Understanding the ASCA National Model for School Counseling: Increasing Student Achievement and Counselor Accountabilit

1. Understanding the ASCA National Model for School Counseling: Increasing Student Achievement and Counselor Accountability Presented By: Linda Kopec Elizabeth Younce

2. OVERVIEW The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) collaborated to create a National Model for School Counseling Programs to connect school counseling with the current educational reform movements that emphasize student achievement and success.

3. RATIONALE By aligning a school counseling program with the school/district mission and school improvement plan, school counselors: • ….Partner as leaders in systemic change • ….Ensure equity and access • ….Promote academic, personal/social and career development for every student.

4. Goals of School Counseling Program • The ultimate goal of the school counseling program is to support the school’s academic mission. • Ensuring academic achievement for every student includes counselor initiated activities designed to meet the needs of under-served, under-performing and under-represented populations.

5. People have wondered…. WHAT DO SCHOOL COUNSELORS DO?

6. Historical Problems in School Counseling Programs • Lack of consistent identity • Limited or no involvement in reform movements • Variation in roles from state to state and site to site • Non-school counselor responsibilities

7. The ASCA National Model What is a school counseling program? • Prevention education • Developmental in nature • A collaborative effort • Driven by data • Integrated into the Total Educational Program • Academics, Career, Personal/Social Development

8. Data Driven • What are some of your current data sources?

9. The old question was… • What do counselors do? • The new question is…. • “HOW ARE STUDENTS DIFFERENT AS A RESULT OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM?”

10. From Entitlement…To Performance From a Program that: • Focuses generally on the number of activities • Measures the amount of effort • Attends to the process of doing work • Works to maintain the existing system

11. From Entitlement…To Performance To A Program That: • Focuses on outcomes and improved results • Measures impact related to goals • Attends to goals, objectives, and outcomes • Changes and adapts to be more responsive

12. From Entitlement…To Performance From counselors who: • Focus on good intentions • Talk about how hard they work • Generally feel little need to change their behavior or approach

13. From Entitlement…To Performance To Counselors Who: • Focus on accomplishments • Talk about effectiveness • Know their future rests on accomplishments • Communicate goals and objectives

14. Implications • What is the purpose of the school counseling program? • What are the desired outcomes or results? • What is being done to achieve those results? • What evidence is there that the objectives have been met? • Is the program making a difference?

15. School Counseling Programs Are About: • Counseling • Leadership • Assessment • Technology • Managing Resources • Teaming • Collaboration • Data-Driven Decisions • Advocacy

16. School Counseling Programs Are About: • RESULTS! • HOW ARE STUDENTS DIFFERENT AS A RESULT OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM?

17. Comprehensive School Counseling A Comprehensive School Counseling program includes: • Program Planning • Individual and Group Counseling • Consulting (students, parents, teachers, agencies) • Coordinating Services • Student Appraisal • Professional Development

19. The ASCA National Model Addresses the Comprehensive School Program: • FOUNDATION • DELIVERY SYSTEM • MANAGEMENT SYSTEM • ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM • IMPLEMENTATION

20. Themes Throughout the Model • ADVOCACY • LEADERSHIP • COLLABORATION • SYSTEMIC CHANGE

21. FOUNDATION • Beliefs and Philosophy • Mission • ASCA National Standards and Competencies • Domains: Academic Development Career Development Personal/Social Development

22. Beliefs and Philosophy • We “agree statements • Guide the program development, implementation and evaluation • Require consensus from all personnel involved in the program

23. Mission Statement • Describes the program’s purpose • Provides a vision of what every student should achieve • Aligned with the school and district mission statements

24. Standards from the National Model • Standard 1: Program organization • Standard 2: School guidance curriculum delivered to all students • Standard 3: Individual student planning • Standard 4: Responsive Services • Standard 5: Systems support • Standard 6: School counselor and administrator agreement

25. Standards from the National Model, continued • Standard 7: Advisory Council • Standard 8: Use of data • Standard 9: Student monitoring • Standard 10: Use of time and calendar • Standard 11: Results evaluation • Standard 12: Program Audit • Standard 13: Be a student advocate, leader, collaborator and systems change agent

26. Delivery System • School Guidance Curriculum • Individual Student Planning • Responsive Services • System Support

27. Guidance Curriculum • Structured lessons delivered to all students • Related to standards and competencies • Integrated with academic curriculum • Use data to develop lessons • Environmental issues • Discipline records • Student records • Standardized test scores

28. Individual Student Planning • Ongoing systemic activities • Designed to assist students in establishing personal goals • Designed to assist students in developing future plans • Helps students get from point A to point B

29. Counselor Planned and Directed • Test score review, interpretation and analysis • Promotion and retention information • Career decision making • Yearly course selection • Test taking strategies

30. Responsive Services • Designed to meet students’ immediate needs • Individual, group and crisis counseling • Consultation, referral, mediation and information • Available to all students and parents

31. System Support • Program management activities that establish, maintain, and enhance the program • Professional development activities • Consultation, collaboration and teaming

32. Management System • Agreements • Advisory Council • Use of Time • Calendars • Action Plans • Guidance Curriculum • Closing the Gap • Use of Data • Monitoring Student Progress • Closing the Gap

33. Agreements • To ensure effective implementation of the program • Based on delivery systems and needs • Negotiated every year

34. Advisory Council • Group appointed to review the guidance program • Counselor, administrator, teachers, parents, students, community members

35. Use of Time Elementary Guidance Curriculum – 35 – 45% Individual Planning – 5 – 10% Responsive Services – 30 – 40% System Support – 10 – 15%

36. Use of Time Middle School Guidance Curriculum – 25 – 35% Individual Planning – 15 – 25% Responsive Services – 30 – 40% System Support – 10 -15%

37. Use of Time High School: Guidance Curriculum – 15 -25% Individual Planning – 25 – 35% Responsive Services – 25 – 35% System Support – 15 – 20%

38. Calendars • Master Calendar • Weekly Calendar • Published • Ensures planned activities are completed • PR Tool

39. Action Plans • Domain, standard and competency • Description of activity • Curriculum and materials to be used • Time Allotment • Person(s) responsible • Evaluation of student success • Expected result

40. Action Plan Reflections • Are your objectives measurable? • Can you use data elements that are already being collected? • Will the plan lead to results data? • How will you measure? • Pre/post tests • Comparison to baseline data

41. Use of Data Student Monitoring – collection, analysis and interpretation of data to ensure all students achieve academic success Closing the Gap – Use of disaggregated data which discerns the discrepancies between the desired results and the results currently being achieved

42. How do Counselors Fit IntoNO CHILD LEFT BEHIND? What can school counselors do to promote AYP, Closing the Gap, School Safety, etc.? • Study skills and test-taking skills groups for low-performing students • Conflict Resolution Training • Counseling students with suspension and absenteeism issues • Staff training on behavior management and school climate

43. Academic Results Interventions (Grades 6 – 8) After Academic Counseling Groups: • 37% of 6th Graders (64) • 24% of 7th Graders (47) • 72% of 8th Graders (46) • Demonstrated GPA Improvement

44. Freshmen Promotion • Incoming 9th grade students who had one or more D or F in the 8th grade were placed in a mentoring program with upperclassmen. 95% of participating students were promoted to the 10th grade, versus 80% of those outside of the program

45. Academic Goal Setting • After classroom guidance lessons pre-post tests indicated… • Student knowledge of goal setting increased from 10% to 90% • 90% achieved their identified goal

46. ACCOUNTABILITY • Results Reports • School counselor performance evaluations • Program Audit

47. Results Reports Data: Process Perception Results Over Time: Immediate, Intermediate, Long Range

48. Results Reports – Impact over Time 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

49. Career Development (over 3 years) • Scholarship dollars for students increased from $750,000 to $825,000 • Parent attendance increased from 150 – 500 at guidance sponsored events • Number of students visiting the career center increased from 30 to 200 daily • Graduation rates increased from 84 – 89%

50. What does an Audit tell us? • Major strengths of the program • Areas that need to be strengthened • Categorizes the rate of progress of each criteria • Helps to determine short and long range goals for improvement