Counselors make a difference--and now you can prove it.
As students' needs change, dedicated school counselors have been evolving their practice. You see the results every day, on the faces of the at-
Brett Zyromski, Ph.D. is co-founder and co-chair of the national Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference. He is one of 18 American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) Lead Recognized-ASCA-Model-Program Reviewers (LRR's) and serves as a trainer of the ASCA National Model. Dr. Zyromski recently served as a provider for 5 approximately one million dollar Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Grants received by Campbell County Schools, Erlanger Independent Schools, and the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services. Dr. Zyromski has published over a dozen articles related to school counseling issues and has delivered over 50 international, national, regional, and local presentations. He is a Fellow at the Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation (CSCORE) and is managing multiple large outcome studies in schools in collaboration with CSCORE. He was the invited chair of the revision team for the Development Counseling Model for Illinois Schools and founded and coordinated the Southern Illinois School Counseling Interest Network.
Dr. Zyromski has consulted and trained internationally and across the United States. He has trained numerous school districts, including Chicago Public Schools, on evolving school counseling programs to be evidence-based, data-driven, and comprehensive. He has provided workshops on crisis preparation and response in schools, supervision in counseling, using school counseling to change sundown town communities, and data-driven school counseling practices. Dr. Zyromski has served as a reviewer for the Professional School Counseling Journal and has been recognized numerous times, including as the 2010 North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Professional Leadership Award, the 2010 Illinois School Counseling Association Presidential Award, and the 2008 North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Outstanding Professional Teaching Award.
Melissa A. Mariani, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida where she teaches graduate students in the School Counseling Program. Dr. Mariani has also taught at the graduate level at Nova Southeastern University. With over 10 years of experience as a professional school counselor and guidance program coordinator at the elementary and middle school levels, Dr. Mariani has knowledge and experience in developing, implementing, and successfully maintaining a comprehensive school counseling program based on the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) National Model. She consults regularly with school districts on how to create, evaluate, and maintain a comprehensive evidence-based school counseling program based on data. Her research interests include the use of evidence-based interventions, specifically those that address pro-social skill development and address bullying. Promoting academic success by proactively targeting college and career readiness skills is another area of focus. Dr. Mariani has published on these topics and is co-editor on a 3 volume series of mental health encyclopedias for adolescents, Mental Health and Mental Disorders: An Encyclopedia of Conditions, Treatments, and Well-Being, due to be released in the next year.
Dr. Mariani is passionate about professional development and is an active Board member for the Florida School Counselor Association (FSCA), serving as Regional Vice President, By Laws Chair, and a member on the Chapters, Membership, and Advocacy committees. She serves on the School Counseling Consortium for the School District of Palm Beach County and the Advisory Committee FAU's School Counseling Program. Dr. Mariani presents regularly at local, state, and national conferences and has served on an Expert Panel at the Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference. She is also a national trainer for the research based, school counselor-led, Student Success Skills (SSS) curriculum. In recognition of her professional efforts, Dr. Mariani was named Florida School Counselor of the Year PK-8 in 2011 and was a semi-finalist for ASCA's School Counselor of the Year award in 2012-13. She was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Educator Award at FAU in 2012.
