How To Become An Elementary School Counselor: What It Is and Career Path

What is an elementary school counselor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Meredith Bertrand

Elementary school counselors are educators uniquely trained in child development, learning strategies, self-management and social skills, who understand and promote success for today's diverse students. They implement a school counseling program to support students through this important developmental period.

The tasks they perform include, but are not limited to, serving all the students at school and facilitating classroom lessons aligned with state standards. Moreover, they are in charge of organizing school-wide service learning projects and special events, consulting with parents and teachers on topics related to guidance, and teaching social skills and coping skills. Educational requirements include at least a bachelor's degree in education or a related field, but a master's degree will be given preference. Moreover, certain states also require licenses.

The average hourly salary for the position is $18.35, which amounts to $38,162 annually. The profession is expected to grow substantially in the near future, resulting in new opportunities emerging all over the United States.

What general advice would you give to an Elementary School Counselor?

Dr. Meredith Bertrand

Chair of Education; Associate Professor of Education, Elms College

History is ever-changing, and teachers must clarify how current events are just as much a part of the study of history as any other socio-political period or event. If you are not comparing the civil rights movement of today to the ongoing civil rights movements of the past, and if you are not supporting the campaign against oppression and institutional racism upon which our nation was built, then you are doing continuous harm to those who need you to act and disrupt the cycle. History teachers better be ready to be activists, not just teachers, or else you are perpetuating the status quo.

ScoreElementary School CounselorUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,984

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.0

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 3.74%

Black or African American 10.64%

Hispanic or Latino 14.20%

Unknown 3.76%

White 67.03%

Gender

female 75.01%

male 24.99%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress Level

9.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.7

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an elementary school counselor

Explore elementary school counselor education requirements

Most common elementary school counselor degrees

Bachelor's

58.0 %

Master's

25.0 %

Associate

7.2 %

Start to develop specific elementary school counselor skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	13.90%
Professional Development	8.94%
Crisis Intervention	7.22%
Math	6.55%
Community Resources	6.27%

Complete relevant elementary school counselor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New elementary school counselors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an elementary school counselor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real elementary school counselor resumes.

Research elementary school counselor duties and responsibilities

Select to serve as the tier 2 PBIS coach and serve on district PBIS tier 1 team.
Train entire staff on PBIS theories, data and methodology.
Prepare and present Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on treating the grief and loss issues of incarcerate students.
Prepare and deliver PowerPoint presentations.

Prepare your elementary school counselor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your elementary school counselor resume.

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