PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR COUNSELORS This Generation of Students Is the Future of Texas!

 Today’s presentation team: ◦ Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD ◦ Martha Gutierrez, P-16 Council Coordinator, RGV LEAD ◦ Georgeann Calzada, Success by Degrees Advisor / Interim RGV Mentors Coordinator, RGV LEAD ◦ Dora Olivarez, Director of Student Recruitment, TSTC Harlingen  Today’s session: ◦ Provide overview of the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Council ◦ Share strategies for providing counselor professional development for the GenTX marketing campaign ◦ Share additional information about the transition- counseling workshop for which a session has been included in the P-16 Institute on October 2

 1992: Regional nonprofit corporation created  : Corporation managed a predecessor P-16 Council through TBEC  2006-Present: Corporation became manager of Lower P-16 Council (agreement with TSTC) ◦ Named a Recognized Council in 2009 ◦ TSTC and corporation are working together on GenTX  2012: Corporation changed its name

Private-Sector–Led Board Academic Leadership Alliance Education & Career EXPO RGV Mentors Rio Grande Valley Counselors’ Network Career Center Projects with EDCs Harlingen Success by Degrees Brownsville Mission Lower Rio Grande P-16 Council P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling TSTC works with corporation through contracts

 MEMBERSHIP: 32 ISDs, 9 public IHEs, individual employers, chambers of commerce, EDCs, workforce boards, family-serving organizations, and individual members  MISSION: Focus on communication and information-sharing to promote collaboration between/among leaders from school districts, colleges, universities, businesses, government, and community organizations  GOAL: Develop a seamless system of education for the four-county region

 Corporation’s role in P-16 Council resembles that of “backbone organization” described in Collective Impact article, Stanford Social Innovation Review*: ◦ Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination. ◦ Coordination takes time, and none of the participating organizations has any to spare. ◦ Backbone organization staff plan, manage, and support the initiative through ongoing facilitation … handling the details needed for the initiative to function smoothly. *John Kania & Mark Kramer. Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 48, Winter

 Co-branding, coordinating, collaborating, communicating across sectors and meeting needs to keep the system moving forward: ◦ 2012 Annual Superintendents’ Meeting with GenTX infused throughout event ◦ P-16 Council meetings (joint with Counselors’ Network) with GenTX messaging and materials infused in multiple ways ◦ Education & Career EXPO 2012 (10th annual) with GenTX figuring prominently in event ◦ Blending GenTX into ALA Educator Externships, RGV Mentors, and projects in communities with EDCs and others

 Created in 1998 to help address counselors’ needs: “The effectiveness of the developmental guidance and counseling program is directly related to the counselor-to- student ratio within the program.” (Texas Education Agency, School Guidance and Counseling – Recommended Ratios)  Regional operation (four counties) ◦ Current Chairs: Larry Barroso, South Texas College, and Valerie Paredes, Harlingen CISD ◦ Immediate Past Chairs: Norma Salazar, Texas State Technical College, and Sandra Rodriguez, Harlingen CISD  Meets jointly with P-16 Council, with GenTX blended into agendas

 September 19: 77 total participants, including: ◦ 32 counselors/counseling administrators from ISDs ◦ 2 Advise Texas Advisors from ISDs ◦ 17 student services representatives from IHEs  Teamed with Upper Rio Grande P-16 Council to provide special presentation about GenTX Day 2012, GenTX Rock Your Future, GenTX Way to Pay, GenTX Day 2013, and GenTX website  Future meeting dates: ◦ November 14 ◦ February 13 ◦ May 8

 ALA created in 2003 by McAllen Economic Development Corporation, Region One Education Service Center, and Tech Prep of the Rio Grande Valley (now RGV LEAD), to strengthen the employer/ educator connection. ◦ Goal (Educator Perspective): Bring relevance into the classroom, creating connections that help students prepare successfully for college and career opportunities ◦ Goal (Employer Perspective): Provide more productive and functional employees for businesses  Incorporated GenTX into inservice training for Educator Externs for ALA 2012: ◦ Messages from the Learn More Earn More page of the GenTX website (Join the Movement:  Don’t stop with high school. Learning more now equals earning more later.  As little as two years of college or career training could be the difference between earning minimum wage and earning $16, $22, or even $34 per hour. That’s up to $70,000!

 RGV Mentors is a network of professionals created to help facilitate success of high school students in the Rio Grande Valley  School-Based Component operates in partnership with school districts, on high school campuses (campus contacts are often counselors)  Community-Based component operates in the community, separately from schools, to maximize success for all participants  Infused GenTX components into RGV Mentors sessions for students in Spring 2012

 Counselors’ Update sessions, begun in 2008 and continuing annually thereafter  2012 Update at The University Center at TSTC in September 2012 (over 100 Counselors participating)  Sessions include presentations by college leaders from instruction and student services; topics such as Event Planning 101; TSTC Web 101; WebAdvisor training; and other topics of interest to counselors

 Need for session identified during P-16 Council discussions  26 ISDs and 5 IHEs spent almost a year working together in the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Early College High School Planning Consortium  Original plan for a brief presentation on one P-16 Council agenda led to a regional event held at UTPA in April 2012  Planning occurred through P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling Leadership Team

 Several planning meetings in which partners from the P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling Leadership Team collaborated—plus: ◦ Other IHE leaders recruited by P-16 Regional Outreach partners (UTPA, STC, TSTC, UTB/TSC) ◦ Partners from Region One Education Service Center ◦ Partners from family-serving organizations ◦ Staff from the P-16 Council and the corporation  Planned together in teams that ultimately became presentation teams  Outcome was a successful event at which all participants acquired new information that will help us help our students

 Of the 184 participants, 105 were counselors  Evaluations were positive: this event met a need for our region  The group is planning now to incorporate transition-counseling strands into regional conference to be held at South Padre Island on December 5-6, 2012

 Can anyone here say that if we can't do it, someone down the road can do it? And if no one does it, what happens to the country?... I know it's a tremendous challenge, but ask yourselves: If not us, who? If not now, when? Ronald Reagan, quoted by RGV LEAD Board Chair, Rene Capistran (President – South Texas Region, SpawGlass Contractors) at Annual Superintendents’ Meeting in September 2012  Questions? Comments?  Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD