Ephesus Elementary School counselor honored for data-centered approach

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is moving toward more comprehensive and data-driven school counseling programs — an effort that has earned the district national recognition.

Ephesus Elementary School will receive designation as a Recognized American School Counselor Association Model Program, called RAMP, in Phoenix, Arizona on June 30.

Ephesus Elementary School Counselor Ashley Sherman said the school implemented a comprehensive classroom program that relied more heavily on data. She said the school looks at student data more frequently to see what intervention and counseling measures need to be implemented.

Sherman works in every classroom at Ephesus providing classroom guidance lessons. And she individually meets with all 435 students at the school. Ephesus’ counseling system strives to provide social and emotional support for its students.

“Kids in elementary school are really starting to build character and empathy for others, and skills like kindness and friendship,” Sherman said. “We look at these skills as things they have to build, just like reading and math.”

The school uses a tiered approach to counseling, said Ephesus Elementary Principal Victoria Creamer. The first tier is the core: the social and emotional guidance that all students receive. Targeted support with short-term counseling for issues such as anxiety makes up the second tier. And the third tier provides one-on-one counseling, or outside referrals, for students who might require more support.

Creamer said she credits the RAMP recognition to Sherman’s hard work. Sherman started working at Ephesus three years ago.

Sherman said the kids enjoy the school’s counseling program and use it frequently. She has hopes for the entire district to adopt similar practices.

“Our district as a whole is really moving towards this model of counseling,” she said.

This is the first year Ephesus has applied for the RAMP award. ASCA looks for counseling programs that impact all students and address the specific needs of the school when evaluating applications for RAMP recognition.

Jill Cook, ASCA spokeswoman, said high-ranking schools have exemplary counseling programs, and ASCA deems them some of the best approaches to counseling in the nation.

CHCCS Coordinator of Student Services Jeff Reilly attributes the district’s success to good ratios of counselors to students in schools.

“We really support having a counselor in each building, where other states may share counselors,” he said.

There are full-time elementary counselors in each school in the district, and the elementary and middle schools are focusing more on the ASCA National Model for counseling.

Reilly said there will always be room for improvement.

“We always have to update, and always have to renew,” he said. “With all the things that change, we change with it.”

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