WSCA-Sponsored Professional Development

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

Washington Council for High School-College Relations 2023 Fall Workshops

Workshops provide professional development for school counselors, career center specialist, HSBP coordinators, navigators and case managers, and those in college-access work. Held in-person and virtually, there will be updates from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), The State Board of Education (SBE), State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), Council of Presidents (COP), Independent Colleges of Washington (ICW) and the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), as well as from our public and private four-year institutions and community and technical colleges.

Clock hours will be available through WSCA. Register using the links below:

September 15 – Fall Counselor Workshop -Bellingham @ BTC

September 19 ^_ Fall Counselor Workshop – Virtual Option

2023-2024 OSPI-WSAC Webinar Series

Each year, OSPI, the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), and other partners co-host a series of webinars for school counselors, career counselors and specialists, college access professionals, graduation specialists and other support staff. This webinar series typically includes policy changes and tools and resources to help support students’ career and college preparation, academic development, and social-emotional development.

All webinars take place from 9:00am-10:30 am. Each session is free and registering for the series does not obligate you to attend every webinar.

Session Dates and Topics for our 2023-24 Webinar Series are listed below:

9/20/2023 – Jumpstart to Success: Starting the New School Year with the Latest OSPI-WSAC Information and Resources

12/06/2023 – Financial Aid: The New FAFSA and WASFA Application

03/20/2024 – TBD

05/17/2024 – Legislative Updates: Understanding the Latest Changes and Reflections on the 23-24 School Year

Registering through pdEnroller will give you access to 1.5 FREE clock hours per webinar. Clock hours are awarded based on time in attendance during the live webinar. We verify attendance within a week of each event. After each webinar, pdEnroller will send you an email link to a short evaluation survey. 

If you can't make it, we post all our videos on the OSPI YouTube Channel - Check out our playlist! Subscribe by clicking on the bell to get alerts for videos as we post them. 

BEST (Beginning Educator Support Team)

Mentor Foundational Opportunities are designed to build core knowledge of mentoring for equity. Mentor Academy 101 and 201 are 12-hour trainings. Nakia Academy can be taken in place of Mentor Academy 101 by participants who identify as people of color. Participation in Mentor Academy 101 or Nakia Academy is the prerequisite for participation in any other BEST event.

GYA’s Virtual Counselors Institute

The Gap Year Association's Counselors Institute is an online training that covers best practices in gap year advising. The course is designed to equip those who work with high school students with tools to be effective advocates and advisors for the gap year option. Within the 10-hour curriculum (2 hours of self-study and 8 hours of synchronous online learning), participants can expect to gain:

• A thorough understanding of what constitutes a meaningful gap year: what it is, who it’s for, and why it’s beneficial
• An understanding of best practices in gap year advising: how to propose it as an option for students, guidelines around gap year planning, researching/vetting different gap year options, and more
• Insights from professional gap year consultants and program providers

This course will expand the advising toolkits of anyone who works directly with high school students. Those who complete a short exam at the end of the Institute will receive a certificate of completion and digital badge to display as a professional credential. We are happy to provide discounted rates to any high school counselors who may find the registration fee to be a financial hardship (email info@gapyearassociation.org to receive a promo code). Registration is open until September 15^th.