Steve MacFarland, Board President; Judy Flores, Superintendent; Becky Love, Reach Higher Shasta Counseling Coordinator; Tara Schwerdt, Heather Van Slyke, Liz Guerrero and Abby Thompson, School Counselors
Shasta County’s superintendent leads the Reach Higher Shasta Committee with tremendous support from Shasta County Board of Education. The RHS Committee includes superintendents (K-12), higher education representatives and business partners. The motto for RHS is “Every Student, Every Option.” Motivated by the county’s daunting statistics, RHS provided school counselors and administrators a two-year professional development academy in order to develop and implement countywide systemic changes in school counseling to better prepare students for the pursuit of post-secondary education and training. The district has increased Free Application for Federal Student Aid completions by 81 percent, eligibility of university admission requirements (A-G) by 14.6 percent, and 100 percent of its schools exceed California’s graduation rate. All but one school exceed the California School Dashboard’s College/Career Indicator “prepared” rate. School counselors developed and taught eight common lessons that address attitudes, knowledge and skills in the academic, college/career and social-emotional domains. The results and infrastructure are being touted across California!