‘Connectors to college’: Black counselors seen as essential mentors on campus

AMID CALLS FOR schools to diversify their teaching staffs, some are saying those efforts should extend beyond the classroom — to the counseling office.

The needs of Black students, advocates argue, are too often overlooked by non-Black middle and high school counselors. Black students are more likely to be placed in classes that don’t prepare them for college or a career, subject to harsher discipline and less likely to have their mental health needs addressed, research shows.