The counseling staff at The Bailey School for Performing and Visual Arts have something extra to celebrate in the new year, with the campus recently being named among the 2023-24 winners of the CREST Award for Counseling Excellence by the Texas School Counselor Association (TSCA).

The school’s current seventh grade counselor, Rakia Veal, was also a member of Bailey’s counseling team in 2022-23 – the academic year covered by the latest CREST Awards – and said she was proud of the work done to earn the award, which represented a first for Bailey and the first CREST Award in Spring ISD since 2020.

“It felt really amazing,” Veal said. “When we actually sat down and had to do the documentation, and we had to gather this information and put it all together on paper, you actually see the amount of work that you’re putting forth to make the counseling program be a great program for the students as well as for the staff – making sure that we have an environment where kids want to come to school, and staff want to come to school and give to our kids.”

TSCA launched the CREST Award program – the name stands for “Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas” – in 2005 to recognize schools with outstanding comprehensive counseling programs. Schools receiving a CREST Award have demonstrated a commitment to improving the lives of students and supporting their achievements in academics and career-readiness, as well as in personal and social growth.

“This is a huge honor and major testament to the work that the Bailey Middle School counselors as well as the professional school counselors in Spring have been doing,” said Dr. Crystal Collins, the district’s director of guidance, counseling and mental health. “The Spring ISD Counseling Program has a results-driven focus, and Bailey Middle School was able to exhibit their dedication to improving the academic, career, and personal social achievement of their students.”

The CREST evaluation framework requires schools to demonstrate continuous improvement, effective communication and a commitment to results. The CREST program supports districts and campus counselors in evaluating their counseling programs against state and national best practices, and in promoting their programs to parents and other stakeholders. In choosing each year’s finalists and winners, TSCA looks at each school’s counseling program across categories that include the Role of the Professional School Counselor, Foundational Components of the counseling program, Service Delivery and Curriculum, and Program Implementation.

In preparing their entries, school counseling teams highlight these core areas and communicate how their school’s program is helping students succeed. Reviewers throughout the state of Texas help judge each entry according to the award’s standards of excellence.

“Congratulations to The Bailey School for Performing and Visual Arts for being one of an elite group of schools from across the state to win the CREST Award for Counseling Excellence for 2023-24,” the organization said in a press release announcing this year’s winners.

All of this year’s CREST Award winners will be recognized at an awards dinner on Feb. 4, during the annual TSCA conference in San Antonio.