School Counselor Corps Grant Program

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School Counselor Corps Grant Program Charles
E. Dukes Colorado Department of Education
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• What this presentation covers

• Roles
• CDE/Program Manager
• Local Program Managers
• Fiscal Managers
• Program Overview
• History
• Purpose
• Structure and Emphasis
• Budget/Fiscal Management
• Evaluation and Reporting

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• Role of CDE/Program Manager

• One Exercise the Spirit of the Law
• Partner in Mission
• Broker resources
• Keep our eyes on the prize for results/outcomes
  as legislatively intended
• Ask What is the intent of the law? What are
  we hoping to
• achieve?

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• Role of CDE Manager, cont.
• Two Adhere to the Letter of the Law
• Ensure use of funds are allowed by law
• Fiscal accountability
• Good paper trails
• Avoid audit findings
• Maintain the credibility of the program
• Protect the dollars so they keep coming

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• Role of Fiscal Manager
• Shared Responsibility with Program Manager
• Monitoring expenditures to ensure utilization of
  funds are on track
• Forecasting any cost-savings whereas funds could
  be devoted to other budget categories or new uses
• Consult CDE program manager regarding budget
  revisions
• Submit budget revisions for approval when
  necessary
• Not needed - if less than 10 of award for
  purchased services and supplies
• Needed - salaries and equipment More than 10
• Ensuring required financial reports are completed
  and submitted to CDE by deadline

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• How CDE will help you
• Annual Fall Networking Meeting
• Save the Date (Tentative) Friday, Oct. 21, 2011
• Site Visits
• Learn about you and your program and needs
• Coach and encourage
• Refer to known resources
• Primary purpose General Technical Assistance
• Secondary purpose Monitoring of compliance

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• Background
• House Bill 08-1370 established the School
  Counselor Corps Grant Program. The resulting
  legislation enacted by the General Assembly is
  22-91-101 et seq, of the Colorado Revised
  Statutes (C.R.S.).
• Since 2008, the General Assembly has annually
  allocated approximately 5 million to fund this
  grant program.
• 15 million has been invested to fund 37 grantees
  which represented 75.5 secondary counselors.
• These counselors provided services to over 82,000
  students of which over 38,000 (46 percent) are
  economically disadvantaged.

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• Purpose of the Program
• To increase the availability of effective
  school-based counseling within secondary schools
  with a focus on postsecondary preparation
• To increase the graduation rate within the state
  and
• Increase the percentage of students who
  appropriately prepare for, apply to and continue
  into postsecondary education.

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• Impact Summary
• In the first cohort of the three-year grant
  (2008-2011), 90 schools in 37 districts and/or
  Charter School Institute schools were awarded
  School Counselor Corps funds. Schools served by
  the grant demonstrated the following outcomes
• Decrease in Dropout Rate
• Increase in College Preparation Data
• Relationship to Other High School Initiatives

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• Decrease in Dropout Rate
• The most recent available data shows that in
  comparison with non-funded School Counselor Corps
  schools, the schools receiving School Counselor
  Corps grant funds
• decreased (improved) their cumulative dropout
  rate from 5.2 percent to 4.6 percent from 2008-09
  to 2009-10 while non-funded schools with similar
  dropout rates and free and reduced lunch rates
  increased their dropout rate from 10.6 percent to
  10.9 percent points over this same period and
• maintained the graduation rate from 2007-08 to
  2009-10 while non- participating schools showed
  declining graduation rates over the same period.

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• School Counselor Corps Impact on the Dropout
  Rates
•  

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• School Counselor Corps Impact on the Graduation
  Rate

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• Increase in College Preparation Data
• SCCP grantees were required to submit data
  related to college, including the number of
  college and scholarship applications submitted,
  the number of FAFSA applications submitted and
  the number of students accepted into a
  postsecondary institution. In the second year of
  the program, grant recipients show increases in
  the following
• The number of submitted scholarship applications
• The number of college applications submitted
• The number of submitted FAFSA forms and
• The total amount of scholarships received.
•  

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• Impact on Increasing College Access
• Overall findings for the three year program
  illustrate a positive impact on the students
  college preparation.
• The table below summarizes the total gains made
  by the grant program from 2008 to 2011

School Counselor Corps College Related Data (2008 to 2011) School Counselor Corps College Related Data (2008 to 2011) School Counselor Corps College Related Data (2008 to 2011) School Counselor Corps College Related Data (2008 to 2011)
Year One Year Two Year Three
Number of Completed Free Applications for Federal Student Aid 1,240 3,405 2,752
Number of College Applications Sent 8,911 9,922 12,053
Number of Scholarship Applications Submitted 3,543 7,612 6,153
Total Scholarship Dollar Amount Received 18,172,719 23,682,426 32,826,836
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• School Counselor Corps Grant Program
• 2011-12
• The legislature approved 4.8 million in
  distribution for another grant cycle in May 2011.
  
• 33 proposals were reviewed by CDE and Counseling
  and Career preparation specialists in the field
  and 22 were recommended for funding and approved
  for funding by the State Board of Education.
• 88 schools will be served and 60.5 new
  professional school counselor positions will be
  created.

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School Counselor Corps Grant

• Quality of Plan
• Adopting standards recommended by the American
  School Counselor Association (ASCA)
• Providing quality professional development
• Using data over time and
• Setting measurable goals.
• Development of Partnerships
• Institutions of higher education, postsecondary
  service providers, or community based
  organizations and businesses and
• External education agencies, and/or community,
  and/or business workforce partners.

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School Counselor Corps Grant

• Post-Secondary Preparation
• Providing a culture of postsecondary planning
• Developing Individual Career and Academic Plans
  (ICAPs)
• Involving leaders to increase the effectiveness
  of postsecondary preparation in the school
• Using data to improve existing programs and
• Providing access to accelerated coursework and
  remediation courses.
• Adequacy of Resources
• Cost effectiveness
• Sustainability of program and
• Supplementing of current resources.

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Evaluation and Reporting

• Each education provider that receives a grant
  through the program will be required to report,
  at a minimum, the following information to the
  Colorado Department of Education on or before
  April15th of each year during the term of the
  grant
• The number of school counselors hired using the
  grant funds (include the student-to-counselor
  ratio)
• Any professional development programs provided
  using grant funds (hours, attendees, summary
  detailing the impact of the PD)

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Evaluation and Reporting

• A comparison of the following for the years prior
  to the receipt of the grant and the years for
  which the education provider receives a grant
• dropout rates,
• graduation rates,
• postsecondary and workforce readiness rates
  (percentage measured by the education provider),
• college matriculation (number of completed
  FAFSAs, college applications, scholarship
  applications, received scholarship dollar amount,
  and the percent of students accepted into
  post-secondary institutions) and
• Remediation rates (program structure, number of
  students, and number of hours)

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Evaluation and Reporting

• Information indicating an increase in the level
  of postsecondary preparation services provided to
  secondary students at recipient schools including
  the following
• incorporation of ACSA standards
• individual career and academic plans (number of
  completed ICAPs, percentage of completed ICAPs,
  summary of ICAP implementation, number of student
  internships and career exploration)
• enrollment in pre-collegiate preparation programs
  (number of active programs, student enrollment in
  active programs)
• post-secondary or vocational preparation programs
  (student changes in enrollment in available
  programs, description of AP,IB, college level).

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Evaluation and Reporting

• Monitoring and Improvement site visits as a part
  of the School Counselor Corps Grant program.

People to Involve Time
Plan for the Day Counselor(s) and Principal 830 am 930 am
Shadow Counselor Counseling Staff 930 am 1200 pm
Student Discussion Eight Randomly Selected Students 1210 pm - 110 pm or Available Lunch Hour
Leadership Team Discussion Leadership Team (e.g., Principal, District Grant Coordinator) 110pm - 300pm
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Budget and Fiscal Management

• Interim Financial Report January 2012
• Final Revisions, if Any Mid April
• Annual Financial Report September 1, 2012

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Budget and Fiscal Management

• Budget revisions must be approved prior to
  changes
• Email the CDE Program Manager detailing budget
  request
• In the request should include a clear description
  of all proposed expenditures.
• An Example
• Insufficient - 3,150 Professional development
• Sufficient - 3,150 Professional development
  for 2 Counselors to attend the ACT conference
  (Registration 350 x 3, Airfare 450 x 3, Lodging
  250 x 3)

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Budget and Fiscal Management

• No Supplanting
• Funding counselor positions that were previously
  funded by general funds is considered supplanting
  and is not an allowable expenditure.
• Another example would be if an applicant is
  requesting SCCP funds for a counseling position
  that is already funded through district funds and
  there would be position cost savings from a SCCP
  award. This would be considered supplanting and
  is not allowable.
• Annual Financial Report
• Annual Financial Report is the final expenditure
  report
• The budget summary sheet has the budget and
  Annual Financial Report included.

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• Contact

Manager Charles E. Dukes (P)303.866.6142
(C)303.815.9478 dukes_c_at_cde.state.co.us Fiscal
Support Marti Rodriguez (P)303.866.6769 Rodriguez
_m_at_cde.state.co.us