School Counselors: Partners in Student Achievement

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School CounselorsPartners in Student Achievement

• Building Comprehensive School Counseling
  Programs
• Session 1

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Overview

• The
• American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
• has collaborated to create a
• National Model for School Counseling Programs
• to connect school counseling with
• current educational reform movements
• that emphasize student achievement and success.

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Some History How we got here

• March 2001, ASCA Governing Board passed a motion
  to develop a National Model
• June 2001, Summit I met in Tucson, AZ
• Nov./Dec. 2001, reviewed by school counselors and
  Summit participants
• May 2002, Summit II held, in Washington, DC
• June 2002, Release of ASCA Model at conference

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Rationale

• By aligning a counseling program with the
  schools mission and school improvement plan,
  professional school counselors

• partner as leaders in systemic change
• ensure equity and access
• promote academic, career and personal/ social
  development for every student

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Objectives

• This session reviews the four main components
• 1) Foundation
• 2) Delivery System
• 3) Management System
• 4) Accountability

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• We need to be the change
• we want to see happen.
• We are the leaders
• we have been waiting for.
• Gandhi

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• People have wondered
•   
•  
•  

What do school counselors DO?
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Historical Problems in School Counseling Programs

• Lack of legitimization
• Lack of consistent identity
• Limited or no involvement in reform movements
• Variation in roles from state to state and site
  to site
• Non-school counselor responsibilities

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Historical Problems in School Counseling Programs

• Lack of legitimization
• Lack of consistent identity
• Limited or no involvement in reform movements
• Variation in roles from state to state and site
  to site
• Non-school counselor responsibilities

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Varied and Conflicting Approaches

• Vocational counselors vs. Mental Health
  counselors
• Directive vs. Non-directive
• Individualized services vs. Comprehensive program
• Pre-service training varies as do administrative
  expectations

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Attempts to Unify the Profession

• Gysbers Hendersons comprehensive programs
• Johnson Johnson's results-based guidance
• Myricks planned developmental guidance

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Historical Problems Have Continued

• Lack of basic philosophy
• Poor integration
• Insufficient student access
• Inadequate guidance for some students
• Lack of counselor accountability
• Failure to utilize other resources
• Source From Gatekeeper to Advocate. Transforming
  the Role of the School Counselor, Hart, P.J. M.
  Jacobi (1992)

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When schools fail to clearly define the
counselors role...
School administrators, parents with special
interests, teachers or others may feel their
agenda ought to be the school counseling
programs priority. The results often lead to
confusion and criticisms when they are
disappointed.(Carolyn Maddy Bernstein, 1995)
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Trends in Education

• Education reform movement
• Accountability
• Standards-based movement
• High-stakes testing
• Achievement gap equity and access
• Block grants
• Emphasis on improving school safety
• Vouchers
• Performance, not entitlement

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Current School Counseling Trends

• ASCAs National Standards for School Counseling
  Programs
• Transforming School Counseling Initiative
  (Education Trust Dewitt Wallace)
• Increased number of state models
• Results-based school counseling
• Legislation for school counseling programs
• ASCAs National Model

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When you cant change the direction of the wind,
adjust your sails.
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The old question was
What do counselors do?
The new question is
How are students different because of the school
counseling program?
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From Entitlement to Performance

• From a program that
• Focuses generally on the number of activities
• Measures the amount of effort
• Attends to the process of doing work
• Works to maintain the existing system

• To a program that
• Focuses on outcomes and improved results
• Measures impact related to goals
• Attends to goals, objectives, and outcomes
• Changes and adapts to be more responsive

Source McGowen, P. Miller, J., Changing the
Entitlement Culture, The American School Board
Journal, August 1999, p.43
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From Entitlement to Performance

• From counselors who
• Focus on good intentions
• Talk about how hard they work
• Generally feel little need to change their
  behavior or approach

• To counselors who
• Focus on accomplishments
• Talk about effectiveness
• Know their future rests on accomplishments
• Communicate goals and objective

Source McGowen, P. Miller, J., Changing the
Entitlement Culture, The American School Board
Journal, August 1999, p.43
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Implications

• What is the purpose of the school counseling
  program?
• What are the desired outcomes or results?
• What is being done to achieve results?
• What evidence is there that the objectives have
  been met?
• Is the program making a difference?

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School Counseling Programs Are About

• Counseling Managing Resources
• Leadership Teaming
• Assessment Collaboration
• Technology Data-Driven Decisions
• Advocacy

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School Counseling Programs Are About
RESULTS.
How are students different as a result of the
school counseling program?
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We Exist To Effect Change In StudentsAcquire
Improve

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Positive Attitude

• Attendance
• Behavior
• Academic Achievement

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Paradigm Shift

• From
• To

Not only monitoring process and measuring
services delivered
Focusing also on and measuring the results of our
programs and services
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• The time for change is

now
The way we do business must change fundamentally
and immediately.
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ASCA National Model
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• Advocacy
• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Systemic Change

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Foundation

• Beliefs and Philosophy
• Mission
• Domains
• Academic Development
• Career Development
• Personal/Social Development
• ASCA National Standards and Competencies

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Delivery System

• School Guidance Curriculum
• Individual Student Planning
• Responsive Services
• System Support

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Management System

• Agreements
• Advisory Council
• Use of Data
• Monitoring Student Progress
• Closing the Gap
• Action Plans
• Guidance Curriculum
• Closing the Gap
• Use of Time
• Calendars

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Management System

• Management Agreements
• Advisory Council
• Use of Data
• Monitoring Student Progress
• Closing the Gap
• Action Plans
• Guidance Curriculum
• Closing the Gap
• Use of Time
• Calendars

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Accountability

• Results Reports
• Impact Over Time
• School Counselor Performance Evaluation
• The Program Audit

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Academic Development

• Guidance Curriculum (HS)
• Developing Academic 4/6 year Plans
• Promotion/Retention Criteria
• Organization, Study and Testing Taking Skills
• Registration, College and High School Graduation
  Requirements
• Post High School Options
• Transition into the Real World

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Academic Results Goal Setting (K-5)

• After classroom guidance lessons pre-post
  tests indicated
• student knowledge of goal setting increased from
  10 to 98
• 90 achieved their identified goal

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Personal/Social ResultsConflict Resolution
(K-5)

• Number of students who could
• peacefully resolve a conflict increased
• from 55 to 88
• Following implementation of a Conflict Manager
  program the number of suspended students was
  reduced from 13 in 97/98 to 3 in 01/02.

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Academic Results Interventions (6-8)

• After Academic Counseling Groups
• 37 of 6th graders (64)
• 24 of 7th graders (47)
• 72 of 8th graders (46)
• Demonstrated GPA improvement

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Academic Results Interventions (6-8)
Pre Post

• Students on retention list
• 6th - 81
• 7th - 73
• 8th - 103

• Students who came off retention list
• 6th - 27
• 7th - 22
• 8th - 23

72 students avoided retention
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Personal/Social ResultsConflict Resolution (6-8)

• At one site the number of students resolving
  conflicts with the help of peer mediators
  increased from 0 to 346
• At another site, the number who took advantage of
  peer mediation increased from 47 to 149

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Career DevelopmentCanyon Springs High School

• In the last three years the number of students
  visiting the career center has increased from
  30 to over 200 students per day.
• Parent attendance at evening guidance events has
  increased from 150 to 500 parents
• Scholarship dollars for students increased from
  750,000 to 825, 000
• Finally, graduation rates have improved from
• 84 to 89

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Next Steps

• ASCA Rollout of National Model at the Miami
  Conference with a panel of national experts
• Multiple training sessions held
• Draft copy available to everyone
• Comments and suggestions welcomed
• Final edition available early 2003

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• All this will not be finished in the first one
  hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the
  first thousand days, nor in the life of this
  administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime
  on this planet.
•  John F. Kennedy

But let us begin.
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Questions? Comments?