PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR COUNSELORS

1. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR COUNSELORS This Generation of Students Is the Future of Texas!

2. Overview • Today’s presentation team: • Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD • Martha Gutierrez, P-16 Council Coordinator, RGV LEAD • Georgeann Calzada, Success by Degrees Advisor / Interim RGV Mentors Coordinator, RGV LEAD • Dora Olivarez, Director of Student Recruitment, TSTC Harlingen • Today’s session: • Provide overview of the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Council • Share strategies for providing counselor professional development for the GenTX marketing campaign • Share additional information about the transition-counseling workshop for which a session has been included in the P-16 Institute on October 2

3. P-16 Council History • 1992: Regional nonprofit corporation created • 2004-2005: Corporation managed a predecessor P-16 Council through TBEC • 2006-Present: Corporation became manager of Lower P-16 Council (agreement with TSTC) • Named a Recognized Council in 2009 • TSTC and corporation are working together on GenTX • 2012: Corporation changed its name

4. P-16 Council Structure

5. P-16 Council Membership/Mission • MEMBERSHIP: 32 ISDs, 9 public IHEs, individual employers, chambers of commerce, EDCs, workforce boards, family-serving organizations, and individual members • MISSION: Focus on communication and information-sharing to promote collaboration between/among leaders from school districts, colleges, universities, businesses, government, and community organizations • GOAL: Develop a seamless system of education for the four-county region

6. Council Focuses on Communication, Collaboration, and Support • Corporation’s role in P-16 Council resembles that of “backbone organization” described in Collective Impact article, Stanford Social Innovation Review*: • Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination. • Coordination takes time, and none of the participating organizations has any to spare. • Backbone organization staff plan, manage, and support the initiative through ongoing facilitation … handling the details needed for the initiative to function smoothly. *John Kania & Mark Kramer. Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 48, Winter 2011 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact

7. GenTX Regional Strategies • Co-branding, coordinating, collaborating, communicating across sectors and meeting needs to keep the system moving forward: • 2012 Annual Superintendents’ Meeting with GenTX infused throughout event • 2012-2013 P-16 Council meetings (joint with Counselors’ Network) with GenTX messaging and materials infused in multiple ways • Education & Career EXPO 2012 (10th annual) with GenTX figuring prominently in event • Blending GenTX into ALA Educator Externships, RGV Mentors, and projects in communities with EDCs and others

8. Counselors’ Network • Created in 1998 to help address counselors’ needs: “The effectiveness of the developmental guidance and counseling program is directly related to the counselor-to-student ratio within the program.” (Texas Education Agency, School Guidance and Counseling – Recommended Ratios) • Regional operation (four counties) • Current Chairs: Larry Barroso, South Texas College, and Valerie Paredes, Harlingen CISD • Immediate Past Chairs: Norma Salazar, Texas State Technical College, and Sandra Rodriguez, Harlingen CISD • Meets jointly with P-16 Council, with GenTX blended into agendas

9. Counselors’ Network • September 19: 77 total participants, including: • 32 counselors/counseling administrators from ISDs • 2 Advise Texas Advisors from ISDs • 17 student services representatives from IHEs • Teamed with Upper Rio Grande P-16 Council to provide special presentation about GenTX Day 2012, GenTX Rock Your Future, GenTX Way to Pay, GenTX Day 2013, and GenTX website • Future meeting dates: • November 14 • February 13 • May 8

10. A•L•A Educator Externships • A•L•A created in 2003 by McAllen Economic Development Corporation, Region One Education Service Center, and Tech Prep of the Rio Grande Valley (now RGV LEAD), to strengthen the employer/ educator connection. • Goal (Educator Perspective): Bring relevance into the classroom, creating connections that help students prepare successfully for college and career opportunities • Goal (Employer Perspective): Provide more productive and functional employees for businesses • Incorporated GenTX into inservice training for Educator Externs for ALA 2012: • Messages from the Learn More Earn More page of the GenTX website (Join the Movement: http://gentx.org/) • Don’t stop with high school. Learning more now equals earning more later. • As little as two years of college or career training could be the difference between earning minimum wage and earning $16, $22, or even $34 per hour. That’s up to $70,000!

11. RGV Mentors: Building a Brighter Future, One Student at a Time • RGV Mentors is a network of professionals created to help facilitate success of high school students in the Rio Grande Valley • School-Based Component operates in partnership with school districts, on high school campuses (campus contacts are often counselors) • Community-Based component operates in the community, separately from schools, to maximize success for all participants • Infused GenTX components into RGV Mentors sessions for students in Spring 2012

12. Related Events at TSTC • Counselors’ Update sessions, begun in 2008 and continuing annually thereafter • 2012 Update at The University Center at TSTC in September 2012 (over 100 Counselors participating) • Sessions include presentations by college leaders from instruction and student services; topics such as Event Planning 101; TSTC Web 101; WebAdvisor training; and other topics of interest to counselors

13. Creating the RGV’s RegionalTransition-Counseling Workshop • Need for session identified during P-16 Council discussions • 26 ISDs and 5 IHEs spent almost a year working together in the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Early College High School Planning Consortium • Original plan for a brief presentation on one P-16 Council agenda led to a regional event held at UTPA in April 2012 • Planning occurred through P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling Leadership Team

14. Transition-Counseling (cont.) • Several planning meetings in which partners from the P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling Leadership Team collaborated—plus: • Other IHE leaders recruited by P-16 Regional Outreach partners (UTPA, STC, TSTC, UTB/TSC) • Partners from Region One Education Service Center • Partners from family-serving organizations • Staff from the P-16 Council and the corporation • Planned together in teams that ultimately became presentation teams • Outcome was a successful event at which all participants acquired new information that will help us help our students

15. Transition-Counseling (cont.) • Of the 184 participants, 105 were counselors • Evaluations were positive: this event met a need for our region • The group is planning now to incorporate transition-counseling strands into regional conference to be held at South Padre Island on December 5-6, 2012

16. In Conclusion • Can anyone here say that if we can't do it, someone down the road can do it? And if no one does it, what happens to the country? ... I know it's a tremendous challenge, but ask yourselves: If not us, who? If not now, when? Ronald Reagan, quoted by RGV LEAD Board Chair, Rene Capistran (President – South Texas Region, SpawGlass Contractors) at Annual Superintendents’ Meeting in September 2012 • Questions? Comments? • Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD pat.bubb@harlingen.tstc.edu; 956.364.4512