ACA Announces Support for Bill to Strengthen Career Counseling in Middle and High Schools

This week, Congressmen Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), co-chairs of the Congressional Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, introduced the Counseling for Career Choice Act. This bipartisan legislation amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to states for the development and implementation of statewide career counseling frameworks supported by a local educational agency or secondary school, in conjunction with local businesses and industry organizations.

 The American Counseling Association (ACA) strongly supports this legislation, along with the National Career Development Association (NCDA), the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), Advance CTE, the American School Counselors Association, and the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers

 Funds administered to states from the Counseling for Career Choice Act grant will assist state educational agencies with:

• Implementing comprehensive school career counseling programs that align with the statewide career counseling framework;
• Identifying regional workforce trends in collaboration with state and regional workforce partners, and establishing partnerships between counselors and state workforce development boards, local workforce development boards, regional economic development organizations, or state employment agencies;
• Establishing partnerships with one-stop centers, which may include co-locating a one-stop center in a high school, transporting students to local one-stop centers, or having one-stop center career counselors and business liaisons assist school counselors in hosting job fairs, career days, or other similar tasks;
• Identifying and assessing school counseling activities and postsecondary options for youth, including out-of-school youth and adults;
• Developing and implementing professional development and certification programs for counselors, which may include partnering with an industry association that provides a nationally-recognized certification in career development; and
• Leveraging resources and technologies that are being developed by stakeholders to support the counseling framework and developing a process for counselors to access information and resources.

(Please read the full text of the legislation here for the entire list of permissible grant funding activities.)

ACA’s Government Affairs team has been in contact with NCDA’s lobbyist, Jason Ortega, and will continue to monitor this legislation for any updates.