Advocating for Your School Counseling Program CSCA Annual Conference March 18, 2016 Jennifer Parzych, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University Rachelle Pérusse, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Connecticut Kathleen Scully, School Counselor, Highland Elementary School, Cheshire

“Advocacy refers to the process or act of pleading for a cause or a proposal” - Courtland Lee (1998)

School Counseling Program Advocacy: Core Issues Professional Identity Public’s Image and Access to Counseling and Counselors Collaboration and Coalition: Inter-professional and Intra-professional Collaboration Professional Pride Accountability Reference: Meyers, J., Sweeney, T. J., & White, V. (2002). Advocacy for counselors and counseling: A professional imperative. Journal of Counseling Development, 80, 394 – 402.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

The Debate (& Confusion) Continues… “G-Word” Counselor?School Counselor?  “How are students different BECAUSE of our school counseling program?”  “How has student achievement increased AS A RESULT of what school counselors do?”

PUBLIC’S IMAGE AND ACCESS TO COUNSELING AND COUNSELORS

Through our silence, we let others define us… Parents Administrators Boards of Education Community Members Staff Teachers School Social Workers/ School Psychologists/ School Counselors… can all do the same thing, right? Students

What’s The Problem? - Access to School Counseling K – 12 ? ? ? More common, Positions Cut National = 471:1 States in North Atlantic Region… CT = 519:1 DE = 461:1 DC = 274:1 ME = 329:1 MD = 357:1 MA = 441:1 NH = 236:1 NJ = 359:1 NY = 392:1 PA = 377:1 RI = 374:1 VT = 235:1 Student: School Counselor Ratios Latest data published by ASCA, 2011

HOW DO WE GET THE MESSAGE OUT?

COLLABORATION AND COALITION: INTER-PROFESSIONAL AND INTRA- PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION

Collaboration Inter-Professional Relations “Between” Administration Teachers School-Based Mental Health Community Mental Health Intra-Professional Relations “Within” School Counseling in District State School Counselor Associations American School Counselor Association

PROFESSIONAL PRIDE

Our Goals in Connecticut Lobbying efforts – need a voice with the legislation Revising the CT Comprehensive School Counseling Model Building relationships – working toward a common goal with building administrators

The Principal- Counselor Toolkit Review the Toolkit from NOSCA sca/media/asca/home/Toolkit.pdf Go to NOSCA website to download the exercise worksheets from the Toolkit… search-policies/principal- counselor-toolkit

ACCOUNTABILITY

Perception vs. Reality How do you KNOW you’re making a difference? How do you SHOW you’re making a difference?

To monitor student progress and close the achievement gap; To assess and evaluate programs; To demonstrate school counseling program effectiveness. Accountability strategies have three purposes: Stone & Dahir, 2012

The old question was… “What do school counselors do?” The new question is… “How are students better off because of what school counselors do?”

Data can be collected for activities including: – Classroom guidance – Group Counseling – Needs Assessment Demonstrating School Counselor Effectiveness

Process data – How did the activity go? – How well did the school counselor present the information? Content data – What did students learn? Effectiveness data – Did it make a difference? (Pérusse, 2006, 2010, 2014) Types of Data

“Satisfaction Survey” How well did the activity go? How well did the school counselor present the information? What could the school counselor do differently next time? Complete only a post-test 21 Process Data

Based on the “Objectives” of the intervention (Whole School Systemic, Classroom, Group, Individual) “Students will be able to…” Measures what the students learned during the intervention – What did the students know before the intervention? – What did the students learn during the intervention? Based on the ASCA National Standards/Model or state Standards/Model Complete a Pre and Post Test 22 Content Data

Did the intervention make a difference? SMART Goals How did the intervention effect: – Academic Achievement? School climate? Student attitudes? Grades? Attendance? How did the students feel about certain issues before an intervention? Complete a Pre and Post Test 23 Effectiveness Data

Did it make a difference? Grades Standardized Test Scores High School Graduation Rates Retentions Enrollment In Honors, AP, College Level Courses Enrollment In General, Remedial Courses Special Education Screening & Placement Postsecondary enrollment GPA Class Rank

Did it make a difference? cont… Free/Reduced Lunch Students Gender Ethnicity Socio-Economic Status Participation in Support Services e.g. Tutoring, Mentoring Attendance Mobility Discipline referrals English as a Second Language Family Configurations

A Word About Data Projects Your data projects could be improved by having your school’s data disaggregated by these demographics: – African American – Asian – Latino – Native American – White – GLBTQ – Income Level – Students with Disabilities – English Language Learners

Examples of Data to Examine Test Scores  Achievement  State  National Enrollment  Honors/AP Classes  College Track  Special Education  LEP Graduation Rate  By Gender  By Ethnicity  By SES Attendance  Absences  Tardys  By Grade Level Discipline  By Classroom  Types of Problems  Gender GPA/Class Rank  By Gender  By Ethnicity  By SES Retention Rates  By Subject Area  By Grade Level  By Gender, Ethnicity  Post Secondary Plans Special Education  By Gender  By Ethnicity  By SES Dropout Rate  Grade Levels  Gender, Ethnicity…  Reasons Why

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

Academic Results Interventions (6-8) After Academic Counseling Groups: 37% of 6 th graders (64) 24% of 7 th graders (47) 72% of 8 th graders (46) Demonstrated GPA improvement

Academic Results Interventions (6-8) Students on retention list: 6th th th Students who came off retention list: 6th th th students avoided retention Pre: Post:

Career Development Canyon 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%

Personal/Social Results Conflict 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.

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 Personal/Social Results Conflict Resolution (6-8)

Program Evaluation  What you DO do… – Our program strengths – Services provided; numbers of students reached – Evidence of results achieved  What you COULD do… – How the program could be improved, enhanced, or expanded with additional school counselors? – What additional student, school, or district needs could be addressed with additional school counselors? – How would ratios be impacted with additional school counselors?

People make decisions based on what they value and what they know. Are you telling them what they need to know to make the best decisions for kids?

In what (local) ways can you advocate for your school counseling program?  Communications: Website Newsletter Blogs Twitter Facebook  Presentations: Open House Staff meetings BOE meetings PTO meetings  Events: Invite parents/community members to participate in career fairs, mock interviews, etc.

LEARN TO PRESENT RESULTS TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION

Creating an Effective Results Presentation Use bar, line, and pie charts – For a video tutorial on creating graphs and charts, check out this 11 minute youtube video: Look for trends across different data elements Use individual stories about students to personalize the data Do NOT use names or provide enough information that others can figure out specific students or teachers

Share the Results As appropriate, share with: – Principals – Superintendent – School board – Parents – Students – Community

SAMPLE BOE PRESENTATION

SHADTOWN HIGH SCHOOL students today, leaders tomorrow! Supporting Latino and African- American Students in Advanced Placement Courses By: Shad St. Louis Welcome to

Only 29 students out 900 Latino and African American students registered in AP classes. Many Latino and African-American students had a lack of exposure to AP Courses. The percentage of students identifying as Latino and African- American is 73% (majority African-American) 27% of student body identifies as white or Caucasian- 80% of this population are enrolled in AP classes. Lack of Latino and African- American Students in AP classes

SHADTOWN- Population Overview Students enrolled: 1,239 Students enrolled in AP Courses

The 4 Step Approach  First step- Collaboration process, a think tank group of three professional school counselors, one psychologist and one social worker was created.  The group designed an eight-week success skills course, and partnered with teachers, administrators and school counselors to administer it.  The second step involved the selection process of students who were more likely to succeed in AP courses.

 Third step was to hold a general information session to educate students on the process of enrolling in AP courses, and what course tracks look like.  The fourth and final step- delivery of services, provided students with a number of services that were already available within our school counseling comprehensive program. The 4 Step Approach- cont.

Initial Finding  During the first year ( ) of this program, 16 of 19 students effectively completed 25 AP examinations.

Initial Finding- (cont.)  During the school year, we selected 40 Latino and African-American students.

For the third year ( ), 50 Latino and African-American students were involved. Initial Finding- (cont.)

 students participated out of 900 Latino and African-American students in our high school. Initial Finding- (cont.)

SHADTOWN HIGH SCHOOL Students today, leaders tomorrow! We are reducing the academic achievement gap one student at a time. Supporting Latino and African- American Students in Advanced Placement Courses And always

HELPFUL TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE POWERPOINTS FOR BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTATION…

Strongly encourage using no more than 10 slides You will have a limited amount of time to be in front of any board of education; plan to use 10 minutes to share slideshow and 5 – 10 minutes for any questions they may have.

Suggested format: Introduce self/title slide (1 slide) Identify problem(s) noted in school-wide data (~ 2 slides) Briefly describe intervention(s) implemented (1 – 2 slides) Share results – Evidence of effectiveness! (2 – 4 slides) how did results vary over time? What modifications did you make based on your results? Use graphs or charts to visually display results Concluding slide/thank you (1 slide)

For a video tutorial on creating graphs and charts, check out this 11 minute youtube video:

“Do One Thing” (examples… but not limited to) Contact your representatives Join/stay connected with CSCA & ASCA Relationship with administration, parents Presentation for faculty, board of education Open House Parent/teacher conferences Data collection and program evaluation