This document summarizes recent changes and events in school counseling at various levels from local to national. At the local level in Orange Unified School District, a Counselor on Special Assignment was hired to support counselors. New legislation in California supports school counseling programs. Nationally, the third White House Convening on school counseling was held and a new National Consortium for School Counseling and Postsecondary Success was formed.

1. seling and Post-Secondary Suc-
cess, was launched in June. (See
article on page 3.)
Next, new legislation regarding
school counselors was passed in
the state of California (see arti-
cle below.)
Most recently, the third White
House Convening on Strength-
ening School Counseling and
College Advising was held No-
vember 2-4, 2015 at the Univer-
sity of North Florida. See
http://www.ncscps.org/white-
house-convening/.
Changes are evident and visible
in school counseling this year at
all levels from our local district
to the state and national levels.
Here in Orange Unified our
changes began with Beth Ro-
denbucher, Counselor on Spe-
cial Assignment (see article on
the next page.)
In addition, four Teachers on
Special Assignment have been
added to the comprehensive
high schools. The position is
known as the P21 Pathways In-
structional Specialist and those
individuals are focused on assist-
ing in design and implementa-
tion of Career Technical Educa-
tion Pathways and connecting
students with the critical com-
ponents of being a 21st Century
learner. http://orangeusd.org/hr/
Counselors are continuing to
work on getting Naviance inte-
grated into their sites. Counse-
lors had professional develop-
ment with Code.org and the 40
Developmental Assets/Rx Pro-
ject. The high schools are con-
tinuing with Equal Opportunity
Schools and Orange and Canyon
High Schools are doing an EOS
relaunch due to new principals.
On a higher level, the spotlight
shown on school counseling by
Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher
Initiative continues to produce
results that are sure to benefit
school counselors and their stu-
dents.
First, a new group, The Nation-
al Consortium for School Coun-
Changes All Around
New Legislation—Senate Bill 451
California Senator, Ricardo La-
ra, received the Legislator of
the Year Award from the Cali-
fornia School Counselor Associ-
ation at their recent conference.
Sen. Lara authored Senate Bill
451, which was introduced in
February and signed into law by
Gov. Jerry Brown on October,
6, 2015. The bill updates CA
Ed Code 49600 and instead of
stating that districts may pro-
vide a comprehensive school
counseling program, 451
strongly “encourages K-12 dis-
tricts to adopt educational school
counseling programs, defines the
scope of school counseling, and
encourages ongoing professional
development.” (http://
sd33.senate.ca.gov/legislation)
Sen. Lara was previously honored
with a Champion of Change Award
at the White House by Pres.
Obama. (http://
sd33.senate.ca.gov/biography)
O R A N G E U N I F I E D S C H O O L D I S T R I C T
NOVEMBER 2015
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
School Counselor Connection
What’s in this for you?
 Find out who’s who in
OUSD counseling!
 Feel proud about your job
and your school!
 Deepen your understanding
and appreciation of your
profession!
 Support your colleagues and
receive support yourself!
Inside this issue:
Know Your Counselor on
Special Assignment
2
Computer Science
Education
2
National Counseling
Week
2
Know Your High School
Colleague
3
National Consortium 3
Book Review-”How to
Raise an Adult”
3
Did You Know…? 4

2. OUSD school counselors now
have a Counselor on Special As-
signment to help and support
them. Beth Rodenbucher ar-
rived this year to tackle many
areas including implementation
of NAVIANCE and assisting
counselors to evaluate existing
counseling programs to better
serve all students.
Beth is from the community of
La Mirada. She attended college
at Cal State Dominguez Hills
with the goal to be a therapist or
special ed teacher. While work-
ing on a bachelor’s degree in
Human Services by night, Beth
was an instructional aide by day.
During this time, Beth realized
that she was happiest when help-
ing kids comprehensively. After
graduation, Beth worked as a
guidance tech and managed the
Career Center at Troy HS.
Beth came to school counseling
following a time of staying home
to take care of her son. She went
back to school to get her school
counseling degree and credential
at APU and then worked as a
counselor in Downey and Cov-
ina. Beth is passionate about ca-
reer exploration planning and
loves helping students figure it
out. The COSA position is al-
lowing her to do just that!
When not working, Beth can be
found spending time with family
and friends and being outdoors.
She also indulges in her other
big passion; Charger football.
Know Your Counselor on Special Assignment
National School Counseling Week
Computer Science Education
school counselors participated in
the week scheduling special out-
reach and visibility to their stu-
dents as well as being honored
by their schools.
Check out the ASCA website to
find materials you can use for
National School Counseling
Week, including a proclama-
tion, certificate of appreciation,
National School Counseling
Week is slated for February 1-5,
2016 with the theme School
Counseling: The Recipe for Success.
The week is sponsored by the
American School Counselor As-
sociation and the purpose is to
highlight the contributions of
professional school counselors.
Last year, Orange Unified
sample press release and morn-
ing announcements, posters,
stickers, and more. ASCA is
touting a new T-Shirt and sug-
gesting it be worn that week.
Additional ideas can be found by
searching “National School
Counseling Week” on the inter-
net and checking out Pinterest.
(ECS) is the introductory course
that is already up and running in
our district. A number of years
ago, Center X, part of UCLA’s
Graduate School of Education
and Information Sciences, part-
nered with Jane Margolis’ ECS
project to build curriculum for
the course and provide profes-
sional development for teachers.
The focus was initially toward
students in urban areas and be-
gan with LA Unified. Explor-
ingcs.org, centerx.gseis.ucla.edu
Code.org is working to increase
enrollment in ECS and to pre-
pare for the second course,
Computer Science Principles
(CSP). CSP is an Advanced
Placement introductory course
and will launch in the 2016-
2017 school year.
Counselors from OUSD met
Oct. 21 to learn about computer
science instruction. David Ber-
nier, District Manager from
Code.org, shared with counse-
lors the need to diversify com-
puter science education, to see
it as a 21st century skill, and to
understand the courses availa-
ble.
Exploring Computer Science
“ECS Professional
Development (PD) is
focused on building
a professional
learning community
of teacher leaders.”
exploringcs.org
PAGE 2
SCHOOL COUNSELOR CONNECTION
Beth Rodenbucher

3. Oscar Ruiz, new counselor at
Orange High School, has an ex-
citement that is contagious! Os-
car chose school counseling be-
cause he has a passion for work-
ing with students and encourag-
ing them to pursue their goals.
Oscar credits the counselors he
had in high school and college
for his success because they
challenged him, supported him,
and believed in him as he
worked toward his own goals.
Oscar grew up in the West San
Gabriel Valley area of Los An-
geles County. Oscar holds a
bachelor’s degree in Psychology
& Social Behavior from UC Ir-
vine and received his school
counseling degree and creden-
tial from Azusa Pacific. Orange
High School was one of Oscar’s
intern sites and he has truly
found a home there. Oscar said
that he was able to build rap-
port as well as positive relation-
ships with the counseling and
administrative team. Oscar be-
lieves that this helped him to
get hired when his mentor, San-
dra Nakano, retired.
In his spare time, Oscar stays
active by going to the gym, ex-
ercising, and playing sports.
Oscar is a huge sports fan
cheering on the Angels, Dodg-
ers, Lakers, UCLA and the Dal-
las Cowboys. Oscar has
coached football, basketball and
golf. Most important in his life
are his wife and five month old
son.
these problems arose in the early
80’s due to a number of reasons;
the fear of child abduction, the
Nation at Risk report, the self-
esteem movement, and the rise
of play dates.
Some of the chapters in the book
address that kids lack basic life
skills, that kids have been psycho-
logically harmed, and that the
college admission process is bro-
Julie Lythcott-Haims wrote How
to Raise an Adult (2015) after ten
years as the Dean of Freshmen at
Stanford University. During that
time, Ms. Lythcott-Haims be-
came alarmed as she noticed a
rise in parental involvement in
students’ lives along with a de-
crease in student resiliency and
ability to handle challenges.
Ms. Lythcott-Haims believes that
ken. Ms. Lythcott-Haims uses re-
search and experience to present
practical ways to parent differ-
ently allowing kids to “chart their
own path.”
Many of the concerns in How to
Raise an Adult will be familiar to
school counselors and the sugges-
tions can be worthwhile in work-
ing with students.
Know Your High School Colleague
Book Review—How to Raise an Adult
National Consortium
seling and Postsecondary Suc-
cess (NCSCPS).
The eight Consortium members
include, among others, Trish
Hatch, co-author of ASCA Na-
tional Model, Patricia J. Martin,
formerly of the National Office
for School Counselor Advoca-
cy, Mandy Savitz-Romer, Har-
vard, and Laura Owen, San Di-
ego State.
“The Consortium...launched
with a grant from the Kresge
Foundation aims to provide a
leading voice for excellence...in
college and career services.”
The Consortium’s focus is to
continue the work of the Reach
Higher Initiative and “increase
fair and accessible pathways to
higher education for all stu-
dents.” www.ncscps.org
Leaders continue to work tire-
lessly for the profession of
school counseling and ultimate-
ly for the welfare of students.
The most recent visible effort is
the formation of a new group
following the first two White
House Convening on School
Counseling and College Access.
The group is called the National
Consortium for School Coun-
“The Reach Higher
Initiative cast
national attention on
the need for
improvements to
current school and
career counseling.”
PAGE 3
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
Caption describing picture
or graphic.
Caption describing picture or
graphic.
Santiago Charter Middle
School
Oscar Ruiz

4. Orange Unified School District
1401 N. Handy Street
Orange, CA 92867
714-628-4000
Please direct questions or interest in this publication to:
Paula Sidler
Phone: 714-628-5335
Email: psidler@orangeusd.org
O R A N G E U N I F I E D
S C H O O L D I S T R I C T
Want to know more about
code.org? Check out founder
Hadi Partovi’s Tedx talk, Com-
puter Science is Foundational. You
will know why it is imperative
that computer science be taught
in our schools. www.youtube.com
Three Facebook groups that
give a great look into their re-
spective areas are “Caught in
the Middle School Counselors”,
“High School Counselors’ Net-
work”, and “College Admis-
sions Counselors.”
Roshni Patel, counselor at San-
tiago Middle School, maintains
her own webpage on the Santia-
go website. Roshni calls her
page Miss Patel’s Counseling
The next ASCA Annual Confer-
ence will be held in New Orle-
ans, July 9-12, 2016. The
theme is Recipe for Success and
registration opens on January 4,
2016.
The number of counselors in
the state of California has in-
creased by 17% in the last two
years! CASC Conference 2015
The Exploring Computer Sci-
ence course has been granted
program status by the Universi-
ty of California Office of the
President making it easy for a
school to adopt the course as a
“g” elective. www.exploringcs.org
Corner and uses the Weebly
Website Builder to host her
page at no charge. Roshni in-
cludes her vision and mission,
FAQs, a list of resources and al-
so her blog.
Orange County CASC is offer-
ing a “Legal and Ethical Issues
Workshop” on November 16
from 8am to Noon at National
University. Register at oc-
casc.com.
Patrick J. O’Connor, who
kicked off the national conver-
sation about school counselors
with an open letter to the First
Lady has a new book. The title
is College Counseling for School
Counselors.
Did You Know…?