Transforming School Counseling

Transcription

1 A R E P O R T O N E A R L Y E V A L U A T I O N F I N D I N G S Wallace Reader s Digest Fund Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Transforming School Counseling Karen R. Seashore Lisa M. Jones Patricia Seppanen With: Melissa Anderson Heidi Barajas Leonard Goldfine James Hearn Mera Kachgal Vanessa McKendall Eric Moore John Romano Jane Schleisman Published Fall 2001

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3 Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Evaluation Design Early Findings I. Seeding The Field : Changing Counseling Student Populations II. Curriculum Change III. Higher Education as a Partner for Change IV. Partnering For Change V. Districts as Sites for Transformed Counseling Practice VI. Finding and Allocating Resources for Change VII. A Guide to Program Change in Counselor Preparation Programs APPENDIX A Funded Project Descriptions APPENDIX B The Education Trust APPENDIX C Guiding TSCI Evaluation Questions: Fall Notes Acknowledgements

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5 Foreword School counseling is essential to student achievement but often neglected in quality education. In 1998, the Wallace- Reader s Digest Fund (WRDF), along with The Education Trust, based in Washington, D.C., undertook a national effort to reform public school counseling, especially in low-achieving schools, to ensure that counselors play a larger, more significant role in assuring the academic achievement of all children. In doing so, the WRDF recognizes the need for better preparation of school counselors at the university level. The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota was commissioned by the WRDF to look at the challenges and opportunities six universities participating in the WRDF s Transforming School Counseling Initiative face in changing their graduate programs. This CAREI interim report documents the early stages of reform. It looks at ways universities are developing partnerships with school districts; incorporating teacher, student and administrator needs more fully in counselor training; and offering graduate-level programs as professional development for practitioners working in public schools. CAREI also looks at changes taking place within the university system. Leading research shows that with better training school counselors can be effective in helping students make informed choices and advancing their school careers. For many in the field, this new role for school counselors is long overdue. We hope this report gives you a sense of the changes taking place and an indication of the work being done to help all students achieve. M. Christine DeVita, President 3

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7 Introduction [It means] school counselors going from the old fashioned pure helper role to more of a helper role with an academic base. Academic insights, looking at a broader picture, not students but diversity, goals and expectations Counselors see the entire picture too, not just the mental health part, but the entire picture of the individual as it relates to school. (School counselor) The Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) is a national endeavor sponsored and funded by the Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund (WRDF). Its immediate goal is to improve guidance counseling in public schools by transforming graduate-level preparation of counselors. The overarching goal is to help students succeed academically especially students living in lowincome communities and students of color. To that end, the TSCI is focused on producing guidance counselors who are: Knowledgeable about schools and the public school system; Equipped to help students meet their educational and personal goals; and Advocates for system change by working to remove barriers that impede the success of all students. The Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund provides resources for six American universities to equip school counselors to support the academic and career development needs of today s students. Historically, school counselors supported individual students personal and social issues. This transformation represents a significant shift in how counselors will do their jobs in the future. Ten universities received $65,000 in planning funds and six received an additional $450,000 for three years for implementation. The universities are working with a local school district and The Education Trust to change graduate programs so future counselors can serve the needs of students. The six universities funded for the TSCI are: California State University, Northridge, California; Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana; The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia; The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia; and the University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida. 1 The universities must update their curriculum, recruit a more diverse counseling student population, redesign their practicum experiences, and strengthen their partnerships with the school districts and state education agencies. The Education Trust was funded to develop a platform for the WRDF efforts to transform counselor education. During the first phases of the effort, the Education Trust used systematic efforts to synthesize the best available knowledge in the broader fields of educational practitioners, professional counselors, scholars and policy makers. The result was the identification of eight essential elements of change to target in transforming counselor education and practice. 2 The Education Trust continues to provide technical assistance and acts as a consultant with the universities to facilitate their change efforts. They share information across sites with universities, school districts, and professional and communitybased organizations. Furthermore, they have TSCI evaluation team member and school counseling students at the University of North Florida 5

8 spread information about change strategies and the need for change through what they learn from the six sites, and have involved other interested universities and districts. In 1999, the WRDF commissioned a national evaluation of the TSCI with the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota. The evaluation focuses on how the partners planned and implemented the new counseling model developed by The Education Trust. This report reflects the early findings of the evaluation team. Our work to understand the process, strategies and outcomes of the TSCI will continue for the next three years. The Education Trust s Eight Essential Elements for Change 1. Criteria for Selection and Recruitment of Candidates for Counselor Preparation Programs 2. Curricular Content, Structure and Sequence of Courses 3. Methods of Instruction, Field Experiences and Practices 4. Induction Process into the Profession 5. Working Relationships with Community Partners 6. Professional Development for Counselor Educators 7. University/School District Partnerships 8. University/State Department of Education Partnerships Source: 6 Transforming School Counseling

9 Evaluation Design Overview of the Evaluation Design This report is the first that examines the initial implementation efforts of the six funded universities. The overall goals of the first year of data collection were to provide baseline assessments of faculty, administration and district awareness of, and support for, the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI). Data collection instruments were developed to measure progress on the overall goals of changing university and school practices. Specifically, changes related to recruitment and admissions, curriculum, pedagogy and professional development for practicing counselors were examined. Three types of data collection strategies were implemented: (1) survey of entering counseling students; (2) in-depth phone interviews with each of the site project directors; and (3) one-week visits to each site during Fall 1999 and Winter A full list of the evaluation questions is included in Appendix C. Entering Counseling Student Survey The evaluation team at the University of Minnesota developed a written survey that targeted entering counseling students. The survey measured previous K-12 experience, reasons for enrollment in a specific TSCI program, and current expectations and attitudes about the counselor s roles. The questionnaires were mailed to site project directors who administered them to students during orientation. The overall response rate for the survey was 94% (106 returned surveys/113 enrolled students). In-Depth Phone Interviews with Site Project Directors Prior to the scheduled site visit, one evaluator from each site team conducted a telephone interview with a designated project director. Information from these interviews was used to create protocols for the site visits. Furthermore, the telephone interviews allowed the evaluation team and project directors to identify critical respondents for the site visits. Site Visits The purpose of the visits was to gather information about progress at the sites and to learn how the sites worked to achieve the TSCI goals. Data collection activities focused on interviews with involved university staff and students, collection of key documents and observations of selected instructional activities at the university. In addition, the evaluation teams conducted one and one-half day visits to partner school districts and two of the most active school sites. The data were collected in three key areas: (1) planning and early implementation, (2) early outcomes, and (3) impact. PLANNING AND EARLY IMPLEMENTATION. Evaluation teams collected data on the following areas related to planning and implementation. The data collected reflect both the university and school district involvement in the TSCI: Timeline of critical events at each site; Facilitating/inhibiting factors; Influence of district, state and national policy initiatives; Budgeted, contributed and anticipated costs associated with planning and early implementation; Guidance and support provided by The Education Trust; Stakeholder participation and character of the partner relationships (school district, state, community); and Implementation in key areas (e.g., recruitment and selection of candidates, curriculum, methods of instruction, role/professional development for counselor educators, program induction processes, planning of induction processes and planned program accountability for graduates). EARLY OUTCOMES. The evaluation teams sought to identify early outcomes apparent from the planning and early implementation of the TSCI. The data collection was focused on: The influence of partner relationships on key implementation areas; 7

10 The influence of the TSCI on institutional, district and state policy. IMPACT. The final area selected for data collection addressed the specific impact produced by the planning and early implementation of the TSCI. The elements of the impact study were: Articulation of anticipated outcomes; The current role and practice of school counselors in the partner districts; and Types of available student performance information. Analysis Strategies STANDARDIZED CASE REPORTS. Collected data were synthesized into a site case study for internal use in data analysis. Evaluators created 100+ page case study documents using a common outline that addressed issues related to the implementation, partnership and university, school district, and state contexts. TECHNICAL REPORTS. Findings from the first year of data collection were organized in eight reports structured around an analytic theme. These include: school districts as a context for change, colleges and universities as a context for change, academic departmental context for change, resources for change, partnerships, recruitment and admissions, counseling student characteristics and institutional contexts for higher education innovation. The study teams generated data templates to analyze the information. Each study team created background papers analyses of the data for topics under consideration that were summarized for this report. These reports are available at: carei.coled.umn.edu. Our findings are organized into seven sections. We examine evidence of change in the TSCIfunded sites, focusing particularly on changes in the recruitment of students and the new curriculum that was offered to them. We then turn to factors that have affected the opportunities for funded sites to achieve the TSCI goals, and report on the process of change in three areas: inside higher education institutions; the development of partnerships between universities, schools and communities; and within school districts and schools. In each site, both the actual changes and the process of change were influenced by strategic resource allocation, and we present some early findings about the costs of the TSCI within universities. Finally, we conclude with a brief list of implications for implementing transformed counseling programs in other settings. 8 Transforming School Counseling

11 Early Findings the Field : Changing Counseling I. Seeding Student Populations In order to effectively recruit a diverse cohort, traditional barriers to graduate education must be removed and support, when needed, must be provided. If we expect our graduates to remove barriers to access and provide support when needed, then we as a faculty must model the very behaviors we expect of our graduates. Overview (University counseling faculty member) The pool of school counselors must be diversified if it is to serve the new populations of students in American schools. Traditionally, school counselors are homogenous in terms of life experiences and professional backgrounds. Many states require that school counselors have teacher certification and also require previous work experience in schools. These requirements are intended as quality screens, but may, arguably, lead to complaisance in the professional culture of school counselors. The new vision of the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) encourages recruiting students from different backgrounds who are mature and committed to remaining in the field, but also flexible and responsive to the changes afoot in the profession. The push is to recruit those counselors who will perform well in multiple environments in schools, with families, in neighborhoods, and with gatekeepers and decision-makers by opening the field to those without prior teaching backgrounds. There are many arguments supporting diversification, most of which emerge from the school counseling profession. The majority of current counselors today are Caucasian, but the expanding student populations are minority. Research shows that clients (or students) who are matched with counselors from similar backgrounds tend to have better counseling outcomes. Another argu- ment is that minority students need to have role models of individuals from the same racial/ethnic background who have achieved at the highest academic levels and that school counselors are well positioned to serve as such role models. Furthermore, another diversity-related goal is recruiting counseling students from urban settings who understand the academic, social and emotional concerns of low-income youth, and who recognize the benefits of using a prevention (rather than remedial) focus. The Education Trust states that change is in the air in the school counseling profession, but that the direction for change is not clearly articulated. The Education Trust recommends active recruitment of students who are committed to a transformed vision of counseling. A major push is for sites to take their programs to prospective students instead of waiting passively for them to apply, with the goal of reaching those students who may not have been previously aware of, or interested in, school counseling as a career. Programmatic recruitment recommendations from The Education Trust include: clear mission statements, purposeful selection of candidates driven by this mission statement, outreach efforts to schools and community for diversity, school and community persons included on screening teams and up-front written retention policy statements based on performance and suitability to the field. TSCI Projects have Initiated New Patterns of Recruitment New Goals The funded universities shared the goal of increasing minority and male representation among admitted students. Sites also focused on accurately presenting to candidates programmatic goals that related to the TSCI s new vision of counseling so that they recruited students willing to withstand the rigors of the field. As a project director at one site stated: The message was clear to candidates they can and must influence school staff and student beliefs and attitudes about the learning ability of minority and low SES children. 9

12 New Strategies Accordingly, the funded universities have changed their recruiting strategies to actively recruit candidates whose personal career goals were aligned with those of the TSCI. Active recruiting strategies have included using: Nominations from administrators, faculty, community members and school counselors to identify potential applicants; Recruitment sessions/in-services in the school district; Web sites that include mission statements and/or specifically mention the TSCI; Posting ads in schools; Ongoing in-services for school counselors and teachers; Announcements in union/teacher newsletters; and Flyers sent to school principals Entering Student Characteristics CAUCASIAN 63% AFRICAN AMERICAN 20% HISPANIC 8% ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 6% OTHER 3% FEMALE 87% MALE 13% AVERAGE AGE: 31 YEARS PRE-K - 12 EXPERIENCE: 68% TEACHER CERTIFIED: 36% Source: Entering Students Survey, CAREI, Fall As one university stated, the goal is moving from the university as gatekeepers to strategic recruiters of a diverse and mature cohort of students committed to TSCI s new vision. New Selection Criteria and Admissios Processes Most sites have supported The Education Trust s recommendations by broadening their selection requirements to include nontraditional indicators such as impromptu journals/writing, group interviews to screen for interpersonal dynamics, questions regarding maturity and selfefficacy for new vision activities, life experiences, presentations and portfolios. These goals reflect site emphases on recruiting students who come from diverse backgrounds with varying life experiences. One university, for example, probes for the presence of three essential beliefs (i.e., views on the achievement gap, leadership and cross-cultural sensitivity) in students. In addition to recruiting students with high academic ability, another university s admissions process strives to identify the belief systems and self-efficacy of the candidates, as well as their personal and social consciousness skills and locus of control. Several sites are also accepting applicants who have experience working in the schools (i.e., one or more years of direct, supervised, full-time educational/ human services experience working with schoolage children) but who are not certified teachers. The Diversity Challenge Site efforts to recruit for greater diversity have focused on six strategies: recruitment at historically black colleges and universities; nominations procedures; lobbying for waivers of traditional requirements (i.e., minimum GPA or GRE scores, teaching experience); diversity-related consultation; collaboration with university equity/diversity centers and various word-of-mouth strategies. In spite of these efforts, only one site met its minority recruitment goal, admitting 60% more minority students than prior to the TSCI. However, all sites increased the number of minority students that they enrolled Transforming School Counseling

13 University location is a major factor affecting diversity efforts, largely because most counseling students are working adults and have limited flexibility to travel long distances to graduate programs. Overall, students reported a variety of reasons for applying to their particular site, but program location seemed to be a major concern. Not surprisingly, universities in areas with a substantial minority population are better able to recruit students of various racial/ethnic backgrounds even in states with anti-affirmative action policies. Site efforts to recruit an older cohort were also achieved as, across the six sites, students ranged in age from 21 to 56, with an average age of 31 years. Furthermore, 36.4% of students overall were certified/licensed in teaching, and 68.2% had prior pre-k-12 experience. On the other hand, efforts to recruit more males were less successful as 86.9% of students in the first admissions group were female. Evidence from interviews with enrolled students suggests that efforts to diversify by recruiting older male students may be hindered by the demanding nature of the programs that make full-time work difficult. The cohort models adopted by most sites as part of their curriculum revision process make the new models less adaptable to the student who may need to go through the graduate programs at a slower pace. According to the sites, this raises the need to continue trying different strategies. Diversity among program faculty is another issue, and sites that have few or no African American counselor educators on staff have reported difficulties with minority recruitment. One site has hired a minority faculty member as part of its efforts to diversify and attract more minority students. Matching Student Aspirations to the New Vision Even careful recruiting does not always produce the desired results. Overall findings, based on surveys and focus groups conducted of students at the beginning or midway point of the first year, indicate that students were attracted to the mission or departmental philosophy when Faculty and students at Indiana State University applying to graduate programs. For example, reasons that were expressed by students at one university included that the site was unique, cutting edge and unusual. But enthusiasm for the program did not always translate into career goals consistent with the TSCI vision. Less than one-quarter of those surveyed at the beginning of their academic program expressed an interest in working in an urban setting upon graduation. 4 Also surprising was that nearly one-sixth of the students indicated that their primary career goal lay outside of counseling. While the most pressing counselor needs in most states are in high schools, less than half indicated that this was their preferred work setting. On the other hand, students seemed aware of TSCI-related objectives in estimating their future duties as school counselors. For instance, survey data indicated that students report that they expect to spend the majority of their time in the following new vision areas: educational and academic counseling, advocating for student needs, and consulting with teachers and parents. However, they are less clear about the priority of spending time on indirect efforts to support academic achievement, such as consulting on classroom curricula, administration of school counseling programs, and special education evaluation and placement. Sites may need to provide students with pre-admission experiences that help 11

14 them to appraise their future work as both direct providers of new vision support to students and indirect work with, and through, other actors in the school setting. Alternatively, this needs to be part of the induction process. University faculty members comment on the need to recruit confident and competent students who are equipped for the rigors of transformed counseling practice; some require evidence of high levels of self-efficacy in the admissions process. They want to recruit students who are fully engaged with the transformed vision, more at ease with the change role, less anxious as they learn about and gain applied counseling experience and willing to take appropriate risks in their work settings. During the first-year evaluation, entering counseling students were also asked to estimate their skill level in several traditional and emerging school counseling areas. Students felt most competent in areas that are of importance in any human service field: interpersonal communication, handling multiple responsibilities, active listening and ethical decision-making. They felt less competent in a number of areas that are central to the TSCI vision: advocating for school systems change, using computer technology for student decision-making, crisis intervention and supporting classroom instruction. Finally, recruitment and admissions procedures, no matter how rigorous, are not a science. Programs experienced attrition during the first year among their carefully selected candidates, ranging from one or two students in the smaller programs to more than one-fifth in others. Some students dropped out because they were unprepared for the reality of counseling as an occupation; others were counseled out because they lacked the appropriate personal orientations to perform well in a school setting. Implications Efforts to recruit a new and more diverse student body require new strategies. The typical passive recruiting strategies advertising and word-of-mouth based on reputation must be replaced with active recruiting that involves both personal outreach and more intensive use of technology. GENDER DIVERSITY POSES SPECIAL CHALLENGES TO THE FIELD. Recruitment of minorities demands additional effort, but gender diversification represents an even more difficult challenge. The field of education has become increasingly feminized over the past few decades and recruiting male counselors is a challenge that none of the universities were able to meet. ADMISSIONS PROCESSES TO ENHANCE A GOOD MATCH BETWEEN THE STUDENT BODY AND THE TSCI VISION ARE VERY TIME-INTENSIVE. Universities must add group and personal interviews, essays, personality testing and role-playing to the traditional criteria of grades and scores on the GRE. This requires a level of faculty effort that far exceeds what typically occurs in graduate programs in education. TIME-INTENSIVE ADMISSIONS PROCESSES DO NOT ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL MATCH BETWEEN THE NEW VISION AND STUDENTS PERSONAL PREFERENCES AND ATTITUDES. Universities hoped that their enhanced recruitment efforts would produce a resilient and prepared group of candidates. While their expectations were largely rewarded, some of the new counseling candidates were not prepared to engage with the TSCI vision. SUSTAINING DISTRICT/COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN ADMISSIONS MAY BE CHALLENGING. The involvement of practitioners and community members has been supported with token project funding. The work is time-intensive, often occurring on weekends. This raises the important question of how to maintain participation when initial enthusiasm and funding decline. RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES NEVER END. Universities, often accustomed to passive recruiting of graduate students, will face persistent demands to engage in more active outreach to attract candidates who match the needs of the profession. 12 Transforming School Counseling

15 Change II.Curriculum We re going to teach students to advocate and show them how to advocate. We won t simply say, Now you re a counselor and you should change or you should be a change agent without any instructions on how to do that We are actually saying, Here are the practices that show you how to be a leader. A Different Curriculum for a Different Role (TSCI project director) According to the analyses of The Education Trust, the implementation of a new vision for educational counselors requires extensive changes in existing university programs. Most school counselor training programs are located within departments that focus largely on training counselors for marriage and family counseling. Because many will be employed primarily in providing traditional individual or small group therapeutic interventions, the curriculum focus rarely attends to the particular needs and roles of counselors located in schools, except for the schoolbased practicum experience. Many of the skills that will be demanded in the transformed version, such as advocacy for change or skills in data analysis, are not reflected at all in the traditional counseling curriculum. The six universities participating in the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) were selected, in large measure, because they demonstrated during a planning phase that they would be able to undertake the imposing task of sunsetting an existing program and replacing it with a new one that was driven by the anticipated skills and competencies required to carry out the new vision. The Scope of Program Change The universities were not asked to implement a curriculum, or even elements of the curriculum vision, that was well-defined. Instead, each university engaged in inventing a new program that met the spirit of the new vision, while adapting both content and delivery to the student and faculty population, their institution s expectations and state requirements, which vary. Furthermore, they needed to create their design and begin to implement it in a relatively short period of time the planning year. Thus, each university s curriculum development story is unique and many elements were locally invented rather than common across sites. Nevertheless, the curriculum change efforts had a number of common features. CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATED FOR SCHOOL COUN- SELORS. Background materials supplied by The Education Trust made it clear that school counselors require a distinct set of knowledge and skills that are different from those of marriage and family counselors. In each university, this guiding principle translated into two types of structural changes in counselor preparation programs. Two of the universities developed completely separate programs for school counselors. In other programs, different streams of counseling students had a common core (methods, individual counseling, group counseling), but new content was inserted to reflect counseling students needs, and entirely new courses were developed that were designed specifically for school counselors. NEW CONTENT. Content within the revised structures was driven by a written set of standards and competencies, typically identified by the site to match the TSCI principles and the statements from national accrediting bodies. In most sites, this meant that all courses were, essentially, new and that each site mapped course content against its identified competencies and skills. While each site s revisions took different forms, the prominent themes in revision across all sites are: infusing multiculturalism and skills that are needed to work across racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups; social advocacy; technology and data analysis. MATCHING PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND ACCREDITATION WITH TRANSFORMED PROGRAMS. For all universities, meeting external standards is either required (in the case of state standards) or desirable as a measure of program quality. 5 Four 13

16 10 Professional Counselor Standards One university began their curriculum revision process by developing 12 Program Principles and 29 Competencies. As restructuring progressed, their guiding program principles were refined to 10 Professional Counselor Standards: 1. Plan, promote, and implement school counseling programs based on national standards; 2. Collaborate with the community; 3. Consult effectively with social agencies and other helping organizations; 4. Collaborate with school staff members to develop staff training; 5. Support K-12 student learning; 6. Counsel with individuals and groups to remove barriers to student learning; 7. Consult with teams of teachers/educators; 8. Use the latest technology to improve their services to students and families; 9. Use and conduct research; and, 10. Accept responsibility for their own learning. Source: TSCI site documents, Spring of the six programs needed to match their program revisions against more than one set of accrediting standards. The absence of a single accreditation standard makes this process challenging. The sites have been able to balance the TSCI principles with existing state and national standards only by constantly testing each new idea against multiple criteria. NEW INDUCTION STRATEGIES. New counselor preparation programs require more than new content, however. Universities also attempted to increase students identity with the specialized field of school counseling in a variety of ways; for example, by exposing them more systematically to the norms and professional practices underlying the field. The following common strategies are being used at this time: Teaming and cohorts. Universities ensure that school counseling students are part of a supportive group that is useful for discussing and reflecting on problems of practice. Designated mentoring. Students are paired with faculty members and/or practicing counselors in order to enrich professional identity and stimulate discussions about managing the school counselor role. Early field experiences. Students are exposed to real counseling settings at the beginning of their programs rather than after an introduction to theory. This approach helps them increase their understanding of the issues that they will face in their future work. Scanning the profession. Students are asked to join professional associations, attend conferences and subscribe to important professional journals that will provide insights into the structure and resources of the profession that they are entering. In one university, new students are evaluated on previous teaching, counseling, mentoring and other related experiences with school-age children to determine the entry level of internship practice; all interns, regardless of experience, are required to spend time in elementary, middle and high school settings. Internships will place interns not only in schools but also in human services and social welfare agencies, mental health units and other cooperating organizations. NEW COURSE SEQUENCING. The introduction of new materials, particularly those that are considered core to the TSCI, inevitably means that programs need to rethink not only content but also the order in which topics are introduced. In some cases, this means significant changes in wellestablished practices. Introducing students early to significant field experiences is challenging; to make experiences 14 Transforming School Counseling

17 significant, students need to participate. However, their skills and knowledge are limited. At one university, field supervisors agreed that students could not be assigned to individual counseling early in their studies and recommended that the program introduce group counseling techniques before individual counseling. Perceived lack of technology experience in incoming students caused faculty members to suggest a pre-matriculation module during the summer. PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION. All sites plan to make changes in instruction to create more experiential learning in problems of practice. The challenge is greater than expected, however, because of the lack of published materials to support the new curriculum. Most universities found that they had to invent new strategies for teaching as they dealt with their first cohorts of students. Among the most common are: Case-based instruction. Faculty members develop new cases, often with the help of practicing counselors, to stimulate discussions about frequently occurring dilemmas encountered in school counseling. Practice-guided instruction. Faculty accompany students to field sites, model the behavior expected of students or use student experiences as a basis for modeling. Team teaching. Sites are increasingly involving practicing counselors as the primary instructors for methods courses and co-instructors for theory courses. Field-based assignments. New assignments, such as shadowing a student for a day or analyzing the process and outcomes of group counseling settings in schools, are being substituted for traditional library-based papers. An example of changing assignments is what I am doing with the career class, said one faculty member. Students must select a student and try to help this student choose a college, work through financial aid and visit a college. In internship, I have the student map the community then she must visit one Students do applied assignments for example, looking at student performance at a school site. I m asking the students to assemble data and then write an essay; they then share their work. I use peer review of assignments and more work together on performance. I want them to think as part of a team. agency and build a link to the school. I used a study skills book as part of the internship the students must put together six sessions related to learning skills in a classroom. We will video it. Action research. As students acquire more experience, they are encouraged, with supervision, to design interventions in the school counseling program and to systematically examine their results. Continuing Challenges Not surprisingly, the funded projects continue to struggle with the development of transformed programs. A number of issues were raised as most problematic by faculty and practitioners. Field Placements Field and practicum experiences for educators have traditionally tried to match students in model settings with master practitioners. The School counseling students at Ohio State University (TSCI project director) 15

18 TSCI focuses on preparing counselors to work with disadvantaged students and in difficult schools. Partner sites were carefully selected but often exposed students to untransformed practice and working conditions. Faculty members continue to struggle with integrating the TSCI principles and the reality of schools, particularly for students placed in large high school settings. I want to see the site supervisor more involved in practical application of the concepts that we ve been trying to teach the students because we want to transform the site supervisor too, don t we? asked one TSCI project director. If site supervisors are not already on board with us, we want the thinking to be transferred to them. Inventing while Delivering The curriculum revision process in universities is typically incremental and not radical. The demands of the TSCI, on the other hand, allowed only a year of planning for the overhaul of an entire program. Most sites entered their first year barely one semester ahead of the need to deliver the curriculum and had to deliver experimental courses that had not been fully reviewed by the School counseling faculty at California State University, Northridge department or college. In some instances, this means that transformed content is delivered within a course structure that has not yet been radically changed. Accommodating Adult Learners All but one of the sites moved toward a cohort-based program model at the same time that they attempted to recruit a more diverse student body. Underlying the cohort-based structure is the assumption that students will move through their program as a group. A continuing issue is the students desire for flexibility (time to complete the degree, location of practicum settings closer to their homes and work, and so forth) in order to accommodate other obligations. One university has added flexibility through an on-line course that allows individuals two semesters to complete a semester s worth of material. The course contains web-based links to relevant internet sites, such as FAFSA (the federal form for student aid) and the occupational outlook handbook. Student assignments are submitted by . Adding, Adding, Adding? The TSCI principles imply the need to expand content areas and skills but are less clear about what should be removed. Each program struggles with the problem of retaining core counseling theory and competencies while adding new field experiences, exposure to new disciplines, and new topics such as advocacy and technology. Integrating the TSCI within Traditional Mental Health Programs The TSCI principles have been interpreted by some as a direct challenge to foundations of counseling practice. The TSCI faculty members continue to struggle with presenting the program principles to highlight the focus on academic achievement inside schools and the integration with community mental health programs outside schools. 16 Transforming School Counseling

19 All of the universities experienced some tension around the changes ranging from having faculty members leave over disagreements to difficulty in engaging the family and marriage counseling faculty. Integrating the School and Community Perspective Overall, sites used a team-based approach to curriculum revision that incorporated the use of consultants, partnership members and other advisors. For most universities, this was their first experience in systematically using people outside of the university to help determine program content. The pressing need to move the new curriculum forward means that universities commonly receive input from curriculum committees but leave course development to faculty members. Implications TRANSFORMED PROGRAMS INVOLVE TOTAL FACULTY COMMITMENT. It s not just hours it s human emotional and mental energy...the expectations seem impossible to acquire in a lifetime, let alone two to three years. Faculty member EVERYTHING IS UP FOR DISCUSSION. We wanted a competency- or proficiency-driven change. So we looked at the competencies that we wanted the school counselors to have along the lines of the Initiative. And then we said Where do these competencies fit into our course structure? [The new curriculum is] zero-based and outcomedriven. Each curricular element must stand the test of relevancy and applicability by its impact upon raising student achievement. TSCI project director COURSES AND COURSE CONTENT ARE JUST THE BEGINNING. As the TSCI sites find themselves in a process of continuous change and as revisions accumulate, they must constantly be checked against accreditation standards, program sequencing requirements, university standards and the capacity of students to do the work in the time available. PROGRAM CHANGE REQUIRES EMPOWERMENT OF STUDENTS AND COLLABORATING GROUPS. We also have to change how we re teaching our students and that s a big thing. People are so entrenched in this idea that teaching is standing up in front of a class and lecturing. It s hard to take a less active role Faculty member PRACTICE-THEORY TENSIONS WILL PERSIST IN TRANSFORMED PROGRAMS. Practicing counselors still believe that the end result of this Initiative [TSCI] will be that they will have more one-onone mental health counseling time with students. Training should also include how to be the person with the divergent vision. TSCI student 17

20 Education as a Partner III.Higher for Change This is my nth participation in a reform effort. It is the same pattern grants are asking for the entire universe, relationally speaking, with limited time and resources. There seems to be a lack of understanding about what it takes to change one system and mesh two [such as the district and the university]. Overview (TSCI faculty member) The Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) relies on a re-engineering of graduate education based on active cross-site engagements with a partner school district and state education agencies. However, the remarks presented above show how a simple, technical innovation becomes frustrated by a cultural and political context. We have described the successful efforts at changing recruitment and admissions, as well as curriculum and pedagogy. We now turn to the question of how the university context affected the TSCI s planning and early implementation across the six sites. Innovation in higher education generally results from incremental adjustments and improvements. The insider s joke in higher education is that changing the curriculum is like moving a graveyard. Successful change efforts typically focus on three aspects of the core institutional mission: teaching, research and service. The TSCI is an innovation whose goal is to dramatically overhaul school counseling graduate education. This involves a change in the purposes and goals of a program, the curriculum, program requirements, pedagogical approaches, recruitment of students, admissions, faculty roles, faculty and student research projects and the departmental work environment. Furthermore, the transformation requires programs to examine and orchestrate change at the district level for graduating students. Postsecondary institutions maintain three discrete internal structures: the university itself, the college and the department. The defined status of an institution within a state higher education system determines the mission, goals, roles and relationships of these distinct units. The six sites chosen to participate in the TSCI consist of two research-intensive and four nonresearch-intensive universities. The missions of the research-intensive universities include doctoral education and an emphasis on faculty and student research. Some non-research-intensive institutions offer doctoral degrees, but most offer the masters as their highest degree. Many of the non-research-intensive universities concentrate their efforts on service to the local community. Universities exert authority, power and influence over how an innovation is implemented across the three structures. Management policies related to budget processes, curricular change, employment and enrollment targets affect the degree to which an innovation such as the TSCI becomes established institutionally. The data gathered across sites show how these management issues affect the early implementation of the TSCI within the cultural and political environment of colleges and universities. The Counseling Department Landscape The most significant innovations for graduate education proposed by the TSCI occur at the departmental level, and they represent major changes for faculty. Department dynamics constitute a major component of the implementation story. However, the influence of the university and college culture affects the degree of the implementation s success. An externally-funded improvement program such as the TSCI can facilitate the progress of a change effort through the university. External funding is valuable because it represents success for the department as well as the institution. External funding, in itself, legitimates the TSCI agenda. Some sites viewed the grant as a motivator, while others note that the application process itself instilled institutional confidence in the 18 Transforming School Counseling

21 counseling department. Organizational pressures to generate external funding reflect the university s desire to gain prestige and legitimacy. Once awarded, the grant conferred external legitimacy for both the innovation and the department. Administrators become confident that the faculty has the capacity to implement the innovation funded by the grant. Ultimately, departments gain political influence to move the innovation through the university from the awarding of the grant itself. Thus, the school counseling program becomes a political tool for the department to leverage additional resources. The combination of external funding and local positional influence builds a larger constituency for the TSCI. The department chair in most universities influences the flow of information; the allocation of fiscal, human and space resources; and administrative relationships that extend beyond the department. However, the success of the TSCI at the departmental level relies on broader personal influence in a structure that tends to protect individual autonomy and academic freedom. An emphasis on positional or legitimate authority reduces the acceptance of faculty for a new initiative such as the TSCI. Three key roles have influenced the TSCI to date: The department chair; The TSCI project director; and The counseling department faculty. The Role of the Department Chair in a Complex Environment In many universities, department chairs are critical actors in program reform. Department chairs play the role of co-project director at two of the TSCI sites, and there they exercise significant influence. Their functions became labor intensive as they struggled to maintain a balance between the daily operations of the department and restructuring the school-counseling program; in other functions, they were involved as a TSCI advocate. But, the issue of allocating department chair time and effort is complicated by the fact that school counseling programs often comprise only one sub-program within departments and schools of education. Counseling departments, which include multiple degree programs in addition to school counseling, are often nested in larger departments of educational psychology. Thus, the role and influence of the department chair in the TSCI is not consistent across sites. One department chair suggests, The university policies always interrupt my work. Despite the need to balance daily departmental operations with the TSCI, the department chair can use the position to generate support for the fundamental principles. For example, one department chair enlisted a small group of faculty to develop the grant proposal, which provided early interest in the TSCI. Another department chair used connections with the university and community to foster the partnership process. In one site, the department chair also chaired the curriculum change committee. This was especially important because the project director at the site was a new faculty hire. The department chair became the driving force behind the curriculum change, which is one of the more unwieldy procedural elements of TSCI. In summary, the department chair can potentially act as a champion of the TSCI and as the administrator who facilitates the curriculum change process but, depending on the structure of the university, may also be loosely connected with school counseling programs. Chairs who serve as project directors balance their university roles with that of the TSCI innovator. Clearly, it is important to consider how the position of department chair should be used to facilitate the TSCI. The Role of the TSCI Project Director The configuration of project directors varied across the six partner sites. One site has only one project director; four sites have teams comprised of two university faculty as co-project directors; and one site has a university faculty member and school district administrator as co-project directors. Project directors assume responsibility for 19

22 administrative tasks associated with the grant, as well as play the role of champion. The project director must manage the partnership between department faculty and the school district. It requires experience and political resources to manage this effort. Two project directors can be more effective than one. The administrative and champion duties become more manageable if spread across two individuals. Faculty who must manage their own academic careers may become reluctant to embrace a labor-intensive innovation that relies on substantial partnerships between universities and school districts. However, project leadership divided between two individuals may present other problems. Clashing leadership styles or conflicting interpretations of the TSCI mission have, in some cases, resulted in a decrease in faculty involvement in the TSCI. In one site, the involvement of co-project directors, one from the university and one from the partner school district, has fostered a collaborative relationship. Despite their working relationship, the TSCI still faces problems because the university-based co-project director was hired as a new assistant professor in a department where more senior professors in other programs have greater influence in accessing resources. TSCI evaluation team member and a representative of the University of North Florida Project directors who lack political experience within the institution may have a steep learning curve in implementing the goals of the TSCI, particularly when they represent a small group inside a larger department that is institutionally responsible for this massive change. This becomes particularly problematic when the TSCI is identified with an individual or a small group. Department members often refer to the TSCI as so-and-so s grant. One potential problem arises from this in that grant ownership could translate to TSCI ownership. In sum, the project director needs both political experience and internal resources to manage a change effort such as the TSCI. The Role of Counselor Education Faculty Faculty roles differ across the six sites: some sites have institutional requirements that faculty maintain significant teaching loads and others require intense research agendas including securing external funds. One consistent faculty issue that emerged across the sites is that the school counseling programs are located within larger departments. Most departmental faculty backgrounds lie in mental health rather than school counseling. Consequently, few faculty members have experience within the K-12 school setting. I m the only person on the team who has actually worked as a school counselor, said one project director. I worked in the school district I worked there for ten years. A situation that occurred at one site demonstrates the potential conflicts between mental health and school counseling. In one instance, philosophical and practical differences led the department and the college dean to split a department into two new units. This decision raised challenges for the dean to secure the resources to operate an additional department. The dean needs to find the funding to hire more faculty members to teach courses; faculty changes and loyalties became another issue in the early implementation of the TSCI. Respondents also reported that tensions over the TSCI caused (or exacerbated) faculty 20 Transforming School Counseling

23 turnover. One department reported that the faculty who did not support the TSCI decided to leave the institution. The remaining faculty filled the vacancies with individuals who would support the TSCI. Thus, faculty turnover contributed to the successful early implementation of the TSCI, but there were limited opportunities to change the hearts and minds of the faculty who left. The counseling faculty across the sites consisted of a combination of new hires and seniorlevel faculty. This combination provided both the enthusiasm of new faculty and the experience of senior faculty. The challenges between groups emerge in areas such as curriculum redesign in which senior faculty maintain a sense of ownership for the courses they have taught historically and the new faculty who believe that courses should be altered or dropped altogether to support the TSCI. The curriculum change section of this report describes the challenges of curriculum redesign and development of core competencies. In sum, school counseling is traditionally situated within the counseling department, which is focused on mental health. Thus, most faculty members lack experience that would inform counselor education programs. A first step in many universities involved developing an understanding of the reality of schools, which provides an important base for syllabi revisions and the incorporation of core competencies required of counseling students. This discussion is not always an easy one. Departments experienced shifts in counseling faculty willing to participate and difficulties in engaging all of their peers in the TSCI effort. Finally, faculty demographics are largely a given, but the planning and early implementation of the TSCI relies on a mix of experienced faculty and new hires. The Institutional Setting The different institutional characteristics of research-intensive and non-research-intensive universities affects the implementation of the TSCI. Research-intensive universities (major state and private institutions that focus on producing new knowledge and on doctoral programs) and less research-intensive universities (those focusing The greatest result and benefit has been that working collectively forced us out of our academic isolation. Prior to the project, I felt isolated and intellectually marginalized. Since working on the project, I discovered that my colleagues were not only interested in my intellectual pursuits but validated the importance of my work. more on undergraduate and professional education) are distinctive in their organization and internal decision-making criteria. A researchintensive university, for example, focuses its efforts on attracting high quality doctoral students and externally funded research grants, and is motivated by program rankings provided by the National Research Council and U.S. News and World Reports. According to government estimates, there are fewer than 150 research-intensive universities in the US, out of more than 3,000 institutions providing higher education; two of the funded sites are included in this group. Institutional mission affects how the TSCI evolves in a local institutional context. Most universities focus more on their ability to attract students with programs that will provide good preparation for the future than on their potential for generating Nobel Prize winners. In higher education, however, institutional mission mitigates department-level change. A local focus on students and service typical of less research-intensive universities may be critical to the success of the innovation as it relies upon a partnership between the university and school district to enhance academic achievement within local schools. In other words, sustainability hinges on the degree to which the program adds value to the overall institutional mission. Where TSCI Meets Higher Education The TSCI meets the institutional context in the area of decision making around budgets, curricular change, recruitment and admissions. Budget policies can shape incentives with direct effects on program-level initiatives such as the TSCI. For example, one university provides incentives such (TSCI faculty member) 21

24 as support for workshops, training and course development related to distance education. At another institution, budget authority and responsibility are decentralized. Academic units must take greater initiative themselves to support their programs financially. The following important lessons have emerged from the six universities experiences with the TSCI. THE TSCI HAS REQUIRED ADDITIONAL FISCAL AND HUMAN RESOURCES. The lessons learned from this first year of data collection illustrate the concerns that sites expressed regarding the long-term sustainability of the TSCI. 6 A critical player in TSCI sustainability is the college dean who has the power to determine the level of collegiate resources committed to the program. Clearly, the funding resulted in both program and college visibility across the university, but the degree of impact varies by the type of institution and the relative magnitude of the grant compared with other sources of external funding. The dean at one site recommended that program faculty members apply for the WRDF funds for TSCI. When they were awarded the grant, it became the largest source of external funds in the history of the institution and vastly increased departmental prestige in the university. Deans weigh multiple college interests to determine which programs and initiatives contribute the most to the overall collegiate mission. Most of the funded universities had relatively new deans or interim deans. Some were hired internally (from the college) while others were recruited from outside. External deans faced the usual learning curve to acquire political capital unique to their institutions: some viewed the TSCI as a golden opportunity, while others viewed it as an interesting but marginal effort. If the TSCI is situated as central to the collegiate goals, the dean is more likely to allocate resources and support for the program. There is no unique formula to determine whether the TSCI will capture the dean s attention. However, when there is turnover in the dean s position, the rules of the game become fluid and less predictable. For example, a dean retired at one site and was replaced with one new to the university. Despite the change in collegiate leadership, the program was able to use WRDF resources to leverage additional college resources. The co-project director for this program was also the department chair who enjoyed a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with the retiring dean. He was able to secure matching funds and space for a new technology lab tied to the TSCI. Thus, if a site has a new or interim dean, the role of the department head in implementation becomes even more critical. THE ROLE OF FORMALLY CONSTITUTED COMMITTEES IS CRITICAL AND PRESENTS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE. From the department through the institution, changes in curriculum are orchestrated through a series of committees. The sites used creative means to navigate these changes during the early stages of implementation. One group used experimental courses to introduce the new curriculum to counseling students. Others used institutional conversions from a quarter to semester system to move curricular change through the university structure. Finally, one college of education is becoming a charter college modeled after K-12 charter schools. The charter college will have a direct relationship with the legislature for resource development. Moreover, they will have autonomy for academic changes that occur within the college itself. The focus shifts from university regulations to college and, ultimately, programmatic entrepreneurship. Informal conversations across the college and university lay the groundwork for change. Establishing political connections speeds curriculum changes through the committee structure. External sources of pressure, such as state licensure and certification requirements and accrediting boards, are important internal change levers. 22 Transforming School Counseling

25 THE PRESTIGE IMPERATIVE AND THE FINANCIAL IMPERATIVE CREATE DIFFERENT DYNAMICS BETWEEN THE RESEARCH-INTENSIVE AND LESS RESEARCH-INTEN- SIVE UNIVERSITIES. For example, university-defined selectivity standards in graduate admissions in research-intensive institutions (based on undergraduate grades and scores on standardized tests such as the GRE) constrain the number of students each program selects. On the other hand, smaller and more selective program size satisfies CACREP requirements and allows research universities to enhance their academic prestige. Less research-intensive institutions, which are more dependent on tuition revenues, confront a different tension: balancing faculty numbers and high enrollment. Funds are allocated at the collegiate level to programs that meet or surpass their enrollment targets, which may be in conflict with external accreditation standards. The key issue for innovators is the need to meet revenue targets to garner collegiate and institutional support. The sites that fail to meet their enrollment target could lose their support. TSCI PROGRAMS ENCOUNTER EXPANDED PUBLIC DEMAND, WHICH CREATES INTERNAL PRESSURES. There are abundant employment opportunities for counselors. Just as there are consequences for failure to meet enrollment goals, programs encounter demands when they meet or exceed their targets. When the enrollment increases, pressures for more faculty positions also intensify. The balance between faculty and enrollment is measured in student-faculty ratios, class sizes, faculty course loads and student credit hours generated per faculty member. The TSCI and external accreditation agencies require smaller student-faculty ratios in graduate classes, practicum experiences and internships. In many cases, the dean determines whether or not more faculty members are allocated to the program, in effect determining the TSCI s capacity to serve the state s needs. Both research-intensive and non-researchintensive universities maintain strict and traditional employment practices. Included in this context are the reward structures for promotion and tenure. Consistently, respondents described the tension between a labor-intensive effort such TSCI project director and The Ohio State University evaluation team member as the TSCI and the need to publish or perish. Two sites project directors are recently hired assistant professors that spend their time on the TSCI implementation rather than the publications that will safeguard their professional future. In contrast, at other sites, senior faculty are collaborating with junior faculty in the collection of TSCI data for publications. This both motivates and encourages junior faculty to contribute to the TSCI. Universities also determine who teaches at the university level. The involvement of the community in school counseling proposed by The Education Trust encourages the involvement of practicing counselors and staff from community agencies in teaching ranging from guest lecturers to adjunct faculty. At some sites, this is not always possible. For example, one university requires that all graduate class instructors have a doctorate. This limits efforts to involve school counselors as adjunct faculty, as they are more likely to hold master s degrees. Implications The TSCI s emphasis on the overhaul of graduate education can occur if change agents recognize the political and cultural environment in which they operate. The cultural values embraced by universities, such as increased prestige gener- 23

26 I see the WRDF [Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund] project as a piece of a larger model for a comprehensive new direction in teacher training. What I credit them most with is the partnership aspect of the model, which is important because an emphasis on partnerships is the only way an Initiative becomes institutionalized. That is also the only way an Initiative continues when there is a change in personnel. (Dean, College of Education) ated by program quality, can serve to encourage or discourage programmatic change, as can local criteria for salary increases and promotion opportunities. Effective administrator and faculty change agents understand these cultural values and develop the links between the innovation effort and the institutional ideals. Our data show that the TSCI was promoted by faculty advocates who used informal and formal relationships to make the curriculum change occur and to involve administrators at the department and collegiate level to enhance their work. This suggests that individuals with existing political capital within an institution are better situated to implement change than those recently hired. The following summary shows what we learned about how the college and university political and cultural environments can be used to smooth the transition of school counseling from a mental health to academic achievement model within higher education. EFFECTIVE INNOVATIONS WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY CLEARLY TARGET THE CORE MISSIONS OF TEACHING, RESEARCH AND SERVICE. University change agents must consider the institutional goals related to these core areas. Furthermore, they should recognize how the TSCI links to these core areas and how it threatens them. External funding lends credibility and legitimacy for academic departments and institutions. THE MAJOR FOCUS OF THE TSCI IS AT THE DEPART- MENT LEVEL BUT BOTH THE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LEVELS AFFECT THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF THE INNOVATION. Universities rely on hierarchical structures to conduct their daily business and achieve their goals. The rules established by the university can impede or facilitate successful implementation of the TSCI. THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR FACILI- TATES CURRICULAR CHANGE. The department chair has the capacity to move the TSCI throughout the college and university. This individual should understand the political environment and the TSCI. THE COLLEGE DEAN IS CRUCIAL FOR THE DEVELOP- MENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF THE TSCI. The dean controls staffing and other resources at most sites. The political experience of the dean within your institution should be considered. Sites could leverage the role of the department chair to develop support for the TSCI. THE REWARD STRUCTURE OF THE INSTITUTION DIC- TATES THE DEGREE TO WHICH JUNIOR FACULTY CAN PARTICIPATE IN A MAJOR INNOVATION. Promotion and tenure rely on the number of publications that faculty members generate. All the sites indicated that they are making efforts to change how faculty work is evaluated and rewarded to include involvement in innovations such as the TSCI. However, institutional change is slow, and faculty members are still rewarded on their publication numbers. A MIXTURE OF SEASONED VETERANS AND JUNIOR FACULTY IS IMPORTANT FOR THE ENTHUSIASM AND POLITICAL NAVIGATION OF THE TSCI. Newly hired faculty may lack the political expertise within a given department to promote an innovation such as the TSCI. However, they provide enthusiasm for new projects. Experienced faculty members have established relationships within the department and institution to facilitate the TSCI. Success relies on a blending of both types of faculty. 24 Transforming School Counseling

27 for IV.Partnering Change One co-project director hired from the local school district selected the individual who assumed her district job as her co-director. The co-directors shared a long-standing positive working relationship that could facilitate the universitydistrict partnership for the TSCI. Overview (School counseling faculty member) Recognizing the massive scale on which institutional change would need to occur led The Education Trust to recast the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) efforts into a series of smaller, less threatening problems to enable site players to identify discrete, controllable opportunities. A major vehicle for bringing about the changes sought by the TSCI is the creation of cross-sector partnerships. Three of the eight Essential Elements for Change 7 focused on the use of partnership relationships for specific purposes: Create working partnerships involving the university, local school district(s) and state education agencies to ensure cross-sector agreement about what school counselors should know and be able to do in their work with students in school settings; Establish working relationships among universities and community agencies to ensure that (a) all K-12 students have access to the best available counseling and academic enrichment resources in their communities, and (b) players from the university and school district have opportunities for learning about diverse cultures, including their unique needs and support systems; and Develop working relationships with state departments to ensure that certification changes needed for school counselor training are instituted and supported and that research is conducted to inform program revisions. Partnerships among public organizations can take a number of forms that vary in the degree of formality, the ranges of resources that are exchanged and patterns of influence. In the TSCI, mutual adjustment focuses on professionals coming together as part of an informal committee to reach common agreements to organize for mutual goals. Differences of opinion are resolved through negotiation and bargaining among participants (e.g., deciding on the development of appropriate field placement sites for counseling students). Alliances represent efforts to coordinate autonomous organizations without the authority of a formal governing mechanism. Most TSCI sites, for example, created steering committees that involved designated representatives from the university, partner school districts and, in some cases, a representative from the State Department of Education or the surrounding community. Project staff coordinate various work groups and activities involving players from each sector. Corporate structures, which have not yet emerged in the TSCI, involve establishing a central administrative system that helps to develop system-wide policies governing all members. In addition to the varying levels of formality that are found in partnerships, there are also predictable stages through which partnerships develop. These include mobilization and forma- School counseling faculty at State University of West Georgia 25

28 tion; conceptualization; building trust and ownership of a shared vision; and development, implementation, evaluation, and adaptation of partnership activities. We may colloquially refer to partnerships as involving the development from interest and buy-in to effects and real, permanent gains. Characteristics and Patterns of Partnerships in the TSCI Each of the TSCI site project directors has made a commitment to identify and bring together all the potential players who would have a stake or role in the TSCI. We see the partnerships emerging as a thoughtfully orchestrated web of relationships that represents the interests and resources of each participating organization and sector. The six sites, still in their early stages of implementation, already present a rich array of cross-sector partnering strategies that draw from the essential elements articulated by The Education Trust. At the same time, site organizers have had to deal with unavoidable challenges such as turnover of key participants, matching involvement to the developmental stage of the local TSCI, and eliciting and maintaining the commitment of key, influential people. TSCI Initiatives Focus on Cross-Sector and Within-Sector Partnerships The complex partnering process of the TSCI sites requires that we distinguish between the cross-sector partnerships that are central to the TSCI and the within-sector partnerships that have emerged as critical to implementation. Cross-sector partnerships involve players from different organizations coming together to work on the TSCI. Given the structural focus on mutual adjustment and alliances, it is not surprising that within-sector dynamics among key groups in each sector are shaping the work at least as much as cross-sector work. Each partnering group often needed to establish or reinvigorate ties within their own group in order to represent a clear agenda for change. WHY PARTNER ACROSS SECTORS? University sites were required to form a partnership with a local school district and to designate multiple pilot school sites within the district. The sites also needed to establish relationships with community- and state-level players to promote changes in these sectors. Thus, the six funded sites demonstrated a high degree of readiness and willingness to engage in cross-sector partnering to make institutional change. Project directors and some faculty were, by definition, committed to partnering; the more salient question is why did other constituencies come together to work on the TSCI? Key themes that emerged across sectors and funded projects include: A recognition of, and heightened concern for, the disparity in educational performance of K-12 students by race and economic status; An opportunity to access grant funds and technical assistance to support a direction that was already established; An opportunity to generate data that could be used with state policy makers to gain additional funding for counselors; Increased recognition of the interdependencies between the university and school districts, and the role of the TSCI in improving the quality of those relationships; A belief that the reality of counseling practice (particularly at the middle and high school levels) focused on administrivia and a perception that the TSCI represents a window of opportunity for a profession that appears to have lost its relevance in schools; and An opportunity to combine theory with the realities of practice. WHY PARTNER WITHIN SECTORS? A major incentive is the need to work more closely together on the basic program reforms that the TSCI advocated. Reducing the professional isolation that accompanies well-established routines is a major 26 Transforming School Counseling

29 incentive. Similarly, practicing counselors from partnering districts comment on the opportunity to meet with peers and to discuss common issues. To a lesser (but increasing) extent, principals are organizing around within-sector conversations and information exchanges as the momentum for change increases. The greatest result and benefit has been that working collectively forced us out of our academic isolation, said a TSCI faculty member. Prior to the project, I felt isolated and intellectually marginalized. Since working on the project, I discovered that my colleagues were not only interested in my intellectual pursuits but validated the importance of my work. In other words, groups are drawn to the TSCI process as much for the opportunity to reinvigorate conversations with their peers as to achieve the specific requirements of the TSCI. Issues with Partners in the TSCI Creating partnerships is a difficult task because it initially demands added responsibilities without clear benefits to the individuals involved. Groups partner because of a belief in the long-term benefits rather than to address immediate concerns. There are many competing demands that mitigate against active partnering in the TSCI. Among those that have affected the TSCI projects are: GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY. In most sites, the university, school district and community players are based in the same city, which facilitated frequent face-to-face communication. Sites that operate at a greater distance rely on designated go between faculty in order to facilitate cross-sector involvement. Similarly, sites in which students complete field placements at some distance from the university have had to rely on written and telephone communication, which impedes the development of trust and easy exchange. CREATING BOUNDARY-CROSSING ROLES. While funded sites built on historical organizational relations, few had established staff roles that involved on-going work across sector boundaries. In most sites, this required adding coordination responsibilities to an individual or individuals. ESTABLISHING ROUTINES TO BRING PLAYERS TOGETHER. Even in sites with long-standing relationships, there were few mechanisms to bring people together across sectors on a regular basis. The creation of new mechanisms requires invention and time. A TSCI project director comments: The very fact that the district counselors now all know each other and feel comfortable calling each other is something that is new and wonderful in this district. CREATING SPECIFIC ALLIANCES TO PROMOTE THE PROGRAM. Most funded projects proposed to work with a small number of model school sites. The realities of implementation indicated, however, that not all proposed sites could support the program s principles. Creative new partnering with additional sites and districts has consumed a great deal of time. ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISTRICT PERFORMANCE PRESSURES. Partner districts and state agencies are faced with demands that distract key players from the TSCI objectives of changing licensure and certification to support the endeavor. Maintaining momentum related to changing the role of counselors is difficult in settings where school Bulletin board at University of North Florida 27

30 performance indicators are the most contentious issue. Making Partnerships Meaningful The notion of organizational partnerships embodies a number of principle assumptions that pose practical challenges, such as: RESOURCE EXCHANGE. To be meaningful, a partnership must be two-way. The university sites have additional funding to provide districts with counselors whose training is more relevant to today s students and schools. As one district administrator notes, however, The flip side is that we, as a school district, when offered the opportunity, must take up our responsibility to offer [students who come out of the transformed programs] something better. In the next section, we will elaborate on the difficulties that districts face in making the exchange more equal. HISTORIC RELATIONS. Organizational partnerships cannot work without a good understanding of the other. Sites that have long-established relationships across sectors (public schools, community agencies, state-level groups), interpersonal connections or other collaborative agreements find it relatively easy to mesh the TSCI with partner needs and context. Where relationships are newer, more effort is required to establish mutual understanding. College of Education, California State University, Northridge DIVERGENT APPROACHES TO THE PRACTICE OF SCHOOL COUNSELING. Although active partners agree that the TSCI principles are critical, they do not always share a vision of what this would look like in practice. The commitment of key partners, such as teacher unions and school principals, is inconsistent across sites. The Exigencies of Life in Schools Affect Partnering The TSCI partners are changing the tires on a moving bus, which means that they cannot ignore current needs in favor of long-term outcomes. All close partners are able to articulate the larger vision of the TSCI; keeping it in focus is a more difficult problem. FOCUSING ON THE SCHOOLS RATHER THAN THE SYSTEM. An assumption underlying the TSCI is that counselors need to broker services with other agencies rather than try to serve all student needs with a small staff. However, in local conversations, many site-level players focus on immediate needs within schools and not on systemic reform. This sometimes results in conversations that place mental health and academic performance as competing, rather than complementary, priorities. UNCLEAR AND CHANGING ROLES AND EXPECTA- TIONS. Rapidly established mutual agendas across partnering organizations may result in differing assumptions about the goals and process of partnering. For example, sites grapple with redefining the role of an overall steering committee once visioning is completed and with how to manage task groups once their work has been completed. District-university partnerships dominated the early work of sites but now new players need to be brought to the table in order to make systemic changes in counseling practice. STABILITY OF PARTNERS. Although partnerships involve institutional agreements, they are typically invested in individuals who bear the responsibility for making the arrangement work. The dependency of the TSCI on personal advocacy and interpersonal agreements is undermined 28 Transforming School Counseling

31 by turnover, which has a major impact on both the pace and direction of the TSCI within partner districts. DEVELOPING MODEL SERVICE DELIVERY PROGRAMS. There are no template principles for changing the practicing counselor s role to mesh with the TSCI. In addition, most sites have not leveraged other partners (human services organizations) to extend the availability of resources to serve students in need, which leaves the press on counselors to serve individual student needs relatively untouched. Effective Cross-Sector Partnering is a Contingent Process So far, we conclude that the partnership arrangements at each site are necessarily different and that there is not a single best model of a TSCI partnership arrangement. Site players are selectively adopting strategies and tactics given the task at hand and their local context. All TSCI sites engaged in some form of community-wide mobilization/cross-sector learning during the visioning process using a core set of strategies, such as: Activities to Mobilize and Reinforce the TSCI Hosting one-time events intended to build awareness and mobilize players. A summit on The Preparation of Today s School Counselors was used to build awareness. Creating formal agreements for cross-sector cooperation. Two sites have developed written agreements that are signed by cross-sector representatives. Providing professional development activities. On-going breakfast meetings provide counselors and administrators in one district with a new context for discussing issues facing counselors in school reform. Creating Task Groups to Carry Out TSCI Work Developing an advisory or steering committee to serve as a point of commitment and to develop a common vision across sectors. In one site, the cross-sector Executive Team continues to provide valuable advice to guide the administration of the grant. Creating TSCI work groups and subcommittees focused on key tasks, such as recruitment and curriculum revision. In two universities, a cross-sector committee took responsibility for reviewing and making decisions about student applications. Formal and Informal Networking Linking with other initiatives to create connections between schools, communities, and families. One site formally linked its work with a major district effort to increase student achievement that has leveraged additional dollars and person power. Engaging with state task forces and committees to influence the development of policies and programs. University faculty were asked (or volunteered) to serve on state task forces in order to bring the TSCI vision to a broader set of actors. Developing boundary-crossing roles. Key community and school personnel teach or guest lecture in counseling classes. Supporting ad hoc advocacy groups to promote change. In one site, school counseling supervisors formed an advocacy group to lobby for allocating Title I funds for elementary school counseling positions. Using related community, or other, networks for outreach. Several universities used principal associations in their surrounding districts to help nominate and recruit candidates. Although most of the TSCI proposals focused on the first two types of activities, we see that these types have been a smaller part of the imple- 29

32 mentation work to date than the third formal and informal networking. Site players are using what we call guerrilla partnering tactics to link with parallel state, district and school reforms and to take advantage of opportunities to increase the influence of the TSCI. Most project directors and district respondents point to the importance of taking advantage of the moment and topical interest to stimulate awareness and involvement in the TSCI. There are many areas in the [project] that may have the potential to be diamonds, but they are certainly in the rough at the moment this type of refinement will take years to resolve the major issues Implications (Project director) The TSCI work will unfold over time in the funded sites, but the early activities of the projects hold some lessons for others who might embark on a similar journey without the stimulus of a funded grant. There is no narrow blueprint, but eight implications can be identified from current activities: THE ARTICULATION OF A COMMON, CROSS-SECTOR VISION IS JUST THE BEGINNING. Partnerships quickly face the challenge of making change in contexts in which this vision is not widely held by peers. THE TYRANNY OF THE TASK CANNOT BE IGNORED. Partnerships quickly face the inevitable timelines of curriculum deadlines, admissions dates and the need to get students into the field at a particular time. These tasks distract from the full development of a common vision and set of understandings, although they move the larger project forward at a more rapid rate. THE CONTINGENT USE OF PARTNERING STRATEGIES MEANS THAT PARTNERS NEED TO CONTINUALLY REVISIT THEIR GROUND RULES FOR WORKING TOGETHER. Yesterday s assumptions about tasks and how decisions will be made may become irrelevant in the face of new tasks and events. THE PARTNERSHIP PROCESS IS OPPORTUNISTIC AND UNFOLDS IN A NON-LINEAR FASHION. Typically, small wins in partnering do not combine in a neat form, with each step being demonstrably close to some pre-determined goal. TSCI partners carefully scanned their local and state environments to identify problems and opportunities to advance the TSCI principles. INTRA-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS ARE KEY TO EFFECTIVE CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS. The TSCI generated important within-sector partnering activities that have not been fully explored in the first year of data collection but are clearly emerging as critical to the tasks at hand. PARTNERING CANNOT FOCUS ONLY ON KEY ADMINIS- TRATORS WHO CONTROL RESOURCES. The absence of strong support from, or withdrawal of, key administrators has not stopped the TSCI, which has focused on pushing up and out from the middle. The challenge will be more apparent in institutionalizing change when district and university resources must come into play. PLAYERS MUST FOCUS ON SYSTEMS CHANGE. Although most partnerships have effectively addressed the mustering of resources to meet individual student needs, less impact is visible in the partnering arrangements that will give these students and their families access to broader resources. PARTNERSHIPS BENEFIT FROM APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE OF PLAN, DO, PLAN, DO. 8 Effective sites respond to early failures or diminishing results with flexibility. A sign of a partnership s health is its ability to grow from disappointment. 30 Transforming School Counseling

33 as Sites for Transformed V.Districts Counseling Practice I know that change is coming don t know what, but it s coming. The Role of Districts and Schools in the TSCI (Principal) One of the things you asked about was the status of the district s guidance plan there isn t any. (District administrator) This phase of the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) evaluation emphasizes reform of pre-service training programs for school counselors. However, The Education Trust s work argues for the interdependence of the efforts of universities and district partners to reform the work of practicing school counselors and calls for both schools and universities to address the disconnect between preparation and practice. Focusing only on reform within universities will result in an incomplete effort to integrate the work of counselors into efforts to increase student development and achievement. University programs are dependent on districts in two important areas. First, districts and schools provide the resources for a critical component of counselor training field experiences and internships. Where student experiences in schools are inconsistent with the TSCI principles, the university s training efforts are undermined. Second, schools and districts are the work sites into which counseling program graduates will be hired. One of the important assumptions underlying the district-university partnering strategy is that working together will result in more rapid transformation of both schools and universities. Our preliminary investigations suggest a number of areas that may need attention in the next few years if the TSCI is to fulfill its objectives. Districts as Partners Our data suggest that few districts have policies that will support a transformed counseling role. The TSCI promotes the counselor as an advocate for academic achievement, but in most districts there is no up-to-date written document outlining the role of guidance and no clear job description for counselors, much less one that includes elements of a TSCI vision. In contrast to other functions in districts, such as teaching, administration and special education, there are no distinct reporting structures at the district level and limited district accountability for counselor job performance. A practical consequence of poorly defined roles is that counselors actual jobs vary enormously, not only from district to district but also from school to school. The lack of definition gives counselors little recourse to promote a different set of activities from those that are locally assigned. Administrators typically agree that counselors are committed to making schools better and to carrying out whatever tasks they are assigned that appear to be within their competence. Knowledgeable district staff also note that many current counselors are so used to carrying out assignments that they do not know how to take initiative in designing and running programs a serious impediment to the implementation of the TSCI vision. The Normal Life of Schools and School Counseling District ambiguity regarding the purpose of school counseling means that the actual work of the counselor is largely determined at the school level. At an extreme, some counselors become gofers, manage unpredictable student crises and attend to administrative business in between. Counselors are often assigned tasks because they do not teach classes and therefore have the flexibility to carry out multiple duties that do not clearly belong to someone else. They see themselves as managing the school s little fires (e.g., a student who has become homeless) and crises (e.g., a student attempt at suicide). 31

34 Perceived Counselor Roles With a district as large as [ours] with 18 high schools, you would have potentially 18 different views. (District administrator) We can t go in to talk about reforming the counselor role given the crises being faced by the school community. (High school principal) I feel like, if nobody else can do this, then dump [it] on the counselors (High school counselor) You can t ask to be the advocate. You have to step in and be the advocate That s going to be a challenge (District administrator) What I didn t appreciate was how school counseling was way too much a paper exercise. The academic part was a paper exercise. For example, the credits, requirements for graduation, scheduling. (TSCI student) Source: Interview respondents from TSCI sites, Spring The Central Role of the Principal School principals are responsible for supervising the work of school counselors at the building level and creating a practical definition of their role. Principals, however, have limited understanding of the training and potential contributions of school counselors. Most principals are former teachers and have little exposure to the work of counselors. Their preparation programs have touched on counseling only briefly, if at all. Thus, each principal is left to invent a counseling department and function with the most minimal guidance and experience often based on his or her experience during an internship or in a previous position. While the counselor respondents in this study indicated that assertive and experienced counselors are often able to educate and shape a principal s definition of counseling, this contingency creates uncertainty. Each time a school gets a new principal, the job needs to be negotiated. Principals who lack experience with effective counselors are less likely to know how counselors might help students academic achievement. The problem of transforming counselor roles is particularly apparent in high school settings, which are larger and more bureaucratic, and where the principal may be less able to be involved in the details of managing the human resources of the school. In elementary schools, which typically have a part-time counselor, the TSCI calls for enlarging the counseling role to include more strategic interventions aimed at academic success. In high schools, which typically employ a larger number of non-teaching professionals, changing the counselor role requires redesigning the full array of student academic and social services that are coordinated through the school setting. Teacher and Community Perspectives on Counselors School counselors believe that their role and potential contributions to student achievement are poorly understood by teachers. 9 In general, teachers do not understand how counselors could aid in student success. One high school counselor stated, They don t believe guidance does anything for student achievement. There is also an implicit belief that teachers would prefer that counselors handle the multiple challenges that emerge from changes in the student populations in many urban schools. Teachers still view counselors as the school disciplinarians and rely on them to help manage their classrooms. Counselors believe that teachers often send problem students for discipline rather than turning to the counseling staff for support in how to manage student discipline in the classroom. Counselors also believe that they are expected to be social workers to the family. Parents and teachers, who turn to counselors to help in managing crises with their children or families, 32 Transforming School Counseling

35 reinforce this expectation. And, when there are public concerns about student behavior, counselors are often criticized for not paying enough attention to preventive discipline or therapeutic intervention. Counselor Ambivalence: Keep Doing What You Know How to Do Counselors, like most educators, are overwhelmed with the demands of changing student populations and new school reform efforts. The school counseling profession arose during a period when there was a great deal of concern about helping students with their personal adjustment to the conflicting pressures from families, society and school. The assumption underlying the field is that unless the social and psychological barriers to achievement are recognized and removed, students will not achieve success. Most practicing school counselors received their preparation in university programs where their courses were taken along with people who were training to be family and individual therapists. The new demand for counselors to focus primarily on supporting academic performance comes at a time when they are poorly prepared to meet these expectations. Practicing counselors are ambivalent about the proposed changes in their role. Not surprisingly, many are unwilling to abandon the underlying assumptions that they brought to their work decades or years ago. While acknowledging the changing policy context, they struggle with the new vision and define the ideal counselor role as allowing more time to do more critical one-onone and group counseling. Several expressed concerns about the TSCI because they perceive it as promoting an exclusively academic model. Others point out that it is difficult, in practice, for counselors to separate the personal and social issues that prevent students from achieving more at school and that it is their role to mediate these conflicts. The Tyranny of Paperwork One task that is never ending in schools is paperwork, and counselors absorb increasing responsibilities in this area. The various administrative tasks assigned to counselors are related, somewhat, to the academic goals of the TSCI for example, tracking each student s progress toward meeting graduation requirements is clearly to the benefit of the students. However, how schools use counselors to fulfill academic goals often diverges from the assumptions underlying the TSCI. Counselors engage in administrative tasks because the schools lack other staff to complete them. One frustrated counselor notes that her critical paperwork responsibilities mean that others are hired to do the work that she was trained for, such as career counseling, organizing academic support groups for pregnant students or analyzing the results of student testing data. Competing Reforms Paperwork is increasingly related to the expansion of state accountability legislation, which involves more monitoring of individual students and an increasing mountain of test booklets and results that must be handled carefully, since they represent high stakes for student achievement. But the role of counselors is less often to identify and provide support for students at risk of doing poorly on state tests than in handling the details of administering tests within buildings. These duties range from distributing examinations to determining (by hand) which students are eligible for special status as a consequence of their mandated individual educational plans. Changing Districts: Working Strategies Changing the role of counselors requires more than the training of new counselors. Part of the TSCI is to change districts and schools and create an environment in which practicing counselors 33

36 can contribute more effectively to academic success. Although the current situation does not always appear promising, both universities and their partner districts have looked for strategies to promote the new vision. Three strategies that stand out as successful in different contexts include: WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS. Where school district environments are especially turbulent, an effective strategy is to ignore system-wide change in order to make alliances with individuals and schools who are committed to the change effort. Much can be, and has been, accomplished in individual schools in which principals and counselors understand the vision, are able to communicate it to teachers, and thus effectively pursue change at the local level. These schools provide examples of how the transformed counselor role can work to everyone s benefit. In addition, they show how modest reallocation of resources at the school level can make major changes in how counselors work. In one middle school, a supportive principal worked to assign a teacher to the counseling group to help bridge the gap. In addition, the counseling staff changed their staffing patterns School counseling students at Indiana State University so that one counselor was assigned to crises and walk-in concerns each day, permitting the rest to focus on the TSCI. The teacher who was teaching the education career planning was an English teacher, said the school s director of counseling. She did a very good job with careers and things, but did nothing about college and academics, so I talked my principal into giving that teaching position to a counselor [the teacher] has the backside of that class so the kids take one class one semester, and then the other class. So I have a team [consisting of a teacher and a counselor] there. CAPITALIZING ON SMALL WINS THROUGH PARTNER- SHIPS. Where universities and supportive district administrators are of one mind, they are able to scan their environments to locate opportunities for getting the new vision on the agenda of administrators who might otherwise be inattentive to the potential of counseling to aid the larger reform agenda. A director of counseling in one district noted that a solid relationship established between the teachers union and counseling faculty prior to the TSCI permitted collaboration on a new evaluation protocol for counselors: They are going to go to the reform panel and ask to implement that next year for the counselors. I think that has everything to do with the Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund. USING COMPLEMENTARY REFORM AGENDAS. Local reforms are deeply dependent on the marginal state and federal funding that is available through targeted grants and subsidies. Although these represent a small portion of the school budget, they are key to efforts to transform educational quality. Finding an acknowledged place for school counselors in federally funded math and science education grants or programs to improve transitions from school-to-work requires astute inside work by district actors who are well con- 34 Transforming School Counseling

37 nected to their colleagues who work in different disciplines and projects. The focus of [our National Science Foundation funded grant] is narrower in that it is science and mathematics and that is important in the [state accountability] initiative, especially mathematics. Counselors are asked to focus more on mathematics, stated a TSCI project director. Through aggressive work [on the part of the director of counseling] we were able to budget [NSF funded] training for counselors. Counselors have presented to my staff. Implications DISTRICT AND SCHOOL CONTEXT MATTERS. Effective projects act on local opportunities, interested individuals and important agendas that engage the community, administrators and teachers. They also work on re-engineering the counselor role within individual schools to increase the available time for TSCI work. COUNSELOR ROLES NEED MORE DEFINITION WITHIN DISTRICTS. Transforming the role of counselors requires that district administrators develop an explicit articulation of what counselors are expected to do and what they should not be doing. 10 COUNSELORS CANNOT CHANGE THE WORLD OF SCHOOLS BY THEMSELVES. Counselors are a small part of the school organization; alliances with teachers and principals who are committed to academic achievement are critical. PRINCIPALS ARE THE KEY TO CHANGE. Principals determine how counselors spend their time but lack the knowledge and the authority to make better use of counselors. District support will not be sufficient without better principal professional development. PRACTICING COUNSELORS NEED SUPPORT. Counseling preparation programs are not enough. Districts and states that want transformed counseling must invest in professional development for practicing counselors. COUNSELING PRIORITIES MUST BE ATTACHED TO LOCAL AND STATE PRIORITIES. Counseling needs to be a part of specific local reform activities both at the district- and school-level to make systemic change in the counselor role. 35

38 and Allocating Resources VI.Finding for Change I think the deeper we get into the project, the more we see the need for more time to be put into it, because you realize there s so many other groups that have to buy-in to what it is we re trying to do. If we re going to affect change in the lives of students, then we have to look at everybody that that touches. Examples of Financial Expenditures Used to Plan and Implement the Transforming School Counseling Initiative $15,000 money to help fund Parent Centers $ 2,000 stipends to districts for counselor involvement $ 1,000 stipends for faculty informal meetings, breakfasts $10,000 school team training $13,000 consultant stipends for field placement supervisors (Parent) $15-28,000 professional meetings, national conferences, management $6-18,000 graduate assistants $5-30,000 paid consultants $20-30,000 technology $21-42,000 curricular change $2,500 recruitment Source: TSCI site project director interviews, Spring This parent s remarks reflect the need to direct specific resources, time, effort and money to the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI). The initial push occurred when the Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund (WRDF) provided $65,000 to each of the six sites for initial planning of the TSCI. Additional funds ($450,000 for three years) were awarded for the early implementation of the new counselor education model. The analysis reported here identifies the areas that require resources if other sites anticipate implementation of a similar model. The initial WRDF funding was crucial to moving the TSCI forward at a faster pace. A director of counseling points out, Without the grant funds, I don t think staff development opportunities for our people and the school corporation would have been there. It really allowed the corporation to examine its lack of counseling directive and focus in on that. Expertise, leadership skills, and organizational culture and history combined with start-up capital to facilitate the early implementation of the TSCI. The university and district partners each contributed personnel, time, effort, information and enthusiasm for the project. However, the way resources were used varied substantially across sites. We examined the resources used by placing them in two overall categories: start-up and routinization (institutionalization). The next step identified the incentives and management resources used for start-up and early institutionalization. Overall, we found the sites varied in the available infrastructure to support planning and early implementation. WRDF funds were used according to the degree in which the infrastructure was already in place. The universities invested grant resources in four major areas as part of starting the TSCI at their sites: human capital, technology, partnership and curriculum. In most cases, the money was used to strengthen the existing partnerships between the university counseling program and school district personnel (i.e., counselors, principals and teachers). Start-Up Costs Grants were awarded to the universities, and they developed strategies to move the project forward. Project directors established a set of formal and informal incentives to encourage participation in the TSCI. Some sites provided stipends to pay for participation. Other sites used informal incentives, such as breakfasts, retreats and 36 Transforming School Counseling

39 meetings to give partners a sense of ownership in the TSCI and allow them to contribute human resources and professional expertise to the effort. A variety of incentives were provided across the sites with a goal to encourage partners to buyinto the new initiative. A school counselor stated, One of the best things I see about this grant is the fact that we re getting together on a regular basis and that there has been some time set aside for people to discuss their situations. Human Capital Changes in counselor education required adjustments in departmental faculty. New faculty members (funded by WRDF) were hired to replace departing faculty. In addition, one to two graduate assistants were hired at each site to assist with the operations of the TSCI. Graduate assistantships include expenditures for salary, fringe benefits (tuition and insurance) and physical space. Consultants (i.e., faculty members from other departments) were also hired to assist with the start-up of the TSCI. Often, these faculty consultants donated a portion of their time to the project with the balance paid for by the WRDF funds. The costs for new faculty members, graduate assistants and consultants are not consistent across sites. Therefore, others interested in the TSCI need to be aware of salary and fringe structures at their universities. [The graduate assistant] was quite instrumental in a cluster meeting of counselors to get all of the counselors there interested in participating in this. So, he kind of managed that, set it up, because he s very well respected. He really can get things done, stated the TSCI project director at one of the sites. Technology The technology component of the start-up required an initial investment in computers, computer labs, and training on campus and in the partner schools. A few of the sites also used money to finance computers for counselors in the partner schools. Technology needs varied across sites. For example, at one site, counselors in the Co-project director and second year students at University of Georgia, Athens partner schools lacked both computers and training. By contrast, at another site, the counselors had the computers and training but lacked student data that would enable them to assist students with their academic programs. We had a lab, but it certainly wasn t at that level, remarked a TSCI project director. No, we would not have had those resources We had a small career lab that had two computers in it, although they were both Pentium II computers. Building Partnership Capacity Project directors invested in the partnerships through workshops, retreats, and formal and informal meetings. Most sites used their alreadyestablished relationships with principals and counselors to develop the TSCI partnerships. School personnel contributed their time to the TSCI start-up. Curriculum Substantial investments of time and money were required to change the university-based school counseling curriculum. The re-evaluation of the curriculum required sites to design a curriculum that would meet accreditation and institutional requirements. In most cases, sites moved their changes through an institutional bureaucracy. Others capitalized on shifts from quarters to semesters to make curricular change. 37

40 Professional development is a little difficult to schools, in a way. Sometimes there are limits on time they want you in and out of the building not principals, but the [district]. And sometimes there are limits on money, if you don t pay for it yourself. And some conferences can cost you quite a bit to attend. Routinization Costs (School district administrator) Project directors targeted incentives at the institutionalization (routinization) of the TSCI. Less data about institutionalization efforts are available because data was collected in the first year of implementation. However, the information is useful to help others identify the up-front expenses needed for the TSCI. Faculty and counselors donated their time for in-service training of district counselors. Furthermore, institutionalization requires a continuing investment in meetings and in-service training activities. Faculty and supervisors required training for the new vision. Training occurred at the school sites as well as within the universities. Placement site supervisors were offered stipends to oversee counseling students during their internships. Finally, sites provided resources for workshops and professional meetings for graduate students and district counselors. When we first started out, we devoted a lot of time at faculty meetings to talking about the grant, and we also had a lot of meetings in addition to regularly scheduled faculty meetings to discuss things going on with the initiative and our progress and talk about issues involved, said one TSCI project director. Routine administrative tasks, which occupied a substantial amount of time for the project director and other faculty, were also included in the cost analysis. The Education Trust and WRDF required that sites provide progress reports. In addition, institutions require project directors to account for the use of external funds. The attention to administrative detail also includes designing and implementing training for second year graduate students to mentor first year students and monitoring the requirements for accreditation. Each of the programs must spend time reporting to, and preparing for, the reviews of between two and four external accrediting bodies that govern curriculum, in addition to whatever reporting and accountability for program change are required within the institution. The administrative tasks directed at new student recruitment absorbed at least hours. The recruitment was shared between the university and the district, including graduate student candidate interviews. Challenges for Sustainability There s no question that we could not sustain the kind of interaction that we ve had, and that we will have, during these three years without some outside help, some additional money, stated a TSCI project director. Two major challenges remain for the TSCI sites: maintenance of financial resources and maintenance of partner enthusiasm. First, the sites estimated that an additional hours in faculty time would be needed for recruitment, admission, supervision and mentoring of students in the TSCI model. Second, some estimates suggest that TSCI costs approximately 25% more in fiscal and human resources than traditional school counseling programs. Third, universities support initiatives linked with their institutional missions. Future funds from the university depend upon this linkage. Finally, if the relationships and goals (i.e., infrastructure) existed prior to the TSCI, start-up costs were not increased. Rather, the TSCI funds were used to support what was already occurring. Maintaining enthusiasm becomes somewhat more difficult to measure. Sites must continue to build their relationships and facilitate the adjustment to a new curriculum and counselor role. The TSCI requires fine-tuning over time that will also keep people focused on program success and accepting risks. Again, the pre-established relationship should facilitate enthusiasm. 38 Transforming School Counseling

41 Summary The TSCI requires an investment of time, money and commitment. The cost analysis provided for this report suggests that those sites already committed to the goals of the TSCI and relationships with the local school district required less start-up investment than those without the infrastructure. However, the initial $65,000 for planning and $450,000 for three years of early implementation moved the TSCI further along at these sites. A pre-existing partnership and goal structure allows others contemplating the TSCI the option to use resources to strengthen programs and relationships. Furthermore, when sites consider what investment is necessary to plan and implement the TSCI, individuals must be prepared to estimate the non-tangible resources such as time, level of effort and enthusiasm, expertise and knowledge of the interorganizational culture. The money from the TSCI is essentially supporting what was already occurring. Thus, the additional expenses (above the cost of the original model) would be reflected in the budgets, which includes technology support, graduate assistantships and professional development activities. A consistent theme across the sites was that the TSCI was in progress in some form prior to the TSCI grant funds being awarded. A frequent refrain heard across the sites was this fits with what we re doing and it takes us to the next level. Some sites started by re-thinking their counselor education programs, in some cases for CACREP accreditation. Others started with existing relationships between the university and school district. The sum result is that the sites used WRDF funds to implement changes and to strengthen existing partnerships. Consequently, the sites did not expend early efforts in building the idea. Use of Funds The fund provided $65,000 per site for planning and $450,000 for three years for implementation. Sites used funds for these start-up costs: Human Capital Technology Building Partnership Capacity Curriculum Source: Interviews with site project directors, Spring Implications: Finding and Allocating Resources for TSCI LEARN WHAT IT WILL COST YOUR UNIVERSITY. Identify human resources, technology, partnership building and curriculum costs for your institution. SCAN THE ENVIRONMENT FOR AVAILABLE RESOURCES AND LEVERAGE THEM TIME, PEOPLE AND MONEY. Find alternative sources of external funds and use them to solicit additional money, space, faculty and graduate assistants at your university. SET CONCRETE DEADLINES FOR DISCRETE TASKS SUCH AS COURSE REVISIONS TO MAXIMIZE EFFECTIVE USE OF PEOPLE AND MAINTAIN THEIR ENTHUSIASM FOR THE PROJECT. Concrete deadlines cost less and force you to handle issues related to curricular change. TARGET SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE MULTI-AGENDA UNIVERSITY. Use the resources to secure further resources. Tap into current college and university programs and goals. CLEARLY DEFINE AND ARTICULATE THE ROLES OF THE UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS. Determine what level of participation you expect from all the TSCI stakeholders in the planning and implementation of the TSCI. MOTIVATE AND STIMULATE YOUR HUMAN RESOURCES BY REWARDING AND CELEBRATING THE LITTLE VICTORIES THROUGHOUT THE EFFORT. People get burned out. Try to avoid this by reminding your teams that you are indeed making progress. 39

42 VII.A Guide to Program Change in Counselor Preparation Programs The six funded projects demonstrate that it is possible to create substantial movement toward the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI) goals in a short period of time. Their work and reflection lead to a number of important lessons that will influence their own development, but also suggest strategic guidelines for other institutions that wish to initiate similar reforms. We summarized the action implications within each of the sections in which we report our findings. Here we present a half-dozen lessons that draw from the analysis presented in the previous sections. Lesson 1 Negotiate Your Institutional Context and the Politics of Program Change TIE THE TSCI TO COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY GOALS. If your college is focused on academic achievement and community outreach, show other faculty and administrators how the TSCI links to these goals. Understand how this grant compares to other resources generated across the institution. SCAN THE ENVIRONMENT TO SEE HOW YOUR PROGRAM IS SITUATED WITHIN YOUR COLLEGE AND INSTITUTION. Is this a revenue-generating program? Does it have the fiscal and human resources to implement this effort? INVOLVE YOUR DEPARTMENT CHAIR AS A TSCI CHAMPION. The chair is your direct link to the dean. Let your chair introduce the TSCI to the dean and include both in frequent conversations about the TSCI s progress. LEARN THE INFORMAL RULES FOR NEGOTIATING THE UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT. Whether it is experimental courses or transitions from quarters to semesters, your project director needs both the political acumen and experience to manage this change through the system. USE DATA TO INCREASE INTERNAL MOTIVATION AND EXTERNAL RECOGNITION. Faculty who see the TSCI as a vehicle for developing presentations at conferences and in journals are motivated to participate and generate internal support. BRING THE DEAN TO THE TSCI TABLE. Future resources such as space, equipment, money and staffing rely on the TSCI s relationship with the dean. Lesson 2 Use Guerrilla Partnering Tactics to Strengthen Local Support for Reformed Counselor Roles CREATE AND SUSTAIN MEANINGFUL FORMAL PARTNERSHIPS. Bringing key partners to generate a vision is important; developing significant tasks for partners during implementation is needed to continue support. SCAN THE ENVIRONMENT TO LOOK FOR ALLIES. Groups that need to be involved at the beginning will not always provide the energy for expanding the TSCI principles. Networks must grow to expand influence. INVOLVE KEY INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE, BUT BE PREPARED FOR TURNOVER. Do not assume that individuals represent institutional resources. Be prepared to negotiate and reconfigure your group of movers and shakers. USE AD HOC ADVOCATES. Key players at the school and district level emerge as temporary allies. Find and use them. EMPOWER OTHERS TO WORK ON PARTNERSHIPS. No single faculty member, no matter how energetic, can sustain this work; use colleagues and practice-based partners to expand the TSCI s influence. FOCUS ON WITHIN-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS. Use key players to develop strategies for within-sector partnering. THINK SYSTEMS, NOT SCHOOLS. Continually draw attention to the larger role of counselors in school reform; incorporate the needs and interests of teachers, students, administrators and others in the larger agenda. 40 Transforming School Counseling

43 Lesson 3 Bring Practitioners into an On-Going Dialogue about Changing Counselor Roles INVOLVE BUILDING ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS IN THE DIALOGUE. Changing the role of counselors demands changing the hearts and minds of others in the school. SCAN FOR NEW PARTNER SCHOOLS. Do not limit your activities to a few schools that are formal partners. Expanding the network requires that additional schools be engaged in the project. Go for the gold when linking with new partner schools that are ready for change. PROVIDE VEHICLES FOR CELEBRATING PRACTITIONER- GENERATED CHANGE. New models for how to do it will come from practice, not from the university. Publicize small successes. FIND AND MAKE OPPORTUNITIES TO INCLUDE PRINCIPALS. Involving school administrators in the change effort is critical but difficult. Within-sector partnering may be more important than between-sector work, but needs to be tied to local agendas and structures. Lesson 4 Use Resources to Support Local Conditions for Change ENSURE THAT FACULTY AND PRACTITIONERS RECEIVE VISIBLE REWARDS FOR PARTICIPATION (INCENTIVE COSTS). Rewards may be major (new technology) or symbolic (token reimbursement for weekend participation in admissions decisions). The TSCI will require additional effort, which needs to be acknowledged. THINK SUBTRACTION, NOT ADDITION. Use resources to remove local barriers to change. Removing barriers such as policies that prevent principals from engaging in meetings about the TSCI may be less expensive than making major positive changes in either the university or the school system. PLAN FOR START-UP COSTS AND CONTINUATION COSTS. Optimism is a wonderful resource for change but do not design systems that cannot be maintained. No program can be sustained for long on volunteer energy. NEGOTIATE ADEQUATE RESOURCES TO MANAGE PROGRAM CHANGE. The TSCI sites believe that the initial infusion of funds allowed them to make significant changes. Deciding what can be replicated for less is a key element of planning in the spread of TSCI. Lesson 5 Focus on the Basics: Curriculum, Recruitment and Field Experiences TIE TSCI PRINCIPLES TO BROADER EFFORTS TO REVITALIZE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS IN EDUCATION. Universities and school districts will be more engaged if they understand how the TSCI is tied to preparation and professional development needs for teachers and administrators. CREATE WITHIN-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS. Involve motivated faculty, irrespective of their discipline. Although gaining the attention of faculty in special education, administrator preparation and teacher education may be time-consuming, interdisciplinary contributions will result in more robust programs. Elementary school bulletin board Clarice County School District, Athens, Georgia 41

44 USE PRACTITIONERS AS PARTNERS IN CHANGING UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS. Practitioners see involvement in developing university programs as a form of professional development. Use whatever resources you have to reinforce this energy. PAY CONSTANT ATTENTION TO EXTERNAL ACCREDITATION STANDARDS. Universities need external accreditation, but often view it as a burden. The TSCI sites have used external standards as a positive force for change, using them as a benchmark for what will work and as a justification for improvement. Lesson 6 Link School Counseling to Critical Priorities SCAN THE STATE POLICY FIELD. Link the TSCI with legislative committees and commissions related to K-12 education. Focus broadly on K-12 actors, in addition to state counseling actors. TIE THE TSCI PRINCIPLES TO STATE AGENDAS. The TSCI project site staff have thought locally, but have also begun to act globally. FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO INCLUDE COUNSELING AS A COMPONENT OF OTHER STATE AND NATIONAL GRANT INITIATIVES. THINK LOCALLY HOW CAN COUNSELORS BE INCLUDED IN THE DISTRICT S ACCOUNTABILITY AGENDA? Prepare a specific plan to involve counselors in student performance. Deliver this plan to your district. 42 Transforming School Counseling

45 APPENDIX A Funded Project Descriptions Site Abstracts California State University, Northridge and Los Angeles Unified School District Location: Northridge, California Department: Educational Psychology and Counseling Accreditation: CACREP; NCATE; State Accreditation Program Length: 60 Units Mission Statement The mission of the California State University of Northridge (CSUN) School Counseling Program is to ensure that public school students in grades pre-k through 12 achieve high academic performance and professional competency. This will be accomplished by cultivating a vision of educational equity and excellence on the part of a multidisciplinary team. The school counseling staff will plan, organize and implement comprehensive, resultsbased guidance programs that promote high academic achievement and preparation for success in a four-year college or university. Project Summary (as of 1999) The CSUN TSCI arranged its objectives and activities around the Eight Essential Elements developed by The Education Trust. Current objectives include: To increase the number and quality of school counseling candidates and increase the number of candidates from underrepresented minorities and the disabled; Redesign the curriculum and instruction practices; Improve fieldwork and practice experiences in the program as well as articulation between field and course work; Provide support for graduating school counselors in their first year as full-time counselors; Maintain ties with the community through monthly Resources Coordinating Council (RCC) meetings; Support the professional development of university and district faculty and staff; Develop a close working relationship between the school district sites and the university; and Establish significant involvement at the state level to affect legislation, policies and practices related to school counseling. Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) CSUN has a number of unique features. The population it serves is predominantly Latino; it also serves a large ESL population. Statewide changes have occurred in certification/credentialing; the state is ending social promotion; and CSUN is very involved in community and school reform efforts. In addition, the School of Education has been granted charter status. CSUN is collaborating with the Achievement Council. The department has 17 faculty with five degree programs, and eight of the faculty are working on the TSCI. The team is working with two clusters within the Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the largest of six sites. The Initiative is called Teaching Leaders in Counseling for Students Success (TLC). Overview of the Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) A Steering Team was created, which involves university faculty, graduate students, parents, school counselors, administrators and teachers from selected pilot school sites in the district. The purpose of the Steering Team is to advise the TSCI. This committee meets monthly. This committee also developed new admissions selection criteria and participated in the interviews and decisions regarding school counseling applicants. Counseling faculty work as liaisons between a pilot school and the university. Pilot school site personnel, counseling students and faculty members participate in monthly cluster meetings to discuss progress toward goals. A university faculty member maintains ties with the community by meeting monthly with the RCC and the Service Planning Area Council of the County Board of Supervisors Committee on Children and Families. The RCC is a collaborative effort among nonprofit service agencies to meet the needs of children in schools. The TSCI is using and building on existing school-based programs and roles, such as the Parent Centers and Organizational Facilitators, as vehicles for connecting students and families to needed community resources and services. A single-session event involving counselors, counseling faculty and staff was held for mobilization and awareness-building and professional development. Representatives from community agencies and school personnel team teach university counseling courses with counseling faculty. School counseling supervisors from the partner district formed an advisory group to lobby for using Title 1 money to fund half-time elementary school counseling positions. The university project director is a member of the state Commission for Teacher Credentialing and is participating on a panel to rewrite the state standards for pupil personnel and school counseling staff. Another faculty member assisted in establishing an Office for School Counseling in the State Department of Education office. Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 25 Applicants: 55 Admitted: 25 Gender: Female: 19 Male: 5 Not available: 1 Age: Average: 28.9 Median: 26.5 Range:

46 Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 12.5% White/Caucasian: 20.8% American Indian: 4.2% International: 4.2% Asian/Pacific Islander: 20.8% Multiracial/Ethnic: 4.2% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 33.3% Pre-K-12 Experience: 79.2% Teaching Certified: 20.8% Counselor Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 20 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 4 Associate Professor: 4 Full Professor: 12 The University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County School District Location: Athens, Georgia Department: College of Education Accreditation: NCATE; CACREP Program Length: 48 Semester Hours Mission Statement The mission of the University of Georgia (UGA) School Counseling Program is to prepare counselors who are educational leaders, advocates for all students, skilled in building school and community partnerships, and committed to improving educational practices through research and evaluation. Preparing or re-training counselors to create elementary, middle and secondary schools learning environments that ensure educational equity, access and academic success will accomplish this for all students. Project Summary (as of 1999) The UGA TSCI relies on the basic premise that all children and adolescents can learn and excel when provided with the appropriate educational experiences. The objectives identified by the project drive the collaborative efforts of the partnership. Current goals include: Strategic recruitment to identify and accept a diverse student body who would accept and integrate the new role of counselors as advocates for all students; Offer opportunities for professional development to enhance knowledge of school counselor preparation practices for the university faculty, practicing school counselors and other school personnel, current graduate students and alumni; Revise curriculum to prepare graduate students to implement the new vision for school counseling; Enhance community partnerships to work collaboratively with pertinent community representatives to address the needs of all children and adolescents; Continue the mentoring program to establish a communicative relationship between first and second year school counseling students and to prepare graduates for induction into the profession; and Complete the development of a technological network. Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) The UGA partnership is with the smallest county and school district; high poverty with a split between high income and high level of poverty; the program has a strong faculty that supports the TSCI; UGA has a seven-year history of working with/in their partner school district; a well-established coreform group collaborates with the College of Education; two TSCI initiatives exist in the State of Georgia; a Board of Regents initiative to transform school counseling exists in the state; UGA serves rural and urban students; a statewide summit was held to provide a context in which dialogue about the new role of school counselors could occur. Overview of the Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) A Planning Team involving the university co-directors, counseling faculty, school counselors, principals, a districtlevel administrator, a juvenile court judge, a minister from the community and members of the P-16 Council was created to develop the TSCI, to build awareness and buy-in, and to discuss and plan implementation. The Planning Team no longer meets. A committee of university and school personnel identifies prospective candidates and reviews applications of candidates for the counselor preparation program. Selected counselor education faculty members spend time in the public schools meeting regularly with practicing counselors and administrators. The TSCI is using and building on the pre-existing Clarke County Counselors Collaborative, which involves the co-project directors from the university, area practicing counselors, counseling graduate students and counseling faculty. The Collaborative provides ongoing professional development, particularly related to the use of technology. University faculty hosted a Best Practices Conference and Counselor Academy to provide in-service training for counseling graduate students, practicing counselors, counseling faculty and program alumni. University faculty hosted a counselor/principal luncheon to outline both the components of the TSCI grant and a new vision for school counseling. University faculty hosted a Community Caucus involving community representatives, parents and school personnel. Participants at the Caucus were provided with information about the changing demographics in the county and discussed what that means for the schools and the community. The university project director is a member of the area P-16 Council, which is concerned with student performance. 44 Transforming School Counseling

47 Counseling faculty, current students and community representatives participated in the Child Watch Tour to better understand the living conditions of some of the students enrolled in their partner school district. Counseling faculty from UGA and SUWG participated in a statewide Summit hosted by the Board of Regents to discuss the new role of school counselors. Participants included representatives from the Regents, college deans, practicing counselors, counseling doctoral students and representatives from the Georgia Department of Education. A mentoring committee involving counseling educators and a state-level school counseling association was created to provide mentoring relationships for recent school counseling graduates during their induction year. Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 12 Applicants: 55 Admitted: 12 Gender: Female: 10 Male: 1 Not Available: 1 Age: Average: 33.6 Median: 31.0 Range: Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 18.2% White/Caucasian: 72.7% American Indian: 0.0% International: 0.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.0% Multiracial/Ethnic: 0.0% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 9.1% Pre-K-12 Experience: 72.7% Teaching Certified: 27.3% Counselor Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 6 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 2 Associate Professor: 2 Full Professor: 2 Counseling students at State University of West Georgia State University of West Georgia and Clayton County Public Schools Location: Carrollton, Georgia Department: Counseling and Educational Psychology Accreditation: NCATE; PSC; CACREP accredited as of March Program Length: 48 Semester Hours Mission Statement The mission of the State University of West Georgia (SUWG) School Counselor Program is to educate school counselors who, through leadership, advocacy, collaboration and use of data, will identify and remove barriers to equal access to educational and career opportunities for all students. Preparing school counselors who are skilled in needs assessment, effective in providing equal resources for all students, and dedicated to high academic achievement, career success and personal/social development of all students will accomplish this. Project Summary (as of 1999) The SUWG Advocacy Achievement Model seeks to ensure that students are trained as professional school counselors who meet the needs of all schoolage youth. The newly adopted mission statement guides the interview and selection process for candidates to the program. Current objectives of the TSCI are: Final refinement of the curriculum that includes a media technology course and objectives on every course syllabi to meet the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) technology competencies; Design a vehicle for induction into the profession and continue support of graduates and practitioners in the field of professional school counseling; Develop strategic alliances between the University and community partners through the Clayton County Collaborative Authority; Use the mission statement to help all undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Education develop a belief system that supports self-efficacy in academic domains and the idea that all students are capable of learning; and Coordinate with the State Department of Education to obtain endorsement of the role of the professional school counselor as a transformational counselor. 45

48 Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) The faculty have heavy teaching loads; enrollment is heavily driven by FTEs; the university is a large producer of school counselors; the program serves both urban and rural students; strong administrative support exists within the institution; the partnership district is 60 miles away; the department-wide TSCI is supported by a large faculty (13). The TSCI is called the SUWG Advocacy Achievement Model for Training Professional School Counselors. Overview of Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) An Advisory Council involving counseling faculty, area superintendents from the partner district, a representative from a community agency, a parent and a member of the State Department of Education guided the TSCI during the planning phase. The Advisory Council no longer meets. Workgroups involving partner school personnel and university faculty were created to focus on particular initiativerelated objectives. For example, the TSC Curriculum Committee was created to identify competencies and to review the scope and sequence of courses. A Technology Committee was created to address both the integration of technology into the curriculum and the use of technology in the TSCI. The Clayton Collaborative Authority, the Clayton County Public Schools and the Counseling Department at the University signed a written memorandum of understanding to formalize the partnership agreement, which focuses on enhancing collaboration between the community and schools. Counseling faculty have worked with the Clayton Collaborative Authority to mobilize support for the TSCI. University faculty members have worked with Clayton County administrators, principals and practicing school counselors to solicit their involvement in recruiting potential school counseling applicants. The project director and other counseling faculty have hosted several single-session events involving both counseling faculty and personnel from the partner school district (district-level administrators, principals, school counselors) for mobilization and awareness building (e.g., hosting a college-wide forum, a state-wide Summit and traveling to Education Trust trainings and technical assistance meetings). For example, counseling faculty hosted a retreat with principals and a seminar with practicing school counselors from the 15 targeted schools in Clayton County to orient them to the goals of the TSCI and to disseminate materials; the counselors also completed a needs assessment to identify professional development needs. Counseling faculty from SUWG and UGA participated in a statewide Summit hosted by the Board of Regents to discuss the new role of school counselors; participants included representatives from the Regents, college deans, practicing counselors, counseling doctoral students and representatives from the Georgia Department of Education. Counseling faculty have offered several counseling education courses in Clayton County, which is about 60 miles from the campus. This has made it possible for more people to learn about the TSCI and the transformed school counselor role. Counseling faculty have held preliminary discussions with personnel from the State Department of Education in order to obtain endorsement of the transformed role of the school counselor. Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 28 Applicants: NA Admitted: 28 Gender: Female: 28 Male: 0 Age: Average: 29.4 Median: 27.0 Range: School counselors Columbus Public Schools Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 42.9% White/Caucasian: 57.1% American Indian: 0.0% International: 0.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.0% Multiracial/Ethnic: 0.0% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 0.0% Pre-K-12 Experience: 60.7% Teaching Certified: 32.1% Counseling Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 13 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 5 Associate Professor: 5 Full Professor: 3 The Ohio State University and Columbus Public Schools Location: Columbus, Ohio Department: College of Education Accreditation: CCREP Standards but Not Accredited; NCATE Program Length: 72 Quarter Hours Mission Statement The mission of the Ohio State University (OSU) School Counseling Program is to prepare professional school counselors who are committed to equity in public school education. This 46 Transforming School Counseling

49 will be accomplished by preparing school counselors to appreciate diversity, view themselves as leaders of educational reform in their schools and in their profession and strengthen their commitment to lifelong learning. They will collaborate with other helping professionals for the good of students and advocate for all students to achieve academic success, choose successful career paths and make effective life choices. Project Summary (as of 1999) The OSU TSCI is based on the belief that, without transformation of multiple levels of the educational system, any change in the academic performance of low income and minority students will be temporary. Key objectives guiding the TSCI work include: Redesign the graduate training program based on the findings from the evaluation and redefinition process that occurred during the planning phase; Create a supportive environment in selected schools where counselors who are being prepared in the redesigned graduate program can engage in practicum and internship experiences and receive mentoring from practicing school counselors who endorse the values and beliefs embedded in this proposal; Foster a review by the Ohio Department of Education of school counselor certification requirements to promote changes that are in alignment with academic graduate programs aimed at enhancing the achievement of low income and/or minority youth; Develop cooperative and collaborative relationships between the community and schools to enhance student achievement; Disseminate a counselor education training model throughout the state and nation; and Identify the knowledge and skills needed by counselor educators to develop and implement restructured model school counseling training programs. Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) The school district is under sanction; large reform efforts are taking place in the school district. Efforts are underway to change state certification to eliminate teaching as a requirement for counseling. The college has three untenured faculty out of five total faculty; strong institutional backing exists; the faculty is working with the Columbus School System as a whole. Earlier plans included working with an Urban Academy but the district changed superintendents and also changed goals. Overview of Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) An Executive Core Team provides advice to guide the administration of the grant. Membership includes the coproject directors from OSU, the director of guidance services from the State Department of Education, and the district guidance supervisor, a central office administrator and a representative of the teacher s union. Ten practicing school counselors from the Columbus Public Schools have agreed to serve on a School Counselor Advisory Committee. These counselors have committed to upgrade their skills to serve as a leadership group for the transformation of school counseling in the district and as mentors for new counselors-in-training. A Program Revision Committee involving these counselors and one of the co-project directors is also working on revisions to the district counseling program plan; a subcommittee, in collaboration with the teacher s union, is developing a Counselor Appraisal Instrument for use in the district. OSU counselor education faculty provide ongoing professional development for practicing counselors from the Columbus Public Schools as part of a long-standing partnership agreement; the content of the inservice revolves around competencies needed for implementation of the revised school counseling program and the counselor appraisal process. Co-project directors have worked onsite with practicing counselors in two designated school sites to foster skill improvement. University faculty members have worked with the administrators and practicing school counselors in the partner school district to solicit their involvement in recruiting potential school counseling applicants. OSU, Columbus Public Schools and the Columbus Mayor s office hosted an Educational Summit that was attended by a cross-section of representatives of community agencies and groups to mobilize players based on a common vision for students in the school district. They also hosted focus groups to discuss the roles and responsibilities of school counselors and how counselors roles might be modified so they can become advocates for all students. Information about the TSCI was shared at the annual Columbus Counselors Association meeting. Counseling education faculty members have conducted exploratory discussions and activities with a community organization, Communities in Schools (CIS), which has an established relationship with the Columbus Public Schools. One of the co-project directors worked on a task force with CIS personnel and district personnel, which provided an opportunity to inform community and district personnel about the TSCI. The TSCI project director, who is also a counseling faculty member at OSU, partnered with CIS to write a grant. A statewide coalition of counselor educators, including the TSCI project director from OSU, are working to achieve a waiver of selected school counselor licensure requirements that are thought to limit entry into the profession. Counseling education faculty hosted a single-session event with representatives from other Ohio universities for mobilization and awareness building purposes. 47

50 Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 14 Applicants: NA Admitted: 10 Gender: Female: 10 Male: 0 Age: Average: 27.2 Median: 25.5 Range: Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 10.0% White/Caucasian: 90.0% American Indian: 0.0% International: 0.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.0% Multiracial/Ethnic: 0.0% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 0.0% Pre-K-12 Experience: 50.0% Teaching Certified: 50% Counselor Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 5 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 3 Associate Professor: 2 Full Professor: 0 Indiana State University and Vigo County School Corporation Location: Terre Haute, Indiana Department: Department of Counseling Accreditation: NCATE; Moving toward CACREP Program Length: 48 Credit Hours Mission Statement The mission of the Indiana State University (ISU) TSCI is to educate school counselors for the 21st century as advocates of change, who can assess, develop, implement and sustain programs to enable students to become full participants in our diverse society. This will be accomplished by preparing counselors to understand the needs of students and their families, design and coordinate learning experiences to meet those needs, and advocate for quality TSCI project director Indiana State University educational opportunities that foster high achievement for all. Project Summary (as of 1999) The ISU TSCI is focused on producing school counselors who are dynamic leaders of data-driven systemic school reform and advocates for the creation of community-based guidance programs. School counselors with these skills will be well-equipped to help close the achievement gap enabling all students, particularly rural, low income and minority students, to achieve high standards, aspire to and be successful in post-secondary education endeavors, and become participating, productive citizens. Current objectives include: Implement a competency-driven, experience-based school counseling program; Attract a new breed of school counseling students; Empower faculty through professional development; Support new and experienced counselors; Make an impact on the Indiana achievement gap through interdisciplinary collaboration; Influence policies and programs through state collaboration; Implement a doctoral degree to spread the transformation process; and Engage pre-service educators in program collaboration. Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) The school district is undergoing major changes; the school serves a large, rural area; ISU uses an alternative delivery system in the form of distance education; faculty have a heavy teaching load; four of nine faculty will retire in the next four years; the university has a new president and dean; a school counselor shortage exists in Indiana; strong state-level support exists and includes revising the standards; a statewide systemic initiative exists through the Indiana School Guidance Leadership Project; the university plans to begin a doctoral program in school counseling. Overview of the Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) The TSC Steering Team meets on a regular basis during the school year to discuss issues related to the TSCI; membership includes the university project director, counseling faculty, a representative from a community agency, a graduate student, a parent and representatives from the school corporation. The TSC Advisory Council involving teachers, practicing counselors, school administrators, university faculty and parents articulated a vision for students from the school corporation. The Advisory Council is in the process of defining a more ongoing role. The Advisory Council decided to use TSCI grant funds to employ a parent to work on parental involvement issues. Subcommittees involving partner school personnel and university faculty were created to focus on particular initiative-related objectives, such as curriculum, field experiences, parental involvement, information management and Vigo County School Corporation data collection. A group of practicing school counselors from the partner school corporation agreed to serve on a professional 48 Transforming School Counseling

51 development committee to plan an ongoing series of breakfast meetings for other practicing school counselors and principals. TSCI grant funds were used to support their work. Selected counseling faculty have joined community-based councils (the Wabash Valley Wrap-Around Council and the Cooperative Services Council) in order to expand the connections between the university counseling program and the community. Representatives from community agencies and practicing school counselors have teamed with counseling faculty to teach counseling education courses. Faculty are working with staff from the Indiana Department of Education to develop curriculum based on the Indiana Student Achievement Institute, which trains and supports school site teams in visioning, data and systemic guidance related to closing the achievement gap. Faculty have consulted with the Indiana Professional Standards Board (IPSB) concerning the current process of revising the student services personnel certification and assessment patterns; a counseling faculty member will chair a new External Committee for School Counseling to the IPSB during The ISU counseling program engaged in systematic outreach to superintendents, principals and school counselors across the state, as well as to the TSC Advisory Council and undergraduate programs at ISU, to request nominations of applicants for admission to the counseling program. Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 14 Applicants: 22 Admitted: 15 Gender: Female: 8 Male: 5 Not Available: 2 Age: Average: 30.9 Median: 30.0 Range: Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 7.7% White/Caucasian: 92.3% American Indian: 0.0% International: 0.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.0% Multiracial/Ethnic: 0.0% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 0.0% Pre-K-12 Experience: 76.9% Teaching Certified: 38.5% Counselor Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 10 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 2 Associate Professor: 3 Full Professor: 5 University of North Florida and Duval County Public Schools Location: Jacksonville, FL Department: College of Education and Human Services Accreditation: CACREP; Florida State Commission Program Length: Mental Health 60 Credit Hours; School 48 Credit Hours Mission Statement The mission of the University of North Florida (UNF) School Counseling Program is to prepare counselors to meet the academic, emotional, psychological and social needs of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations and to assume leadership in closing the achievement gap. This will be accomplished by preparing school counselors to put their counseling efforts into the context of cultural, family and community settings where low-income families and minority students have historically been least well-served. Project Summary (as of 1999) The UNF TSCI changed the way school counselors are prepared by better equipping them to create conditions necessary for academic achievement for all children. They used an interdisciplinary team to develop a new mission statement, a recruitment process to increase diversity in the candidate pool, a new technology component and a new curriculum framework. Issues such as professional development, community collaboration and statewide dissemination of information were also addressed. Current objectives include: To develop mission-driven admissions procedures; To develop outreach efforts to enhance recruitment and ensure diversity in the graduate student candidate pool; Create the curriculum content, structure, sequence of courses, instructional methods and field experiences for the new program; Create collaborative UNF/K-12 methods to support the retention of graduate students and induct students into the counseling profession; To establish strong, coordinated working relationships with community partners; To develop a coordinated professional development plan for the program faculty; Foster strong partnerships between UNF, Duval County Public Schools and other school districts; Develop a working partnership among key stakeholders throughout Florida for the successful implementation of the model and to disseminate information; and To facilitate statewide change in school counseling. Unique Features of the TSCI (as of 1999) UNF is a relatively new university (25 years) serving primarily commuter students; the students tend to be older and employed; there are two programs school and mental health; the partnership with the school district has a long and very strong history; other programs in the School of Education have strong collaborative relationships with the school district; professional organizations in Florida are very interested and supportive; the team is work- 49

52 ing with educational leadership faculty to teach cooperatively; the team is also working with four surrounding counties, thus serving both urban and rural schools. The TSCI is called Supporters of Academic Rigor (SOAR). Overview of Partnering Strategies (as of 1999) A university faculty person, who was formerly affiliated with the school district, and the supervisor of guidance services from the school district serve as co-directors of the TSCI. The SOAR Cadre Group was created to provide overall coordination, resolution of issues raised by the workgroup teams and oversight. The SOAR Cadre Group is composed of the university/ district co-directors and the chairs of individual workgroup teams (who may include representatives from the Duval County schools, UNF educators and community members). Work teams have been created to focus on particular TSCI objectives, including the school district partnership team, the community partnership team, the curriculum writing team, the district technology team and the recruitment/ selection team. Some teams remain active; other teams met during the initial planning phase and one or more members of the team are now implementing their work. Membership on each team varies and may include the co-project directors, university faculty, school district personnel (including representatives from other related district reform initiatives), parents, counseling students or representatives from business and community agencies/groups. A committee of university and school personnel identifies prospective candidates, reviews applications and conducts interviews with the candidates for the counselor preparation program. A co-funded Resident Clinical Faculty position was created, which will focus on establishing mentor relationships and professional induction strategies for counseling students. To facilitate this, an agreement was signed between the Duval County Public Schools and UNF. University counseling faculty and district personnel have worked together to publish articles and to write a grant proposal for another project. An urban professional development school site was designated to be involved in a joint effort between the TSCI and a federally-funded GEAR UP grant to raise the number of students applying, entering and succeeding in post-secondary education. University counseling students will be assigned to work on various projects and activities at this school site. University faculty members provide in-service training and off-site training for practicing school counselors to lay the foundation for the TSCI; the district accessed other sources of funds to support events. Two faculty members serve on the National Science Foundation/Urban Systemic Initiative national committee. Three SOAR Cadre members attended the Indiana Student Achievement Institute to learn about site-based, data-driven teams. Graduate Counseling Student Profile (as of fall 1999) Enrollment (1999): 24 Applicants: 55 Admitted: 31 Gender: Female: 18 Male: 3 Not Available: 10 Age: Average: 37.5 Median: 38.0 Range: Race/Ethnicity: African-American/Black: 9.5% White/Caucasian: 81.0% American Indian: 4.8% International: 0.0% Asian/Pacific Islander: 0.0% Multiracial/Ethnic: 0.0% Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: 0.0% Pre-K-12 Experience: 66.7% Teaching Certified: 57.1% Counselor Education Faculty Profile (as of fall 1999) Number: 5 Affiliation and Rank in Department: Assistant Professor: 2 Associate Professor: 1 Full Professor: 2 50 Transforming School Counseling

53 APPENDIX B The Education Trust The Education Trust K St. NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC In 1996, The Education Trust, with support from the Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund, worked with a panel of leaders to identify what school counselors need to know to be able to help all students succeed academically. In the second phase of the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI), The Education Trust worked with ten institutions of higher education and their K-12 district partners to plan new training models for school counselors. Now in the third phase of the TSCI, The Education Trust is working with six institutions and their K-12 school district partners who are designing and implementing their planned program changes. Mission Statement The Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, kindergarten through college. While we know that all schools and colleges could better serve their students, The Education Trust focuses on the institutions most often left behind in plans to improve education those serving concentrations of lowincome, Latino, African American or Native American students. With sufficient support and a will to act, we can close the achievement gaps that separate poor and minority students from their more advantaged peers. Efforts to improve elementary and secondary education will have limited effect unless postsecondary education also changes the way it does business. High standards, rigorous curriculum, good teaching, and accountability for results are the key elements to making K-16 education work for all students. The Education Trust advances its mission along several fronts, from raising its voice in national and state policy debates to helping teachers improve instruction in their classrooms. Regardless of where it occurs, our work maintains a relentless focus on improving the education of all students, particularly those students whom the system has traditionally left behind. The Education Trust Provides: Advocacy that encourages schools, colleges and entire communities to mount effective campaigns so that all their students will reach high levels of academic achievement; Analysis and expert testimony on policies intended to improve education as well as writing and speaking for professional and general audiences about educational patterns and practices both those that cause and those that close achievement gaps between groups of students; Research and wide public dissemination of data identifying achievement patterns among different groups of students; and Assistance to school districts, colleges and community-based organizations to help their efforts at raising student achievement, especially among minority and poor students. Important Findings of the Education Trust that Inform the Transformation Process The Education Trust used data to develop the TSCI. The following items are samples from the data used to develop this program: Change is in the air graduate counselor preparation program staff, professional guidance and counseling organizations, school districts, individual schools and school counselors are openly talking about and/or seeking change. Change in graduate level school counselor preparation is largely being looked at as adding courses usually courses that have a mental health focus. Changes in graduate level counseling programs usually appear to be externally driven by state or other counselor accreditation and/or credentialing agencies. Most counselor educators have little or no ongoing involvement with K-12 institutions, except when arranging practicum experiences for trainees. Many universities/colleges provide a large block of generic counseling courses as the core learning for all types of counselors; school counselors take these courses with community counselors, rehabilitation counselors, marriage and family counselors, and so forth. These courses often make little or no connection to school, learning, children, adolescents and youth. Large numbers of practicing school counselors are functioning as highly paid clerical staff, quasi-administrators and/or inadequately trained therapeutic mental health providers with unmanageable client loads. The district, the principal, the community in which they work, and/or personal preference sometimes dictate their role/function. It is the exception, rather than the rule, that data be systematically collected, reviewed and used in program change and renewal by practicing counselors and counselor educators who are training new professionals. School counselors trained at CACREP institutions are no more advantaged in the school workplace than those trained by non-cacrep accredited institutions. Counselor training programs providing early and frequent practice along with theory were considered by practitioners to be the best models for preparing students for working in schools. Use of technology is noticeably absent from counselor preparation programs. Collaboration between K-12 school districts and institutions of higher education holds the best possible chance for authentic program transformation, including change in field practice. Eight Essential Elements for Change The Education Trust concluded that transforming school counseling requires fundamental changes in all eight of the following elements, which became the 51

54 basis for the six universities TSCI proposals: 1. Criteria for Selection and Recruitment of Candidates for Counselor Preparation Programs Revised admission and retention processes aimed at attracting, selecting and retaining quality candidates interested in developing new skills to meet the academic needs of all students, especially low-income, rural and urban students. Outreach efforts to schools and communities to enhance diversity in enrollment. 2. Curricular Content, Structure and Sequence of Courses Curriculum modifications to emphasize counselor knowledge and skills related to academic and career guidance for all students, as opposed to personal or college counseling for only a small percentage of students served. Content related to national education reform initiatives involving teaching, learning, assessment and advocacy for rigorous academic preparation for all students with counselor support/leadership. Early integration of theory and practice. Understanding the changing demographics of the student population in America and what it means for changes in counselor skills and knowledge. 3. Methods of Instruction, Field Experiences and Practices Early integration between counselor preparation courses at the university level and training experience in public schools so that graduate students practice what they are learning in class. Field-based courses emphasizing experiential learning, cohort training groups and work with diverse student populations. 4. Induction Process into the Profession Revised methods of supporting new counselors as they enter the profession and begin their work in schools, such as mentoring and carefully supervised practice. Collaborative efforts between K-12 institutions and higher education. 5. Working Relationships with Community Partners Planned, coordinated relationships among universities and community agencies to ensure that all students have access to the best available counseling and academic enrichment resources in their communities. Community involvement that provides opportunities for learning about diverse cultures, their unique needs and support systems. 6. Professional Development for Counselor Educators Planned and coordinated opportunities for professional development related to student and institutional needs as identified by data. Focused and shared understanding of stated philosophy and values for the total program. 7. University/School District Partnerships Working partnerships with universities, local school districts and state education agencies to ensure agreement in graduate programs, local school districts and credentialing agencies about what school counselors should know and be able to do in their work with students in school settings. 8. University/State Department of Education Partnerships Working relationships with state department partners to ensure that certification changes needed for school counselor training are instituted and supported. Conducting and providing research for program revisions. Determining specific counseling skills necessary to transform the role of the school counselor for the 90 s and beyond. 52 Transforming School Counseling

55 APPENDIX C Guiding TSCI Evaluation Questions: Fall 2000 Program Planning Process How did the partner organizations (higher education and partner district/schools) mobilize and create a readiness for change? What is the timeline of critical events related to mobilization, readiness creation and planning, including critical events that occurred before writing the initial proposal? What role did the WRDF planning and implementation grant process play in planning? What was The Education Trust s role during the planning process? What was each site s plan for implementing a new model for training and deploying school counselors? Which stakeholders have participated in planning and to what extent? What were the roles of higher education faculty and administrators, teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, students, community and others? From the perspective of each partner (higher education, school district) what were the incentives to participate? How did the initiative complement the work of each partner? Who and from what levels of the partner organizations is involved? What role do they play? Who is providing leadership, and in what ways? What were the expected and actual contributions of different stakeholders? What factors facilitated or inhibited the program planning process? Factors could include: how the relationship was initiated, the nature of the invitation to participate, goals and how they were established, leadership and interpersonal interactions. What district, state and national policy initiatives influenced the planning process? What was/is the district s/state s policy climate for K-12 educational reform? How has this changed over the past 10 years? How is the institution of higher education positioned in relation to these initiatives? How does the counseling initiative relate to the state s strategic planning and policy initiatives? Implementation To what extent and how do the sites implement the eight essential elements of a transformed academic and career preparation model of career counseling? How did recruitment and selection of candidates change? What are the criteria and procedures for the recruitment and selection of candidates in the sites programs? How do program goals drive the recruitment and selection process? How does the admissions process screen applicants for school counseling? In what ways are admissions process and criteria aligned with the skill and activity indicators? Do the universities increase the diversity of candidates they recruit to the counselor education program? How? How and to what extent do universities collaborate with stakeholders external to the university in the recruitment and selection of new candidates for the program? How has the program changed processes for induction of new counselors into the school counseling profession and professional development for working counselors? How are graduates of the counseling programs inducted into the profession (as assessed by counseling students, school counselors and teachers)? Who are the mentors for program graduates? What do the mentors do? Is there an established structure governing the mentors responsibilities and accountability? Do mentors systematically monitor the progress of program graduates and provide timely feedback on performance (as assessed by counseling students and school counselors)? To what degree and how are counselors consultations with other professionals encouraged and modeled (as assessed by counseling students and school counselors)? How are counselor educators engaged in focused, reflective discussion on the philosophy, preparation and role of new vision school counselors? To what degree do working counselors possess the skills that are needed to assist students appropriately in meeting their academic and career preparation needs, and how does the professional development affect these skills (as assessed by counselors, teachers and students)? What professional development activities are counselor educators currently engaged in that will help them train school counselors for the new vision (i.e., utilizing an education-based model rather than a mental health model)? What were the budgeted, contributed and unanticipated costs of planning and development for the TSCI? 53

56 What professional development activities are provided for practicing counselors in the partner school district and for graduates of the counseling programs (as assessed by school counselors)? What provisions are made for the continued professional development of working counselors in the partner school district? How inclusive and effective are these activities (as assessed by school counselors and relevant administrators)? What policies and practices are in place to ensure that professional development activities for working counselors support the program philosophy/mission/goals (as assessed by school counselors and relevant administrators)? Is professional development for counselor educators conducted in a planned and systematic way? If so, how is this done? Do counselor educators present the results of their change efforts to their peers at professional meetings? What is the overall character of partner relationships? Who are the key partners? In the program/department? In the college/university? In the district? In the school? In the community? In the state education agency? In other state agencies/units? In what ways are universities, schools, state agencies, community organizations and other key stakeholders working together to achieve TSCI goals? What factors promote and/or limit their progress? How were partners identified? What relationships existed before the TSCI? What new ones have developed? To what extent and how actively have partners worked to understand one another s mission, goals, special interests, needs and so forth? Have partners committed to the TSCI goals? Have partners developed solutions that meet the multiple needs of partners? To what degree and how do partner organizations actively work together to implement activities and tasks? How do people work across lines of difference? What organizational structures and procedures are in place to support such interactions? How do school staff members view the counselor s role in programmatic leadership and policy development? How do the relationships among faculty and staff at the sites (school and university) influence implementation progress? To what extent do site-based organizational structures support implementation? What are stakeholders perceptions of counselor roles and their relationships to school staff, parents and other educational partners? In what ways have partners increased their capacity to contribute to the development of transformed counselors and counselor roles? What is the overall character of university/school district partnerships (as assessed by appropriate university faculty/staff, district level officials, school administrators and practicing counselors)? Who are the key partners in the schools/school district? How has the working relationship between the university and the school district changed? What mechanisms are used to create a supportive environment for the new vision? In what ways and to what extent did the school districts shape the transformation of the universities counselor preparation programs? What collaborative processes are in place for universities to work with the partner school districts and communities for recruiting new candidates for the program? What do the university/school district partnerships do, and how have they shaped the implementation of the new counselor preparation models? How do working counselors, administrators and teachers prepare for the new role of school counselors and for professional development for counselors already on the job prior to the implementation of the new model? What university/school system activities are used to change the existing roles of school counselors in the district? What is the overall character of university/state partnerships (as assessed by appropriate university faculty/staff, district level officials, school administrators and state officials)? Who are key partners and/or supporters in the state department or other state agencies? In what ways and to what extent do the partnerships between universities and state education departments or other state agencies (with significant input from The Education Trust) affect the development of state policy and practices regarding counselor education? To what extent and how do the counselor educators and their school district partners work with the state education department to make changes in school counseling in the state? To what extent and how do counselor educators, school district personnel and state education department personnel collaborate to offer in-service to school counselors? To what extent have state policies changed as a result of the TSCI? 54 Transforming School Counseling

57 What is the overall character of community partnerships (as assessed by appropriate university faculty/staff, district level officials, school administrators and practicing counselors)? How does the program integrate school and community services? To what extent do new vision counselors use community resources to broker services for elementary, middle and high school children? How is the program s faculty involved in the community serving as models and affecting school/community change? To what extent do community perspectives influence the development and implementation of counselor education? What collaborative efforts with community members are being made to support closing the achievement gap through mentoring programs, use of data and other means? What facilitates or limits the development of effective community support for changes in counselor education and new counselor roles? How do national, state and district policies affect the implementation of new programs in counselor training and induction? Are there any policies or programs at the national level that affect the TSCI directly or indirectly? Are there any policies or programs at the state level that affect the TSCI directly or indirectly? In particular: How does the TSCI relate to the state s strategic planning and policy initiatives in K-16 education? How do state licensure and certification requirements relate to the counseling programs being implemented? Are there other aspects of state law that affect the counseling initiatives? Are there any initiatives at the district level that affect the counseling project directly or indirectly? How much does it cost each university to implement their new model, over and above the cost of operating an existing counselor preparation program? What estimated additional costs (over and above the regular costs) would other universities that implement these models in the future (building on the experience of the implementation sites) incur? What are the key components that affect program costs? What resources (e.g., staff, facilities, new faculty hires, graduate assistants) are provided by the universities and partner school districts? Does it cost more to operate a transformed counseling program than the pre-existing program? If so, how much more? How will the financing of the program be sustained after the implementation grants end? How much permanent funding will universities provide to continue the work of the transformed programs? How much will be provided by districts? How much will be provided by states agencies or other entities? How important is this support in sustaining the program? Effects What are the early outcomes of implementation? To what extent have the partnership relationships influenced the following processes? Recruitment and selection of candidates; Curriculum changes; Methods of instruction; Induction; and Professional development. To what extent do newly minted counselors have a belief system that clearly spells out goals and values consistent with the view that all children can achieve to high standards? Upon leaving these reformed counselor programs, what skills do graduates possess? Are they fully equipped to assist students in reaching their academic goals? To what extent have the newly minted counselors been hired by the partner school districts? To what extent do the relationships among professionals and the community within each employer site support early implementation and successful outcomes? Have schools bought in? As counseling graduates start to work in schools, is there support for them? Have counselor s tasks in the schools changed? How? Are graduates fully equipped to assist students in reaching their career goals (college preparation, careers and aspirations)? What is the early evidence that newly minted counselors and working counselors who participate in professional development training have assumed leadership and advocacy roles in their partner schools? To what extent do counseling graduates establish community support networks, and what kind of networks do they establish? To what extent and in what ways has the counseling initiative affected institutional, district and state policy? 55

58 Impact What are the impacts of reformed counselor education on early indicators of student academic achievement? Which long-term outcomes are currently anticipated at each partner university and school district? By whom? By grade level? student achievement; student knowledge of careers and how to interpret; and college-going behavior. How do newly minted counselors experience academic support in the school? Do students perceive counselors as advocates for their academic achievement? How do teachers experience the counselor role in school? How has this changed? How frequently do teachers work with counselors, both in and outside the classroom? Do teachers perceive counselors as advocates for students academic achievement? Do administrators perceive counselors as advocates for students academic achievement? Long-Term Outcomes (potential study after year 4) To what extent have newly minted counselors and their new colleagues impacted students school and postschool outcomes? Changes reflected in post-secondary prep and core prep courses taken by students with and without disabilities; Changes reflected in students knowledge of career options; Changes reflected in school engagement (e.g., attendance, achievement, suspension, school completion); Changes reflected in post-secondary applications and enrollment; and Changes reflected in post-school employment. How and to what extent have newly minted counselors, in collaboration with their new colleagues, had an impact on outcomes of low income and minority students? To what extent have schools implemented specific practices and policies to meet career and post-secondary educational needs of low income and minority students? To what extent have schools minimized gaps in students outcomes? To what extent do school staff members view and value the counselor s role in programmatic leadership and policy development? To what extent has the participation of school counselors in school governance increased? To what extent has the involvement of counselors in program and policy development increased? To what extent have school staff, parents and community stakeholders changed their perceptions of the school counselor s role from one of an ancillary staff member to core staff member? To what extent have the clerical and minor administrative responsibilities of school counselors changed and/or been minimized? To what extent have school staff and parents changed their perceptions of the counselor s role regarding responsibilities for clerical tasks? To what extent has the time counselors spend on clerical and non-programmatic administrative duties been minimized? To what extent have the changes in the role of school counselors affected the work of teachers and administrators? Have changes in the role of counselors resulted in changes in classroom practices related to supporting the academic achievement of students? Have changes in the role of counselors resulted in organizational or resource allocation changes that would affect support for the academic achievement of students? 56 Transforming School Counseling

59 Notes 1 Descriptions of each funded site are located in Appendix A. 2 For further information about the elements, see the site abstract for The Education Trust located in Appendix B % of admitted students were Caucasian, 19.6% were African American, 8.4% were Chicano/Latino/Hispanic,.9% were American Indian/Alaskan Native, 5.6% were Asian/Pacific Islander,.9% were International, and.9% were Multiracial/Multiethnic. 4 The majority indicated a preference for working in a suburban or small city/town setting. 5 Accreditation is not required in all states but is typically sought as a measure of program quality. Many districts will not hire graduates of an unaccredited program. The Ohio State University and The University of Georgia also have a doctoral program that meets the accreditation standards of the American Psychological Association; changes to courses and programs in school counseling needed to be compatible with these standards as well. 6 The fiscal issues facing the TSCI are discussed in a later section. 7 See Appendix A for a full list. 8 This approach to planning complex school reform efforts is most clearly articulated by M. Fullan and M. Miles (1992). 9 These comments reflect counselors perspectives on how they are treated by teachers and are not based on interviews with teachers. 10 Based on our analysis, any cost-effectiveness study of the use of counselors time would lead directly to this result. 11 From The Education Trust website: 57

60 Acknowledgements Study Team Karen Seashore, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Patricia Seppanen, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Melissa Anderson, Department of Educational Policy & Administration Heidi Barajas, General College James Hearn, Department of Educational Policy & Administration Vanessa McKendall, Face Valu John Romano, Department of Educational Psychology Leonard Goldfine, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Lisa Jones, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Mera Kachgal, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Eric Moore, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Jamie Peterson, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Jane Schleisman, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement TSCI Site Project Directors Charles Hanson, California State University, Northridge & Los Angeles Unified District Peggy Hines, Indiana State University & Vigo County Public School Corporation Brent M. Snow, State University of West Georgia & Clayton County Public Schools Susan Sears & Fred Bemak, The Ohio State University & Columbus Public Schools Pam Paisley & Richard L. Hayes, The University of Georgia & Athens-Clarke County Public School District Carolyn Stone & Laurel Anderson, University of North Florida & Duval County Public Schools Evaluation Advisory Group Deborah Brooks-Golden, Minneapolis Public Schools Carol Dahir, New York Institute of Technology Canary Hogan, Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Public Schools Nancy Karweit, Independent Consultant Courtland Lee, University of Maryland Patricia Martin, The Education Trust Melanie Peterson-Hickey, Minnesota Department of Health Caroline Turner, Arizona State University Evaluation Project Officer Ian Beckford, Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund 58 Transforming School Counseling