Tier 1 Questions

1. What influenced you to be a school counselor?
2. What’s the school counselor’s role in promoting equity and access for all students? 
3. When considering school counseling ethical standards and school policies, how would you handle a conflict between the two?
4. What do you like about working with (grade level) school students?  Describe how your specific skills/interests will help you connect to this student population.
5. How do you handle criticism?
6. How do you handle stress?
7. What has your experience been in working with students of color? LGBTQ students? 
8. What is the counseling theory or approach that you most closely follow?
9. What is your school counseling philosophy?
10. How does school data inform the school counseling program? 
11. How does a school counseling program support school counselor advocacy? 
12. How would you address an irate parent?
13. How do you manage conflict and create solutions with stakeholders? 
14. What would you do…

• You suspect one of your students is being abused?
• One of your students talks to you about wanting to kill himself/herself?

Tier 2 Questions

1. How will the school counseling program facilitate a more peaceful/safe school environment? 
2. How do the ASCA student standards (Mindsets & Behaviors) inform the work of the school counselor?
3. What do you consider the most important reason(s) for you, personally, to become a member of this faculty?
4. What experiences have you had in working with special education students?
5. How do you keep yourself organized? 
6. Where do you see yourself in the next five years? 
7. How does the ASCA National Model support all students?
8. How do you develop a positive relationship with students in individual counseling? Small-group counseling? What’s the role of a school counselor to student relationship in individual and group counseling?
9. What technology applications do you see being useful in your work?
10. What is your view on collaborative consultation in the schools?
11. How would you address cultural differences in a school setting?
12. How will the school counseling program facilitate a more peaceful/safe school environment? 
13. What is the school counselor’s role in relation to teachers, parents, administrators and other school counselors?
14. What do you think is the most important characteristic of a school counselor? What’s the most essential characteristic school counselors have that supports a caring/supportive school climate for all students?

Tier 3 Questions

1. What do you see as the most effective use of a school counselor’s time?
2. How would you approach appraisal and advisement? 
3. What type of activities would you deliver in a school counseling program to address an achievement gap, opportunity gap or attainment gap? 
4. What innovative and new ideas would you like to employ as a school counselor?
5. How do you see the word “leader” fitting into your role as a school counselor? How do school counselors model leadership? How is leadership a part of the school counselor’s role? In schools, where can school counselors be leaders?
6. Describe a time when you provided leadership around a specific need/issue/situation?
7. How do school counselors advocate for students differently than other school staff? 
8. How do school counselors advocate for systemic change? 
9. How would you address a passive or uninvolved parent?

One of the most significant advantages of hiring interns is the opportunity to select and develop your future talent. With good exposure to the setting, many interns may want to become a colleague and a full time hire the following year. Interns will need to learn about the setting, position and interact with staff members to make this happen. This can be accomplished through Internship Onboarding or Internship Orientation. Some aspects of this can occur virtually and others are best done in person.

An internship orientation is a series of onboarding activities, training sessions, and team meetings that are designed to introduce a new intern to the settings values, the internship role, and the settings/policies.

Internship onboarding is a good way to introduce your new interns to the primary activities of your role in the school setting. It is very important for interns to be warmly welcomed into your organization. The sooner your intern understands your roles and duties, the sooner they can assume assigned responsibilities and work efficiently.

Expectations vary based on the size of your school and setting, but here are a few things to review with your new interns:

Designing a thorough onboarding and training plan will help interns learn quickly and become a productive member of your team. Investing supervisory time with your interns can set the tone for the program and the internship experience. Taking some time to set up virtual team meetings or one-on-ones can help your interns feel more connected to the team and allow them to feel comfortable reaching out when they need help. But make sure you have an internship orientation checklist to go off.

Download Our Sample Checklist

Please read through our presentation that talks about the mental health risks our school districts and families face without adequate school social work support. Project RAISE is trying to fill a large gap with its paid internships due to current school counselor shortages, school psychologist shortages, and school social work shortages.

Download Our Presentation