School Counseling Program Cast Study Final Paper. EDUC 511

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School Counseling Program Case Study EDUC 511 Fall 2020 Introduction to School Counseling School Counseling Program Case Study University of Southern California Dr. Paul Harris November 13th, 2020 1

School Counseling Program Case Study Part A: School Site Data The elementary school utilized for this case study is located in Eugene, Oregon. There are only two classes per grade level, making twelve standard classrooms and one resource room. There are roughly 400 students and one school counselor. This school is located in the suburbs and has a predominantly white student population at 60%. The school has a 25% Hispanic population. This school is a designated Title 1 school, meaning the school serves students deemed with low socioeconomic statuses, about 67% of the school is designated low-income. Many students are bussed into the school and also receive free and reduced lunch (GreatSchools). Part B: Program Audit One of the strengths of the counseling program is the use and organization of data. Ms. Brinda, the school counselor and the principal, Ms. Londa believes very strongly in the power of data and does a great job keeping data organized and updated weekly. Every Friday, staff come into the counseling office to update the data collected throughout the week, from teacher documentations, check in and check out sheets, and test scores, as well as any information from PBIS meetings. All this data is used by Ms. Brinda when she holds regularly scheduled PBIS meetings with grade level departments and regular Friday meetings, which is another strength. Each grade level teacher, the principal, the counselor and the school psychologist meet once a month and discuss any new issues they are having with students, new behaviors and then go over what they currently have in place, look at the data and assess if what they 2

School Counseling Program Case Study have implemented for a student is working or not. All people in the meeting have access to this information through google docs. These meetings happen monthly. That means every month teachers are able to share concerns and express the need for help or new tools and resources to help their students be successful. I was fortunate enough to go to a few of these meetings, and I have to say they were my favorite meetings to go to. The collaboration between the many faculty members is amazing. All ideas are welcomed and everyone really puts effort into thinking of ways to help the student overcome their obstacles. I really appreciated the reference back to data. There were a few students we had on check in and check out sheets, my cooperating teacher mentioned she didn’t think it was working for a particular student, because of the data, Ms. Brinda was able to print a graph showing the upward trend of this students progress since using the check in and check out. We tweaked a few things on the check in check out and discussed why she felt it wasn't working, but ultimately decided to stick with this intervention because of the data. One thing that the counseling program could implement to fully reach the National Model requirements is delivering school counseling curriculum lessons to classrooms and large groups. I asked Ms. Brinda about this and she stated that it is something on her list of things to work on. She would enjoy being able to implement some social-emotional quick lessons, especially being at the Elementary level, but her work load is very heavy being that she is the only counselor. Another item Ms. Brinda and I discussed in terms of improving the program is the meetings with the advisory council. She mentioned that they do meet, but she felt sometimes the meetings were not as productive as they could be, or towards the end of the year a meeting is missed. 3

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School Counseling Program Case Study She said she would also like more staff and parents to be a part of the meetings to help build that sense of community and advocate for resources they would like to see or gain an understanding as to how the counseling program can assist them. Overall, only having worked with this school counselor and this counseling program, I feel based on the assessment that they are doing a great job. Ms. Brinda is always very accessible to teachers, students and parents. Most people have her cell phone number and she is able to respond to messages as she's out of the office. She also greets students every morning at the front of the school and at the end of the day. She participates in recess and lunch duties and is constantly walking through the hallway. There is absolutely no reason a student at the school wouldn’t know who she was, which is so important. I think it would be beneficial to have the counseling mission and vision statement posted outside her office door for easily accessible information to parents and those walking through the school. She does have forms outside her door for students or teachers to fill out, you briefly explain why you need to see her, your name and when she heads back to her office, those are the first thing she checks for, which I thought was a great idea. Part C: Site Programs and Practices The ASCA National Model is the predominant school counseling program, which consists of four components: foundation, management, delivery, and accountability (ASCA, 2019). When analyzing this school's counseling program, I referenced the ASCA National Model and used these components as criteria. The foundation 4

School Counseling Program Case Study addresses what the program is about. Things such as student knowledge, attitudes, and skills, what the program seeks to promote, and the beliefs that will influence the activities that will be implemented. A key first step to a comprehensive school counseling program is for the school counseling team to create a belief statement that influences the team members and their thinking about student development and the program itself (Kolbert, 2007). This school's belief statement is: McCornack Elementary School fosters a collaborative culture of academic achievement in a student-centered learning environment. We value diversity, civic responsibility and the individual needs of all students. Our students will leave knowing the skills necessary to be healthy, productive and adaptive citizens of our world (EugeneSchoolDistrict, 2020). An additional foundational aspect is having program goals. Program goals identify specific, measurable student outcomes in the academic career, and social/emotional development domains. McCornack Elementary School has identified their goals as: Raise student achievement in math, reading/literature and writing, continue to maintain a safe, inclusive and productive learning environment, and continue to maintain strong community connections. The management component of the ASCA National Model consists of organizational tools and assessments. These tools include things such as: an advisory council that coordinates the school counseling program, annual agreements between the counselors and administration concerning the structure and goals of the school counseling program, curriculum, small group, and closing-the-gap action plans, and annual and weekly calendars to inform stakeholders of program activities. The advisory council for this particular school consists of the counselor, the principal, the school 5

School Counseling Program Case Study psychologists, and two teachers. The council meets every year right before the beginning of each school year. Minutes are documented and are uploaded on the official school districts website. During these meetings, they go over school-wide data such as absences, referrals, suspensions, and analyze interventions implemented. The council also discusses prominent issues from the previous year such as bullying, name calling, or kindness and develops curriculum for teachers to weave into their classrooms as well as school wide activities to increase participation. The year I was there, the school was focused on kindness. Brinda, the counselor came into all the classrooms within the first two weeks of school to teach a quick lesson. She read, “How full is your bucket.” She brought in a poster with a bucket drawn on it, gave the students each a sticky note and asked them to write down a time recently that someone filled their bucket. She then posted up the posters from all the classrooms and posted them in the main hallways for the school to view. This was an activity that was discussed at the yearly meeting prior to the start of the academic year. The delivery component of s comprehensive school counseling program involves both direct and indirect student services. Direct student services are services such as classroom and group activities that support the school counseling program. Based on the example previously mentioned, I would say that this counseling program provides direct student services that support the beliefs of the counseling program. Indirect services can be consulting with parents, school personnel, and community organizations. The school counselor frequently meets with parents. I have been to a few parent, teacher, counselor meetings. Brinda usually leaves time before school starts to have the opportunity to meet with parents. During one particular meeting, we discussed 6

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School Counseling Program Case Study the check-in, check-out intervention with a student’s mom and his teacher. Brinda explained the intervention to mom, then provided her with a week's worth of data points that were able to show a trend in a decrease in behavior right before and after lunch time. Lastly, the last component of the model is accountability. Accountability is the need to use data to assess the impact of school counseling programs upon student achievement. Accountability was mentioned in the counselor interview. The school and the counseling program utilize data a lot and are very data driven when making decisions. Data is kept on interventions, referrals, test scores, and much more. All data can be accessed by any faculty members on a secure google document. The counseling program also holds individual meetings with grade level teachers to assess data as well as school wide PBIS meetings that assess data more broadly. Based on my counselor interview, working in the school, attending meetings, and the analysis using the ASCA National Model, I would say this is a more than sufficient counseling program. The students are the focus of every decision with data to support those decisions. Additionally, the school places emphasis on diversity and the recognition of its students as well as understands the needs of their population. 7

School Counseling Program Case Study Reference American Psychological Association (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. ASCA (2019). ASCA national model. A framework for school counseling programs (4thed). Alexandria VA: Author. ISBN: 978-1-929289-59-2. “Explore Mccornack Elementary School in Eugene, OR.” GreatSchools.org , www.greatschools.org/oregon/eugene/412-Mccornack-Elementary-School/ Holcumb-McCoy,C., & Holcumb-McCoy,C. (2007). School Counseling to close the achievement gap: A social justice framework for success. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin Press. ISBN-10:1412941849. Kolbert, J.B., Rhonda L. Williams, R.L., Morgan, L.M., Crothers, L.M., & Hughes, T.L. (2016). Introduction to professional school counseling: advocacy, leadership, and intervention. New York: Routledge. ISBN-10: 0415746744. 8

School Counseling Program Case Study McCornack Elementary School. Eugene School District, www.4j.lane.edu/schools/mccornack. 9

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School Counseling Program Cast Study Final Paper. EDUC 511

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