Highlights of CDE Status on SB-191

1. Highlights of CDE Status on SB-191 School Counselors

2. General definition of a school counselor: Promoting student academic, personal/social and career development success through individual counseling and delivery of school counseling programs.

3. All the same criteria for guiding decisions still apply but are focused on the unique elements for school counselors: • Data Should Inform Decisions, but Human Judgment Will Always Be an Essential Component of Evaluation • The Implementation and Assessment of the Evaluation System Must Embody Continuous Improvement. • The Purpose of the System is to Provide Meaningful and Credible Feedback That Improves Performance.

4. Criteria, cont. • The Development and Implementation of Specialized Service Professional Evaluation Systems Must Continue to Involve All Stakeholders in a Collaborative Process. • Evaluations Must Take Place within a Larger System That Is Aligned and Supportive.

5. current status of school counseling in Colorado • 1,617 school counselors licensed and practicing in Colorado • Elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools, and in district supervisory counselor education and post-secondary settings • Some work as the only counselor or as part of a team at a single school • Many serve multiple schools and travel within or across districts • SSPs may work in multiple sites for multiple principals within a single district • Others may work in multiple districts through a BOCES or other organizations • The work of the SSP is often much more dispersed than that of a classroom teacher

6. General recommendations • Specialized Service Professionals vs. other licensed personnel • Develop a specialized service professional evaluation system • Focus on student outcomes rather than student academic growth • Professional expert participation be a required part of the evaluation process • Appeals process is still TBD • Specific definition of effective practice for SSPs/counselors

7. General Recommendations, cont. • Quality standards will be adopted specific to each SSP job category • Student Outcomes Standard modification for SSP • SSP staff represented on evaluation committee • Supervisor to be clearly identified and responsible for SSP’s evaluation • Staff Development support

8. Process Will be similar but not identical to teachers and principals Use multiple measures to evaluate all specialized service professionals Professionals with relevant field expertise shall be part of the evaluation process

9. Collect specialized service professional performance data and provide timely feedback using at least one of the following additional other measures: 1. Student perception measures (e.g., surveys), where appropriate and feasible as defined by CDE guidelines; 2. Peer feedback; 3. Feedback from parents or guardians; 4. Review of student support documentation; and/or 5. Any other evidence relevant to the specialized service professional’s assigned duties.

10. Examples of student outcomes (Standard VI) that could be attributed to Counselors Reduction in school absentee rates Increased graduation rates Reduced incidents of bullying • For all measurements multiple, reliable, fair measures must be used.

11. timeline 2012-2013 Develop guidelines, develop rubrics & other tools 2013-2014 Pilot rubrics 2015-2016 Full implemen-tation 2014-2015 State roll out & rubric validation