Efforts Help Schools Hire More College Guidance Counselors

Many high schools and middle schools in Houston have a shortage of counselors to help students prepare for college. Counselors at some area schools are responsible for more than 500 students, and they’re often asked to do duties outside the realm of college advising, like cafeteria duty or administrative tasks.

But there are some efforts underway to change that. Recently, Houston Independent School District raised around $6 million to hire additional counselors. We learn more about those efforts and about the Project 88 Foundation, which is trying to raise money for and awareness of this issue.

We hear from Ericka Graham, who — along with her husband, Houston Texans’ tight end Garrett Graham — run the foundation. We’re also joined by Dr. Ruth López Turley of Rice University and director of the Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC). She and her colleagues have studied the ratios of counselors per student in HISD. And Rick Cruz, assistant superintendent for college readiness at HISD, talks about efforts to hire more counselors in the district.