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School Counselors Affect Student Achievement

School Counselors Affect Student Achievement. Principal – Counselor Relationship: Key to Student Achievement . Linda Brannan K-12 Student Support Services Consultant NC Department of Public Instruction. School Counselors Affect Student Achievement.

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School Counselors Affect Student Achievement

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  1. School Counselors Affect Student Achievement Principal – Counselor Relationship: Key to Student Achievement Linda Brannan K-12 Student Support Services Consultant NC Department of Public Instruction

  2. School Counselors Affect Student Achievement “Professional school counselors serve a vital role in maximizing student achievement. By incorporating leadership, advocacy and collaboration, professional school counselors promote equity and access to opportunities and rigorous educational experiences for all students” (ASCA, 2003).

  3. Thinking Outside the “Counselor Box” • Advocacy: Being a voice for ALL students/equity for each student • Leadership: Stepping up in support of the academic mission; facilitative leader • Systemic Change: Creating a responsive system for all students and stakeholders/not done in isolation but with collaboration

  4. The Key Question? How are Students Different as a Result of the school counseling program?

  5. Principal-Counselor Relationship Making Connections: Key to Unlocking Student Achievement!

  6. Tired of Doing Business the Same Old Way! • Duplication of efforts with students • While it is all good, it is possible to lighten the load with collaboration with the principal and administrative team. • Confusing roles • Students • Parents • Teachers • Us • Accountability – Everyone’s concern (breathing down your neck) • Time ~ never enough

  7. What do Roles Have in Common? BOTH Want … Students to Learn, Achieve & Graduate Career & College Ready!

  8. Principal-Counselor Relationship ~A Relationship that Makes a Difference • Communication • Formal and Informal • Collaboration • Scheduled Meetings (Weekly & Monthly) • Respect for each other and roles • Share the job; learn to respect • Shared Vision • Taking the time to talk, listen, and plan together College Board Survey 2009

  9. What we know for sure! Principals and Counselors are: Responsible for students progressing towards graduation with 21st century skills who are “career and college ready” by addressing: • Attendance issues • Academic issues • Behavioral issues

  10. Using MEASURE A Six-Step Accountability Process • Step One: Mission • Step Two: Element/Problem • Step Three: Analyze Data • Step Four: Stakeholders Unite • Step Five: Results • Step Six: Educate [Stone, C. B, & Dahir, C. A. (2007). School Counselor Accountability: A MEASURE of Student Success. 2nd edition.]

  11. MEASURE • Mission: connect the comprehensive K-12 school counseling program to the mission of the school and to the goals of the annual school improvement plan • Academic rigor & Student achievement: the heart of every school’s SIP

  12. MEASURE • Elements: identify the critical data elements that are important to the internal and external stakeholders • Attendance • Behavior/Discipline • Academic Achievement

  13. MEASURE • Analyze: discuss carefully which elements need to be aggregated or disaggregated and why • What is impeding student achievement? • What are the barriers?

  14. MEASURE • Stakeholders - Unite: determine which stakeholders need to be involved in addressing these school-improvement issues and unite to develop strategies

  15. MEASURE • Reanalyze/Reflect/Revise: rethink and refine the strategies, refocus efforts as needed, and reflect on success

  16. MEASURE • Educate/Publicize: show the positive impact the school counseling program has had on student achievement and on the goals of the school improvement plan.

  17. ASCA National Model: Framework for School Counseling Programs

  18. EXAMPLES OF DATA TO EXAMINE NEEDS

  19. Remember: The New Question is…. How are students different as a result of the school counseling program? ************************************************ (Let’s see an example of a school that used this model successfully)

  20. Cary High School Student Population • Academically Gifted: 549 • Free & Reduced Lunch: 781 • LEP: 153 • Students with Disabilities: 299 Total Students: 2283 • Black: 405 • Hispanic: 405 • Asian: 130 • Multi-racial: 116 • American Indian: 15 • White: 1212

  21. Overall Student Performance Composite: 89.9% per EOC data School of Distinction – past 5 years SAT Score Composite Reading/Math – 1089 Reading/Math/Writing – 1588 68% Participation rate Graduates: 90% of graduates attend a four-year or a two-year college 10% joining the military, workforce or other 2010-2011 Cary High Performance Composite

  22. The Cary High School Story • Administration-Counselor Teams • Leadership Team/SIP Team Leaders • School Improvement Teams • Professional Learning Teams • Curriculum Alignment/Common Assessments • Student Achievement including Recovery Program • ASCA National Model – RAMP for Counselors

  23. How We Did it? • Collaboration – agreed upon/jointly created & facilitated strategies to meet needs: • Purposeful scheduling • Increase course rigor • Develop intervention strategies to: • Improve Attendance rate • Improve academic achievement • Improve 9th grade promotion rate & graduation rate • Prevent suspension and dropouts • Respect - even in times of disagreement • Time – diligent about time to collaborate (PLTs, Admin-Counselor Teams, LT, SIP Teams) • Data - reviewed schoolwide data to assess needs to develop a data-driven program

  24. Information Exchange - Vertical and Parallel ~ Improved Communication Admin-Counselor Teams – Management Agreements Leadership Team/SIP Teams/PLT’s – continuous improvement model Collaboration with Teachers, Students, Parents to create supportive relationships Shared Respect & Decision-Making Creating a Community Vision How We Did it?

  25. Goals Closing the Achievement Gap Goals • Increase minority enrollment in honors & Advanced Placement courses • Increase 9th grade Promotion Rate • Increase Average Daily Attendance Rate • New Goal – Suspension/Dropout Prevention

  26. Increasing course rigor for underrepresented students by enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Strategies: Principal-Counselor led initiatives: • AP Potential letters sent to qualified students and parents (based upon PSAT scores) • Small group counseling to targeted students – benefits of enrolling in Honors and AP courses • Facilitated AP/Curriculum Fair for parents to understand expectations, benefits and future opportunities • Collaboration with teachers - Established a task force of counselors and social studies teachers to review performance data & encourage underrepresented students to take more rigorous courses. (10th grade heterogeneously grouped Civics & Econ classes)

  27. Evaluate-What will you measure? Types of Outcome/Results Data

  28. Results/Outcomes:Improving Course Rigor for Minority Students 5% gain in AP Enrollment in 2008-09 11% gain in AP Enrollment in 2009-10 16.9% gain in AP Enrollment in 2010-2011 24% gain in AP Enrollment in 2011-2012 ********************************************************************************* 45%of minority students who enrolled in AP classes were recommended by both the PSAT/AP Potential software and their Teacher = Formula for Success! Data driven & Collaboration – A Plan that Works!

  29. Other Closing the Gap Results • Promotion/Graduation Rate: 94% of first time 9th graders promoted to 10th grade in 2010-2011 (Above 90% in 9th grade for past 4 years) • Attendance: Average Daily Attendance Rate for 2010-2011: Above 90% for allsubgroups • 2011-12 New Goal: Suspension/Dropout Prevention - school-wide collaboration to keep students in school

  30. Challenges • Role changes-staying “true” to profession – confidentiality/collaboration • Understanding & respect of our individual and collective roles • Shared vision for decision making • Time to communicate • Admin-Counselor Teams • Vertically and across disciplines through PLT’s, SIP Teams, Leadership Team

  31. Contact Information & Resources “Enhancing the Principal-School Counselor Relationship: Tool Kit”(College Board) “A Closer Look at the Principal-Counselor Relationship”: A Survey of Principals & Counselors” Collaborative work by College Board, American School Counseling Association (ASCA) & National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Linda Brannan K-12 Student Support Services Consultant NCDPI Linda.brannan@dpi.nc.gov

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