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The Role of the Professional Counselor & College Going Culture

Dr. Tim SetterlundSetterlund LLC

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If you focus on the obstacles, then you give them more power.Instead focus on your purpose, on your most authentic and fundamental intentions.

-Ralph Marstan

+The Role of the Professional School Counselor

+A Real DifferenceFebruary 2013 research brief by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center highlighted the first causal evidence on the impact of an additional school counselor on four-year college-going rates among students in high school, as well as evidence on how counselors impact other student outcomes of interest.

This analysis revealed that an additional counselor causes a 10 percentage point increase in four-year college-going rates.

It could be expected that additional counselor staffing would provide more time for counselors to effectively shape their high school’s college-going culture, achieving powerful results in bolstering college attendance.

+ Work Ready, College Ready, Same Preparation

School counselors must become assertive advocates for:

• educational equity – closing the gap

• access to rigorous college and career-readiness curriculum

• academic success for all students The New Vision for School Counseling

Education Trust, 2003

+ Rationale

By aligning a comprehensive guidance and counseling program with the school’s mission and school improvement plan, professional school counselors:

• partner as leaders in systemic change

• ensure equity and access

• promote academic, career and personal/ social development for every student

+Secondary School Counselors Implement the Counseling Program by Providing:

Classroom Guidance

• Academic skills support• Organizational, study and test-taking skills• Post-secondary planning and application process• Career planning• Education in understanding self and others• Coping strategies• Peer relationships and effective social skills• Communication, problem-solving, decision-making, conflict

resolution and study skills• Career awareness and the world of work• Substance abuse education• Multicultural/diversity awareness

+Secondary School Counselors Implement the Counseling Program by Providing:

Individual Student Planning

• Goal setting• Academic plans• Career plans• Problem solving• Education in understanding of self, including strengths

and weaknesses• Transition plans

+Secondary School Counselors Implement the Counseling Program by Providing:

Responsive Services

• Individual and small-group counseling• Individual/family/school crisis intervention• Peer facilitation• Consultation/collaboration• Referrals

System Support

• Professional development• Consultation, collaboration and teaming• Program management and operation

+Secondary School Counselors Collaborate with:Parents Academic planning/support Post-secondary planning Scholarship/financial search process School-to-parent communications School-to-work transition programs One-on-one parent conferencing Referral process

StudentsAcademic support services Program planning Peer education program Peer mediation program Crisis management Transition programs

TeachersPortfolio development, providing recommendations and assisting students with the post-secondary application process Classroom guidance lessons on post-secondary planning, study skills, career development, etc. School-to-work transition programs Academic support, learning style assessment and education to help students succeed academically Classroom speakers At-risk student identification and implementation of interventions to enhance success 

AdministratorsSchool climate Academic support interventions Behavioral management plans School-wide needs assessments Data sharing Student assistance team development

LISTEN TO YOUR COUNSELOR

+Strategic Plan for Counseling Services

Assess current state

SMART Goals

Action Planning

Resource Allocation

Plan Execution

+Assess Current State

Student achievement data

College going Applications Transcripts sent Actual college attendance

Attendance

Discipline

Failure rates

???

+SMART Goals

Aligned to (or same as) school improvement goals

Examples The freshman failure rate in all courses will decrease from

15% to 10% each grading period. The number of students enrolled in AP courses will increase

from 10% to 15%. The number of parents attending the College Selection and

Application Process seminar will increase by 125%. The Guidance Department will host a FAFSA completion

workshop for parents and senior with a participation rate of 60%.

The percent of students retaking the ACT will increase from 12% to 40%.

+Action Planning

What is the strategy?

Who is responsible?

When?

Resources needed Personnel Materials Budget

Anticipated hurdles

+Resource Allocation

Who?

What?

Budget

Commitment from Administration to support goals and plan

Allowing Counselors to execute plan Clerical work Test administration duties Substitute teaching other

+Plan Implementation

Communication Internal training Public relations – promotional announcements Instructions Feedback

Problem solving

Administrative support

+Results

Progress toward goals

New goals

New mandates

School improvement plan priorities

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+Strategic Plan for Counseling Services

Assess current state

SMART Goals

Action Planning

Resource Allocation

Plan Execution

+Why School Counselors as “Agents of Change” on Behalf of Students?

They have the skills to:

Assess and interpret student needs

Recognize differences in cultures, languages, values, and backgrounds

Serve as liaisons between students and staff

Set high aspirations for all students

Develop supports to help them succeed

Assess barriers that impede learning, inclusion, and academic success

Coordinate school & community resources for students. Families and staff to improve achievement

Leadership for school officials to view data through an equity lensThe New Vision for School Counseling, The Education Trust, 2003

+How can your counselors help achieve your school goals?

Attendance

Academic Achievement

Promoting High Expectations

Increasing Enrollment in EPSOs

Improving ACT results

Enhancing College Going Culture

Decreasing Time Lost for Discipline

Improving Graduation Rate

Improving EOC performance

+ Questions

1. What are some of your specific guidance and counseling activities that currently impact student achievement and career and college readiness?

2. What evidence supports that these activities are making a difference?

3. What additional knowledge / support do you need to be able to provide evidence related to these activities?

+Counselors are/are not

Dos and Don'ts

+ College Going

+ Your college experience

+ Did you know?

The college enrollment gap between black and white students is wider than ever.

Smart kids from low-income families earn degrees less often than kids from high-income homes who are low achievers.

Colleges award more grant aid to wealthy students than to low-income students.

Opportunity Adrift: Our Flagship Universities Are Straying From Their

Public Mission." (Source: Baum, Sandy and Jennifer Ma. “Education Pays.” College Board, 2007.)

+Who earns a college degree?

100

67

38

18

• Enter High School

• HS Diploma

• Enter College

• BA in 6 yrs

+Culture is Important

Attending a high school with a strong college-going culture shapes students’ participation in

the college application process

In a Consortium on Chicago School Research study, the single most consistent predictor of whether students took steps toward college enrollment was whether their teachers reported that their high school had a strong college climate where:

– They and their colleagues pushed students to go to college– They worked to ensure that students were prepared– They were involved in supporting students in completing their college

applications

+ Discussion

What is College Going Culture?

What does it look like to students? Parents?

What beliefs do the faculty share and exhibit?

+College Going Culture

College-going culture refers to the environment, attitudes, and practices in schools and communities that encourage students and their families to obtain the information, tools, and perspective to enhance access to and success in post-secondary education.

Three necessary elements are:

Students learn about options for their future, careers and the education they require, as early as elementary school, with a specific focus beginning in middle school.

Schools convey the expectation that all students can prepare for the opportunity to attend and be successful in post-secondary education.

Schools, families, and communities give students the same message of high expectations for their future.

+9 Critical Principles of College Going Culture

1. College Talk

2. Clear Expectations

3. Information and Resources

4. Comprehensive Counseling Model

5. Teaching and Curriculum

6. Faculty Involvement

7. Family Involvement

8. College Partnerships

9. Articulation Patricia McDonough, UCLA

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+Perceived Barriers to College

Affordability: College seems unattainable due to financial concerns.

Fear and Uncertainty: Many students, even those enthusiastic about college, approach the experience with trepidation simply because there are so many options.

Feasibility: For many students there is a general mentality that college simply isn’t possible for them.

+Excuses

Nobody in my family has ever gone to college.My grades aren’t good enough.I can’t afford college.I don’t know how to apply for college.I think college will be too difficult for me.I’m not sure that I will “fit in” at college.I don’t know what to major in or do with my life.There is no way that I can go to college full time.I just want a good job and make lots of money now.

+Parent Perspective

Parents are generally supportive of college and see their role as a motivator, rather than an information source.

Parents saw themselves as a motivator for encouraging students to get to college, but saw counselors/school staff as the ones who helped determine where and how a student would get to college.

+Why College?

+A Framework for College Access and Success

Predisposition Search Choice

Hossler and Gallagher’s College Choice Model

+Predisposition

7th – 9th grade

Factors include: Parental influences Socioeconomic status Peers, teachers, and counselor influence Academic achievement Student’s understanding of college and ability to

access information about higher education

The development of students’ college aspirations and expectation

+Search

10th – 11th grade

Factors include: Parental encouragement Understanding of the costs of college – lower income

families tend to overestimate the cost of college and underestimate the availability of financial aid.

Information gathering High school personnel Students begin to move away from parents as information

sources, relying more on others, including peers

Students form choice sets and determine which institutional characteristics are most important. Students

learn about themselves and their interests.

+Choice

12th grade

Factors include: College cost and financial aid Information about institutional characteristics Parental encouragement and students’ aspirations and

expectations Student academic achievement

Students use information to select an institution and complete the enrollment process

+A Framework for College Access and Success

Predisposition Search Choice

Search and choice mean very little without addressing students’ predisposition.

Building a college going culture must start before the 11th and 12th grade.

+Strategies For Building a College Going Culture

Assess where you and your students

are

Organize faculty for a culture shift

Student intervention

s

+ Assess Where You and Your Students Are

+Know Your Data College enrollment rate

FAFSA completion rate

College application rate

Percent of students taking college-level courses and receiving college credit via AP, dual enrollment, or other dual credit options.

Percent of students scoring college-ready on a college entrance exam by the end of high school (ex: ACT, Compass)

+Assess Faculty and Student Perceptions Sample Surveys

Faculty Do faculty understand the college going process Do faculty understand the range of financial aid opportunities,

federal and state Pell Grant HOPE Grant Tennessee Promise

Do faculty embrace the notion that all students can succeed in college?

Students What are student perceptions of higher education ACT ENGAGE

+Organize Faculty for a Culture Shift

+ Who in your school owns college access and success?

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Designate an individual or team that owns college access and success work and data for the school

College Access Steering Committee

Build faculty and community commitment through collaborative goal setting

Provide continuous updates around key college access and success data points TN Promise FAFSA deadline is Feb. 15 – during

January and February provide weekly updates on the number of students who have completed the FAFSA.

Update the school on the number of students who have applied to postsecondary

Strategies

+Student Interventions

+Path to College Events

College Application Week

College Goal Tennessee

College Signing Day

College Planning Night

FAFSA Completion Workshop

Students who complete a college application and the FAFSA are 50% more likely to enroll in higher education.

+Expand Early College Credit OfferingsStudents who complete some sort of early college credit

are more likely to succeed in higher education.

In a Jobs for the Future study, students taking dual enrollment were 2.2 times more likely to enroll in higher

education and 1.7 times more likely to complete a college degree.

CambridgeIB

APDual Credit

Dual Enrollment

+College Visits and Advising

Evaluation of successful implementation of GEAR UP show that two individual student services have a significant impact on postsecondary enrollment:

College visits – a comprehensive visit includes classroom visits, presentations from faculty, etc. Go beyond a simple tour.

College advising – conversations with adults focused on course planning, educational aspiration building, goals setting, etc.

+College Planning Sessions

Annual one-on-one meetings with an advisor using a prescribed protocol

Intent is to help every student create a college plan and develop a meaningful relationship with an adult

Vehicle to identify at-risk students based on key data and direct them to appropriate interventions

Mechanism to provide students with most appropriate college access service or intervention

+College Planning Sessions

Using College Planning Sessions, advisors assist students in: Developing a postsecondary plan Deciding on a career or career interest area Submitting at least one application to a college or

university Submitting at least one scholarship application Completing the FAFSA, if eligible Identifying appropriate services based upon individual

goals and academic preparedness Identifying support if identified as at-risk based upon early

warning indicators (attendance, course grades, etc.)

+Ideas from Across the State

Create college signs for each faculty or staff member to display in their rooms (Robertson County GEAR UP TN)

Encourage teachers to use advisory or homeroom times to do mini-lessons on college-going topics such as career interest surveys and introductions to financial aid

Invite college admissions representatives to come talk to students about the college search and choice process (Bradley County GEAR UP TN)

Encourage students to create a CollegeforTN.org account

+Ideas from Across the State Host a college-themed tailgate for students

(Milan High School)

Invite high school alumni to come back and talk to students about their experience in college

Create and display posters that talk about specific colleges and what their ACT and GPA requirements are (Northeast High School)

Provide pennants or signs for students to display on their lockers showing which schools they applied to and which school they plan to attend (McEwan High School)

Display a College Acceptance Wall (Clinton High School)

+9th Grade (8th grade)

Career Exploration

Course Selection (4 year High School Plan)

College Conversations

+10th Grade

College Search

Revise 4 year plan

Refine Career Choices

Begin Test Prep

+11th Grade

College fit – College visits

Portfolio preparation

Investigate scholarship opportunities

PSAT

ACT and/or SAT

+12th Grade

College choice – visits

College Applications

Scholarship Applications

FAFSA

ACT and or SAT

+Resources

www.collegefortn.org

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/

http://roadtripnation.org/

+Resources

Tennessee Model for Comprehensive School Counseling - http://tennessee.gov/education/health_safety/docs/tncomschconsmdl.pdf

ASCA - http://schoolcounselor.org/

ASCA, Role of the Professional Counselor - http://schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/RoleStatement.pdf

ASCA National Standards for Students - http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/ASCA_National_Standards_for_Students.pdf

ASCA, National Model for Counseling Executive Summary - http://www.ascanationalmodel.org/Ascanationalmodel/media/ANM-templates/ANMExecSumm.pdf

Mapping Your Future - http://www.mappingyourfuture.biz/index.cfm

Pathways to College Library - http://www.pathwaylibrary.org/ListTopics.aspx

College Board College Counseling Calendar of Activities - http://www.pathwaylibrary.org/ListTopics.aspx

College Board, College Culture - http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/counseling/culture

CollegeEd, Free Lessons and activities - https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started/educator-resource-center/collegeed-college-planning-program

Bigfuture - https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/

+Resources

Career Exploration - http://roadtripnation.org/

Student Competencies - http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/counselor/ASCA_dev_crsswlk.pdf

Sample college going checklist - http://collegetools.berkeley.edu/documents/cat_1-18/Advising_Checklist.pdf

College Going Resources UC Berkley - http://collegetools.berkeley.edu/resources.php?cat_id=6