21 Day Daily Data Challenge

                                                          


(Part 4 of a 4 part series)
After my trip to Kentucky, to the Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference, I couldn't wait to create my miracle! However, implementing ALL I had learned back at my school was going to be a different story.  You know, real life meets good intentions?   As exciting as it all was, I was on information overload and wasn't sure where to start.  Over the next couple of days as I began to process my conference experiences I knew I needed to get into the data for my school.  As with any big job, especially if it is new, it can seem totally overwhelming. The secret to success, I have found, is to make a plan, start small, and put it out there for your friends and colleagues to hold you accountable.  Because I know myself, and some of you may be the same way, if I don't make a plan and share it with everyone I will probably not see it through to the finish.  So here it is. My plan to start practicing and implementing some of the great things I learned at the EBSC conference.  I have created the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge. I hope you will consider joining me on this adventure!

What is the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge?
It's simple really. My idea is to do one small task each day to get into my data.  That seems manageable to me, when I consider all my other School Counselor duties, and my desire to have a personal life. The challenges are divided into sections, Day 1 is about organization, Days 2-9 are the data round-up.  Days 10-15 are the data mining. Days 15-19 are problem identification and response. Days 20 and 21 are evaluate and share.  I have also included some helpful forms I got from our faithful ASCA website which I think will make the various tasks of the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge easier.  The folder of forms is HERE or you can look for them posted on my daily data update along with the next day's challenge.

The Daily Data Update
Each evening I will post  the challenge for the following day on this blog.  For example, on Sunday evening I will post the Day 1 challenge for Monday.  On Monday I will share my experience in meeting the Day 1 challenge and issue the challenge for Day 2 and so on for the remaining 19 school days. But, if you want to look ahead and see what the challenges are for each day, you will find the list of challenges HERE.  You can also subscribe to this blog (on the right) to receive email notifications when I've posted each day's challenge and my results.  

NO EXCUSES!
There are as many excuses for not getting in your data as there are School Counselors like...
"I've got too much to do, there's no time for this."
"I have more important student issues to deal with right now,"
"This is a waste of time, nothing is going to change."
"My administrator is never going to let me out of this duty anyway."
  "This is just really a bad time for me."
"I don't know much about data and I'm really not sure what to do."

We must remember how important it is for all of us to show the value of having School Counselors in every school. The use of data is the only way to get the legislators, administrators, and taxpayers to know and understand  how students are different because of what School Counselors do!  We owe it to ourselves, our schools our students and our profession to show how we make a difference!

WHY participate?
So why should you participate in the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge? Let's see, it will strengthen your program by identifying goals for your school and showing the value of your services as a School Counselor. If you are part of this wonderful profession, you have heard or know first hand about School Counselors who act as glorified, highly paid bus, recess, hall, and cafeteria monitors, test coordinators and registrars.  The collective cry of School Counselors who just want to do the job they were trained to do is loud and clear. And so is the solution.  Dr.Trish Hatch said it best at my state conference in October,

"Principals don't know what we do or what they can count on from us, so they assign us the tasks that need to be done, that may have nothing to  do with school counseling." 

So we must show them! Each and everyone of us must show the impact our classroom, small group and individual counseling skills have on the social/emotional, academic and career success of our students. Our tender-hearted anecdotes are not enough.  We must use data!  I know this whole thing with data is relatively new and unfamiliar to me, but I'm learning.  I figure if I publicly challenge myself and invite you all along, I'll not just be creating a miracle for my school, but encouraging other School Counselors to create miracles for their school counseling programs as well.

I Challenge YOU!
So who is with me?  Are you ready to create a miracle for what is left of this school year and set the stage for more miracles for next year?  Kick your excuses to the curb and make a commitment to join me in the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge.  I will be right here with you. As a matter of fact we can do this together.  I have finally set up a Facebook page for the Exploring School Counseling blog. The first posts will be about the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge.  It will be a  place where anyone who is interested in taking the challenge can chat about the successes and frustrations of each day's activity, share pictures or resources and can encourage and cheer each other on.


I  will leave you with this bit of encouragement I found as I wrestled with my own insecurities about starting this challenge and my ability to finish it successfully.

I'm ready are you?  I hope you will consider accepting the 21 Day Daily Data Challenge and joining me on my journey!

The Comprehensive School Counseling Program vs. Random Acts of Guidance

(Part 3 of a 4 part series)

When reading Trish Hatch’s book, The Use of Data in School Counseling, I came across the term “Random Acts of Guidance,” and without reading further I knew exactly what she meant.  I have always thought of it as “hit and run guidance,” but whatever you call it, “Random Acts of Guidance” is a reactive approach that is physically, mentally, and emotionally draining on a School Counselor.  Hatch uses this term to describe the approach taken by School Counselors to handling their busy and often chaotic school day. She says School Counselors feel like “their days happen to them; they don’t happen to their days.”

And if you are a practicing School Counselor you know EXACTLY what she means.  Many days it starts the minute you walk in the doors of your school.  Teachers, parents, administrators, and students are all clamoring for a piece of you to address some real or imagined emergency.  There are the drop-ins and the drama, the requests for your presence at a conference or meeting to handle a “sensitive” student/parent issue, or to offer consolation and counseling to distressed students, parents, or faculty.  There are the urgent random requests to teach a class on body odor, honesty, friendship, or stealing. Maybe it is the plethora of non-counseling duties  you are assigned that cause you to desperately try to do a little School Counseling between lunch duty, testing duty, and clerical duty.  These types of days, happening with increasing frequency, can leave School Counselors feeling frustrated and burned-out. You may feel a lack administrative support or your school is too big or has too many issues to address them all.  You know if you were able to provide proactive, preventative programming and lessons many of these problems would be addressed.  But how?  You know the answer.  Data.

The Flashlight Approach

The way School Counselors begin to show the value of their programs and the significant impact they can make on student achievement is by using the Flashlight Approach.  School Counselors performing random acts of guidance may feel intimidated by the data, or feel it is not possible to do or they do not have the support needed to implement this approach.   Take courage and find one thing you already do and measure it well.  The data generated is the start of showing how students are different because of what School Counselors do.  Share your success.  This is what administrators need to see.  For more details read “The Flashlight Approach,” the second of posts in this series.

The Comprehensive School Counseling Program

So you’ve used the Flashlight approach and you’re ready to take the next step.  Aligning your school counseling program with the ASCA National Model is that next step.  The goal of the ASCA National Model is to do more school counseling and take things off your plate.  It provides a framework for building a comprehensive, data driven CSCP that can improve student achievement.  It is comprehensive, preventative, and developmentally appropriate, teaching knowledge, attitudes, and skills to all students at each grade level.  The CSCP should be an integral part of the school academic mission statement, driven by ASCA, state, and district standards as appropriate and providing equitable access to all students.  It should promote learning for ALL and of course be DATA driven.  School Counselors delivering a CSCP should be state credentialed School Counselors and collaborators with parents and other educators for promoting an environment of student achievement.  School Counselors delivering a CSCP should spent 80% of their time in direct and indirect services to students.  A CSCP is intentional, targeting underperforming or under-represented students and promoting systems change when appropriate. 

EVERY student gets EVERY thing

The ASCA National Model recommends choosing your guidance curriculum by first reviewing the standards, the developmental needs of the students, and analyzing school wide data.  Look for real data driven needs related to attendance, behavior, and achievement, not perceived needs.  For example, rather than asking teachers what they think students need for classroom lessons, ask teachers which of the following data identified needs they feel is the most urgent.  The guidance curriculum you create to meet these needs will be received by EVERY student at your school.  Collecting data to demonstrate the effectiveness of these lessons is important, but Hatch tells us there is no time to measure every lesson.  She recommends selecting a few lessons to measure the effectiveness to inform your future practice.  Then share your success with everyone.

Intentional Guidance – Some kids need more.

The ASCA National Model includes the concept of intentionality.  Although we guarantee EVERY student gets EVERY thing, we sometimes find there are students who need more.  By looking at the data, School Counselors can see which students are in need of what services.  The data may indicate a need for a small group, or maybe a tutoring referral, individual counseling, or a community referral.  The idea of intentionality is to recognize the discrepancies and meet the needs of the student. To best provide interventions of intentional guidance, School Counselors need to decide what data will be used for identifying students who need more, what data will be used to determine their success, and when these interventions will be provided.

When looking at intentional guidance, and choosing who needs assistance, School Counselors need to consider whether this is a student need or a systems need.  Can this be addressed by a small group or school wide intervention or is an intervention needed to address specific policies, programs, or practices?

The ASCA National Model

This is just an overview of what is involved in developing your CSCP.  I have touched briefly on some of the content of the 4 components of Foundation, Delivery, Management, and Accountability discussed in the ASCA National Model.  It is important for each School Counselor to take the time and begin to examine the components of your own program to determine where you are in the process of providing a CSCP for your students.  Spend some time reading and studying the ASCA Executive Summary for information on what your school counseling program may be missing. 

I know personally I thought I had this CSCP thing down.  But, in reflecting on my school counseling program, I have done too many lessons just because I liked them, or thought they were cute, or comfortable, or requested, or were just a little “holiday” fun.  I never looked or stopped to consider if there was data to support the lesson.  Because of this I realize I have missed opportunities to teach the kind of lessons that can only be provided by a School Counselor.  The kind that teach students real life attitudes, knowledge, and skills that can impact their achievement, academics and personal/social success.  Now after my trip to the Evidence-based School Counseling Conference, my study of the National Model, and reading Hatch’s book, I am keenly aware of my own program weakness.  There is much I need to do to create a CSCP and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but motivated.  I am ready to create a miracle.  It will be small but it will be a start.  Between now and the last 7 weeks of school, I am going to take Dr. Hatch’s advice and use the Flashlight Approach. I have already chosen one thing I am doing and I will measure it well.  My challenge to you is, will you join me?  Let’s make lots of little miracles all across School Counseling!

Next time, The 21 Day Daily Data Challenge.

Evidence-Based School Counseling and The Flashlight Approach

Part 2 of a 4 part series

“Don’t wait for a miracle! The time is now! Go create one!” Dr.Trish Hatch, EBSC conference 2015

After attending Trish Hatch’s inspiring keynote and nearly a dozen sessions about all aspects of data and how other schools were using data to show the value of School Counselors (and actually adding counselors to their districts) I couldn't wait to get started.  Using data to drive and evaluate my program had seemed like such an insurmountable task, I had no idea how or where to start.  But now, I felt empowered to begin. I had a tool. The flashlight approach.  It is quick and simple and can generate real results quickly.  So, I am creating my own miracle as Dr. Hatch suggested.

The Flashlight Approach: Measuring one thing WELL!
The idea behind evidence-based school counseling is to build an entire comprehensive school counseling program totally driven by data.  But that can take a few years and Trish Hatch knows that. She wants School Counselors to start NOW! 

Gathering and analyzing the data from all the sources a School Counselor has available can be daunting and overwhelming.  Thus, the idea of starting small and focused like the beam of a flashlight. A flashlight does not light up a whole room.  It shines its beam of light in one area, on a specific target, chosen by the person holding the flashlight. So it should be for School Counselors as we begin to use data to direct our programs.  We don't need to measure everything we do.  Hatch says, “Choose ONE thing and measure it well.”

Maybe you will choose to shine your flashlight on something you already do, or maybe a program or idea you've been wanting to try.  Whether tried and true or something new, a curriculum lesson plan or a small group, shine your flashlight on it.  Use the flashlight approach to help you measure your effectiveness and show the impact of the intervention you have implemented. This is your evidence to show how you make a difference, how students are different because of what you do.  

Using the ASCA National Model Action Plan as a guide

The flashlight approach helps School Counselors show immediate results using the ASCA National Model Action Plan.  In her book, The Use of Data in School Counseling, Dr. Hatch suggests following your counseling activity all the way through using these steps and ASCA's action plan samples.

Identify the problem:  Use available data. Maybe you've noticed an increase in referrals in the quarterly discipline reports.  Upon disaggregating the data you find a number of 3rd grade boys with 3 or more referrals and a large number of bullying complaints involving 5^th graders.  You may decide to do a small group with students with 3 or more referrals. Or maybe you've been doing a bully lesson for a year or two and you would like to measure its true effectiveness with  your 5^th graders.
Set a goal: For example, decrease discipline referrals by 10% or decrease 5^th grade discipline referrals for bullying by 20%  or  increase student awareness of upstander strategies by 20%.
Identify your standard(s): Refer to the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors

Choose Curriculum and materials

Implement the Lesson(s): Collect pre-test/survey data, conduct your lesson(s), collect post-test/survey data

Collect Process Data:  What you did for whom, for example: 8 third grade boys, 5 sessions, 30 minutes each or 2 classroom lessons on upstander strategies for 48 5^th graders for 45 minutes each.

Analyze Perception Data: Review and analyze student attitudes, knowledge, and skills before and at the conclusion of your group sessions or class lessons using pre/post-test data. For example: pre-20% of group members knew 3 or more calm down strategies, post-95% know 3 or more calm down strategies. Or pre- 35 % knew 2 or more strategies for being an upstander, post- 85 % knew 2 or more strategies for being an upstander. But maybe your Upstander Strategies lesson didn't show a positive data change. That’s important data too.  Is it time to re-work the lesson?  Find a new lesson?  We don’t want to waste our time doing lessons, even though we may enjoy them, if they are not benefitting our students.

Review Outcome Data: For example: reports of bullying have decreased from 72% to 40%, discipline referrals are down from 50% to 35%

Implications:  Review all your data and procedures, reflect on lessons for the future. ASCA even has a results report if you are interested.

Share:  Make your results known to EVERYONE!  It doesn't have to be formal, it could be you get 5 minutes in the hall or the cafeteria with your principal.  Put it in a memo, the school newsletter, faculty email,  maybe you get 2-3 minutes at  faculty meeting, or a chance to share informally at grade level PLC meetings. Let your administration, faculty, and staff know of your success!  And course be sure to share, celebrate, and encourage your School Counselor colleagues who may be watching how this works out for you.

Feel empowered yet?  Still think you can’t use data to drive your program and show the value of what you do?  The flashlight approach is an easy and simple way to put you on the path to building your data stamina and confidence. Our goal as practicing Professional School Counselors should focus on building a comprehensive school counseling program that is totally data driven.  A program that allows us to provide services to all and intentional programs to close the achievement gap and meet the social/emotional, academic, and career needs of every student.  A program where clerical and pseudo administrative duties are taboo.  A program where our skills and services are valued and no longer in danger of being reduced or eliminated.

I know what some of you are thinking.  This will never work with my principal, or I’m in 2, 3, or 4 schools how can I do this?  Or, they’re never going to let me out of ____________ (bus duty, cafeteria duty, testing coordinator, etc.) not ever!

Have courage.  Begin small.  Take the “flashlight” and shine it on ONE thing, just ONE thing you do.  Show its value. Share. Repeat. Repeat and repeat until you find the support you need to give your school the type of comprehensive school counseling program all students deserve.  A program that is a reflection of the unique needs of your student population, one that allows you to practice your skills as a Professional School Counselor. Just as there are hundreds of things we do and lives we touch that can NEVER be measured with data, there are hundreds of things we do that can be measured. We see the value in all those things each day.  This is a way to help others see that value too.

Next time, The Comprehensive School Counseling Program vs. Random Acts of Guidance

Evidence-Based School Counseling

 (Part 1 of a 4 part series)

It was pure luck that I first heard of the Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference at Northern Kentucky University in Erlanger. The conference title and website intrigued me and as luck would have it, 2 weeks before the conference, they were still taking registrations. There was even room at the conference hotel with shuttle service to the airport and conference center and I found a relatively inexpensive non-stop plane flight.  Oh, and did I mention, it was my Spring Break? It was meant to be.

The Conference

Visiting the EBSC website I found the following conference description and I was sold.

“The Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference provides school counselors with critical information about successful practice, evaluation, and relevant research to create dynamic and powerful school counseling programs. The conference uses a unique format to incorporate both peer-reviewed research presentations and small group consultation with leaders in the field.”

I have been to my share of professional conferences  at the local, state, and national level, but the EBSC conference is by far my favorite.  The conference was small, I would estimate about 300 participants.  The session selection was of the highest quality and varied. There was time for networking, professional exchange, making new friends, and the opportunity to meet some of School Counseling’s “rock stars."

“Rock Star” Dr. Trish Hatch

Watching Dr.Trish Hatch deliver a keynote is a little like being on a roller coaster. Without your safety belt.  The ride is fast and exciting, but you are also scared to death you are not going to be able to stay in your seat.  Not because you are afraid you are going to be thrown out of it, but because she generates the kind of excitement that makes you want to jump up and get started. Her message is delivered at a rapid pace with passion and enthusiasm.  This is because there is so much she wants School Counselors to know and so much she wants to encourage School Counselors to do.  She will tell you our time is NOW.

The Miracle Question

 Our keynote begins with Dr. Hatch asking us the Miracle question.  If we were to wake up tomorrow and a miracle were to have occurred in School Counseling what would that look like?  How would we act?  How would we feel?  What would be different?  She tells us the miracle is happening NOW.  We have a national model and there are national conversations happening NOW. The spotlight is on School Counselors with the Reach Higher initiative, the First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at ASCA, and School Counselors being mentioned in documents nationwide like Common Core. As exciting as these events are, they are not enough. We must create the miracle. We must show how School Counselors are making a difference. NOW.

Speed Data-ing

Dr. Hatch said this was her first time trying out the term “Speed Data-ing,"  also known as the flashlight approach in her book, The Use of Data in School Counseling.  We are reassured we can’t measure everything, so she tells us to measure one thing- well. By assessing a specific data need and providing an intervention in that one area, we can show in a relatively short time, with perception data, the impact we can make in the attitude, knowledge, and skills of our students.

In closing, we were encouraged to redefine our School Counseling programs by using evidence-based practices. When we do, we start creating the miracle we want to see in School Counseling. Don’t wait for a miracle, she tells her audience, there is no time. Go create one.

Next time, The Flashlight Approach

Technology APPreciation

Last Christmas it seems a large number of my students got some sort of technology as a gift.  Whether it was a new iPhone, tablet, or a hand-me-down from one of their parents, my students were getting more access to the internet and hand held devices.  In my lessons teaching about digital safety and citizenship, there were conversations about various apps and websites, many of which I did not know.  So what do you do if you want to know what’s cool and "happening" with the kids?  You ask them that’s what!  So ask I did.  My idea was for students to share in class with me and their classmates their favorite app, website, or game.  The enthusiasm was overwhelming and the students did a great job presenting to their classmates!

 Before the lesson:  Know your cords!

For Apple phones 4s and earlier and iPads 3 and earlier .

The biggest prep for this lesson was experimenting beforehand.  In order to have a successful lesson using technology you must, of course, have the right cords.  I used my iPhone 4s and my iPad Air. Each requires a different VGA cord.  Please see the photos below and be sure you have the right cord for your device.  VGA cords can be bought on-line or at places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart and cost around $40.00.  If you have the VGA cord version that goes to the older Apple phones and iPads and a sales person tries to sell you the adapter to convert your old VGA to the Lightening VGA say, "No thank you!"  I bought one of those little babies for 20 bucks only to learn it does not support video so nothing from the app or games sites would come through the device.

The Lightening VGA adapter is needed for the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 and higher.

Plug the cable to your LCD projector into the other end of this VGA cord.

The Lesson 

Two weeks before our class meeting I passed out TechnologyAPPreciation forms for students interested in presenting to the class.  My only requirement was I had to have their forms back by the day before our class so I could preview their choice.  In some cases, I needed to download the game or app to my iPhone or iPad so we could view it from the LCD projector.  Lots of kids took the forms but only a handful in each class returned them, but that was okay because we had more than enough to share in one 45 minute class period. 

I used a VGA cable to connect my Apple device (it can be a phone or tablet) to the cable to my LCD projector and the students were able to view it all on the big screen.  Students got up in front of the class and talked about their app, game, or website and did a demonstration of how it was used.  Afterwards, there were questions and answers and, of course, comments.    The best and most surprising thing to come out of this activity was not just my knowledge of what the kids thought was cool, but to see my students, even the very shy ones who never volunteer an answer in class, get up in front of their entire class and share with confidence something about which they were passionate!  In addition, I learned about several games all the kids were excited about like Subway Surfer and Dragonvale. I got some tutoring on Minecraft,  learned about a texting app called Kik, a website for making the most complicated of rubber band bracelets from the Rainbow Loom people, and a kid’s app for free books.  This class activity along with one of the digital safety lessons from Common Sense Media opened a dialogue about all things digital with my students on a more personal level.  We had several awesome and very honest class discussions about their personal experiences on the internet.  Later, I had four different private conversations concerning things my students had experienced on-line that had obviously troubled them but they had not shared before.   What a great opportunity to encourage students to talk to adults they trust about uncomfortable on-line experiences and reinforce the safety strategies we had learned in class lessons.

So if you are looking for an easy lesson with high yield on student participation and enthusiasm, one that initiates open and honest conversations about on-line behavior,  is “counselor cool,” and covers ASCA Behavior Standards for Social Skills try my Technology APPreciation lesson.  

Let me hear what's popular with your students on-line and how you and your students like this lesson!

The Good Choices Chart

I was recently working with a new 2nd grade teacher and was impressed with a daily behavior chart  (or a good choices chart as I like to call them) she was using with one of her students.  The chart was large, broken down into smaller time increments, focused on 2 behaviors she wanted to modify in the classroom, and was related to the popular color-coded clip up/down system.

What I loved about this chart is the picture cues and way she had broken down the day into more manageable bits.  This is exactly what I was needing for some of my younger students who were not having success with the morning/afternoon and hourly charts.  Another of my teachers has started using this chart with one of her very aggressive Kindergartners (with adjustments for her student's goals) and is having good success.  This chart is available also in Spanish.

So thanks to Tiffany Quimby (a 2nd grade teacher at my school) and her sister Renee Moncelsi (a teacher in a neighboring county) for giving me permission to share their creation with you.

I hope you find it useful with your primary age students too!

Test Stress to Test Success

My administration, teachers, parents, and students have been stressing out about our upcoming state achievement tests. And with good reason.  Not only is our school grade and professional evaluation under scrutiny but this year we are giving a brand new test.  Gone is our previous state test, of more than a decade, and in its place is something new. But, not necessarily better. The rumor is the questions will be different than things we have seen in the past, like which two answers are most correct or choose all the answers that could be correct. That boggles my mind and I'm an adult with a lot of test-taking experiences under my belt.  Truthfully, those type of questions just seem developmentally inappropriate to me.  It saddens me for my young friends who, it sounds like, will be subjected more to showing whether they can figure out how to answer the questions, rather than showing any actual academic knowledge or skill related to the subjects being tested.

So what's a School Counselor to do?  How do you help students go from test stress to test success? Some do big pep rallies, give away treats, special pencils, or plan big post test celebrations. Others keep it low key and offer suggestions for reducing anxiety and teach some test taking strategies. I have done both and each has its place depending on your population and other School Counselor job expectations. This year I am keeping it simple.  Students in grades 3-5 will be visiting me for a Test Success Lesson.  That's it. Here is  my Test Success PowerPoint  and lesson plan to help prepare your students for whatever standardized testing is in their future.

Good Luck!  I wish you and your students much test success!


Many thanks David Finkle, creator of Mr. Fitz, for his permission to publish his cartoons in this post.

Check out my friend, fellow educator, and cartoonist at www.mrfitz.com
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