Tennessee doesn’t have enough school counselors. Here’s how that impacts students.

A shortage of qualified professionals means the average school counselor in Tennessee is juggling about 429 students — nearly double what’s recommended by the American School Counseling Association. This overloading makes it difficult for counselors to carry out their many functions, including providing students with unbiased advice and catching red flags among high-risk kids.

Research shows that students who don’t have access to a school counselor are more likely to face issues like lower graduation rates, decreased college enrollment, increased disciplinary issues and increased suicidal ideation.

“Being present and available when you have 700 students is impossible,” Amy Baltimore, the board chair of the Tennessee School Counselors Association, told WPLN News.

The American School Counseling Association recommends a student to counselor ratio of 250-to-one. Only eight of the 148 school districts in Tennessee meet this standard. Davidson County misses the mark, with its average of 300 students per counselor. Surrounding counties fare even worse, with one counselor managing up to 500 students in some districts.

Tennessee has improved since the 2021-2022 school year, a time when the counselor caseloads grew more than anywhere else in the country.

Pipeline, professionalism, and pay

A lack of clear pathway to the profession, mixed messaging about role expectations, and low pay are some of the factors driving the shortage.

“There’s really no direct pathway from high school to school counselor,” Baltimore said.

To address this pipeline issue, she points to “Map My Pathway” — an interagency project between the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the University of Tennessee and the University of Memphis. The project provides high school students with information about how to become a behavioral health professional, including the daily duties and educational requirements.

Baltimore also says confusion about the role may turn away prospective counselors. She cites the need for comprehensive and consistent counseling programs across the state. Without clear messaging from school district leaders about the expectations of counselors, some might feel the role is unsupported.

Finally, Baltimore notes that low pay deters many from the profession. A school counselor must have an advanced degree, but isn’t paid as much as those in the private practice. Baltimore says people are reluctant to shell out thousands of dollars towards a career that yields very little financial return.

The many hats of a school counselor

Kelly Pietkiewicz, a former school counselor and current scholarships senior manager at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, says counselors wear many hats, including lending students an unbiased ear. She told WPLN News about her time building trust with students at a school with a large Coptic Christian Egyptian population.

“I remember one student came to me and they said, ‘Well, I’m going to go to this college because everybody in my church has gone to this college and this is where they’ve gotten the most money,’ ” she said. “But when we sat down and actually did the math and looked at their options, a different college was not only cheaper, but it actually had a better academic program for what they wanted to do.”

Some students, Pietkiewicz says, may forgo attending college altogether because they believe it’s too expensive. However, she notes that Tennessee is one of the states with the most generous financial aid packages. Thus, it’s critical that students have access to counselors who can tell them about scholarships and the Pell Grant.

“But if a kid doesn’t have someone in their corner talking through the various options with them, we are going to see in the state of Tennessee a huge influx of low-income and minority students going to the military,” she said, noting that these students are typically at schools with the highest student-to-counselor ratios.

Her former students still reach out to her for advice years later about navigating the real world. That’s why, she says, the relationship is so critical.

“If you’re serving 400 students,” she said, “you can’t do that.”