespecificknowledge,attitudesandskills thatstudentsshouldattainandindicatorsdemonstrateskillacquisition. Domainsarebroad,inter-relateddevelopmentalareaswhichincludestandardsandcompetenciestopromotebehaviorsthatenhancelearningforallstudents.• AcademicDevelopment

• CareerDevelopment

• Personal/SocialDevelopment

• GlobalPerspectiveDevelopment

Fezler&Brown(July2011)TheInternationalModelforSchoolCounselingPrograms,p.28.

TheInternationalModelforSchoolCounselingProgramsisbasedontheASCANationalModel: AFrameworkforSchoolCounselingPrograms®andisdevelopedwithpermissionbytheAmericanSchoolCounselorAssociation.Readthecompleteinternationalmodelhere:http://www.aassa.com/uploaded/Educational_Research/US_Department_of_State/Counseling_Standards/International_Counseling_Model_Handbook.pdf

CounselingServicesOffered ISTCounselingServicesofferedwithineachdomainincludebutarenotlimitedto: AcademicDevelopmentStudySkillsDevelopment LearningStyles Organizationskills TutoringReferralsGradeImprovement PresentationSkills GoalSetting DecisionMakingCareerDevelopment CareerExplorationResourcesClassroomGuidanceUniversityPlanning UniversityPlanningWorkshopsforParentsIndividualUniversityPlanning PSAT/SATTestingUniversityAdmissionsRepresentativesVisitsUniversityandCollegeFairs InterviewSkills

Personal/SocialDevelopment IndividualCounseling ParentConferencesGroupCounseling DecisionMaking GriefManagement ClassroomGuidanceLessonsPeerConflictResolution NewStudentOrientationTransitionPresentationsParentWorkshops GoalSetting

GlobalPerspectiveDevelopment IndividualCounseling ThirdCultureKidsandCross-CultureKidsDiscussions Bridgingculturaldifferenceswithfriends

CounselingPoliciesandProcedures AccessToSeetheCounselor Allstudentshaveaccesstomeetwiththecounselor.Studentsandparentsmayrequestanappointment.Teachersandstaffmembersmayalsoreferstudents.Concernsandreferralsareheldinaccordancetoconfidentialityrulesofthecounselingoffice. LimitOfServicesandCommunityReferrals Professional School Counselors who hold a Masters Degree in School Counseling areformally trained to address academic, social, and career aspects. Although schoolcounselorshavebeentrained invariouscounselingtechniques,schoolcounselorsarenotcapableofprovidingstudentsorparentswithpsychologicalormedicaldiagnoses.Aformaldiagnosismaybeobtainedfromalicensedpsychologist,psychiatrist,ormedicalphysician.Alistingofcommunityresourcesisavailablefromthecounselingoffice.Confidentiality SchoolCounselorsareheldtoalevelofconfidentialitythatprotectstherightsofastudentoradult.Itisnecessaryattimesforthecounselortosharepertinentinformationregardingastudent or adult if relative to imminent danger or safety concerns. The counselor maydiscuss the academic, social, and career status of a student with only the legal parents,guardian or teachers involved in a particular situation. Sensitive information relative topsychologicalaspectsandsocialaspectsmaybeshared,withschoolofficialsandteachers,atthediscretionoftheparentandstudent. ClearandImminentDanger In thecaseof imminentdangerthathasbeendisclosedanddeterminedbythecounselor,the issuemust be urgently addressed. Studentswho disclose a risk of suicide or harm tootherswillbe immediately reported toAdministrationand theparentwillbe immediatelycontacted.AprofessionalevaluationandclearancebyaPhysician,LicensedPsychologist,orPsychiatrist,aswellasare-entrymeetingwiththeSchoolPrincipalandSchoolCounselorisrequiredbeforeastudentisgrantedpermissiontocontinueclasses.ChildProtectionResponsibility AllschoolstaffmembershavetheresponsibilitytoguardthementalandphysicalwelfareofallstudentswhoattendIST.Intheeventthatsuspicionofachildabuseorneglectcaseis reported, proper measures shall be taken to ensure the welfare of the student bycontactingthenecessarycommunity-basedauthority.CrisisandCriticalIncidentManagement Intheeventofacrisis, thecounselingdepartmentwill followthe leadershipoftheSchoolDirector indetermining response.Crises that arisemay includedeathof a student, familymember, or staff member by suicide, accidents, substance abuse, homicide, etc. Criticalincidents thatmayarise includenaturaldisasters, fire,weaponryuse,politicalunrest, etc.CrisesandCriticalIncidentsarenotlimitedtotheaboveandmayincludeothersituationsforwhich the Counseling Department will work closely with Administration to provide anynecessaryservicesforstudents,staffmembers,andparents.

RoleofSchoolCounselorintheEnforcementofSchoolRules SchoolCounselorsembracetheroleofstudentadvocate.Thecounselordoesnotbecomeinvolved in, nor has the authority to determine thematters of school discipline such asdetentions and suspensions. Discipline matters will be reviewed and consequencesdeterminedby the respectiveAdministrators.Studentsmaybe referred to theCounselorby the Administrator to avoid possible school discipline or upon a student’s return toschoolafteranassignedconsequence.CollaborationWithIndividualNeedsCoordinator---StudentServices TheISTCounselingDepartmentispartoftheISTStudentServicesDepartment.TheSchoolCounselor and Individual Needs Coordinator meet weekly with Administrators todetermine how to best address the needs of students who have been referred to theStudentSupportTeam(SST)forurgent,academicorsocialreasons. Transition Moving toanewcountryor returning toahomecountrycanbea timeofadjustment forstudents. School-wide transition programs that are supported by the CounselingDepartment include the New Student Orientation, Classroom Buddy Program, DepartingFamilies Meeting, and a Leaving Student Meeting. A special program for GR5 studentsmoving fromelementary toGR6alsooccurseachSpring.Studentsandparentsarealwayswelcometodiscussconcernsaroundtransitionadjustment.

RequestofDocumentsforSchoolTransfer Families who intend to move should inform the appropriate School Principal as soon aspossiblesothatarrangementsforasmoothschooltransitioncanbemade.DocumentsthatarerequiredmayberequestedusingtheREQUESTFORADDITIONALDOCUMENTSformthatisavailableinthemainoffice.

UniversityPlanningPoliciesandProceduresUniversity,College,andOtherPost-HighSchoolApplicants TheISTCounselingDepartmentrespectstherightsofstudentstomakepersonaldecisionsaboutpost-highschoolplanningoptions.Studentsareencouraged toworkcollaborativelywithparentsandtheCollegeCounselortodetermineasuitablepost-highschoolplan. DisclosureofStudent’sPlanConversations held with students and parents regarding university choices will remainwithintheboundariesofCounselingOfficeconfidentialityandtheinvolvementofnecessaryschool officials and teachers essential to the student’s application process. Informationregardingastudent’suniversitychoices,entranceexamscores,andacceptance/rejectionsisnot shared publicly, unless requested by a student or parent or is voluntarily shared bystudentsandparentswithpeersandothercommunitymembers.Alluniversityapplicationdecisionsandpost-highschooldestinationsaredocumentedbythecounselingdepartmentandremainonfileintheschool’sarchive.Studentsarerequiredtoproperly inform the counselorof application status andenrollment-choicebeforeor afterISTgraduation.

CareerPlanningandUniversityPlanningLessons GR9-12 studentswill participate in lessons that are relevant to the career and universityplanningprocess.Resourceswillbeavailable,howeverstudentsmustactivelyengageintheuse of resources to be efficient in the planning process. Parents are asked to routinelyengageinconversationswithstudentstodeterminepropertimemanagementofplanning. Proper university planning requires that students select no more than 6-7 reasonableuniversitychoices:2 Reach Highly-selectiveUniversitieswithsteeprequirements2-3Match Withinreasonablerangeofrequirementsandgoodchances2 Safety UniversitiesinwhichstudentsareaboveandbeyondrequirementsLong-shotuniversitiesareschoolsforwhichveryfewindividualsworldwideareadmitted---Harvard, Cambridge, etc. Only students who are deemed appropriate applicants shouldapply. IST students are asked to respect the planning process and only apply for schools ofgenuine interest. Gaining entrance to a university for the satisfaction of utilizingacceptance letters for other university applications will be considered unethical anddeclining an offer to attend could possibly impact future applicants of the university asuniversitiesoftentrackfinalenrollmentdecisionsofsecondaryschoolstodeterminefutureoffers. UniversityRepresentativeVisits SeveralUniversityAdmissionsRepresentativesvisitISTthroughouttheschoolyeareitheraspartofaCollegeFairor individually.GR9-12studentsareencouragedtospeakwiththesevisitorsandaskquestionstogainfirst-handknowledgeaboutspecificuniversities. FinalUniversityApplicationChoices GR 12 students must submit final university application choices to the counselingdepartment, during themonth of October. This allows for proper review of plans andpreparation of documents. It is important to note that many countries require earlysubmissionofapplicationfromstudentsconsideredtobeofinternationalstatus.UniversityDocumentRequestsDocumentPreparation Itistheresponsibilityofthestudenttoresearchtheapplicationdocumentsneededforsubmissiontoarespectiveuniversity.CollegeCounselorsareavailabletoassistwhenneeded.RequestdocumentsusingtheyellowREQUESTTOPROCESSAPPLICATIONformfoundinthecounselingdepartment.CompleteandsubmittheformtotheCounselornolessthan15schooldaysbeforetheapplicationdocumentsaredue.Studentsmustallowtimeformailing,especiallytointernationallocations,andtakethisintoconsiderationwhenmakingrequests.Documentswillbeprocessedintheorderforwhichrequestshavebeenreceived.Requestswhichfailtobesubmittedinatimelymannermaynotbeprocessedbytheapplicationduedate.

The counseling office andmain office are closed during all school holidays and universitydocuments will not be prepared at these times. Students must take care to ensure thatdocumentsarepreparedinatimelymannerbeforevacationperiods. OfficialTranscripts Officialtranscriptsarerequiredforthemajorityofuniversityapplications.TheofficialISTtranscriptincludesGR9-12coursesthathavebeencompletedonlyatIST.StudentswhotransferintoISTanytimeduringtheGR9-12schoolyears,mustmakesurethattranscriptsarerequestedfrompreviousschools.TranscriptsfromschoolsoutsideofISTcannotbecombinedontheISTtranscript.AllofficialISTtranscriptswillincludethesignatureofoneschoolofficialandtheschoolchop.Studentsareallowed3freepapertranscripts.Afterwards,achargeof5RMBwillincurforadditionalrequests. Paper-HardcopyTranscripts: Thesemayberequiredformailedapplications.Ifstudentsarenotimmediatelymailingtheapplicationwiththecounselorinthecounselingoffice,sealedtranscriptsmaybereleasedandstudentsorparentsmustacknowledgereceiptbysignature. ElectronicTranscripts:Electronictranscriptsmayonlybeuploadedtoapplicationaccounts,viathecounselor.Studentsandparentsmaynotreceiveanelectroniccopyofanofficialtranscript.ReleaseOfPredictedScoresStudentswhoareenrolledintheIBDiplomaProgramandwhositforformalexaminationswill receive official IB examination scores in the month of July. Some students requireProjected IBScores forapplications to schools in theUK,Canada,HongKong,SingaporeandtheUS.ProjectedScoresaregatheredinSeptemberandJanuaryasneeded.ProjectedScores differ from Predicted Grades in that they are based on the subject teacher'sperceptionofastudent'spotentialexamscoreattheendofthecourse.TheseProjectedGradesaregatheredbytheISTDPCoordinatorandarenon-negotiableandconfidential.PredictedscoresarecollectedinMarchandsubmitteddirectlytotheIBO.Theseteachergradesaremeanttobeaccurate,probableandconservativepredictionsbasedonstudentperformanceintheparticularsubject.Studentsmustnotengageindialoguewithteachersregardingscores. RecommendationLettersManyuniversityapplicationsrequirestudentstosubmitaletterofrecommendationfromaTeacherorCounselor.Recommendationlettersareacourtesyextendedtostudents.Studentsareinformedoftherecommendationprocessandencouragedtopersonallyapproachstaffmembersforarequest.Studentsshouldallow4weeksforarecommendationlettertobecompletedalongwithprovidingtherecommenderwitharequestformorapolishedresumé.Recommendationsareconsideredofficialdocumentsoftheuniversityapplicationandmayormaynotbeavailableforstudentsandparentstoview. ApplicationMailingFee The counselor is available to assist students with the mailing of university applications.Students are encouraged to allow additional time for mailings to reach the intendeddestinations.IST‘spreferredagentofmailinginternationally,isFEDEX.LocalChinaPostis

alsoavailableforlocationsnearby.Studentsandparentsareresponsibleforthemailingfeewhichj will vary upon destination. Below, is a listing of the most common fee amounts,howeverfeesaresubjecttochangebytheagent: US/Canada/Australia/OtherEUlocations:250RMB Korea:150RMBHK:150RMB Studentsmustsubmitpaymenttotheschoolreceptionistuponmailing.Onlycashpaymentsareaccepted.

UniversityEntranceExaminationsEntranceExaminations UniversityEntranceexaminationsvary.Studentsandparentsareencouragedtoresearchthenecessaryexaminationsneededbyapplicants. ISToffers a limitednumberofofficialexaminations for students to take throughout the school year. All official examinationscoresarereleaseddirectlytostudentsviathestudent’sofficialexaminationaccountwiththe exception of one examination, the PSAT. Students must contact the examinationboard, directly, if there are concerns regarding scoring and forwarding of scores to theproper university. Scores cannot be released from IST as only the informational schoolcopyofareportisreceivedforarchivepurposes. OfficialPSAT(PracticeSAT)ThePSATisofferedatISTontwiceeachschoolyearinOctober,withamaximumof30seatsavailableandopentostudentsinGR8-9andGR10-11.ThePSATisanabbreviated,practiceversionoftheSATandhelpsstudentstopreparefortheofficialexaminationbymeasuringknowledgeofVerbal,Mathematical,andWritingSkills.ThePSAT10/11isgivenintheFallandthePSAT8/9isgivenintheSpring.StudentsareprovidedwithindividualizedscorereportsandaregivenfreeaccesstoCollegeboardplanningtoolstoimproveSATscoresandexplorecareeranduniversityoptions.StudymaterialsforthePSATmaybefoundonlineandinthecounselingdepartment. OfficialSATTheSATgeneralandsubjectstestsareofferedatISTduringthemonthsofOctoberthroughJuneandmeasureknowledgeofVerbal,Mathematical,andWritingSkills.Beawarethatregistrationdeadlinesaresixweekspriortothetestdate.Studentsinterestedintestingmustmakeanaccountatwww.collegeboard.organdthencompleteanonlineregistrationform.PaymentfortheSATisrequiredviacreditcardonline.TestingoccursonSaturdaysandstudentsmustreporttothetestingcenternolaterthan7:45am.StudentsareadvisedtobeginSATtestingduringthespringofGR11.ScoresmustbesentdirectlyfromtheCollegeboardorganizationtothenecessaryuniversity.Studymaterialsareavailableonlineandinthecounselingoffice. TOEFL(TestofEnglishasaForeignLanguage)andIELTS(InternationalEnglishLanguageTestingSystem) StudentswhoarefromcountrieswhereEnglishisnottheofficiallanguagemayberequiredto complete the TOEFL/ IELTS exam to determine level of English proficiency. This is also

applicable for students who speak English well, but where English is not the officiallanguage. Students and parents should make arrangements, via the official TOEFL/ IELTSwebsite,tohavetestingcompletedbeginninginthelattermonthsofGR10andinGR11inorder to fulfill university requirements. All scores must be released directly from theorganization.Studentsmayaccessstudyresourcesonline.

IBUniversityRecognitionIBstudentsareadiversegroupwithvariedbackgroundsandaspirations.Inthelast10yearsIB students have sent transcripts sent to well over 5000 Higher Education Institutions inmorethan100countries,andagrowingbodyofresearchprovidesevidencethatIBstudentsaremorelikelythantheirpeerstogoontoHigherEducationandperformbetteroncethere.Thus, it is imperative that this group of talented and ambitious students have adequatepathways into postsecondary study. To this end, the IB recognition team seeks to bothincrease the number of postsecondary institutionsworldwide that value and recognize IBProgrammes,andtoimprovethequalityofthatrecognition.

GraduationandBeyondHighSchoolGraduationisanimportantmilestoneinayoungperson’slifeandisatimeforcelebration.Weapplaudthehardworkofthegraduatingstudentsandextendsupportbyattending thegraduationceremony thatoccursMayor Juneofeachyear.The realityofgraduatingandenteringtherealworldmayproduceanoverwhelmingfeelingforstudents.Students are encouraged to seek assistance for any concerns that may arise duringgraduationtime.TheCounselorispreparedtodiscussanytopicofconcernwithstudentsandparents,or simplyengage in conversationsof celebration.Counselors canhelpeasetheanxietythatstartinganewphaseinlifemaybring. HandbookResources:Kennedy,LibbySchoolGuidanceandCollegeCounselorSterling,LeeCollegeCounselorAustin,Shallene SchoolCounselor ISTSchoolCounselingDepartmentHandbook–Version1;May2014AmericanSchoolCounselorAssociation:www.schoolcounselor.orgAssociationofInternationalSchoolsinAfrica,ChildProtectionHandbookMorganCountyR---1SchoolDistrict,MissouriUSACrisisCounselingPlanTheInternationalModelforSchoolCounselingPrograms:http://www.aassa.com/uploaded/Educational_Research/US_Department_of_State/Counseling_Standards/International_Counseling_Model_Handbook.pdfVirginiaDepartmentofEducation,USAModelSchoolCrisisManagementPlanWesternAcademyofBeijing,China BeijingServiceProviderListing