High school principals play a vital role in student development, college preparation, and career planning. For colleges seeking to connect with prospective students, establishing relationships with these professionals is essential.
In this article, we highlight key resources for school principals that help them stay informed, better support their students, and maintain connections with higher education institutions. If your college aims to engage effectively through email lists, these tools and platforms are widely used by principals and are crucial for your outreach efforts.
Why Resources for School Principals Matter to Colleges
High school principals play a crucial role in college and career advising. Their recommendations and insights significantly impact student applications, scholarship choices, and preferences for colleges. Understanding the tools they utilize can help you better align your outreach, materials, and engagement strategies.
By providing relevant information through the appropriate channels and being present in the environments that principals already trust, you can greatly enhance your institution’s visibility and reputation.
Key Resources for School Principals
1. Top Websites Principals and Counselors Trust
These websites serve as essential resources for school principals and counselors, making them crucial platforms for colleges to monitor, engage with, or even collaborate on content.
- School-Counselor.org: A go-to for practical materials like worksheets, career planning guides, and mental health tools, and colleges can offer downloadable materials or admissions insights here
- Counseling.org: The American Counseling Association’s platform offers research-backed content. Sharing insights or offering CE opportunities here builds thought leadership
- PBIS World: Behavior support resources that many counselors use to address social-emotional development
- ASCA High School Resources: The American School Counselor Association is a core resource hub. Colleges can build connections here through sponsorships, webinars, and conference appearances
2. Books Every High School Principal Should Have
These suggested titles serve as invaluable resources for school principals and provide colleges with insight into the frameworks counselors utilize in their practice.
- The High School Counselor’s Handbook: Published by the U.S. Department of Education, it outlines best practices in student advising
- Evidence-Based School Counseling: Encourages the use of proven strategies, a perfect entry point for colleges to share their own outcomes or student success data
- The Use of Data in School Counseling: Counselors increasingly rely on data to guide students, highlighting the value of evidence-based communications from colleges
- The School Counseling and Social Work Treatment Planner: Offers intervention plans for behavioral and academic challenges, underscoring the need for holistic student support systems
3. Apps Principals Use to Stay Organized
Understanding the digital tools that support daily operations helps your institution tailor outreach accordingly.
- ASCA National Model App: Offers a structure for delivering comprehensive counseling programs
- SCUTA: Used for time tracking and reporting; understanding how counselors spend their day informs respectful, timely outreach
- ParentSquare: A communication platform counselors use to connect with families, showing how colleges might extend family outreach efforts
- College Guidance Network: A tool focused on the college search journey; an excellent opportunity for colleges to be present with helpful content or videos
4. Specialty Resources Used in Counseling Programs
These wide-ranging resources for school counselors shape how students are supported daily.
- Attendance Works: Helps track and improve student attendance
- The Positivity Project: A character-building SEL tool implemented across school communities
- Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators: A resource for understanding trauma in students
- Complex Trauma: Facts for Educators: Focuses on classroom strategies to support trauma-affected youth.
- StopBullying.gov: A federal site providing tools to address bullying effectively
Building Relationships Through Networking Tools Principals Trust
If you’re building email lists, these networking tools and communities are where many principals engage and share knowledge.
- LinkedIn: Principals join professional groups where colleges can contribute resources and insights
- Online Counseling Forums: From Reddit threads to dedicated forums, these are strong listening tools for college admissions teams
- Facebook Groups: Groups like “High School Principals’ Network” are prime spaces to build awareness or answer questions directly
Media and Continuing Education Principals Use
Staying current is a key part of every prinicpal’s job. Here are the top formats they turn to and where your institution can contribute.
- Podcasts: Consider sponsoring or guest-featuring on shows like “The Counseling Psychologist Podcast”
- Online Courses: Principals use Coursera, EdX, and similar platforms for CE credits. Colleges offering CEUs or admissions workshops here get prime visibility
- YouTube Channels: Visual learners turn to principal-focused channels for quick insights. Consider creating brief videos addressing common admissions questions or student success tips
Colleges aiming to enhance their outreach efforts and establish genuine relationships must recognize the key resources available for school principals. These tools play a crucial role in how principals assist students and serve as valuable opportunities for colleges to support, educate, and engage with them.
By aligning your messaging and materials with the trusted resources principals already use, your institution can become a more significant part of the student success journey.