School counselors work with all students and provide a variety of services. As more schools are aligning their efforts to the MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) model, it's important for counselors to be able to share how their work aligns with the school's system of support. 

In Tier 1, or core instruction, counselors support social emotional learning and academic skills via the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors. Tier 1 instructional practices include explicit instruction to 100% of student, across all settings. Instructional practices may be adjusted to reteach and differentiate based on student need. Of course, school counselors are not the only personnel to support core instruction. Discuss the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors with school staff and determine the areas of need for all students. Once areas of need are determined, the counselor can consult with administration and grade level teams to develop a plan for implementation.

Providing direct instruction of social emotional and academic skills is crucial for students to be successful both in school and post-graduation. We can't expect behavior and academic skills that have not been taught. Likewise, it isn't feasible for the school counselor to teach all of the social emotional and academic skills needed. An effective school counseling curriculum supports classroom learning of skills that are included in the instruction provided by the classroom teacher. Schoolwide initiatives like PBIS also fall into this tier because they provide the structure and expectations for all students. An effective core  allows 80% of students to be on target. 

In Tier 2, a second layer of strategic intervention is added. Students still receive core instruction but need additional support to be successful. Just like a math teacher will implement strategies to support students struggling to understand math concepts, students who struggle with social emotional learning or academic skills benefit from extra support.

The key word here is strategic. As a school, how do you know a student needs more support with behavior? Do you wait until they come to the office with a discipline referral? How can you use data to intervene earlier? Discussion in Professional Learning Communities within your building may be a great place to start. These discussions may show patterns of student behavior. PLCs typically dig deeper into available data as well and can serve as a jumping off point for counselors. 

As counselors, you are already doing Tier 2 work but may find that increasing your strategic focus may help. In my last school, I worked with students who had a high number of absences, students who needed to improve their academic skills, and students who showed anxiety about middle school. I chose these strategic interventions because I looked at the data and knew what was needed.

For counselors, Tier 2 can encompass work for a group of students that takes place individually. For instance, a behavior contract or Check-in/Check-out is a tier 2 intervention chosen for a group of students. Sometimes individual counseling can be a Tier 2 intervention, depending on the duration and intensity of the counseling. Meeting with a student 1-2 times about a friendship problem doesn't rise to the level of intensity that would be needed in a Tier 3 intervention.

Tier 3 interventions are intended for 1-5% of your student population. These kids are your super high flyers. Without additional supports, they can derail an entire classroom or grade level. Kids with Tier 3 support for behavior need a lot of help and most likely should be referred to an outside therapist. That doesn't mean there aren't Tier 3 interventions that counselors can put in place at the school! Tier 3 interventions are intensive, evidence-based instruction maximizing intensity, frequency, and duration. Interventions are progress monitored daily. Examples of Tier 3 interventions for counselors include FBA/BIP, suicide prevention, threat assessment, or collaboration and consultation with wrap around services for a child. 

So what instructional practices and interventions do you provide? How do they fit into the tiered model? I'd love for you to share!

This is the year when you are going to create ASCA National Model Plans. It may be nearing the end of the current year but start thinking now about how you want to implement action plans for the upcoming school year. 

As we all know, to achieve a goal, you must start with an end in mind. Imagine taking a hike without a map. As you are walking through the woods, you start picking up interesting things that you see. Finally, you get tired and stop. You’re not where you wanted to be and you have all this stuff you don’t know what to do with and is too much to carry. That’s how counseling without a plan can end up! You don’t achieve the goals that you wanted to and you have picked up random data points all along the way with no real plan. What a frustrating feeling!

When creating action plans, we are writing our map for the major work that we plan to do each year. To see more about setting program goals, check out the Program Goal video. The action plans are designed to include details about how you will reach your program goals through core curriculum, group, and targeted closing the gap plans. Lastly, we are making a plan for the data that you will collect so that you end the year with the data you really want to see and haven’t wasted a lot of effort on collecting data that doesn’t inform your work.

The closing the gap action plan looks at a targeted group of students who show a gap in their academic, attendance, or behavior data. These gaps are identified by disaggregating data for specific categories. You may use a larger program goal like increasing graduation rates and drill down to a discrepancy between subgroups or you may write your program goal with a targeted group in mind. Data can be disaggregated several ways: by subgroup (race, ethnicity, gender, grade) or by category (specified number of absences, early check out, office referrals for a specific offense).
Once you have identified the program goal and targeted group of students, it is time to design your implementation plan. Interventions should be evidence based, grounded in research, driven by the mindsets and behaviors, and fall within the work of school counselors. Interventions may include a variety of activities like parent contacts, individual student planning, small group counseling, and data monitoring. They also may include systemic changes like changing the way honors courses are recommended or increasing teacher’s professional development in trauma informed schools.
Once you have an idea of your plan, you can create a Closing the Gap Action Plan. Begin by writing the target group and the data to identify students at the top of the plan.

1. Activities: write a list of activities that you plan to implement
2. ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors: you will select about 1-2 mindset and behavior standards that most directly link to your goal.
3. A brief description of curriculum and materials that you plan to use. You want the reader to be able to understand what you will be doing without going into too much detail.
4. The start and end date
5. Process data: the projected number of targeted students
6. Perception data: how you will determine the attitudes, knowledge and skills obtained by the targeted students? You will most likely use a pre/post test tool for students but could also use teacher and parent surveys.
7. Outcome data: The outcome data should be spelled out in your program goal or how you targeted students. For instance, if you targeted students for attendance, you would be looking at attendance as the outcome goal. ​​

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.

ASCA has a use of time template that will help you to calculate your time. Thank you for joining us today! As always, if you have any questions, please contact me.

Do you feel pulled in 100 different directions each school year? Do you start the year with the best laid plans but end the year wondering where the time went? Today, we are going to talk about using Program Goals within the ASCA National Model to focus your work. Think work smarter, not harder. Check out my video tutorial.

Today we are going to learn about creating Program Goals to guide your work. Sometimes the idea of collecting data and working toward concrete goals can seem like an unnatural fit for school counselors. In fact, the opposite is true. Caseloads are large and there is always more to do than time to do it. Program goals help to focus your work so that you and your department are using your time the most wisely.

Program goals are written in SMART format. They are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, and time bound. The goal statement should be clear and concise. You do not need to explain your goal or include how you are going to work to obtain the goal. Program goals are always centered around outcome data. Outcome data is achievement, attendance, and behavior data. Other data like pre/post tests or needs assessments may inform the outcome goal but the primary focus of the goal should be outcome data.

The first step in writing your program goals is to look at the priorities of the school. The school improvement plan is a great place to start. If you do not sit on your school improvement team, you can read the written plan or make an appointment with an administrator or other building leader to discuss the SIP plan. It’s important for the school counselor to think about how their work will inform the overall goals of the school. For example, if achievement is a school priority, the counselor might work with students on academic skills, appropriate scheduling, or class attendance.
The second step is to disaggregate data and look at achievement, attendance, and behavior discrepancies by subgroup or category. Subgroup gaps could be by race or ethnicity, grade, gender, etc. Needs may also be identified by category like a specified number of absences, or office discipline referrals for a certain behavior. Work with your school counseling or student support services department to prioritize and select needs to address this school year. If you are solo at your school, consider making an appointment with your administrator to discuss the focus of your program goals. Not only will this ensure your administrator’s support, it is good advocacy for your role when your administrator sees how school counseling supports the needs of the school identified by the School Improvement Plan.

The final step is to dig deeper and see what is contributing to your need, gap, or concern. For instance, if you were researching a program goal about attendance, you would want to find out more about why a certain class or grade level has a high number of absences. Sometimes this digging deeper gives you information to inform your goal and sometimes you dig deeper to find that a counseling intervention or strategy is not likely to support the goal. Remember, you are writing program goals to focus your work. If it’s not the best use of your time, move on.
Finally, you are ready to write your SMART goal! ASCA has a great SMART goal template on their website, which I have linked in the notes. This template really helps you to focus your goal and make sure that it meets the SMART criteria. A couple of tips before we begin looking at a program goal example:

• Your program goals will not encompass all of your work. That’s OK! The program goal is intended to provide an annual focus for the school counseling program.
• If you can’t collect outcome data for your goal, consider looking at a different goal. For instance, a series of career lessons may be a focus for one grade level but is not likely to be tied to attendance, achievement, and behavior data.
• Decide if you are going to focus on one group or the school as a whole. If you are focusing on behavior referrals and you are working with only students referred for bullying behavior, you probably don’t want to include all referrals in your goal.
• Finally, ASCA recommends having 2-4 program goals.

Do you need more for your counseling program? More time, more money, more focus? I found that the ASCA National Model's Advisory Council is your number one tool for expanding your program. Check out my video tutorial. 

Today we will be exploring the Advisory Council. Many people ask “What is the point of the advisory council?” or they worry that the advisory council will take over their program and tell the counselors what to do. In fact, the school counseling advisory council is a great asset to the comprehensive school counseling program. The council is a team invited by the school counselors to meet a minimum of two times per year. The school counseling team, or school counselor if you are solo, sets the agenda for the meetings and guides the discussion. The purpose of the council is to provide feedback on program goals (developed and explained by the school counselor), review program results (based on data presentations by the school counselors), make recommendations about the school counseling program, and serves as advocates for the program.

​The first step to a successful advisory council is to invite representatives who will give constructive, helpful feedback and will be assets to your team. The advisory council should have representatives from all stakeholders groups: parents, teachers, administrators, community members, and even students. Make a list of one or two people in each category that might be willing to serve on your team. Review the list to ensure a representation of diversity that matches the school.
Once you have your desired members of your advisory council, invite your members to join. You might send an email explaining the purpose of the council, make phone calls (especially to parents and community members), or send actual invitations. To help, I’ve created an editable one page document explaining the advisory council that you can share with your prospective members. It’s helpful to be upfront about the time commitment that members are making. I have found that twice per year is not overwhelming for most people and I usually sweeten the deal by providing snacks! Each meeting should have an agenda distributed beforehand (maybe along with a meeting reminder) and minutes. Let’s explore some example minutes for fall and spring meetings. In our first example, Happy High, the advisory council has not met consistently for the last few years. Because of this, there are many new members to the team and the school counselors felt that a brief orientation was necessary. After welcome and introductions, the school counselors spent time explaining what a comprehensive school counseling program is and how the advisory council supports a comprehensive program.

After the purpose of the meeting was established, the counselors presented the current year Program Goals. This presentation included their curriculum plan, group plan, and their closing the gap plans in easy to understand language so that all present (even those who are not educators) can give feedback and discuss. Because the advisory council was new, the counselors wanted to list discussion and feedback as its own agenda item to encourage participation. Finally, the counseling team asked for general school counseling program feedback and the overall needs of Happy High. It’s often helpful to come prepared with a few questions to stimulate conversation. For instance, the Happy High counselors had instituted individual meetings for all freshmen in the first quarter. The counselors wanted to hear feedback from the stakeholders about the efficacy of this practice and how to improve in the future. The counselors closed the first meeting by listing the next steps for all those involved and setting a general date for the Spring meeting.

In our second example, Magic Middle, the school has had an effective advisory council for a few years and there has been very little turnover on the team. Because of this, their fall meeting can jump right into its work with less time spent on informational pieces. In this meeting, the school counselors began with welcome and introductions and then moved straight into a reflection on the previous year. They shared the data and gave a recap of the goal achievement. They were then able to spend a larger chunk of time sharing the current year’s program goals and facilitating a discussion for feedback. Once an advisory council is established, there is typically time to include some components that may not relate directly to your program goals. At Magic Middle, the counselors wanted to let the council know about some changes in registration procedures from the district and to gather feedback on a new Mix It Up Day project being planned by their school counseling intern. As always, the team ended with a closing and next steps.

Now let’s look at spring meetings. At Excellent Elementary, the school counselor knew that scheduling the meeting too close to the end of the year would be inconvenient for the advisory council members. Because of this, he scheduled their meeting in May about a month before the end of the school year. After welcome and introductions, the school counselor gave updates on program goals. Final data was not yet available, so he shared the data that he had. In this example, the counselor had perception data following an academic achievement group but did not yet have end of the year testing results.

As we all know, the best laid plans often go awry once the year is underway. The school counselor at Excellent Elementary took this time to discuss challenges of the year. This might be challenges in achieving program goals or other unique challenges. In this school year, Excellent Elementary had several crises that effected the staff and students. The school counselor wanted to discuss the crisis response with the advisory council to gain feedback for improvement. To close the meeting, the school counselor discussed some plans and ideas he had for the next year and asked others to brainstorm as well. As a closing, he presented each member with a certificate and a sincere thank you for their support.

One important aspect of advisory councils that may be overlooked is the varying levels of experience with data and education by the members of your team. Because the council incorporates members from the community, parents, and possibly students, an extra effort needs to be made to make the presentation of data, the discussion, and the feedback needed accessible to all. This is an actual example of program goals and results shared in a way that is accessible to all stake holders. In this format, the counselor shared their goal, explained what they did, and shared the results. In the first example, we see that the goal was: 60% of students who scored a 2 on the EOG last year will score a level 3 or higher this year. We can tell what the counselor did in order to reach this goal: Counselor and intern met with students in 4th-5th grade who scored a high 2 on last year’s EOG but did not pass. Counselors reviewed study skills, test taking strategies, and stress management. 3rd graders also received this intervention based on teacher referral.  We can see the results of the intervention: 69% of students in the group passed the EOG in the area they did not pass in previous year. The counselor also shares their perception data: Students rated the group in a range of 5.6-6.0 on a scale of 6 in helping them with goal setting, learning study tips and whether they would recommend this group to other students. This goal is easy to understand, and the data is pretty straight forward. I think that all members of the advisory council could participate in discussion of this goal. In the second example, we see that the goal was: 80% of students who had 15+ absences last year will have 9 or fewer absences this year. We can see that the counselor and intern met with students in 4-5 grade who had more than 15 absences last year. They learned about resiliency: goal setting, healthy habits, and positive outlook. The results were also positive: 64% of students who participated in the group had 9 or fewer absences. 93% of students had a decrease in absences. Those who participated in the group had 252 absences last year and only 152 this year. However, in this goal, the results are a bit harder to read overall because it lists several data points. The information might be better shared through a graph. This doesn’t have to be hard. I created this graph through a free website linked in the show notes. For the next piece of data, a bar graph also works well and you can add the most important piece of information “100 more instructional days in attendance” to the slide as you share.

During each advisory council meeting, make sure to take minutes that include the actual feedback from council members. Other stakeholders who read the minutes should be able to see a snapshot of the discussion that took place. Consider putting minutes on your school counseling program website or sharing with your school leadership team. Lastly, it’s important to keep copies of all documents, PowerPoints, agendas, and minutes for all meetings. Member attendance should be documented in your minutes or on a sign-in sheet. The advisory council is a great opportunity for school counselors to share what they do, obtain feedback from stakeholders, and to support advocacy of their program. Whether removing extra duties, asking for financial support from the PTA or community or providing volunteer support for your programming, the advisory council is your number one tool for gaining support of your program.

Do you have an advisory council- how has it been a success? Any snags? I would love to hear!