July 2024

Three-Part Counselor Leaders Planning Series

Reflect and Reset!

By: Rick Hudson, Prairie View Middle School, 23-24 Mary Gehrke-McAllister Leadership Award Recipient

It can’t always be an “Emergency”: Using Data to Create a Proactive Program

By: Cindy Bourget, Elk Mound Middle School, 22-23 School Counselor of the Year

Three Tips for Planning Elementary Small Groups for the Upcoming School Year

By: Shelbey Deegan, Forest Edge Elementary, 23-24 Rising Star Recipient

Reflect and Reset!

Summer is the ideal time to reflect on the previous school year. It’s also the ideal time to self-assess our own mindsets and behaviors as we look forward to the next school year. With the potential impending stress of another divisive presidential election and continued national polarization and traumatic events, it is even more important to make time now for grounding and centering oneself personally and professionally before a new school year begins. Perhaps the first step in this process is gaining a greater awareness of oneself. 

Among the mindsets and behaviors found in the ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies is the foundational behavior of “demonstrating understanding of the impact of cultural, social and environmental influences on student success and opportunities by being able to understand personal limitations and biases, and articulate how they may affect the school counselor’s work (Footnote 1).”  Similarly, one of the foundational layers of the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) framework is counselor self-awareness (Footnote 2). 

So how do we go about learning more about ourselves and, specifically, our biases?

First, pause all stimuli heard and seen through media and social media. Now, return to your stimuli and reflect on what “the algorithm” is feeding you. What do you notice? How have you been pigeon-holed into a certain echo chamber which reinforces your own preferences and biases?

Next, use a tool such as Project Implicit’s Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Footnote 3). Though not without its critics (Footnote 4) and critiques (Footnote 5), it may prove helpful in uncovering what was already below the surface. Be mindful of the reactions you have toward the uncomfortable and controversial. Using this insight, do the challenging work of confronting and questioning your thoughts and actions. As Jedi Master Yoda said in Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” Being aware is key to unlearning our biases and rewiring our brain (Footnote 6).

Now, use the aforementioned MSJCC framework to rewire your own explored attitudes and beliefs with the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to meet the realities of our students and their caregivers. Sometimes less is more and if you’re crunched for time, consider using the Courageous Conversation Compass as a simple yet powerful tool for self and student awareness. This personal navigation tool “helps us to know where we are personally as well as recognize the direction from which others may be” and “helps us to locate the sources of our emotions and actions or lack thereof (Footnote 7).”

The process of counselor self-awareness is ongoing and continuous (Footnote 8). It must be so to meet the needs of our wide-ranging and ever-changing client base (students and their families/caregivers) and is our ethical responsibility (Footnote 9). This professional growth will help your students or clients to experience empathy and advocacy as you show them unconditional positive regard. In the midst of our polarized social and political environment, the question is: how would you react and treat a hardcore opposite who walks through your door?

Sources:

1. ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/a8d59c2c-51de-4ec3-a565-a3235f3b93c3/SC-Competencies.pdf
2. American Counseling Association: https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/multicultural-and-social-justice-counseling-competencies.pdf
3. Implicit Association Test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
4. Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rabble-rouser/202203/12-reasons-be-skeptical-common-claims-about-implicit-bias
5. OSFHome – Articles Critical of the IAT and Implicit Bias: https://osf.io/74whk/
6. American Psychological Association Podcasts – Speaking of Psychology: Can we unlearn implicit biases? With Mahzarin Banaji, PhD:  https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/implicit-biases
7. Prairie View Middle School, The Scoop, April 2024 by Bridget Barth:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nofnkp_sgvS2KHIW6M6OnIqQv8NPm2eSDcur1X4xMSY/edit?usp=sharing
8. A Path of Counselor Self-Awareness: https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=counseling-facpubs
9. ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/44f30280-ffe8-4b41-9ad8-f15909c3d164/EthicalStandards.pdf

It Can’t Always Be An “Emergency”: Using Data to Create a Proactive Program

“What do you do?” As a school counselor, I am constantly trying to answer that question. It can feel like I’m trying to speak a different language– all while dealing with the seemingly never ending list of, “emergencies.” That’s where I was 6 years ago: changing schools because I was so overwhelmed, questioning my decision to be a counselor, and lost in the myth that I was failing because I couldn’t “fix students.” 

Data saved me. I know this sounds dramatic, but it really did. As I started my work in my new school, I knew I needed to do something differently. I couldn’t constantly be living an, “emergency.” I turned to the ASCA Model, and with the support of the training, I was able to start small by looking for data that supported solutions for the things that were taking most of my time: discipline. 

The school counselor had turned into the person to deal with “behavior problems.” So instead of proactively working on skills, students were ending up in my office when the teachers didn’t know where else to send them. No one was happy. Everyone was struggling to learn. It was always an, “emergency.” 

As I started to look at the discipline data, I used the questions: 

• Who? Who is involved in this concern?
• Why? Why is this a concern?
• What? What do we need to fix the problem?

Looking at the concern in that way made the issue feel manageable. In the case of discipline, I discovered 7th and 8th grade boys were earning 80% of our discipline referrals (The “who”). And when I looked deeper, 10% of those boys were earning 30% of the discipline referrals. This also meant that 10% of our 7th and 8th grade boys were missing large portions of time in their classroom instruction (The “why”). So I developed a small group for impulse control, which I ran for 2 sessions of 6 meetings each (The “What”).

After group, the boys were able to drop their rates of discipline referrals by 27%! Not only did that help the boys gain the skills they needed to stay in class, it opened up my schedule to meet the needs of all of my students. By running this group annually, I have been able to shift my practice from reactive to proactive.

It has also connected me to my community in a way I didn’t anticipate. All I did was use the data I could pull from my Student Information System to track student growth, but when I shared the success with the parents of my group members they became my biggest supporters. It reminded me that when I share what I do, I need to speak, “parent.” As a parent, what would I want to know? The answer is always, “Show me how this is helping my student succeed.” In this instance, it was helping their students not get discipline referrals in the beginning, but it turned into their students feeling success in school and engaging in their school community. They talked about their students’ success, and now I have boys who ask to be in my groups. 

As you think about your upcoming year, I encourage you to look at the areas of your program that are causing you the most stress–creating the “emergencies,”– and attack it with data. Use the data sources you already have to ask, “Who? Why? What?” Share your story. Let your student success answer the question, “What do you do?”

Three Tips for Planning Elementary Small Groups for the Upcoming School Year

Summer is an important, rejuvenating time for school counselors in which we can all take some time to breathe, turn inwards, and think about something other than work for a while. I hope you have all found relaxation, started to restore some energy in looking ahead to the next school year, and are maybe ready to start thinking about making some preparations! One of our important duties as counselors is providing skill/community building in small groups, and now is a great time to reflect on your processes. Here are three tips:

Tip 1: Intentional reflection on your small group process. Think about the small group process from beginning to end, from the way students are identified for groups, how you get consent from parents or guardians, what curriculum you select, and how you evaluate its effectiveness. Consider gathering with your collaborators (other Student Services team staff or administrators) and discuss the following:

• How do we identify students for groups? Is it through referral only, or are we using some kind of data? 
• Did we run too many groups last year? Not enough?
• How did I select curriculum for my groups? Are they ASCA-aligned and evidence based?
• Is scheduling groups a burden? Can I connect with grade-level teachers ahead of time to get 1-3 “best times” for the upcoming year?

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, I recommend picking one of the aspects of small group planning to improve or reflect on.

Tip 2: Pull relevant data. We’re all in different stages in our relationships to incorporating data-driven practices, and it can feel overwhelming. 

• Perhaps try running just one small group next year where you are using outcome data (academic, disciplinary, or attendance) to identify students, and giving a pre and post test grounded in ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors. 
• Have your administrator or administrative assistant help you pull attendance and disciplinary reports from your school’s student information system. How can you use this to plan?
  • Example: For the 23-24 school year, I planned a 5th grade Leadership Small group to start right away in the Fall for boys with the most disciplinary referrals in 4th grade. 

Tip 3: Consider adding ONE new aspect to your small groups for the 2024-2025 school year. Start small! This could be swapping out a curriculum you have used for a new one that is evidence-based, taking one small group curriculum and selecting ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors, adding in a pre and post test, or using outcome data, such as social skill measures on report cards, to track group effectiveness. 

Regardless of where you are at in your programs and emotionally after this year, know that you are an agent of change and that you are cherished by your students. I am wishing all Wisconsin school counselors the very best of luck in preparing for next year, and in enjoying the rest of your summer!