*Strategies to close the persistent achievement gaps between students. The following strategies were implemented at the target BLT Project schools and focus on improving student attendance.
Written by Elementary School Counselors in Tucson Unified School District,
Tucson, Arizona www.tusd1.org
Patricia Aranda-Avalos
Tori Bacal
Warren Elementary
Menlo Park Elementary
Ilsa Bednar
Boots Cushing
David Dietz
Luz Harvey
Michele Keane
Ellis Marshall
Gayle Morrison
Van Buskirk Elementary
White Elementary
Grijalva Elementary
Lynn-Urquides Elementary
White Elementary
Lineweaver Elementary
Lynn-Urquides Elementary
Grijalva Elementary Denise Robison
Karen Ward
Holly Colonna
BLT Grant Leader
BLT Grant Director
Tucson Unified School District
School Counseling Department
1010 E. 10 th Street, Tucson, AZ 85719
2008

Page
Counselors’s BLT Project Fact Sheet ................................... 3
Attendance Interventions-Lynn-Urquides Elementary .......... 4
Attendance Plan for Menlo Park Elementary ........................ 6
Lineweaver Closing the Gap Action Plan and Results Data . 7
Perfect Attendance Plan for Grijalva Elementary .................. 9
Mentor/Mentee Project to Promote Attendance .................. 12
Attendance Letters for White Elementary – English and
Spanish ............................................................................... 14

Counselor’s BLT (Boost Learning Time) Project
TUSD School Counseling Department
Fact Sheet
What:

US Department of Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools Demonstration
Grant to expand counseling programs in elementary schools

$1.2 million for three years

Funding period includes 2004-2007
Purpose and Objectives:
 The goals of the Counselor’s BLT Project are to lower the counselor to student ratios and to create a school culture that is responsive to the need of the student population at target sites. By fully implementing the Positive
Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) and the TUSD Comprehensive
Competency Based Guidance (CCBG) program these project goals will be met.

Counselors will be able to deliver classroom guidance lessons to teach all students at the school. The lessons will address career awareness, life skills and academic strategies. Also, by instituting PBIS there will be fewer discipline issues, thus decreasing the time wasted on classroom management interruptions.

Expected results include higher academic achievement, higher attendance and fewer disciplinary issues. It is expected that through the implementation of this project, systemic change will occur in the schools creating optimal learning environments.

These programs will use data collection and analysis to improve decisionmaking and development of comprehensive behavioral support plans. With ongoing data collection, interventions and instructional modifications can be made quickly. PBIS is a research based program that features theories based on behavioral science practical interventions, social values and has a systems perspective.
Target Elementary Sites:
Grijalva, Lineweaver, Lynn-Urquides, Menlo Park, Van Buskirk, Warren, White
Services, infrastructure or opportunities that will be addressed at all schools are:

individual and group counseling

parent education

drug and violence prevention

access to social, behavioral health, primary medical and educational needs

a referral service to other needed services

conflict resolution training for students and adults in the school community

family counseling and parent education

after-school activities

strong academic program

mentoring programs

character education

classroom management

parent involvement and collaboration
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Lynn-Urquides Attendance Interventions
School Wide
•
Classrooms with perfect attendance hang the Perfect
Attendance Poster on their door for the day.
•
Classes with perfect attendance are announced at the end of each day.
•
Classrooms with perfect attendance for the week receive a prize.
•
The class with the most perfect attendance days for the month receives a popcorn party.
• Random drawing of “Be Here, Be a Winner.”
• Post attendance percentages per quarter by the office.
• Students with perfect attendance for the quarter receive a certificate and small gift each quarter.
•
Students with perfect attendance for the quarter are entered into a raffle for a prize giveaway.
•
Two letters are sent home to parents with information about the
• truancy laws and guidelines in our state and district.
Extreme absences are reported to Truancy office.
Intervention Group
•
Letters sent home to the parents of each student informing them of the attendance patterns seen.
• Home visits made to families of the target students.
• Students check in daily in the counseling office.
•
After a week of perfect attendance students choose out of a prize box.
•
Students evaluate their attendance each quarter and set a new goal. If the student reaches their goal they receive a larger prize at the end of the quarter.
• Celebrations throughout each quarter to evaluate the progress and success of each student.
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Elementary Closing the Gap Action Plan and results Data
2006-2007 School Year
Counselor: Gayle Morrison
Target Group and Reason
Selected
Quarter 4
ASCA Standard Type of Activity
(Process) th
Number of
Students
Affected
School Lynn Urquides Elementary
Perception Data
Pre/Post Test
Activity
Results Data By
Percent
What future strategies will this target group need?
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Students in 5 th grade that had less then 85% attendance rate in 3 rd grade during the 2004-
2005 school year.
Group began in
October of 2005 and has continued thru their 5 th grade year.
Students will acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
Attendance group with daily check in.
Goal setting and reviewing for each quarter.
Attendance letters sent home to parents.
Home visits to specified students.
Phone calls to parents for unexcused absences.
________________________________
Principal’s Signature
5 Fifth graders in
5 different classes
(School wide incentives affect all students.)
Date
Total absences for 2004-2005:
Student #1: 18
Student #2: 31
Student #3: 27
Student #4: 41
Student #5: 30
Total absences for 2005-2006:
Student #1: 12
Student #2: 32
Student #3: 11
Student #4: 23
Student #5: 26
____________
Total Absences for 2006-2007:
#1: 14
#2: 30
#3: 14
#4: 12
#5: 20
Student #2 has had extreme family emergencies every year of this tracking.
Students are continuing on to Middle
School next year.

Closing the Gap Plan
Menlo Elementary School
Menlo Park Elementary School’s closing the Gap Results Report addressed the need for improved attendance that reflects the ASCA National
Standards, the school competencies and indicators, and the school counseling program goals.
The closing the gap activity was requested for fourth grade students’ attendance, starting from the ir third grade school year data. Last year’s attendance report from the integrated measures data page was used to retrieve any student’s name that had 90% or lower attendance for the 2004-2005 school year. Once the list was made, any student that no longer attended Menlo Park
(as result of the high mobility rate) was crossed off. When the closing the gap activity began there was a total of six students, two girls and four boys.
At the beginning of the 3 rd quarter, a letter was sent home to their parent s/guardians explaining that their child was invited to join ‘The Good
Morning Club’, which met every morning before school. It was explained if the child was absent for one day, there would be follow up with either a phone call or a home visit. Once it began, every morning the students would come to the counselors’ office and put a smiley face on his/her own chart. If a student was present for a week, he/she would earn an incentive such as a pencil or sticker. If all six students were present for one week, it would be celebrated by having a special lunch in the counselors’ office.
In the twelve week time the overall attendance results were better. Every student improved his or her attendance from the year before and four out of the six students scored higher than 90% attendance.
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Counselor: Ellie Marshall
Target Group and
Reason Selected
ASCA Standard
Students with attendance below 90% in grades K-2, plus students still at
Lineweaver who were in the group last year.
Students will acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
Elementary Closing the Gap Action Plan and Results Data
2006-07 School Year
Quarter: 1 in counselor’s office every
Type of Activity
Good Morning
Club:
Students put a sticker on the attendance chart morning they are here. At the end of the week they pick a prize from the prize box if they were here every day. Those who meet the attendance goal of 92% for the quarter will have pizza lunch with the counselor.
Lineweaver Elementary
Number of
Students
Affected
Perception Data
Pre/post Test Activity
15 students For those who were here in 2005-06, their end of year attendance % was:
CB
– 98.6%
CC – 80.4
RA – 87.8
EA
– 89
BC – 80.6
AC – 94
JM – 79
AG
– 85
ID – 87
AC – 89
AE
– 62
AE - 62
DR - 76
Results Data by
Percent
Attendance at the end of the 1 st qtr:
CB – 98%
CC – 81
RA
– 89
EA – 88
BC – 95
AC – 95
JM
– 88
AG – 89
ID – 98
AC
– 95
AE – 80
AE – 77
DR
– 100
Aen
– 86
Men – 85
See attached chart
Principal’s Signature Date
Attach data, examples and documentation.
Submit copy to district school counselor administrator.
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What future strategies will this target group need?
Target kindergartners, as they had the highest rate of absences in
2005-2006.
Contact parents.

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Lineweaver Attendance Chart
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Definitions:
Perfect Attendance= Everyone in your class is at school on time.
Awesome Attendance= Everyone in your class is at school, but one or two are tardy.
Stickers:
Perfect attendance= 2 stickers
Awesome attendance= 1 sticker
Incentives:
10= Pencil
20= Eraser
35= Low fat, low sugar Popsicle
50= Popcorn
65= Special water bottle
80= Pizza Party
90= Movie Party
100= Mega Science Party
As of 11/13/06:
Watts Perfect=11, Awesome=5, Total=27 stickers
Martinez
Riojas
Barrett
Alvarez
Perfect=12, Awesome=10, Total=34 stickers
Perfect=12, Awesome=6, Total=30 stickers
Perfect=14, Awesome=11, Total=39 stickers
Perfect=6, Awesome=7, Total=19 stickers
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4.
10

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Mentor/Mentee Project
5 th Grade/Kinder
Purpose:
5 th graders that are part of the Awesome Attendance Group (a support group focusing on good attendance and being on time, as a necessary part of the learning process) are paired with a kindergartner in order to model responsibility and leadership.
Goals:

Facilitate sense of purpose and encourage leadership for the Mentors

Provide Mentees with an older role model who can help and encourage academic and social skills.

Facilitate a supportive relationship between two students in which a positive focus on academics, responsibility and respect are modeled and practiced.
Process:

Session #1: A class team will meet during lunch recess with their assigned mentees. Rapport building activities will be conducted.
Fifth graders will process session while they eat their lunch.

Session #2: Students will go into the classroom during their lunch recess to work with their mentee. This will be supervised by the counselor. During lunch, the experience will be processed. If teacher and counselor agree, the student can choose to go into the classroom during their lunch recess on their own.

Session #3: Students will share what they learned from being a mentor as well as make a memento for their mentee.

Session #4: All mentees and mentors will meet together for a celebration.
12

th
13

Attendance letters from John E. White Elementary School
The following letters were sent to parents at White Elementary School. For the first year of the grant they decided to just give factual information about student attendance. The school’s attendance rate improved significantly within the first year by just sending this informational letter.
Date:____________________
To the parents or guardians of_____________________________
In reviewing our attendance records, it has been noted that as of today, your child has had _______absences and ______tardies. This is excessive and it can affect your child’s learning. Please understand that not attending or arriving late to school not only disrupts the learning of others, but it makes it difficult for your child to learn new concepts and improve skills. Reading and Math instructions start first thing in the morning, if your child is ten minutes late two days a week, that adds up to 17 hours of missed direct instruction per school year.
Good attendance patterns are habit forming. Students who attend school regularly and arrive on time will continue to do so later in their school career.
We are calling this situation to your attention because we feel that absences and tardies are often overlooked. We are sure that you share our concern in this matter and will take steps to insure that your child’s attendance will improve. It has an effect on your child’s schoolwork and we know how much your child wants to do his/her best.
If your child must be absent due to illness or any other valid reason, please call the office to notify us at 908-5300.
Thank you for your assistance and cooperation.
Sincerely,
David Dodge, Principal Edna Hollins, Assistant Principal
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Fecha:____________________
Estimados padres de familia de_____________________________
Al revisar los archivos de asistencia, se ha observado a partir de hoy, que su hijo(a) tiene _____ ausencias y _____ tardes. Esto es excesivo y puede afectar en al aprendizaje de su hijo(a). Por favor entienda que cuando falta o llega tarde a las clases, no solamente interrumpe el aprendizaje de los demas, pero se le dificulta aprender nuevos conceptos y mejorar habilidades. Como la instruccion de lectura y matematicas es lo primero que se imparte por la manana, si su hijo(a) llega diez minutos tarde dos veces por semana, pierde 17 horas de instruccion directo cada ano escolar.
El practicar la buena asistencia escolar forma un habito. Los estudiantes que asisten a la escuela con regularidad y llegan a tiempo a clases despues continuan practicando esta disciplina en sus carreras escolares.
Estamos llamando la atencion a esta situacion porque creemos que muchas veces no se da suficiente importancia a las ausencias ni a las llegadas tarde. Tenemos la seguridad de que usted comparta nuestro interes en este asunto y tomara los pasos necesarios para asegurar que la asistencia escolar de su hijo(a) mejorara de hoy en adelante. Esto tiene un efecto en el trabajo escolar de su hijo(a), y sabemos que el/ella quiere hacer el major trabajo posible.
Si su hijo(a) tiene que faltar por razon de enfermedad o cualquier otra razon valida, favor de llamarnos para avisar al 908-5300.
Gracias por su ayuda y cooperacion.
Atentamente,
David Dodge, Director Edna Hollins, Asistente Directora
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