Office of Vocational Community Office of Vocational Community Development Resources

Division of Counseling & Professional Services

Martha Garrett, Division Director

Goals of the Division of Counseling and Professional Services are centered on improved student achievement and student success in the pursuit of higher education and workforce development.  The Division Director leads and assists Program Coordinators of Counseling/Career Centers and Special Populations Teachers as they provide services to the local district personnel.  Responsibilities include: providing academic and vocational updates, maintaining contact with local districts regarding future needs, coordinating/training school counselor response teams throughout the state, collaborations with state organizations/agencies for efficient delivery of services, and providing professional development as requested regarding counseling/career issues as well as skill building techniques.

Gail A. Simmons, N.C.C.
Program Coordinator, Career and Counseling Services

The Program Coordinator for Career and Counseling Services provides technical assistance to elementary, middle, secondary and vocational counselors statewide (over 1,000 counselors).  In addition, responsibilities involve the oversight of Career Centers and Managers at over 200 high school sites in Mississippi.  Duties to career center managers and to counselors include technical assistance, monitoring and professional development opportunities. The Program Coordinator assists counselors in fulfilling the duties of school counselor based on the Mississippi Curriculum Framework and the MS Code 37-9-79. Additionally, the Coordinator provides updates on latest career development software and required activities for students as well as updates in policy and legal matters occurring at the Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Vocational Education and Workforce Development.

SCHOOL COUNSELORS
The Mississippi Curriculum Framework was published on CD in 2004. Contents are aligned with the American School Counselor Association standards and the MS Code 37.9.79. The Curriculum Framework was designed to provide Mississippi school counselors with guidelines for school counseling services to students, teachers, and parents at local school sites.  Certified school counselors recognized for obtaining “best practices” at the elementary, middle and high school levels produced this collaborative work.

The mission of the Mississippi Curriculum Framework is to establish competencies, objectives, and resources that enable Mississippi school counselors to promote and enhance the learning process of the students in the public schools in Mississippi.  The goal of the program is to enable all students to achieve a measurable success in school and develop into contributing members of our society."

Mississippi School Counselor Curriculum Frameworks Contents

• MS Curriculum Framework
• Handbook for School Counselors
• Program of Work: A Guide for Mississippi Vocational Counselors
• When Tragedy Strikes…In YOUR School What will YOU Do?
• Steps to Prevention
  

CAREER CENTERS

Career Managers work with students in computer labs established in Mississippi high schools. The express purpose of lab activities is to explore, develop and make informed decisions about careers and future educational goals. All of these tasks reinforce how current academic activities relate to future pursuits. Career Managers are dedicated to working within their respective school sites to assist students and counselors with a wide range of career directed activities including events, job and college fairs, and industry visits.

Students in grades 9-12 complete certain career development activities that help students learn about themselves through interest inventories, work place values and skill evaluations. 

Outstanding Career Managers from school sites and Mississippi Department of Education staff created the Handbook for Career Center Managers.  This handbook contains information based on “best practices” with monthly events aligned with the school calendar year. 

Sarah Belton, Program Coordinator for Special Populations

Special Populations program is a federally funded program, which provides remediation to students in vocational and technical areas. The 1998 Perkins Act identifies six categories of students of special populations that are to benefit from this program:

• Individuals with disabilities;
• Individuals from economically disadvantaged families, including foster children;
• Individuals preparing for nontraditional training and employment;
• Single parents, including single pregnant women;
• Displaced homemakers; and
• Individuals with other barriers to educational achievement, including individuals with limited English proficiency.

Special population’s services focus on recruitment, enrollment, instruction, retention, completion, placement, and follow-up of special populations preparing for high skill, high wage occupations and/or nontraditional employment in new and emerging careers. The purpose of instructional services rendered by special populations personnel is to enable qualified students to success in their chosen vocational education programs. Special populations personnel may provide instruction for qualified students in mathematics, reading, and writing. Instruction is coordinated with the vocational instructor and services are delivered concurrently with enrollment in a vocational education program.

A diverse method of instruction is used in providing services to those identified students. Students receive a variety of instructions ranging from individualized instruction to updated computer remediation programs. This process is to ensure that those students master competencies and learn employability skills to assist them in becoming successful in the world of work.

Contact Information:
Martha Garrett, Division Director
Division of Counseling & Professional Services
mgarrett@mde.k12.ms.us

Gail Simmons, Program Coordinator
Career and Counseling Services
gsimmons@mde.k12.ms.us

Sarah May Belton, Program Coordinator for Special Populations
sbelton@mde.k12.ms.us

Phone: 601.359.3089
Fax: 601.359.3955

Central High School Building
359 North West Street
P.O. Box 771
Jackson, MS 39205

Updated 11/16/05