School Counselors Affect
Student Achievement
Principal – Counselor Relationship:
Key to Student Achievement
Linda Brannan
K-12 Student Support Services Consultant
NC Department of Public Instruction
School Counselors Affect Student
Achievement
“Professional school counselors
serve a vital role in maximizing
student achievement. By
incorporating leadership, advocacy
and collaboration, professional
school counselors promote equity
and access to opportunities and
rigorous educational experiences
for all students” (ASCA, 2003).
Thinking Outside the
“Counselor Box”
• Advocacy: Being a voice for ALL students/equity for
each student
• Leadership: Stepping up in support of the academic
mission; facilitative leader
• Systemic Change: Creating a responsive system for all
students and stakeholders/not done in isolation but with
collaboration
Principal-Counselor
Relationship
!
• Duplication of efforts with students
– While it is all good, it is possible to lighten the load with
collaboration with the principal and administrative team.
• Confusing roles
– Students
– Parents
– Teachers
– Us
• Accountability – Everyone’s concern
(breathing down your neck)
• Time ~ never enough
Communication
•Formal and Informal
Collaboration
•Scheduled Meetings (Weekly & Monthly)
Respect for each other and roles
•Share the job; learn to respect
Shared Vision
•Taking the time to talk, listen, and plan
together
College Board Survey 2009
What we know for sure!
Principals and Counselors are:
Responsible for students progressing towards graduation
with 21st century skills who are “career and college
ready” by addressing:
Attendance issues
Academic issues
Behavioral issues
Using MEASURE
A Six-Step Accountability Process
• Step One: Mission
• Step Two: Element/Problem
• Step Three: Analyze Data
• Step Four: Stakeholders Unite
• Step Five: Results
• Step Six: Educate
[Stone, C. B, & Dahir, C. A. (2007). School Counselor
Accountability: A MEASURE of Student Success. 2nd
edition.]
MEASURE
• Mission: connect the comprehensive K-12
school counseling program to the mission
of the school and to the goals of the
annual school improvement plan
• Academic rigor & Student achievement:
the heart of every school’s SIP
MEASURE
• Elements: identify the critical data
elements that are important to the internal
and external stakeholders
– Attendance
– Behavior/Discipline
– Academic Achievement
MEASURE
• Analyze: discuss carefully which
elements need to be aggregated or
disaggregated and why
• What is impeding student achievement?
• What are the barriers?
MEASURE
• Stakeholders - Unite: determine which
stakeholders need to be involved in
addressing these school-improvement
issues and unite to develop strategies
MEASURE
• Reanalyze/Reflect/Revise: rethink and
refine the strategies, refocus efforts as
needed, and reflect on success
MEASURE
• Educate/Publicize: show the positive
impact the school counseling program
has had on student achievement and on
the goals of the school improvement plan.
ASCA National Model:
Framework for School Counseling Programs
EXAMPLES OF DATA TO EXAMINE NEEDS
Test Scores
Achievement
State
National
Enrollment
 Honors/AP Classes
 College Track
 Special Education
 LEP
Graduation Rate
 By Gender
 By Ethnicity
 By SES
Attendance
 Absences
 Tardiness
 By Grade Level
Discipline
 By Classroom
 Types of Problems
 Gender
Office referrals
GPA/Class Rank
 By Gender
 By Ethnicity
 By SES
Retention Rates
 By Subject Area
 By Grade Level
 By Gender, Ethnicity
 Post Secondary
Plans
Special Education
 By Gender
 By Ethnicity
 By SES
Dropout Rate
 Grade Levels
 Gender, Ethnicity…
 Reasons Why
Remember: The New Question is….
How are students different as
a result of the
school counseling program?
************************************************
(Let’s see an example of a school that used this model successfully)
Cary High School
Student Population
Total Students: 2283
• Black: 405
• Academically Gifted: 549
• Hispanic: 405
• Free & Reduced Lunch:
781
• Asian: 130
• Multi-racial: 116
• American Indian: 15
• White: 1212
• LEP: 153
• Students with Disabilities:
299
•
Overall Student Performance
– Composite: 89.9% per EOC data
– School of Distinction – past 5 years
•
SAT Score Composite
– Reading/Math – 1089
– Reading/Math/Writing – 1588
– 68% Participation rate
•
Graduates:
– 90% of graduates attend a four-year or a two-year college
– 10% joining the military, workforce or other
The Cary High School Story
•
Administration-Counselor Teams
•
Leadership Team/SIP Team Leaders
•
School Improvement Teams
•
Professional Learning Teams
– Curriculum Alignment/Common Assessments
– Student Achievement including Recovery Program
– ASCA National Model – RAMP for Counselors
How We Did it?
– Respect - even in times of
disagreement
– Collaboration – agreed
upon/jointly created &
facilitated strategies to meet
needs:
• Purposeful scheduling
– Time – diligent about time
to collaborate (PLTs,
Admin-Counselor Teams,
LT, SIP Teams)
– Data - reviewed schoolwide
data to assess needs to
develop a data-driven
program
• Increase course rigor
• Develop intervention
strategies to:
– Improve Attendance rate
– Improve academic
achievement
– Improve 9th grade
promotion rate &
graduation rate
– Prevent suspension and
dropouts
How We Did it?
– Information Exchange - Vertical and Parallel ~
Improved Communication
• Admin-Counselor Teams – Management
Agreements
• Leadership Team/SIP Teams/PLT’s – continuous
improvement model
• Collaboration with Teachers, Students, Parents to
create supportive relationships
– Shared Respect & Decision-Making
• Creating a Community Vision
Closing the Achievement Gap Goals
• Increase minority enrollment in honors & Advanced
Placement courses
• Increase 9th grade Promotion Rate
• Increase Average Daily Attendance Rate
• New Goal – Suspension/Dropout Prevention
Increasing course rigor for underrepresented students
by enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
Strategies: Principal-Counselor led initiatives:
•
AP Potential letters sent to qualified students and parents (based
upon PSAT scores)
• Small group counseling to targeted students – benefits of enrolling
in Honors and AP courses
• Facilitated AP/Curriculum Fair for parents to understand
expectations, benefits and future opportunities
• Collaboration with teachers - Established a task force of
counselors and social studies teachers to review performance data
& encourage underrepresented students to take more rigorous
courses. (10th grade heterogeneously grouped Civics & Econ
classes)
Evaluate-What will you measure?
Types of Outcome/Results Data
Process Data
How Many
affected &
process
Guidance
Lessons,
groups, etc.
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How long?
Perception Data
Goals &
Objectives
Competency-Skill
Attainment Data
Attitudes
Skills
Knowledge
Behavior
Change
Results Data
AchievementRelated Data
Achievement
Data
Attendance
Discipline
referrals
Parent
Involvement
Homework
Completion
Course
Enrollment
EOG/EOC
SAT/ACT
scores
Graduation
rates
GPA
AP tests
College prep
course
completion
5% gain in AP Enrollment in 2008-09
11% gain in AP Enrollment in 2009-10
16.9% gain in AP Enrollment in 2010-2011
24% gain in AP Enrollment in 2011-2012
*********************************************************************************
of minority students who enrolled in AP classes were
recommended by both the PSAT/AP Potential software and their
Teacher = Formula for Success!
!
Other Closing the Gap Results
• Promotion/Graduation Rate: 94% of first time 9th
graders promoted to 10th grade in 2010-2011 (Above
90% in 9th grade for past 4 years)
• Attendance: Average Daily Attendance Rate for 20102011: Above 90% for all subgroups
• 2011-12 New Goal: Suspension/Dropout Prevention school-wide collaboration to keep students in school
Challenges
• Role changes-staying “true” to profession –
confidentiality/collaboration
• Understanding & respect of our individual and collective roles
• Shared vision for decision making
• Time to communicate
– Admin-Counselor Teams
– Vertically and across disciplines through
PLT’s, SIP Teams, Leadership Team
Contact Information
& Resources
“Enhancing the Principal-School Counselor Relationship:
Tool Kit” (College Board)
“A Closer Look at the Principal-Counselor Relationship”:
A Survey of Principals & Counselors”
Collaborative work by College Board, American School Counseling Association
(ASCA) & National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
Linda Brannan
K-12 Student Support Services Consultant
NCDPI
Linda.brannan@dpi.nc.gov