Have you ever had a big problem at your school that you just weren't sure how to handle? Maybe you have a grade level that is running their teachers ragged or you've suddenly had an influx of cyberbullying. You've talked with your grade levels, you've consulted with admin but you feel like you are all working hard with no real plan. Enter the Team-Initiated Problem Solving Model  from PBIS. This is a model for problem solving you can use whether or not your school implements PBIS. Let's explore this model using the example of a 3rd grade team with high levels of behavior concerns.

The first step is to identify the problem. I mean really identify it. In our example, we can't stop at the number of behavior referrals for the grade level. We need to dig deeper to see where, when, and by whom the behavior concerns are occuring. Are most of the referrals coming from the same class? At the same location? Are they "big" behaviors (like fighting) or repetitive "small" behaviors? 

In our example, the team discovers that the majority of referrals are happening at the end of 3rd grade recess when the 5th graders join them on the playground for a few minutes. The 3rd grade teachers note that many of the behaviors occur when 5th graders join in games that are being played by the 3rd graders.

Now that the problem behavior has been identified with detail, it is time to create a goal for change. If you guessed that the goal should be in SMART goal format, you would be correct! As a rule, create a goal that would define when the problem would no longer be a problem. For our example, would that mean that there are no discipline referrals at all during recess? This seems unlikely, so the Problem Solving team decided to look at the dicipline referral levels for other grade levels to establish a norm. The team determines their goal to be:

You may have noticed that the goal is missing one SMART goal attribute- it is not time bound. The team isn't sure how long this will take so it is left open ended for now. However, the team should make really sure that their minutes reflect the time bound action steps so that the work does not stall.

Now we can finally problem solve! Often teams jump straight to this step without really identifying the problem with precision or creating a goal. This is problematic because you might be chasing the wrong problem and waste a lot of energy on the wrong work. In our example, the team knows that the problem is occurring in a 10 minute span of time. This really helps them to target their ideas for solutions.

The team brainstorms solutions that might support student behavior. They decide that increased supervision around student-organized play (like basketball) could prevent many of the disagreements that result in office discipline referrals. In addition, the teachers decide that they will review playground expectations daily for one week in both 3rd and 5th grade. Lastly, the counselor contributes that she can teach conflict resolution skills in 3rd and 5th grades. The team writes down the plan and chooses deadlines to ensure that the whole team is working at the same pace. 

You know those meetings where everyone says they are going to do something and then don't? Yeah, this isn't one of those meetings. Create a concise plan with action steps. Assign personnel to each action step and list how and when the solutions will be implemented. Don't stop there! As a counselor and leader, follow up with team members to check on their progress. Send a reminder before the next meeting to remind participants that they will need to be prepared to share their implementation with the team. 

​So what if your team doesn't implement solutions? If you are struggling with follow through, consider some clarifying questions:

• If the entire team invested in this goal? In our example, perhaps only the administrators are frustrated that students keep getting sent to the office and they are the only ones with the buy-in to implement strategies.
• Are the solutions reasonable? 
• Are the solutions sustainable? Maybe our solution was to have a staff member play the team games with students as the 5th graders transition into the playground. However, the staff member available to do so is on crutches or can't sustain the level of exercise needed to run up and down the soccer field.
• Does the staff responsible for implementing solutions have the necessary skills and resources?

One of the action steps in your plan should be to monitor the impact of your solutions. Let's say our example team had a list of solutions they were going to implement. The administrators or counselor had been checking in on the solutions and their implementation. All seems to be going well. Do you want until the next meeting to look at the data? No! Just like we progress monitor with academic subjects, we want to progress monitor our solution to see if we are getting closer to our goal. For our example, the administrator can monitor the number of referrals that are coming from 3rd grade recess. If they are decreasing, we know we are on the right track. If they are increasing, we know we may need to call a meeting earlier than we had planned in order to regroup. 

When your team comes back together, it's time to look at your goal and decide - has the problem been effectively solved? If yes, commence the happy dance. If not, it's time to start over. I know! You really don't want to. But we need to loop back up to our problem and make sure that we are defining the correct problem, that we have a reasonable goal, and that our hypothesis about the cause of the problem and the solutions that would eliminate (or reduce) the problem are sound. Lastly, it's time to be honest with the team about the fidelity of implementation. As we are working through our process, we can see where we might have gotten off track.

So, this seems like a lot of work. I can barely eat lunch every day, how can I implement a problem solving team? This is one of those work smarter, not harder moments. Everyone on your problem solving team is already spending a lot of time and energy on this problem. In our example, the teachers are spending a big chunk of recess dealing with conflicts, the administrators are seeing kids in the office over and over, and the counselor's mailbox is full of requests about conflict resolution. Most importantly, the kids are missing instruction, are upset, and may even be unsafe. If it's a BIG problem, it's worth it to solve it right. You got this.

The counselor's time is always in demand but there are so many hours in the day. How can you cope with all the demands without sacrificing your program (or your sanity)? I've already shared how to use your calendar as a productivity tool.  Today, we are going to look into the annual and weekly calendar components of the ASCA National Model. Check out my video tutorial. 

Calendars are commonly used by school counselors to keep track of meetings, appointments, and other job duties. How detailed are the calendars that you keep?

The saying goes, if you don’t plan your time, someone else will help you waste it. Calendars provide structure to your program and to your day. While unexpected issues will always arise, keeping a detailed calendar will help you to quickly determine what needs to be done when. When looking back at your calendar, you want to be able to see where you used your time and whether it was the most effective way to spend that time.

In the ASCA National Model there are two types of calendars: the annual calendar and the weekly calendar. The annual calendar shows the scope of the program and identifies program priorities. All major activities delivered or coordinated by the school counselor or counselors are included. The annual calendar should be posted in the school or on the website so that all stakeholders can learn about the opportunities available to them. The weekly calendar shows planned activities and then documents other responsive activities as they occur. The weekly calendar will have a public version that includes all scheduled activities, duties, and responsibilities and a private version that will include students’ names and information.

Let’s look at the process for creating calendars. ASCA has an annual calendar template available on their website. This template is not required for RAMP submission. In the template, we can see that there is a section for ongoing services and then each month of the school year. The columns are used to list the different types of activities. What are the activities that you know will happen in August? In December? Other activities like 504 meetings, individual counseling, and crisis response are ongoing services provided throughout the year. Make sure to include parent nights, core curriculum lessons, groups provided, consultations with grade levels or teachers, and any other services typically provided throughout the year. It is helpful to highlight any activities related to your program goals. You can choose to color code these by goal or to literally highlight the services.

Here we have a list of possible activities to be included in your annual calendar. When listing items like groups and classroom lessons, be sure to list by topic and not a blanket “groups” in every month. A comprehensive list of your annual activities is a great tool for sharing your program with stakeholders. Consider how you will share your calendar at your building. Will you post in the office? Link on your website?

Let’s look at the process for the weekly calendar. The weekly calendar shared in the National Model process is intended to be a snapshot of a typical week in the Fall and Spring semesters. For ASCA National Model recognition, you turn in only 2 weekly calendars per counselor. However, keeping a detailed calendar is a best practice for all counselors. When you plan your time, check in on your use of time, and hold your time accountable for productivity, you create space in your day. When thinking about your calendar, it’s best to think of each section of the day as an appointment. ASCA’s Use of Time template has the day broken down into 15 minute increments. You may also decide that 30 minutes works best for you.

In our example, we see an actual calendar from a Middle School counselor. At the beginning of the week, the counselor knows that they have their daily duties, groups, planning tasks, parent meetings, and school based meetings. It looks like the counselor has a lot of “free” time. However, we know that the counselor will be busy during each of these more open blocks.

As the week goes on, the counselor fills in their individual counseling, consultations and discussions with parents. As you can see, their calendar quickly becomes full. In this public version of the calendar the students’ names are omitted but the grade level and topic are included so that stakeholders can get an idea of what types of work the counselor is doing. In the counselor’s personal calendar, they would note the student’s name as a record of their time with that student.
To make the calendar easier to read, ASCA requires that weekly calendars be color coded by category. In our example, the counselor provided the key for color coding and the percentage of time spent in each category at the bottom of her calendar.

An even better option is to create a pie graph showing your use of time. This pie graph can be copied and pasted to informational materials about your program or put on your website. To create a pie graph type the categories of time and their percentages in two columns, highlight the cells and click on the pie chart button found in the insert tab. Excel will automatically make a pie chart with your percentages. Your weekly calendar should align with the recommendation of 80% direct and indirect services to students and 20% or less in system support and program planning. If yours does not, use this as an opportunity to discuss your time as a counseling team or with your administrator.

I’ve created two resources for you. In the counselor use of time template, I have set up the file to calculate your percentages of time and to create a graph. In the Calendar template, I have created a simple calendar to show how you use your time. These are linked in the video notes and resources. Thank you for joining us today! As always, if you have any questions, please contact me.