3 Questions
Danielle Crankfield, 2026 National School Counselor of the Year
Meet Danielle Crankfield, the 2026 National School Counselor of the Year. The first ever honoree from Maryland, one of her notable successes is lifting Black and Latino students into advanced coursework at her Anne Arundel County high school.
We are now almost five years from the beginning of the pandemic shutdown. How are you addressing the challenges that remain in student social, emotional, and academic recovery and remediation?
Intrinsic motivation and the ability to engage socially are areas students continue to struggle with. Students’ ability to manage stress is also a large area of concern that my department is attempting to address through classroom lessons, our Tranquility Room, and our Wellness Wednesday initiative.
In the Tranquility Room, students can decompress and practice healthy stress management strategies. It’s open Tuesday-Friday during the 30-minute choice period students have each day. Students color, practice meditation and grounding techniques, play with kinetic sand, and work on homework in a quiet place. This year we’ve seen an increase in the number of students visiting, which lets us know that it’s a place students value and that we need to keep open.
On Wellness Wednesday, we set up tables outside the cafeteria for students to practice a healthy stress management or coping strategy during lunch. We can connect with students, teach these necessary skills, and promote our counseling program.
How did your department increase access and awareness to advanced coursework for Black and Latino students who are so often under-represented in these classes?
Collaboration with stakeholders is the key to increasing student group representation in advanced courses. I collaborate with our school testing coordinator, who shares significant and helpful data with me, the middle school counseling department, our school administration, and our school counseling department to disaggregate the data and determine our areas of focus.
We ask our teachers to look for students to move from standard to honors classes at the semester break. We encourage open enrollment as much as possible, meaning that if a student wants to take an AP course and they meet the prerequisites, they can take the course.
We also host parent nights and email families of students who should consider taking honors and AP courses. This comprehensive approach has resulted in more Black and Latino students taking honors and AP courses now than when we first opened.
What was your path to school counseling as a career?
I knew I wanted to be a school counselor when I was in high school. I had an incredible school counselor who supported me and pushed me toward my goals. I changed my mind a few times while in college, going from school counselor, to child psychologist, to school psychologist, and even other careers. I always went back to school counseling—the courses, practicum, and internship confirmed that it was and still is the career for me.
School counselors are leaders in our schools and we implement comprehensive programs that foster students’ academic, social/emotional, and college/career development. This is not easy work, but it is necessary.