EASY ACCOUNTABILITY : Simple Solutions to Return COUNSELING to the Guidance Department Beth Graney LPC Tori Stone M.Ed School Counselor

We Are Crazy Busy Already!! And now we are supposed to find some spare time to document our every move in order to prove that we should get to do the job we were trained to do???

Counselors Wear Many Hats Counseling Students Parent Conferences Groups Classroom Guidance Mediation Parent Programs Child Study Scheduling Testing Team Meetings Administrative Meetings Master Scheduling Central Office Meetings Staff development Professional Organizations Community consultations

Is Accountability Just One More Task? It isn’t the number of students you have, it is the number of tasks put upon you Documentation provides data that can be used to reduce the total number of tasks assigned to guidance. Less tasks equal more time for student needs Think in terms of PR

Starting Simply At the beginning of the year, create a timeline or calendar and a goal statement for each grade level and the department. The calendar can be used from year to year as a reminder of annual tasks Goal statements direct the focus of the department and can be used for outcome assessment. Create a Counseling Portfolio Save both a hard copy and a disc of everything each counselor completes throughout the school year and continually add them to the portfolio.

Getting Going When presenting classroom guidance, parent programs, small groups etc. distribute a pre/post test Pre/post testing can be used to improve the quality of presentations and the data gathered can be used for accountability purposes Pre/post tests do not have to be fancy Three or four questions can provide valuable information

GRIP IT! Present your program Goals, Impact Statements, Results and Implications in a GRIP GRIPS are: One page Easy to create Easy to read Very Powerful

Presenting Your Portfolio At the end of the year present your portfolio and GRIPS chronicling the annual accomplishments of the school counseling department to your administration Think of this packet as the ‘Counseling Department Productivity Report’ Within the report make projections for the following year This is the time to negotiate the responsibilities that will be assigned to the guidance department in the next year

Suddenly, You’re Accountable! The numbers don’t have to be complicated, if each counselor keeps a tally of the students they see in a year, that information can be presented in the report GRIP it! Pre/post data can be analyzed, but testimonial data from the assessments will work as well (i.e.. Parent X noted that the counseling department’s presentation on bullying helped them to open a dialogue with their child which was very helpful) Include this information in your GRIPs or ask parents you have helped to write testimonials.

Benefits of Accountability Counseling materials are centrally organized Attrition does not mean loss of programmatic information Portfolios can be added to or edited for use in future years. Portfolios serve as a great reminder of past accomplishments and creativity

Benefits of Accountability GRIPs can be used by central office personal to gage the efficiency of the division wide counseling program Accountability information can be very helpful in crisis situations when the guidance department comes under scrutiny Accountably can help counselors advocate for a reduction in non counseling duties, additional staff and funding