Education leaders calling for more guidance counselors at schools

That means many students get little or no face time with a trained counselor to talk about their road map to graduation, college or a career.

The state's high schools have about one counselor for every 500 students. In kindergarten through 12th grade, Arizona averages one for every 783 students, well above the national ratio of one to 488.

Politicians and education leaders in Arizona plan to address counseling issues as part of high school reform.

That includes creating personalized learning plans for every student and driving career planning down into early grades. It also could mean blurring lines between the jobs of counselors, principals and teachers.

Arizona educators hope the moves will entice some of the 20,000 kids who drop out of every graduating class to stick around.

With more counseling, students might choose classes with a more strategic view of how they tie in to their career goals or make sure they don't ease off during their senior year.

Rick Caron, a counselor in a Mesa junior high school, said he has been trying for a decade to sell more active counseling in lower and lower grades to all schools.

"That's the traditional model, to sit down and wait for the kids to come to you," Caron said. "It's mind-boggling to me. Why would you pay someone for being a glorified schedule changer? You can have a clerk do that."

John Dylan met with a guidance counselor at Scottsdale's Saguaro High School when he was a freshman.

"She told me guidance counselors were there to help us throughout high school and prepare us for the next step," Dylan said.

Dylan never saw a counselor again, except when he was sent to detention.

"Never can I think of a time a guidance counselor invited me in to talk about my future," said Dylan, who graduated last year and soon will attend the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles.