Improving the Delivery of Guidance and Counseling Services at Metropolitan Center. Final Report.

A 3-year project (July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1991) aimed to improve the quality of guidance and counseling services delivered to secondary students eligible to attend the Metropolitan Center, and area vocational center serving students in a four-county area around Little Rock, Arkansas. The focus of the program was to provide supplementary services not available elsewhere in school and in the community. The program had the following objectives: (1) assist and enable students to make realistic educational and career decisions based on their aptitudes, interests, abilities, and values; (2) provide support for program entry and successful program completion; (3) assist students in successful transition to the next step while they are in high school and after graduation; (4) assist students with developing positive interpersonal skills; (5) develop and adopt sex fair counseling policies and practices; and (6) develop counseling policies and practices to help special needs students make the transition from school to work. Some of the positive outcomes of the program included the following: providing career experiences for more than 7,000 students who came to the center; developing a successful marketing plan and raising $5,000 for public relations activities; increasing counseling time spent in direct services to students from 76 percent to 95 percent; increasing the retention rate for the second year of the program despite the effect of strict educational standards that stress basic instead of vocational skills; increasing the number of students who make passing grades at Metropolitan; and providing access nontraditional students and students with disabilities. At the conclusion of the program, 90 percent of the students felt that the center helped them prepare for their future careers. (Appendixes include a list of career courses at the center, information on enrollment procedures, and a marketing plan.) (Author/KC)