School Counseling Changes

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School Counseling Changes

• Presented by Donna Vrbka
• Director of School Counseling
• Nebraska Department of Education

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The Old Question

• What do school counselors do?

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Others wondered too

• Education Trust
• Equity and Access to Academic Achievement
• Concerned about Achievement Gaps
• American School Counseling Association
• Academic Development
• Career Development
• Personal/Social Development

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Both Groups Saw Problems

• Pre Service Training Very Different
• Vocational Counselor vs. Mental Health
• Individualized Services vs. Comprehensive Program
• Not Connected to Mission of Schools
• Administrator Expectations/Job Description
• Insufficient Student Access
• Lack of Counselor Accountability

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ASCA Summit of National School Counseling Leaders

• The Concluding Agreement
• The time for change is nowThe way we do business
  must change fundamentally and immediately.

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Education Trust

• Redefined School Counseling
• A profession that focuses on the relations and
  interactions between students and their school
  with the express purpose of reducing the effects
  of environmental and institutional barriers that
  impede student academic success.
• Project
• Transforming School Counseling Initiative
• Training at the Post-Secondary Level.

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American School Counseling Association

• ASCA National ModelA Framework for Comprehensive
  School Counseling Programs
• Integrated program connected to academic mission
  of your school
• Ensures equitable access to the school counseling
  program for all students provided by a
  state-credentialed school counselor
• Identifies student knowledge and skills as a
  result of the K-12 school counseling program
• Is comprehensive in design and delivered in a
  systematic fashion to all students

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Advantages to Administrators and Schools

• Aligns with the schools academic mission
• 100 student access
• Monitors data for school improvement
• Defines a way to evaluate program and staff
• Uses data to develop school counseling goals
• Provides useful data for grant applications and
  funding sources
• Address students needs while enhancing school
  climate.

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New Question

• How are students different because of school
  counseling programs?

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Transformed Comprehensive School Counseling
Programs

• Work on Two Levels
• Work directly to impact the School System to
  increase student achievement
• Work directly with students/families to
  positively impact student achievement, behavior
  and attendance

School System
Counselor
Students/Parents
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What School Counseling Programs Teach
? Academic Development
? Career Development
? Personal/Social Development
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Career and Technical Education

• School Counseling/CTE for all students
• Career Management for a lifetime
• 6 Career Fields 16 Career Clusters
• Programs of Study
• Individual Career and Education Plan
• Electronic Portfolios
• Relationship between todays educational
  experiences and future goals and dreams

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Overlapping goals

• State standards/School Counseling/Career and
  Technical Education
• Essential Education
• Nebraska P-16 Initiative
• Results of Nebraska Dept. of Education Public
  Forums The High School Experience

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Results What Utah has found

• Higher rating of educational preparation
• More students in advanced math
• More students in advanced science
• More students in CTE
• ACT scoreshigher in every area of the test

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Results What Missouri has found

• Students reported higher grades
• Rated their education higher
• Reported their school had more positive learning
  climate
• Concluded their school made more career and
  college information available to them

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Important Work

• To provide meaning and purpose to a students
  education!

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If it is not Professional School Counselors doing
this

• Who else is doing it for ALL students?

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Nebraska/ASCA Model reports results of the program

• A planned program has to potential report results
  that may contribute to your school improvement
  plan.
• A random selection of services is unable to
  report results.

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Examples of Student Results

• Following Conflict management program the number
  of suspended students was reduced from 13 to 3
• After classroom lessons pre-post tests indicated
• Student knowledge of goal setting increased from
  10 to 98
• 90 achieved their identified goal
• After interventions with low performing students,
  50 students were taken off the academic probation
  list
• 25 of students in the 6th grade improved their
  GPA
• After adopting career portfolios the number of
  students utilizing the career center had
  increased by 70
• Parent participation in student academic/career
  planning has increased by 93

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Are We There Yet
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Announcements/Resources

• Nebraska Counselor Academy
• July 12, 13, 14, 2004
• University of Nebraska-Kearney
• Resources
• NDE Website www.nde.state.ne.us/cared
• ASCA National ModelA Framework for Comprehensive
  School Counseling Programs www.schoolcounselor.or
  g

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The Good News is

• Nebraska has many dedicated Professional School
  Counselors who want to make a difference.
• Most School Counselors are already delivering the
  segments of a comprehensive school counseling
  program.
• Professional School Counselors are a
  knowledgeable resource ready for your to tap
  into.

ButWe Could Use Your Help
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We Need Administrator Support to

• Develop a partner relationship to be an
  integral part of your schools mission
• Develop an understanding of the role of a school
  counselor in a comprehensive program and help
  share that understanding with faculty, parents
  and community
• Provide time for staff to plan a comprehensive
  program
• Allow for additional professional development
  training to transition to a comprehensive school
  counseling program
• Provide avenues of access to ALL students
• Reduce non-counseling duties when possible