The Network for Educator Effectiveness provides schools with a comprehensive system for educator evaluation. The NEE system includes four independent measures for teacher evaluation and four independent measures for principal evaluation.

Woman school psychologist talking and helping student, male teenager.

In addition, NEE provides unique tools to evaluate several school specialist positions, including:

For other positions, the NEE Professional Responsibility tool provides a flexible template that allows school leaders to evaluate additional school staff.

This blog will provide an overview of NEE’s professional school counselor evaluation tool. For more on evaluating other positions, click the links in the list above.

School Counselor Standards

NEE’s School Counselor evaluation include 8 elements based on standards from the Comprehensive School Counseling Program Guidelines. They are:

  • Engages students in career planning and development.
  • Engages in individual student planning.
  • Provides responsive services.
  • Provides school system support through program management.
  • Provides school system support by collaborating with educators and other professionals from within and outside the school community.
  • Provides school system support by contributing to a positive and safe school climate and culture.
  • Provides school system support by contributing to building and school district initiatives.
  • Devotes recommended percentage of time on four components of the guidance and counseling program: guidance and counseling curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support.

School districts typically focus on three to five elements of the counselor evaluation organizer rather than addressing all elements. This focused approach allows counselors to select the elements that best reflect their responsibilities and represent opportunities for growth. Some states require that the time allocation addressed in Element 8 be completed for every school counselor.

Evaluating School Counselors Online

The NEE counselor evaluation tool comes together in the NEE Data Tool online evaluation platform. To get started, individuals will need to be designated as a School Counselor on their profile page, under the “Positions” section. Then, the Counselor Evaluation organizer will be available by clicking “My Organizers” on the left-side menu.

School Counselor Evaluation Timeline

Counselor evaluation will begin early in the school year. Counselors will work with their supervisor to select the three to five elements that will be included. Some districts use the same set of elements for all counselors in the district, while others use one set of elements for elementary counselors and another set for secondary counselors. Elements might also be assigned on an individual basis.

Counselors will start their organizers by outlining their plans for each selected element. Midway through the school year, the counselor can open the organizer to provide evidence and documentation on how they have addressed the selected elements up to that point.

There is no pre-implementation approval or mid-year review for the counselor organizer. However, supervisors can review the organizer at any point during the school year and recommend changes as needed.

Toward the end of the school year, counselors will finish the organizer by providing additional evidence and documentation and will submit it for review and scoring. The supervisor will use the accompanying scoring rubric to score the counselor elements and provide comments.

Additional Evaluation Measures for School Counselors

Many school counselors provide instruction for students as a part of their responsibilities within a school community. Therefore, observations of classroom instruction might also be included as part of the counselor’s evaluation. Additionally, student surveys can be appropriate for school counselors if they have had regular contact with a group of students over an extended period. It is important to remember that at least six responses must be recorded before NEE Student Survey data is reported in the NEE Data Tool.

NEE also strongly recommends counselors complete the NEE Teacher Professional Development Plan to document their personal professional growth.

A summative report in the NEE Data Tool will bring together data from the counselor evaluation organizer as well as any other measures that have been scored.

Additional Resources for School Counselor Evaluation

Additional training and step-by-step guides are available in NEE’s EdHub Library, under the NEE Training Materials topic. NEE schools can also contact the NEE Help Desk or their Member Services representative for additional information and training.

The Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) is a simple yet powerful comprehensive system for educator evaluation that helps educators grow, students learn, and schools improve. Developed by preK-12 practitioners and experts at the University of Missouri, NEE brings together classroom observation, student feedback, teacher curriculum planning, and professional development as measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal designed to promote educator growth and development.