School Counselors Affect Student Achievement

Principal – Counselor Relationship:

Key to Student Achievement

Linda BrannanK-12 Student Support Services ConsultantNC Department of Public Instruction

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).

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

Principal-Counselor Relationship

• 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

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

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 Attendance issues Academic issuesAcademic issuesBehavioral issuesBehavioral issues

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.]

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

MEASURE

• Elements: identify the critical data elements that are important to the internal and external stakeholders

– Attendance

– Behavior/Discipline

– Academic Achievement

MEASURE

• Analyze: discuss carefully which elements need to be aggregated or disaggregated and why

• What is impeding student achievement?

• What are the barriers?

MEASURE

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

MEASURE

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

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.

ASCA National Model: Framework for School Counseling

Programs

EXAMPLES OF DATA TO EXAMINE NEEDS

Test Scores AchievementStateNational

Enrollment Honors/AP Classes College Track Special Education LEP

Graduation Rate By Gender By Ethnicity By SES

Attendance Absences Tardiness By Grade Level

Discipline By Classroom Types of Problems GenderOffice referrals

GPA/Class Rank By Gender By Ethnicity By SES

Retention Rates By Subject Area By Grade Level By Gender, Ethnicity Post Secondary Plans

Special Education By Gender By Ethnicity By SES

Dropout Rate Grade Levels Gender, Ethnicity… Reasons Why

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)

Total Students: 2283

• Black: 405

• Hispanic: 405

• Asian: 130

• Multi-racial: 116

• American Indian: 15

• White: 1212

• Academically Gifted: 549

• Free & Reduced Lunch: 781

• LEP: 153

• Students with Disabilities: 299

Cary High School Student Population

• 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

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

– 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

– 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

How We Did it?

How We Did it?

– 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

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

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)

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

Process Data Perception Data Goals & Objectives

Results Data

How Many affected & process

Competency-Skill Attainment Data

Behavior Change

Achievement-Related Data

Achievement Data

Guidance Lessons, groups, etc.Who?What?When?Where?How long?

Attitudes

Skills

Knowledge

AttendanceDiscipline referralsParent InvolvementHomework CompletionCourse Enrollment

EOG/EOCSAT/ACT scoresGraduation ratesGPAAP testsCollege prep course completion

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 all subgroups

• 2011-12 New Goal: Suspension/Dropout Prevention - school-wide collaboration to keep students in school

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

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