TINICUM’S SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM A Data Summary of Survey Results

How did I organize surveys?  Developed questions based on American School Counselor Association’s National Model  Foundation  Delivery  Management  Accountability  ASCA National Model ASCA National Model  ASCA Standards ASCA Standards  Personal/Social  Academic  Career

Foundation  Beliefs and Philosophy: The philosophy is a set of principles guiding the program development, implementation and evaluation. All personnel involved in managing and implementing the program should reach consensus on each belief or guiding principal contained in the philosophy.  Mission: A mission statement describes the program’s purpose and goals. A school counseling program mission statement aligns with and is a subset of the school and district’s mission.

Delivery System  Guidance Curriculum: The guidance curriculum consists of structured developmental lessons designed to assist students in achieving the desired competencies and to provide all students with the knowledge and skills appropriate for their developmental level. The guidance curriculum is infused throughout the school’s overall curriculum and is presented systematically through K-12 classroom and group activities.  Individual Student Planning: School counselors coordinate ongoing systematic activities designed to assist students individually in establishing personal goals and developing future plans.  Responsive Services: Responsive services, which are the traditional duties of a school counselor, consist of activities meeting individual students’ immediate needs, usually necessitated by life events or situations and conditions in the students’ lives. These needs require counseling, consultation, referral, peer mediation or information.  Systems Support: Like any organized activity, a school counseling program requires administration and management to establish, maintain and enhance the total counseling program.

Management Intertwined with the delivery system is the management system, which incorporates organizational processes and tools to ensure the program is organized, concrete, clearly delineated and reflective of the school’s needs. This is a relatively new concept for administrators and school counselors who traditionally have not viewed school counselors as “managers.”  Management Agreements  Advisory Council  Use of Data  Action Plans  Use of Time  Use of Calendars

Accountability  Results Reports  School Counselor Performance Standards  Program Audit

Who Was Surveyed?  Parents/Guardians  38 Total Respondents through Internet Survey  Faculty/Staff  11 Total Respondents through Internet Survey  Students  Surveyed all students by verbal data collection through Ambassadors

The Survey  Parent/Guardian and Faculty/Staff Surveys were similar questions.  Distributed through a Google Docs survey format which collects data anonymously and generates graphs and statistics.  Survey was broken down into two sections.  Questions focusing on specific services delivered.  Questions focusing on the umbrella program.

Services  Small Groups: Typically consists of 3-6 students and are organized based on need. Provides a format for students to help one another with common issues (social, academic, divorce, grief) and also provides a feeling of belonging. I truly believe that every student can and should benefit from this service at least once in their academic career. Groups can be anywhere from 3-10 weeks. I try to organize my group with unit lesson plans which also include pre and post evaluations to measure progress.  Guidance Lessons: A format to address an entire classroom on a specific need in order to help students develop the necessary skills to become competent in their personal, social, academic and career development.  Individual: Meeting with a student one on one to provide extra support in personal, social or academic areas. Meetings should be brief and solution focused. This is not considered therapy. Some meetings may be ongoing over a few weeks, other meetings may be over one or two occassions.  Lunch Bunch: This is a setting that is less structured than small groups; curriculum is not used. It provides an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging and work on social skills.

Small Groups Parent ResultsStaff Results 39% Extremely Beneficial 26% Beneficial 18% Neutral 8% Not Quite Beneficial 8% Not at all Beneficial 82% Very Important 18% Important

Classroom Guidance Lessons Parent ResultsStaff Results 66% Extremely Beneficial 26% Beneficial 5% Neutral 3% Not at all Beneficial 18% Very Important 55% Important 18% Neutral 9% Not quite Important

Career Education Parent ResultsStaff Results 18% Important 45% Neutral 36% Not quite important 50% Extremely Beneficial 16% Beneficial 18% Neutral 16% Not quite Beneficial Transition Services for 5 th graders was varied. A classroom guidance lesson at the end of the year may be a succinct way to address this need.

Second Step Parent ResultsStaff Results 47% Extremely Beneficial 13% Beneficial 26% Neutral 13% Not quite Beneficial 9% Very Important 27% Important 18% Neutral 45% Not quite important

Lunch Bunches Parent ResultsStaff Results 53% Extremely Beneficial 24% Beneficial 21% Neutral 3% Not quite Beneficial 27% Very Important 27% Important 45% Neutral

Conclusion of Service Delivery  Small Groups:  Continue to develop them through assessments from teachers and maybe students also  Possibly consider keeping them shorter (4 weeks) so that more can be organized throughout the year  Classroom Guidance:  Provide them on an as needed basis in each classroom  Possibly set up quarterly lessons  Career Education:  Career Day  Provided through Classroom Guidance  Provide only to 4 th and 5 th grade  Second Step:  Embraced by the district so it needs to be provided  Evaluations to determine effectiveness  Lunch Bunches:  Currently they are organized by request or by need from my assessment  Should they be more organized?  Groups assigned for a day in 6 day cycle for marking periods?

An evaluation of the School Counseling Program Caring Children Making Caring Choices

School Counseling Program  Developed questions to assess needs that can be addressed through a school wide counseling program, which is currently called Caring Children Making Caring Choices or CCMCC  Understanding these needs will help guide our school wide program into the direction we need.  Note: these needs can also be addressed through direct services (small groups, individual, classroom guidance, etc.)

Character Education  Caring 58%  Trust 45%  Citizenship 63%  Respect 84%  Responsibility 76%  Honesty 66%  Fairness 61%  Compassion 66%  Empathy 68%  Caring 55%  Trust 55%  Citizenship 55%  Respect 91%  Responsibility 91%  Honesty 64%  Fairness 55%  Compassion 82%  Empathy 100% Parent ResultsStaff Results

Is Bullying a Problem? Parent ResultsStaff Results 13% Significant Problem 26% A problem 39% Neutral 18% Not quite a problem 3% Not at all a problem 18% A problem 45% Neutral 36% Not quite a problem

What Type of Bullying is the Biggest Problem? Cyber 5% Relational 45% Physical 32% Verbal 74% Cyber 0% Relational 100% Physical 45% Verbal 64% Parent ResultsStaff Results

Student Tolerance Their Student’s Tolerance All Students’ Tolerance Parent ResultsStaff Results

What are your feelings about the current program: Caring Children Making Caring Choices Parent ResultsStaff Results 45% Strongly Agree 24% Agree 13% Neutral 3% Disagree 3% Strongly Disagree 9% Strongly Agree 36% Agree 36% Neutral 18% Disagree

Giving Back to the Community Parent ResultsStaff Results 74% Extremely Important 24% Important 3% Neutral 73% Extremely Important 18% Important 9% Neutral

What do you hope to see develop in the guidance department? (Parents)  Programs that address relevant issues  Peer group counseling  Classroom interaction about social topics  Guide students toward their passion/career  Let children with good habits be good examples for the kids with bad habits  Being available to students for any concerns – social, personal, academic or otherwise  Addressing/disciplining multiple offenders for bullying  Notifying parents of child’s office visit  How bullying is addressed  Social Skills programming through lunch bunches, social stories, etc.  Building empathy  Educational guidance – i.e. study skills  Address self-esteem, combined families, grief  Accountability for actions

What is one thing you’d like to see stay the same in the guidance department? ( Parents)  Continue the caring philosophy/culture  Continue Character Education  Allowing the children to have a voice and be involved in decisions  Communication between parent, child, school  The comfort and approachability  Community involvement  Concept of CCMCC but it should be “revamped” – even a new name  Keep Senior Dinner  Being a support person and an ally for parents and children  Open door policy  Keep CCMCC

Please explain what part of CCMCC you’d like to see continue. (Staff)  The Tinicum Pledge and giving back to the community  Student’s decisions and directions in community service and other parts of the program  Raising money for outside organizations

Explain what you hope to see develop in the guidance department. (Staff)  Addressing specific student needs  Meeting with students who have issues and need guidance  Small groups  Students being rewarded for good behavior  Reminders about meetings  Working with kids and families  Staff building activities  More support/training for teachers to deal with problem students and students with significant needs

What is one thing you’d like to see stay the same in the guidance department. (Staff)  Open door policy and support for staff  Available to students, parents and teachers for support and advice  Confidentiality  Tinicum Pledge  CCMCC dinner and car wash

Most Importantly, What do the students think?

Where Do We Go From Here?  Delivery of service (Personal/Social, Academic & Career Development) :  Individual  Small Groups  Classroom Guidance  Lunch Bunch  School Counseling Program  Should it still be called CCMCC?  The philosophy should stay  Giving back to the community  Bullying Prevention  Character Education: Traits agreed upon through survey are compassion respect responsibility honesty empathy  Positive Behavior

Tinicum Is… CARING learning FAMILY unique homelike close-knit blessing academic amazing great happy supportive AWESOME creative united fun friendly welcoming busy