| (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
(iv) system support; 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).
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