Defining Excellence in School Counseling DRAFT. Urban School Counseling Initiative

Transcription

1 Defining Excellence in School Counseling Urban School Counseling Initiative Mesa Public Schools Guidance and Counseling, April 2009

2 Purpose and intentionality Defining excellence SMART Goals Executing our goals Sharing Results Action steps Other signs of excellence

3 Jim Collins Good to Great Good is the enemy of great.

4 Purpose and intentionality Our purpose is to create measurable, positive results for students What is measured will get done

5 Defining excellence Vision Mission Program goals Strategies/Interventions/Curricula

6 Vision Upon graduation, all Mesa Public Schools (MPS) students will be ready to meet their college/career goals.

7 Mission Through classroom lessons, small group activities, data-based decision making, and programs and interventions, our school counselors ensure that ALL students have the academic, career, and personal/social skills they need to be successful.

8 SMART Goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Resultsoriented, Target date Aligned to our school district goals

9 MPS Counseling MPS District Arizona or US Dept. of Ed. All students have Educational and Career Action Plans (ECAPs) Students are meeting academic competencies ECAPs referenced in course description catalog Student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics Mandated by the AZ Board of Education Annual reduction in Safe and Drug Free substance abuse and Schools (Title IV) violent behavior Students are participating in Transition programs transition programs Students are college/career Achievement in Algebra II ready upon graduation and higher School counselors are intervening with at-risk students All parents understand the importance of career/college readiness Student attendance and drop-out prevention Parent involvement and communication

10 MPS Counseling Goals Educational and Career Action Plans (ECAPs) for every student Upon graduation, all students meet identified academic, career, and personal/social competencies Strategies/ Interventions/Curricula MPS Career Planning System (powered by Kuder) Lessons for Life 5% annual reduction in Evidence-based prevention incidents of substance abuse programs and violent behavior All students are participating Step Up Program in transition programs at multiple entry/exit points All students are college/career ready when they graduate School counselors are intervening with at-risk students All parents understand the importance of career/college readiness 100% Career/College Ready Initiative Graduation Make It Happen Initiative Readiness/ECAP information actively delivered using multiple strategies Measurable data elements Kuder Administrative Database, Mission Possible process and perception data, Senior Exit Survey Process and perception data results from every lesson SDFS Report, district suspension report, etc. Dropout rates, college completion rates, process data on student participation, etc. % of students completing advanced courses, % of students completing CTE pathways, etc. Closing the Gap Action Plan Results Reports and Student Services Results Report Process and perception data from parents/guardians

11 Educational and Career Action Plans (ECAPs) for every student All Mesa Public Schools students will develop Education and Career Action Plans (ECAPs) prior to graduation. Career awareness and exploration begins in elementary school. The written plan itself is developed in junior high and it is updated throughout high school. A student s ECAP reflects their current plan of coursework, career aspirations, and extended learning opportunities.

12 Students are meeting identified academic, career, and personal/social competencies In , Student Services will initiate a Lessons for Life project to standardize our district-wide guidance curriculum by doing the following: Identifying the non-negotiable student competencies that are benchmarked at every grade level Ensuring that every lesson has a written lesson plan that aligns to Guidance Curriculum Template Subject our existing lessons to a lesson analysis Create a warehouse of new guidance lessons that meet our identified student competencies, follow the Guidance Curriculum Template, and satisfy the scrutiny of a lesson analysis The sum total of standardized lessons will comprise our Lessons for Life guidance curriculum

13 UC ACCORD - All Campus Consortium On Research for Diversity A safe school is one of the leading indicators of increasing college access

14 Reduction in incidents of substance abuse and violent behavior The goals of our Safe and Drug-Free Schools (Title IV) Program are to: To reduce the number of students who are repeatably suspended for drug and/or alcohol violations To reduce the numbers of students suspended for fighting Decrease the number of violations for bullying/threats and intimidation To accomplish our goal we will implement, with fidelity, evidence-based and research-based programs and curricula We will also work with other stakeholders to effectively use data and implement school-wide and community-wide interventions

15 Students are participating in transition programs at multiple entry/exit points Our Step Up program is a systemic effort to enhance student transitions at multiple entry/exit points. Step Up begins in Kindergarten and 6 th grade and continues through the high school to postsecondary transition. At all points the emphasis is on: Seamless, personal transitions between elementary, junior high, high school, and post secondary Making sure that all students graduate ready for college or careers Our Step Up program includes a planned Step Up Day for elementary students transitioning to junior high

16 Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers: The Story of Success To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success... with a society that provides opportunities for all.

17 All students are college/career ready when they graduate In Student Services will initiate a new project, 100% Career/College Ready The goal of the 100% Career/College Ready project is to ensure that, upon graduation, 100% of our students are Career/College Ready This project will be driven by and evaluated according to the National Office For School Counselor Advocacy s Components of College Counseling With this project we should see marked increases in the number of students enrolled in advanced classes; taking the PSAT, SAT, and ACT; completing CTE pathways; enrolling in postsecondary institutions; applying for and earning scholarships; being accepted to highly selective universities, participating in internships and apprenticeships, accessing My College Quick Start, meeting transition goals, etc.

18 All parents understand the importance of career/college readiness All parents/guardians are taught to use our Career Planning System (powered by Kuder) All parents/guardians, beginning in elementary school, understand the valuable of being career/college ready upon graduation All parents understand postsecondary and the financial aid/scholarship application processes

19 School counselors are intervening with at-risk students Graduation Make It Happen ( ) Graduation Make It Happen is a systematic program to identify and intervene with at-risk students. It involves three components: Identifying students who are at-risk based on excessive absences, falling far below on AIMS, having multiple discipline referrals, and/or having multiple failures Personalizing our at-risk students in the form of a report that will go to every school Intervening with at-risk students using a variety of interventions Demonstrating positive Results with our at-risk students

20 Sharing Results Head counselors will be expected to present and discuss their Guidance Curriculum Action Plans and Closing the Gap Action Plans and baseline data at regular meetings Annual Closing the Gap Action Plan Results Reports and Guidance Curriculum Results Reports that address our goals will be presented to principals and the Executive Director of Student Services Annual Results Reports will be compiled and included in Student Services Results Report

21 Action Steps Between April and May, present Defining Excellence to superintendents and principals Form a School counseling transformation team Between April and July, work with Research and Evaluation and Information Systems to deploy a Student Services Baseline Report Present the Student Services Baseline Report to principals in August-September In August-September, present our Student Services Baseline Report to counselors In August-December our transformation team will present our Defining Excellence project to the school board Schedule ongoing professional development for school counselors having to do with our goals, strategies, and outcome measures

22 Other definitions of excellence By the school year , every school will apply for Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) designation from the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) By the school year , at least two high schools will apply for an Inspiration Award from the College Board

23 Mary Montle Bacon, Ph.D. It is better to aim for the stars and miss than to aim for a pile of manure and hit it.