{"id":88474,"date":"2025-11-21T09:47:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/?p=88474"},"modified":"2025-11-21T11:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:04:12","slug":"2026-american-school-counselor-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/2026-american-school-counselor-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Anne Arundel County Public Schools Counselor Named 2026 American School Counselor of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><\/p>\n

MEDIA CONTACT:<\/span>
<\/span>Raven Hill, 410-767-0486<\/span>
<\/span>raven.hill@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Counselor Named 2026 American School Counselor of the Year<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BALTIMORE (November 21, 2025)<\/strong> \u2013 Danielle Crankfield, School Counselor and Department Chair at Crofton High School in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, has been named the 2026 National School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Crankfield is the first Maryland school counselor to receive this prestigious national honor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Crankfield\u2019s commitment to equity and student success is nothing short of inspiring,\u201d said <\/span>Dr. Carey M. Wright, State Superintendent of Schools<\/b>. \u201cShe has demonstrated how school counselors can lead with both heart and data to create real, lasting change. Maryland is proud to have her represent the best of our education system on the national stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Crankfield exemplifies the transformative power of school counseling,\u201d said <\/span>Dr. Joshua L. Michael, State Board of Education President<\/b>. \u201cAs the son of a school counselor, I know how life-changing this work can be. Her leadership in closing opportunity gaps and expanding access to advanced coursework reflects the values we hold dear in Maryland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Crankfield, who has served as a school counselor since 2010, was selected from among state-level honorees across the country. At Crofton High School, she has led efforts to disaggregate course enrollment data and address disparities in honors and Advanced Placement course access. Her work resulted in a measurable reduction in course access gaps for Black and Hispanic students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crankfield will be honored alongside other state finalists during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in January 2026 and will participate in National School Counseling Week events from February 2-6, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Maryland State Board of Education will formally recognize Crankfield during its December 2025 meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

###<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span>
\nMEDIA CONTACT:<\/span><\/span>Raven Hill, 410-767-0486<\/span><\/span>raven.hill@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Counselor   …Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsreleases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88474"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88479,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88474\/revisions\/88479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}