PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FOR COUNSELORS
This Generation of Students Is the Future of Texas!
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Today’s presentation team:
◦ Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD
◦ Martha Gutierrez, P-16 Council Coordinator, RGV LEAD
◦ Georgeann Calzada, Success by Degrees Advisor / Interim
RGV Mentors Coordinator, RGV LEAD
◦ Dora Olivarez, Director of Student Recruitment, TSTC
Harlingen
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Today’s session:
◦ Provide overview of the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Council
◦ Share strategies for providing counselor professional
development for the GenTX marketing campaign
◦ Share additional information about the transitioncounseling workshop for which a session has been
included in the P-16 Institute on October 2
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1992: Regional nonprofit corporation created
2004-2005: Corporation managed a
predecessor P-16 Council through TBEC
2006-Present: Corporation became manager
of Lower P-16 Council (agreement with TSTC)
◦ Named a Recognized Council in 2009
◦ TSTC and corporation are working together on GenTX
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2012: Corporation changed its name
Private-Sector–Led Board
Lower Rio Grande
P-16 Council
TSTC works with
corporation
through contracts
P-16 Regional
Outreach &
Counseling
Academic
Leadership
Alliance
Education &
Career EXPO
RGV Mentors
Rio Grande Valley
Counselors’
Network
Career Center
Projects with
EDCs
Harlingen
Success by
Degrees
Mission
Brownsville
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MEMBERSHIP: 32 ISDs, 9 public IHEs, individual
employers, chambers of commerce, EDCs,
workforce boards, family-serving organizations,
and individual members
MISSION: Focus on communication and
information-sharing to promote collaboration
between/among leaders from school districts,
colleges, universities, businesses, government,
and community organizations
GOAL: Develop a seamless system of education
for the four-county region
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Corporation’s role in P-16 Council resembles that
of “backbone organization” described in Collective
Impact article, Stanford Social Innovation Review*:
◦ Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector
coordination.
◦ Coordination takes time, and none of the participating
organizations has any to spare.
◦ Backbone organization staff plan, manage, and support
the initiative through ongoing facilitation … handling the
details needed for the initiative to function smoothly.
*John Kania & Mark Kramer. Collective Impact, Stanford Social
Innovation Review, 48, Winter 2011
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact
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Co-branding, coordinating, collaborating,
communicating across sectors and meeting
needs to keep the system moving forward:
◦ 2012 Annual Superintendents’ Meeting with GenTX
infused throughout event
◦ 2012-2013 P-16 Council meetings (joint with
Counselors’ Network) with GenTX messaging and
materials infused in multiple ways
◦ Education & Career EXPO 2012 (10th annual) with
GenTX figuring prominently in event
◦ Blending GenTX into ALA Educator Externships, RGV
Mentors, and projects in communities with EDCs and
others
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Created in 1998 to help address counselors’ needs:
“The effectiveness of the developmental guidance and
counseling program is directly related to the counselor-tostudent ratio within the program.” (Texas Education Agency, School Guidance
and Counseling – Recommended Ratios)
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Regional operation (four counties)
◦ Current Chairs: Larry Barroso, South Texas College, and
Valerie Paredes, Harlingen CISD
◦ Immediate Past Chairs: Norma Salazar, Texas State
Technical College, and Sandra Rodriguez, Harlingen CISD
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Meets jointly with P-16 Council, with GenTX
blended into agendas
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September 19: 77 total participants, including:
◦ 32 counselors/counseling administrators from ISDs
◦ 2 Advise Texas Advisors from ISDs
◦ 17 student services representatives from IHEs
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Teamed with Upper Rio Grande P-16 Council to
provide special presentation about GenTX Day
2012, GenTX Rock Your Future, GenTX Way to
Pay, GenTX Day 2013, and GenTX website
Future meeting dates:
◦ November 14
◦ February 13
◦ May 8
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A•L•A created in 2003 by McAllen Economic
Development Corporation, Region One Education
Service Center, and Tech Prep of the Rio Grande
Valley (now RGV LEAD), to strengthen the
employer/ educator connection.
◦ Goal (Educator Perspective): Bring relevance into the classroom,
creating connections that help students prepare successfully for
college and career opportunities
◦ Goal (Employer Perspective): Provide more productive and functional
employees for businesses
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Incorporated GenTX into inservice training for Educator
Externs for ALA 2012:
◦ Messages from the Learn More Earn More page of the GenTX website
(Join the Movement: http://gentx.org/)
 Don’t stop with high school. Learning more now equals earning more later.
 As little as two years of college or career training could be the difference
between earning minimum wage and earning $16, $22, or even $34
per hour. That’s up to $70,000!
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RGV Mentors is a network of professionals created
to help facilitate success of high school students in
the Rio Grande Valley
School-Based Component operates in partnership
with school districts, on high school campuses
(campus contacts are often counselors)
Community-Based component operates in the
community, separately from schools, to maximize
success for all participants
Infused GenTX components into RGV Mentors
sessions for students in Spring 2012
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Counselors’ Update sessions, begun in 2008
and continuing annually thereafter
2012 Update at The University Center at TSTC
in September 2012 (over 100 Counselors
participating)
Sessions include presentations by college
leaders from instruction and student services;
topics such as Event Planning 101; TSTC Web
101; WebAdvisor training; and other topics of
interest to counselors
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Need for session identified during P-16
Council discussions
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26 ISDs and 5 IHEs spent almost a year working
together in the Lower Rio Grande P-16 Early College
High School Planning Consortium
Original plan for a brief presentation on
one P-16 Council agenda led to a regional
event held at UTPA in April 2012
Planning occurred through P-16 Regional
Outreach & Counseling Leadership Team
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Several planning meetings in which partners
from the P-16 Regional Outreach & Counseling
Leadership Team collaborated—plus:
◦ Other IHE leaders recruited by P-16 Regional
Outreach partners (UTPA, STC, TSTC, UTB/TSC)
◦ Partners from Region One Education Service Center
◦ Partners from family-serving organizations
◦ Staff from the P-16 Council and the corporation
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Planned together in teams that ultimately
became presentation teams
Outcome was a successful event at which all
participants acquired new information that will
help us help our students
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Of the 184 participants, 105 were
counselors
Evaluations were positive: this event met a
need for our region
The group is planning now to incorporate
transition-counseling strands into regional
conference to be held at South Padre Island
on December 5-6, 2012
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Can anyone here say that if we can't do it,
someone down the road can do it? And if no
one does it, what happens to the country? ... I
know it's a tremendous challenge, but ask
yourselves: If not us, who? If not now, when?
Ronald Reagan, quoted by RGV LEAD Board Chair, Rene Capistran
(President – South Texas Region, SpawGlass Contractors) at
Annual Superintendents’ Meeting in September 2012
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Questions? Comments?
 Patricia G. (Pat) Bubb, Executive Director, RGV LEAD
pat.bubb@harlingen.tstc.edu; 956.364.4512