The Road to RAMP: Putting It Together

This is the fifth in a series of reflections on the RAMP process.

It's April, and we are in full-fledged RAMP application mode.  Programs and groups are in the process of being completed, narratives are being written, data is being collected, and reflection is occurring at a frenzied pace.  Planning for the final component, the Program Evaluation, is underway.  Why now?  The month of May starts with AP testing, followed immediately by our state End-of-Course exams, and once June hits we are knee-deep in graduation.  For us, this next month is really the best opportunity we have to complete as much of the application as possible.

As we are in the throws of all of these tasks, I cannot get the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim's Putting it Together out of my mind.  I have decided that if I ever facilitate a presentation on this stage of the RAMP application, I will first play this video--in my head I've already designed a collaborative learning activity around it.  Take a listen to the whole song and you will understand why:

Bit by bit, putting it together.  
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art.  
But without the proper preparation having just a Vision's no solution, everything depends on execution.  
First of all you need a good foundation otherwise it's risky from the start.
Gathering supporters and adherents...

Sound familiar?  So much of this song encapsulates the RAMP experience.  This is not a do-all-of-it-in-one-year or one-sitting process.  Rather, it takes bits of work over time and then piecing that work into a whole for a successful application.  It is important to have a strong foundation--Mission, Vision, Beliefs--before you begin, as these will inform the rest of your program's components along the way.  However, just having this foundation is not enough--there is importance in how you implement and execute your programming based on these fundamentals, or else you are not going to be able to effect change.  Further, you cannot build a comprehensive school-counseling program in a vacuum--you have to build relationships with stakeholders in order to garner support for your work with students, families, and the school community.

As we have begun to write our narratives, I find that the "nerd" in me is really enjoying "putting it together."  The narratives are forcing us to go more deeply into the work that we have done.  We find ourselves looking back as to what the impetus and data were that compelled us to implement a certain program or set a specific goal.  We are looking at the format of the conversations and collaboration that have occurred, helping us to form a common set of Beliefs in our practice, determining how we use our time, deciding which team members would be responsible for certain programs, and why curriculum fits within certain ASCA standards.  Most important, it is helping us to make the connections between all of the different components of the application for ourselves.  I must admit that I am truly humbled as we are finalizing this process by the amount of work and dedication that our school counseling team has made as a result of this process.  Sometimes you get so caught up in the day-to-day that you forget to take a few moments to step back and see just how far you've come and appreciate how hard everyone has worked.

If you and/or your team are also in the process of "putting it together," here are some things to consider as you compile your data and write your narratives:

• Follow the rubric:  Each component of the RAMP application has specific criteria that can be found in the grading rubric.  There is information about what the expectation is for the entire component, but also separate information that specifically states what the narrative is supposed to cover.  Further, look at the expectations for scores of "4" and "5," as they also contain information pertaining to how a strong narrative should read.
• Gather your data, including longitudinal data:  Collecting the data on the programs and interventions you have currently been running is important, but I am also referring to past years of data, or longitudinal data.  How have your Beliefs, Mission, and Vision come about and been changed and reviewed over the last several years to get to its current incarnation?  What data from past years led you to the program and achievement gap goals in your application?  Were there experiences in previous years that helped you to determine the membership and focus of your advisory council or small-groups?  This would be a great time to also review past needs assessments, either of your entire program or from specific components.  The rubrics for the narratives are often asking for you to give the reviewer some past context for a specific component that is founded in data.
• Do a final check to make sure everything ties back to the goals: This one was key for me.  I will admit to you out there in the blogosphere that I was stuck for the longest time on the curriculum lessons.  Our small-group that we were focusing on clearly supports one of our goals. Our goals, calendars, management agreements, etc. are all supported by our Mission and Vision statements.  However, I was somewhat baffled by how all of our curriculum lessons were going to be measured with outcome data, given that so many of the lessons at the high-school level are focused on post-secondary options and career planning, which is not something that can be easily measured until graduation.  It took two conversations with Super RAMP Mentors for it to suddenly lock--they needed to somehow be lessons that addressed the goals, all of which are mired in outcome data.  Two of our lessons already tied in nicely to two of the goals, and members of the team were able to easily construct a targeted lesson for the third that actually adds a stronger layer to our original program.  Moral of the story: keep asking questions based on the rubrics.  If something still doesn't seem to make sense, e-mail, call, or ask someone in person to make sure that you are on the right track.
• Collaborate on and have someone review your narratives, preferably with the rubric in front of them:  One of my extra-duties this year is to help coordinate our RAMP application.  As such, I am responsible for a lot of the writing of the narratives, keeping us on schedule, and reviewing of materials.  However, for us this is a team process, and it cannot be done alone.  Last week I sat down with another team-member and worked on one of the narratives.  She sat with the rubric in front of her and as I was writing she was asking key questions about what I was including or not including and letting me know if what was clear in my mind was actually clear on paper.  As a result, the narrative is not only well-constructed and understandable, but it contains all of the nuances and components that are asked for in the rubric.  If you are responsible for writing all of them, have someone else look at them and offer comments--if they do not easily understand an idea, then a reviewer might not either, and it is probably worth another look and some revision.  If you are part of a team, have other team members who may have more knowledge of a particular component collaborate with you on the narrative so that it is as full and detailed as possible.  However, ultimately, you want all of the narratives to have the same feel and a similar voice, so it may be best for one person to go through at the end and edit them to make sure the style is cohesive and unified.

If you've been in your data collection year, as we have, you are coming to the end of your road.  While we often have a million things to do as we approach the summer, these narratives really offer us the opportunity to make the connections between our past, our present, and our future, as well as stop and reflect on the amazing transformations that have occurred within our programs, our personnel, and our communities.  By "putting it together," we are able to demonstrate how far we have come as a school and as a profession.  Good luck!

Just How Important Is That GPA?

How many times does "GPA" (grade point average) come up in conversations you have with either your students or their families?  If you're like me, you hear it on a daily basis.  Is my GPA high-enough to get into college?  Will a C+ in this AP class ruin my GPA?  Shouldn't I take a standard-level class and get an A versus an honors level class and get a B since it will make my GPA higher?  It can leave you wondering if the GPA is the be-all, end-all for students and college admissions.

A recent article in USA Today looked into this issue, and finds what college admissions offices have been telling us for years--that for many schools, the GPA in-and-of itself is not a key factor.  Rather, it is the grades students receive in their classes and the rigor and challenge of the classes themselves about which colleges are really concerned.  Below is the list of factors in rank order from the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC):

source: www.nacacnet.org

GPA is not listed.  When I share this with parents and students, they often go into shock.  Why is this?  Every school and/or school system computes GPA's in different ways.  When I was in high-school, in my district everything was factored in except for PE classes, and certain courses deemed more rigorous were given weights.  Other school systems weight nothing, regardless of the level of the class, while others will assign a +.5 weight to an honors class when someone else assigns the same level of class a +1.0 weight and another a +2.0 weight.  Some use 5.0 versus a 4.0 scale.  There is no real consistency from one school system to the next, and as college admissions offices receive applications from all over the United States and the world, trying to compare applicants by their GPAs is like comparing apples to oranges.  Thus, many colleges will recompute GPA's according to their own formulas to level the playing field for the students in their applicant pool, like the University of Florida in the USA Today article.  Some will take out all weights.  Some will only factor in "core" classes to include math, science, English, social-studies, and world language.  Others will not do any computations at all, but rather evaluate the transcript holistically, looking at the level of classes a student took and the grades they received in those classes.  Check out this video from the Office of Admissions at Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech):

Ixnay on the GPA talk! from Virginia Tech Undergrad Admiss on Vimeo.

If this is the case, why deal with GPA's at all?  They can be great tools in-house.  We use Naviance in our school system, and one benefit is that it allows students to compare their GPA's with the GPA's of past-students (no identifying information is given) who applied to a specific college or university.  Because the data is restricted to one school, this is a like-to-like comparison using the same GPA computation.  Thus, it can give a student a realistic idea of how they might stack up based on past year's admission data for their school.  However, even this needs a word of caution, as the rigor of the classes may not always be reflected within this one data point.  Thus, a student can have a really high GPA but not necessarily be competitive depending on their class choices, or a student from your school can have a slightly lower GPA than the average for a particular college but still be a strong candidate because of the rigorous classes they took.  Additionally, the GPA can be a good common reference point when talking to students and families in general about post-secondary goals within your own school population.  It is an understood measurement within your community to begin discussions about classes and college goals.

Still, the best advice for students and families may be to focus a little bit less on the GPA, take the most challenging and rigorous courses you can manage successfully within the context of your entire life, and strive to get A's and B's in all your classes.  That, in and of itself, is the best formula for the beginnings of a strong college admissions profile.

The Road to RAMP: Get Your Group On

This is the fourth in a series of reflections on the RAMP process.

Let's face it--groups abound at the elementary level.  Changing families, lunch bunch, study skills, organization, test taking, friendship and social skills, and secret agent/random-acts-of-kindness, just to name a few.  During my three-and-a-half month elementary internship, I ran three groups of my own and assisted with a few others.  At high-school, it's a completely different story.

I'm going to be honest with you, blogosphere.  The small-group component of the comprehensive-school counseling program has probably been the hardest for us to implement, not from a lack of desire or skill, but because at the high-school level there are a lot of structural impediments to being able to garner the time, space, and access to students necessary to fully develop this aspect of the model.  Mission, Beliefs, and Vision?  No problem.  Guidance lessons?  Done and done.  Program and achievement-gap goals?  We've been doing those for years.  Groups, however...those have taken some time.

This year, however, we are finally up-and-running with multiple groups that cover a variety of academic, personal/social, and college/career topics, or combinations thereof.  Through the process of running groups over the last several years, I have learned through much trial-and-error some thoughts and ideas that might not only assist in how to structure and plan your groups, but garner support from your school community, as well.  Groups are an important part of your school counseling program for several reasons.  First, they give you more bang for your buck.  In a 30 minute time slot, you may get to work with one, two, or three students on an individual basis.  If you use that 30 minutes for a group, you can impact eight to twelve students.  Groups give you more reach into your population of students, helping us to better reach our goal of working with "all" of the kids in our schools.  Secondly, there is a great deal of power when students learn from each other.  In fact, if you work with high-school kids, you know that they are more liable to take-to-heart thoughts and ideas from their peers than from adults.  In my grief/loss group, the consistent feedback at the end was that the most beneficial part of the group was getting to be around other students who had also suffered a major loss and being able to learn from each other's unique experiences.  Through sharing with each other, the students learned much more than if I or another counselor would have worked with them individually.  Finally, groups allow you to target specific needs within your school.  Not every student needs a group on grief/loss or study skills, but when the needs in your building indicate that more than just one or two students would benefit from more in-depth exploration of a subject, groups are a way to address these issues while maximizing your time and reach.  So, how do you go about setting up a group, especially if they are not yet a part of your school culture?

Well ahead of time...

• Examine your calendar for the year and determine what windows of time might work best for running groups.  For example, in September and October we are extremely busy with seniors, freshmen, career lessons, and just getting the school opened.  However, in November and December there was more open-time, so that was a point at which some of our groups could run. In May, our entire school is heavily involved in state end-of-course exams, so that is not a good time for us to be running groups.  The goal is find some spots where you might have some time to realistically devote to a group without overloading your already busy schedule.
• Pull data to determine what group/groups are needed.  This is key.  You might want to run a group on changing families, but if there is no demonstrated need for the group, you have to ask yourself if your efforts would be better spent on a different topic.  You have several places you can get this information.  First, look at your outcome data sources (grades, test scores, attendance, discipline/school safety).  Is there a group you could run that would target one of these sources?  Next, you can look at needs assessment data.  We determined our list of groups this year based on a previous assessment that showed us which areas students felt they wanted additional assistance.  Finally, you can look at anecdotal evidence, but be cautious and do some checks to insure the there really is the need that everyone is perceiving there to be.
• Build relationships with faculty and staff.  You're going to need them when you start to find space for your group as well as possibly utilizing instructional time to run the group.  If your staff knows you and respects you and your work and sees you as a member of the school team, they are more likely to support your upcoming efforts.
• Find a partner.  At the high-school level, we are often pulled in different directions, especially if one of our students is in a crisis.  Finding a group co-leader can help to divide the work-load of planning and running the group, give students another adult to identify with if they need follow-up and additional support, and better insure that the group will stick to its schedule, even if one of you is pulled away for any reason.  Don't be afraid to look a bit outside of your department if you need to--school social workers, school psychologists, and, depending on the nature of the group, teachers or career specialists might be great team-mates.
• Plan like there is no tomorrow.  Determine what the goals are for your group, how you will gather data (process, perception, and if possible, outcome) on the effectiveness of the group, and then what the over-arching structure and layout of the group will be.  You do not have to reinvent the wheel--there are a million curricula and ideas out there, either in books or online.  You will probably need to tweak them for your particular population, but you should not feel like you have to design everything from scratch.  How many sessions will you need?  Determine the schedule for the group that will impact instruction as little as possible.  If you are in a school that has some sort of homeroom/extra period/remediation time built into the schedule, try to work with this.  If your school just has a standard schedule, try to rotate group sessions so that you are not constantly pulling students from the same class.  Make sure to reserve the space you will need well ahead of time, as it tends to go fast, especially if you will be utilizing computers or other technology resources as part of your group.

Right before and during the group...

• Screen the students.  This is extremely important.  You need to gauge their interest and commitment level, give them parent-permission forms, and make sure that they are a good-fit for the group.  Some students are not yet ready for a group and may need more individualized support before beginning a group, especially as it relates to personal/social topics.
• Use parent-permission forms.  This has several purposes.  First, for most of us, there are often policies and regulations in place that state that we have to get parent permission before working with students in groups over multiple session and extended periods of time.  Secondly, this is another opportunity to share the work that you and your program are doing to benefit the school community.  The letter should give a general overview of what the group will be covering, the goals and expected outcomes, and invite communication between you and the parent if there are ever any concerns or issues that pop up throughout the course of the group. 
• Finalize plans.  This should be the point that you determine your curriculum and double check things like space reservations and the schedule to make sure the foundation has been laid for a successful and consistent experience for both the students and you.
• Communicate with teachers.  This is key, and I truly feel this is why I have been able to successfully lead groups at the high-school level.  I create a group in my Outlook e-mail program of all the teachers for all the students who are going to be part of the group, and then I let teachers know the general purpose of the group and what topics we will be covering, how it will benefit them in their work in the classroom, and what the schedule of the group is going to be.  I also send out reminders prior to each session and follow-ups afterwards with attendance and general points that were covered.  In this way, you are keeping teachers in the loop as to why you are pulling students from instructional time, thus involving them versus keeping them out of the process.  Additionally, if teachers see themselves as partners, they can share with you when they are worried about a student in your group, helping you to better intervene or bring up topics of importance in the next session.
• Involve students in determining the group norms and rules.  Every group needs some sort of guidelines, especially with regards to confidentiality if kids start sharing personal information.  You and your co-leader will want to talk about when you have to violate confidentiality as well as the goal of having the group members respect the stories of the other students.  However, let the students have a say in the rest of the norms--they almost always come up with what you would have listed and then some.
• Give yourself time for reflection.  It is important for you and your co-leader to reflect upon each session.  What went well?  What did not?  Do any of the group members need individual follow-up before the next session?  Did you all forget something that you need to remember to bring up the next time they meet? If you went off-topic (and this will happen frequently) was it meaningful and beneficial or should you work to bring the group back into focus more in future sessions? Was there anything that came up in the group that is effecting you?  This does not have to be an hour discussion, but taking a few minutes will help to make sure that you are best addressing both the needs of the group as well as yourselves.

After the group...

• Collect data.  Consolidate your pre and post tests, examine your outcome data, and even do some interviews of students in the group.  Compile that data into graphs and charts and share that with all the stakeholders.  This is key, as sharing this information with the teachers and school community members will show the impact you are having on students, as well as why it is important for you to access students during instructional time.  
• Determine what follow-up, if any, you need to undertake.  Do some students need some continued assistance with individual meetings?  Would it be helpful to do a check-in session a month or so after the final session of the group?  Are there students that would benefit from another group that is slated to be done that year?  You want to make sure that students who may still need to access supports are able to receive them.
• Reflect, reflect, reflect.  When all is said and done, you and your co-leader should take some time to look at the data and determine if the group was a success.  Regardless of if it had the intended outcome or not, some thought should be given to what worked and what didn't and what changes you would make if there is a need for this group again in the future.  This information should also be shared with stakeholders.

You'll notice that most of the work is done prior to the group ever starting.  The time you put in prior to planning, screening, and communicating about your group will pay off tenfold once you get in there and start running sessions.  If you do not know where to start, I would recommend trying to get one group in during your least-busy time of year (if there is one) and have it tie into some form of outcome data--grades, test scores, graduation rates, attendance, or discipline/school safety.  If you can plan a group centered around one of theses data points, you are more likely to get buy-in from your school community.  If, after you've run your group, it is successful, this may allow you to then assess additional needs and develop more groups on a wider variety of topics to better serve your student population.  Good luck! 

Are We Gatekeepers?

I was recently having a conversation with a colleague in which they were talking about their experience with their high-school counselor, "back-in-the-day."  This colleague described how the one time that they sought out their high-school counselor for some advice on the post-secondary process that they were told they were "not college material."

This colleague has gone on to get a Master's degree and an Education Specialist degree and is having a strong impact upon their own students as a school counselor.

While there are many things that are concerning to me about this story, one of the points that gives me pause is that this experience was only about ten years ago.  As a school counselor, I have heard from many friends and acquaintances over the years of similar interactions with their own school counselors.  My own experience with my assigned school counselor was one in which she handed me my ACT scores, asked me if I was thinking of going to college, and pointed to some books on a shelf that was falling apart in the hallway in case I needed any help trying to come up with ideas.  However, these are typically indicative of situations that happened 20 or so years ago--we've come a long way since then.  Right?  As I pondered my colleague's story this week, I began to wonder if this happened to them only ten years ago, how much of this is still going on today?  Are we, as school counselors, supposed to be acting as "gatekeepers," telling students what classes they can and cannot take, and deciding if they are going to go to college, a trade school, or straight into the work-force?

The answer is a resounding, "no."  If you look at the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Code of Ethics, it states: 

From the Preamble: 

Each person has the right to receive the information and support needed to move toward self-direction and self-development and affirmation within one’s group identities, with special care being given to students who have historically not received adequate educational services, e.g., students of color, students living at a low socio-economic status, students with disabilities and students from non-dominant language backgrounds. 

Each person has the right to understand the full magnitude and meaning of his/her educational choices and how those choices will affect future opportunities. 

From A.3:

b. Ensure equitable academic, career, post-secondary access and personal/social opportunities for all students through the use of data to help close achievement gaps and opportunity gaps.

c. Provide and advocate for individual students’ career awareness, exploration and post-secondary plans supporting the students’ right to choose from the wide array of options when they leave secondary education. 

e. Promote the welfare of individual students and collaborate with them to develop an action plan for success.  (source: www.schoolcounselor.org)

Our code of ethics is telling us that we have a responsibility to make all of our students aware of all of their possible options but that the choice is ultimately up to them.  We collaborate with the student and the family to make decisions and plan for the future.  It is not enough, anymore, to choose on our own, what is best for a student with regards to class selections and post-secondary options.  Rather, as school counselors it is now incumbent upon us to educate a student and family about what options they have, what the possible ramifications and outcomes might be from their choices, and then to allow the student and family to make the best decision for them based upon the information they have been given.  As I've written about before, during academic advising my role would be to look at the available information (grades, test scores, teacher feedback) with the student, discuss the pros and cons of each choice, examine the student's post-secondary and long-term goals, and give my thoughts and recommendations.  Ultimately, though, the choice is up to the student and family as to how they would like to proceed.  Post-secondary planning is no different.  I work with my students to show them all of the available options to include four-year schools, two-year schools, military options, and gap years, we talk about how they stack up based on available statistics, and then they make their own choices as to where to apply and what they might do.

Our profession has transformed from one in which we guard the doors, deciding who gets to go through the one marked "college-bound" versus "trades" or "military" into one in which we provide students access to all of the possible doors and paths available, with a mind that some portals may be accessed at a later time.  This shift in our role is now more important than ever before.  The College Board recently released a study that discussed how many students are "undermatched" with regards to their college choice.  The study argues that there are students with the strong academic ability who do not access more "selective" colleges that would perhaps provide stronger rigor and educational opportunities.  Some of the factors that may be at play with this are the location of the school (city vs. suburban or rural), number of colleges and universities within a close radius of the school, and the number of adults in the area who have attained four-year degrees.  However, the study also acknowledges that more research needs to be done to determine why some schools have higher rates of "undermatching" than others.  Further, one needs to be careful with the idea of college-match and fit, as the best school for a student may not be the most competitive college to which they are admitted, as is discussed in this open letter.  Nevertheless, the study should give us pause as to think about whether we are challenging our students and encouraging them to take rigorous courses.  It should cause us to reflect upon whether we are providing our students with the full-range of post-secondary choices, including competitive state and private schools.

In addition, one of our goals is to help our students become college-and-career ready.  A recent review of data by ACT shows that many of our students are entering college without having met the benchmarks necessary in English, Reading, Math, and Science to be fully prepared for college-level work.  Those students who took a core-curriculum, defined as four years of English, and three each of Social-Studies, Math, and Science, met these benchmarks at a much higher rate.  As post-secondary training of some kind, whether it is a four-year school or a two-year school, becomes necessary for economic sustainability throughout one's lifetime, we must continue to strongly encourage our students to engage in a rigorous curriculum in order to insure that once they get to that post-secondary place, they are successful.  I have heard many times in education the comment that for those kids who are not four-year college bound (maybe not right away, and who decides this?), some of these higher-level classes and additional years of courses are not necessary.  I would counter that they are.  For example, here in Northern Virginia we have a very strong community college program with a variety of degrees and certificates available to our students.  However, regardless of whether a student's goal is get a degree that will allow them to transfer to a four-year school or to go through a year-long program that will allow them to work in an auto-body shop, they still have to meet minimum educational standards to begin taking courses that will count for credit towards a degree or certificate.  The math placement test for all students contains Algebra 2 content.  If students graduate without having taken this class and do not perform well on this test, they will have to enroll in and pay for non-credit skill-building classes until they have gained that knowledge.  This has become a real issue, as students graduate with high-school diplomas, but enter into colleges needing to take and pay for these skill-building courses for years, in some instances, before they can start on a degree or certificate.  Many of these students will simply give up, as a result, either of frustration or because of the cost.  As school counselors, we must insure that our students have access to these classes and advocate for systemic supports to help students be successful in these courses, perhaps double-blocking in the upper-level math classes, providing an additional support class, asking for classes that use these skills in real-world hand-on applications, or finding access to additional tutoring.  It is no longer enough the get them through a high-school diploma--they need to possess the skills and knowledge necessary to engage from the start in their post-secondary plan.

As we enter the season of academic-advising to include post-secondary planning, I would challenge you to think about your approach with students.  Do you stand by the gate, deciding who gets to enter and who does not, or do you open the doors for all of your students, giving them the information necessary to make informed choices for themselves, both for the short and the long term?  As we continue to build to a K-16 model of education, your answer is more important now than ever before.

The Road to RAMP: Goal Oriented

This is the third in a series of reflections on the RAMP process.

There are twelve components to the RAMP application.  Twelve.  Thirteen if you are re-RAMPing.  You would think that with that many components, you might be able to have some low scores on a few and still come out on top in the end.

You might be wrong.

The third section of the RAMP application is the one where you list your program goals, which should include goals that seek to close an identified achievement gap or gaps.  In my previous RAMP post, I talked about how to find data to determine where your school's needs are in order to develop appropriate interventions.  The program goals take this to the next step and formalize what this data is telling you and what your aspirations are with regards to improving and changing the outcomes.  The thing that you may not realize is that these goals will also take over your entire application.  I am finding that our goals are literally driving the majority of our RAMP train--they are a main part of not only the program goals component, but they also then appear in your annual agreement and as a part of your advisory council.  Additionally, you will very likely have have small groups and curriculum lessons that help to support your goals.  As at least one of your goals should seek to close an achievement gap, that takes care of component number eleven.  Finally, component twelve, the reflection piece, will no doubt also include some musings on your goals.  Thus, it is extremely important to make sure, from the start, that your goals are solid, because if they are not, they could cause your entire RAMP train to derail before it barely has time to get out of the station.

Here are some tips to help you formulate goals that won't cause you to jump the track:

• Base your goals in outcome data.  In my previous post, I talked about the differences between process, perception, and outcome data.  Your program goals for RAMP should be based on outcome data, meaning that they are based in academic data such as grades, test scores, graduation rates, or enrollment in advanced course work, as well as in attendance or school safety.  There is nothing wrong with perception data, but it is not as results oriented as outcome data.  Part of RAMP is showing how you and/or your department are able to effect systemic change within your school community--not just how people think or feel, but about how they act and achieve.
• Make sure there is a demonstrated need.  This ties into the previous bullet point.  Your outcome data needs to show that there is a demonstrated need that justifies your focus and time on a particular project.  Too often we set a goal for something without having a justification for why it is important.  If your goal is to try to decrease the number of suspensions by the end of the year, yet in your school there were only two students suspended the previous year, there may be better uses of your time and year-long focus.
• Use the SMART goal formula.  Many of us work on SMART goal writing and reflection with our students.  I have even heard of elementary students writing SMART goals.  We should expect the same of ourselves.  The SMART goal acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.  You want the goal to be very clear, simple, and precise.  For example, "The Smith High School Student Services Department will increase the enrollment of hispanic students in Advanced Placement classes by 10% from the previous year by June of 2013." "By June of 2013, the Chavez Middle School student services department will reduce the number of full-day absences by 15 % amongst students who have already amassed five or more in the first quarter.  If you are confused about SMART goals and want a place to start, take a look at this handout.  There is also more information in the ASCA National Model, 3rd Edition.
• Make sure they can be tied back to your Vision and Mission.  If your goals cannot be linked in some way to your Mission and Vision, one or the other (or maybe both) will need some serious reflection and discussion.  Hopefully, your Mission and Vision statements discuss your role as a school counselor or school counseling team in helping to remove academic barriers for all students and in creating a positive school climate for your community--this is a great place to start.
• One small-group or one classroom lesson do not a program or achievement goal make.  These goals should be large, over-arching goals that encompass large portions of the school year.  No matter how amazing you or your team are, the chances are very slim of a one-shot lesson or a four-session group in November being the sole agent of change with regards to an identified area of outcome data.  However, lessons and small-groups may certainly be a component of your full intervention plan and provide necessary support to your goals.
• Let the goal simply state the aspiration.  Let the program plan discuss the intervention, methods of data collection, etc..  The goals should be relatively short statements that explain what you hope to improve, with whom, and give some indication of why it may be necessary.  The interventions and the finer points are going to be flushed out in much more detail in the program plan that accompanies it.  You can access the achievement gap/program plan template here--they are also accessible with the purchase of either the hardcopy or digital edition of the ASCA Model, 3rd Edition.  
• Regularly review your progress through the year, and keep notes on your reflections.  We monitor our goals and check in regularly with each other through our department collaborative team meetings.  Through these conversations we keep notes so that as we approach the end of the year, we have information that helps to inform our RAMP narratives as well as our final reflections for our DATA reports.  Further, it helps to keep all of us in our department on track with where we feel we currently stand with the goals.  Because we are looking at outcome data, we are able to regularly see if we are on target to meet our end-of-year aspirations and adjust our interventions as needed.

My wish is that by the end of the year, we have been able to demonstrate, through hard data, our department's impact on the academic achievement of our students as well as our contributions to creating a positive, safe, and college and career going culture within our school.  By giving a lot of time to the writing and designing of our goals, and by having others review them and give us constructive feedback, my hope is that they not only reflect well in one component of the RAMP application, but shine through all twelve.

Resource: Children in Poverty

The PBS documentary program, Frontline, takes time to really go in-depth and explore topics, often filming over months or even a year to get a more thorough view of an issue.  A few weeks ago, they aired a program about poverty amongst American children.  Did you know that:

• 1 in 5, or 21.6%, of America's children were living in poverty based on Census figures
• Federal spending on children in 2011 fell for the first time since the 1980's by $5 million 
• 47.6% of children living with a single mother live in poverty
• The poverty rate for White and Asian children is below the national average (21.6%), while the rate for Black children is at 38.2% and Hispanic children is at 32.3%
• 45% of those who spent at least half of their childhood in poverty were still in poverty at age 35 (source: 2011 Census Report)
• Only three other countries in the developed world have child poverty rates higher than that in the United States (source: 2011 OECD Report)

The documentary, Poor Kids, follows six children and their families in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois.  Through the program, you follow their struggles with housing, food, clothing, unemployment, and depression.  Additionally, there are some themes that emerge that directly pertain to our work as school counselors:

• Loss: In the documentary, one family has to take their young girl's dog to the pound as they can no longer afford to keep her, plus they are moving from a house into a hotel room where they can only have one pet.  Children in poverty are constantly having to say goodbye, whether it is to their home, friends in a neighborhood they are leaving, pets, or even family members.
• Hunger:  Almost every child talks about being hungry at points in the program.  We know that children who are  hungry do not perform as well in school, thus we have a national school breakfast and lunch program.  However, those programs only go so far, and are not always able to address meals outside of school and on weekends.  Thus, while a student may be full and able to focus in school, homework to be done on the evenings and on the weekends may be more of a struggle, as children need a lot of nourishment through their growing years.  One program that is highlighted is a backpack food program where kids get food on Friday that can fit into their backpacks to take home over the weekend.
• Educational Impact: They do not really get to this until the end, but if you have worked in a school long enough, you have probably observed this directly.  Kids in poverty are often moving around, as they are able to get into a house but are then evicted, move into a hotel, back into a house, then an apartment, etc.  Thus, they can be in one school or school district's boundaries one minute, then in another one the next.  One of the young girls in the documentary does not go to school for a few weeks, knowing that they are in a hotel for only a short time and will be moving into another housing situation, which puts them in a different school district.  Thus, kids in poverty run a higher risk of missing pieces of their education while they move around, even if it is within the same general area.  It is vitally important that you check with your school system to see what provisions have been made for students that may fall into the category of homeless.  There are Federal guidelines for homeless students that clearly define what constitutes a student as homeless as well as guidelines for specific concerns such as registrations, transportation, and looking out for the "best interests" of the students in these particular situations.
• Educational Aspiration: Several of the kids in this documentary speak to the fact that they know, even at the young ages of 8 or 9 years old, that education is their ticket out of poverty.  They look to school and good grades as a pathway to college and a good job.  As school counselors, we are tasked with helping all of our students succeed academically and move on to a post-secondary option that is congruent with 21st century skills and careers.  This is reassurance that our children in poverty expect and deserve no less from us than any of our other students.

You can watch the documentary for yourself below:

  

Watch Poor Kids on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Poor Kids on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Poor Kids on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Poor Kids on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

The Road to RAMP: Data Mining

This is the second in a series of reflections on the RAMP process.

A few weeks ago I was teaching a class of new counselors and one of the topics was "data."  What are the different types of data that school counselors use?  Why do school counselors need to use data in their practice?  Where do you start?

I've learned over the years that school counselors, new or otherwise, are all at very different places with this topic.  Our comfort level with finding, using, and analyzing data seems to be dependent on a wide variety of factors, such as when you were in graduate school, the specific graduate program that you were in, the comfort level of your professors with data-driven practice, and the professional development that you received after graduation supporting the use of data in your counseling program.  Yet, if you are at all interested in working towards RAMP (Recognized ASCA Model Program) certification, it is a world with which you will need to become familiar.  Quickly.

As I wrote about in a prior post, at my school we have really been working towards RAMP for several years.  A large part of that process has been spent in developing a comfort level, as a team, with data.  What I am finding, though, with the RAMP process, is that we are really being forced to go deeper into our data, both to justify our interventions and define our goals (a topic for a later post), as well as to analyze the effectiveness of our programming.  This process is really helping us to tie together our mission, vision, and beliefs with what we do and how we do it, as well as making us ask the question as to what impact all of our programs are having on academic achievement, post-secondary outcomes, attendance, and school safety.  Where, though, do you begin?

First, it is important to know the three types of data that we will work with:

• Process Data:  Process data literally tells us two things--who is effected by the intervention and what did they do?  Thus, 97% of 9th graders wrote a post-secondary goal.  320 seniors took part in a lesson about dating violence.  56 parents participated in an evening program that focused on supporting students' study-skills at home.  This type of data is a place to start--it is helpful in that it can help to show people that you are taking an active role in the school community and are working with students and parents, oftentimes in large groups.  If you are in a situation where you have concerns that your community is unsure of what it is that you do or have the impression that you don't do much, this type of data can help to inform them of your role.  However, it is lacking in that it does not demonstrate the change or impact that your interventions may have.
• Perception Data:  Perception data comes in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Basically, you are getting a snapshot of people's thoughts, or "perceptions," on a program at a given time.  One way that you might use perception data before a program is to do a needs assessment to see what the perception of your students, parents, teachers, administration, or any combination thereof might be with regards to what they need from you.  For example, if you are trying to determine what groups might be the best use of your time in your elementary school, you can develop a brief questionnaire that asks students to pick their top two out of several options, and maybe follow up with a questionnaire to the teachers and parents, as well.  In this way, you are making decisions about how to utilize your time and resources that reflect what your school community needs, not just what you think they need or what you like to do.  Thus, you may learn that 70% of your students want groups on study-skills and that this is supported with 80% of teachers and parents, versus only 2% of students, teachers, and parents that feel a group on social-skills would be beneficial.  Now, this does not necessarily mean that  you will throw a social-skills group out the window, but it would warrant looking into it further and finding additional sources of data that might support the need.  We also use perception data quite often to see what change has occurred in students feelings, thoughts, or knowledge as a result of our interventions.  Often this is done through either a pre and post test combination, or simply a post test.  These can come in many forms, but asked in developmentally appropriate ways (a choice of two pictures, such as a smiley face and a frowny face for younger students versus a five-point Likert scales for older students) how someone believes they have changed because of your lesson, group, or program.  Thus, there was a 50% increase in 10th graders knowledge of career options as a result of your lesson.  After your lesson on bullying and harassment, 98% of 8th graders could correctly identify the bully, the victim, and the bystander and their roles in the bullying cycle.  Thus, perception data is more powerful than process data in that it can demonstrate change and growth as a result of your program.  However, it is subject to self-reporting, which is not always the most reliable, and does not address the direct impact that the program  has on the academic process.
• Outcome Data: This data was previously known as "results" data, so if you see that term used in prior publications, articles, or entries, realize that they are referring to the same general idea.  Outcome data refers to academic information such as grades and test scores, but also enrollment in rigorous courses and post-secondary planning outcomes.  It also refers to attendance and school-safety.  This is the most powerful data that we can use, as these are the hard numbers that administrators, communities, and state and national entities are tracking.  If you can show that through your intervention grades have improved, test-scores have gone up, enrollment in advanced coursework has increased, more students are applying and being admitted to two and four year colleges, students are coming to school more, or disciplinary incidents have decreased, you are demonstrating that your program is having a direct effect on the academic process, success, and "outcome" of the students in your community.  80% of students who participated in the year-long "Student Success" program saw an increase of .5 or better in their GPA.  Students with five or more unexcused absences that participated in the student-parent program targeting school engagement saw a 65% drop in truancy after two months.  As a result of a school-wide, comprehensive bullying and harassment campaign led by the school-counselors, reported incidents of bullying and harassment were down by 50% from the previous year.  Ultimately, we want as many of our programs to show a change in this data category, as it speak to the true power that school counselors can have on the success of our students.

For more in depth explanation of this information, refer to the ASCA National Model, 3rd Edition.  

So, why do school counselors need to speak this language and use data?  I have been involved in many conversations over the years with practitioners who state that finding data, developing instruments to measure interventions, and analyzing and presenting data takes time away from our direct work with students, which is what we have been trained to do and which is what is most beneficial to students and communities.  There are those that feel that the data-driven movement has taken the humanity out of our profession.  My counter to this is that first, we need data to better make use of our limited time. We all have high case-loads, and some of us in various parts of the country have extremely high case-loads.  By looking at information such as grades and test-scores, broken down by subgroups, as well as needs assessments, we can better target our time with those who may benefit the most from more direct interventions.  Secondly, we need to invest our time and resources on programs that have an impact.  This scenario happens all the time:  You have a speaker come in.  You think the speaker is wonderful.  Other adults think the speaker is wonderful.  No one ever asks the kids what they learned from the speaker, and no one ever follows up to look at academic, attendance, or school-safety data to see if there was any strong, long term impact from the speaker.  Are you really getting the bang for your buck with this intervention, especially if you have taken away from instructional time and spent money to bring this speaker in?  By using data to measure the effectiveness of programs, either with perception data, outcome data, or both, you will quickly determine which programs work and which do not.  This empowers you to justify cutting some things, changing some programs, and developing others based on the true needs of your school.  It also will allow you to ultimately spend more time with students if you are able to do away with some things that have no impact whatsoever on your school community.  Lastly, we need to collect and use data in order to promote, defend, and expand our profession.  As the latest 2012 National Survey of School Counselors from the National Office of School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) tells us, both school counselors and school principals believe that school counselors are ready to take the lead in helping develop students who are college and career ready and chart them on a path to strong post-secondary options.  However, for better or for worse, we need to show our local, state, and national communities just how strong an impact that we are able to have on the academic achievement and outcomes of our students in order to receive the necessary resources and reasonable case-loads that will allow us to do this important work.

So, where do you start?

• Examine data sources that are already available.  Most schools across the country have public "report cards" that breakdown testing data by subgroups.  This can give you an idea pretty quickly of where students are and are not doing well, academically.  You can take this information to your team, administration, or advisory council to begin to develop a program that can address this.  Additionally, look at student grades, graduation rates, attendance, and school-safety data.  This information alone should help to give you some ideas of where there are needs for your services within your building.
• Consider doing a needs assessment.  Take a deep breath--this does not mean do a needs assessment of every student, teacher, or parent in your building.  Target a small population--pick a grade level, do a random sampling, or look at a subgroup that you've found based on information you've gleaned from the previous bullet-point.  In this way, before you develop a program, you can get a better handle on what those students need most.  You may think that your group targeting 7th grade attendance needs help with study-skills, but your needs assessment of them prior to starting may point you in a different direction.
• Find ways to collect data on your programs.  If this is overwhelming, start with one or two, and over the course of a few years add more until you are examining your entire program.  It is important to begin to ask yourself and your team what changes in perception and student outcomes are occurring as a result of your interventions.  You can use paper-pencil pre and post tests or you can use online tools like Survey Monkey and Naviance to gather perception data, and you can go into your school's database to gather the outcome data.  Once you start taking a look at some of the programs that may have been in place for years, you may be surprised by the results.  This can begin some important conversations within your school as to how to best utilize your time and resources.  Some of them may be difficult conversations, but with data you are always able to bring the discussion back to student success and outcomes.
• Share your data.  Regardless of what the data shows, whether effective or ineffective, share your data with stakeholders.  This can be a great thing to do during your advisory council meetings, but you should also feel free to share it with teachers, administrators, and parents as appropriate.  This can be done informally through e-mails, presentations, or newsletters, or you can develop more formalized reports.

If these steps seem like they are just scratching the surface and you are looking for more information on how to compile data and make more formalized DATA reports, I would highly recommend taking a look at Making DATA Work by Dr. Anita Young and Dr. Carol Kaffenberger and available through the ASCA Bookstore.  This book will go into much more detail and give you step-by-step instructions on compiling data, developing instruments to measure programs, and writing a DATA report to share with your stakeholders.  It also includes samples for you to look at that can serve as models.  

Once you begin this process and develop a comfort level with data, you will not only be on your way to RAMP, but you will have begun to find ways to maximize your time with students as well as demonstrate just how powerful the role of a school counselor can be within a school and community.

Taking the Stigma Out of Community College

Every year all of the counselors in my building do a "meet and greet" lesson with our new 9th grade students.  They get to see where our offices are, we talk about graduation requirements, transcripts and grades, and let them know about the vast array of services we, as school counselors, are able to provide them during all four years that they are with us.  As we are also trying to create a college-going culture,  we ask them about their goals after high-school.  We do these lessons in small groups, so the students are able to hear several of their peers' responses.  Most of them state they are planning on attending one of the popular state universities here in Virginia--UVA, Virginia Tech, VCU, etc.  A few years ago during this activity, one of my new students stated they were thinking of going to Northern Virginia Community College, or NOVA as its known in this region.  Another student laughed at this answer, stating that "NOVA is a school for losers."

It was at this point that I knew that we, as a school counseling team, had our work cut out for us.

I was listening this week to my favorite radio show, Tell Me More, on NPR, and they had a story about college students who drop out of school with no degree and mountains of debt that they are responsible for paying off.  Anthony Carnevale, from the Center on Education and the Work Force at Georgetown University, was the guest, and he had this to say:

"We've come to a point where people have to get some kind of post-secondary education or training to join the American middle class and we've yet to find a way to help people make choices to make them savvy about how they invest in their education." (source: www.npr.org)

I think it is pretty well common knowledge at this point that in order to have any realistic fighting chance at economic security in your life, you need some sort of post-secondary education.  However, as I've written about before, I think we need to continue to refine our definition of "college."  College is not necessarily a four-year degree.  There are many certificate programs and associates degrees that will train people for well-paying jobs and careers in a variety of fields.  In fact, for many of these jobs a four-year degree may not be preferable over a two-year degree that really hones in on the skills necessary for that particular occupation.  Further, if we look at six-year graduation rates from four-year colleges and universities around the country, it is clear that a large percentage of students will not be finished with a degree within that time frame, depending upon the specific school.  In fact, in the United States, the average graduation rate at four-year public universities within four years is 31.3%, and within six years is 56%.  That means that only a third of these students will have a degree in four years, and a little more than half within six years.  Some students may be working full or part time while going through school and are thus taking classes at a slower rate than other students.  Additionally, there are always going to be exceptional circumstances that might allow for some of these students who do not make it within six years.  However, you have to begin to wonder if a four-year university was the best fit in the first place for many of these students, and did they have all the information necessary to make a "savvy" choice, as Mr. Carnevale asks?

Enter the school counselor.  We can help students and families make "savvy" and informed choices about their post-secondary options, and part of those conversations needs to be about the benefits of local community colleges.  With only an estimated 60% of first-year college students returning to the same school for their sophomore year, it is vital that we work to change our community's views about local two-year schools as an option.  Community colleges are not just a place where the students who cannot get into a better school end up.  Our school counseling team stresses the following reasons to consider a community college to all of our students and families:

• It can cost a lot less.  Even if a student is four-year bound, the financial cost of attending a community college for two years and then transferring to a four-year college is going to be significantly less than doing all four years at a traditional university, public or private.  For those families and students who are worried about future student loan debt (a very real concern right now) or about the strain of having to work full-time (as a student) or two or three jobs (as a parent) to be able to afford a four-year school, community college may be a strong choice at which to begin their college career.  Every year I have students with academic profiles that would gain acceptance to good four-year universities who choose to do community college for two years in order to save money on their education.
• Some students are not yet ready to leave home.  Parents, for the most part, know their kids pretty well.  If you as a school counselor and they as a parent have worked just as hard to get a student through high school as the student themselves, then they may not yet be ready to leave home with all of that extra support and go away to a four-year school.  If this is a student who continuously gets into minor trouble (cheating, fights, excessive partying, smaller community issues) then they may not yet be ready for the freedom of life at college.  Some kids simply need another year or two of maturity and growing up in order to gain the skills necessary to manage both their academic and personal lives in a way that will give them a much stronger chance of success.  Better to go to community college for a few years than go away to school, spend $10,000, and then be kicked out at the end of the year for academic or social reasons.
• Students need to build up their academic profile.  We all have those students who figure some things out closer to the end of their high-school career than at the beginning.  They have come to realize late that their grades and the classes they take really do matter.  Community college allows them to start with a clean slate and to build up their academic credentials so that after a year or two they can transfer into a four year school, having proven that they are ready to take on college-level coursework.
• Four-year college is not for everyone, nor may it be necessary.  As mentioned before, there are many occupations for which a certificate or a two-year degree may be all that is required before a student can move into a good paying job or begin a career.  Not every student is going to be ready, at least at this time in their life, to do a Bachelor's degree.  However, they do need to get some kind of post-secondary training, whether it is in auto technology, cosmetology, computers and information technology, or dental assisting so that they are then ready to go out into the world with some marketable skills.  I always tell students and families that this doesn't mean that they will never get a four-year degree--it just may be that this is not the right time for them in their lives and they can always go back later.
• Students have absolutely no idea what they want to do.  Part of what has always worried me about the six-year graduation statistics is that I fear that some of those students who may be on the seven or eight year plan began college with no earthly idea of what they wanted to study.  This is very normal--I would wager that most 18 year-olds are unsure of what they want to be when they grow up.  However, exploring a variety of fields is a lot less expensive at a community college than at a four-year school.  It is possible that these students need a year or two of career exploration (perhaps even via a gap year) to get some idea of what area(s) they may want to study so that when they do finally attend that four-year school they are able to be focused and complete a degree within four to six years.
• Students had their heart set on attending a certain school but did not get in.  We have students and families that really only want to attend a certain favorite school, and perhaps do not get into that college during the admissions process.  Going to community college allows them a year or two to strengthen their academic credentials so that they can reapply and transfer in.

It is important to check to see what partnerships or programs are available from your local community college that could assist you in helping students and families to explore whether it it is a viable option for them.  For example, at NOVA there is a guaranteed admissions program which allows students, depending on their GPA, to graduate with an Associate of Arts or an Associate of Science degree and then be automatically admitted to the Virginia public school of their choice.  Further, we have the Pathways to the Baccalaureate program that supports students in their senior year of high school who are looking to go to NOVA for two years and then transfer to a four-year school.  The Pathways' counselor meets on a weekly basis with students in the program at their high-school, and then there is continued support for these students once they begin at NOVA.  If you do not have these partnerships at your school, it may be worth teaming up with your local school counselors, administrators, community members, and school district to try to develop some programming.

At my school, we have really come a long way in a few short years with taking away the stigma of community college as an option only for students who were unable to get into any other college.  This has taken a lot of effort on the part of the school counselors and our amazing career-center specialist, but I really feel we have turned the corner.  Now, many of our families see this as a strong option for their children for all of the reasons I've listed above, and it is viewed as it should be--a powerful stepping stone to a bright future of college and career.    

Resource: High School Dropouts

1.3 million students drop out of school each year.  American business needs 97 million skilled workers to fill much needed jobs in the economy, yet only 45 million workers currently possess those skills (source: www.americangraduate.org).  I've written about the employment and skills quandary in a previous post.  If you look around the country, you find some places have really made strides and improvements in helping guide more students to graduation, and there are other places that still struggle a great deal.

American Graduate is an organization that has dedicated itself to investigating why students drop out of school--what are the risk factors and warning signs?  Further, they have also worked to identify solutions and strategies that schools, educators, and families can use to help prevent kids from leaving school without a diploma or a GED.  American Graduate has partnered with local organizations in states and cities across the U.S. as a means of gathering information about the issue locally as well as getting the word out about the problem and ways to find solutions.  For example, here in the Washington D.C. metro area, they partnered with a local NPR radio station, WAMU, to produce a nine-part radio series that looked at the high-school dropout crisis in this area.  Kavitha Cardoza, a reporter at the station, examines the issues from a local point of view, but the strength of this series is that I believe it is applicable anywhere.  It identifies the main risk factors for dropping out, the long term effects of students leaving school without a diploma or certificate, and what some communities have done to try to either prevent dropping out or to give students a second chance:

• Breaking the Cycle When Dropping Out Runs in the Family:  This episode examines how dropping out can be seen from generation-to-generation (remember your Bowen theory and genograms), and the impact this has on families over time.  Further, it discusses risk factors such as pregnancy and students with learning disabilities.  One part that I found interesting was how connected one of the subjects felt to a former teacher, and how that connection made such a difference in her ability to learn during that particular school year.
• How Many Students Really Graduate from High School?:  As most of us have known for a while, graduation rate calculations have varied widely from state-to-state, with some involving sampling and self-reporting, some that include both diplomas and GED's, and some that only pull numbers from those in the 12th grade, leaving out any students that may have dropped out before then.  There is now a new method for all states to use in calculating graduation rates, the adjusted graduation cohort rate, which will follow and track all students who enter the 9th grade.  Further, many states are using databases to determine which subgroups of students are most at-risk for dropping out.
• Why Kids Drop Out: Identifying the Early Warning Signs: There are three large warning signs that are discussed--attendance, behavior, and grades/academic performance.  When one of these is an issue for a student, it can be a risk factor, but when two or three are an issue, that student may be in real danger.  School policies that involve the parents/guardians, connecting abstract coursework to the real world, and having teachers that regularly encourage students are discussed as antidotes.
• Graduation Rates Increase Around the Globe as U.S. Plateaus:  In 2009, the U.S. ranked 21 out of 26 countries with regards to their graduation rate.  In the past, the U.S. used to rank first.  Some believe that we have fallen because of a stronger emphasis on the social nature of schools--the clubs, the sports, and prom.  Others believe that we have not become weaker, but that other countries have worked hard to improve their graduation rates, and offer multiple paths to a diploma, such as through vocational education, something that U.S. education has shied away from because of the stigma associated with "tracking" students.  In developing countries, graduation rates are on the rise because education is seen as transformative--it can pull people out of poverty and change lives.
• Battling Homelessness, Crime on the Path to Graduation:  Two stories are presented.  In one, a student who has been homeless most of his life discusses his struggles and how he has overcome them and remained focused on school.  In the other, an older student who was in jail for three years for a felony conviction regains academic focus at an alternative school following his release.
• In Experimental School, Tight-Knit Community Helps Students Succeed:  At the Baltimore Talent Development High School, students graduate at a 78% rate within five years, which is higher than the school district's average and much higher than neighboring schools.  This is done by focusing on attendance, behavior, and coursework.  Students have daily competitions between the grade levels for attendance, and the school environment is highly structured in order to minimize down time and distractions, everything from uniforms to class schedules built on the concept of "teaming," where students have classes with the same students and teachers all day long.  The idea is that if students are not motivated themselves to succeed, the staff and their peers can help to keep them moving forward.
• Scaling Up Solutions to the Dropout Problem:  This installment tackles the question, "can you identify and then transfer successful components from one program into others?"  Diplomas Now has done this, showing early success in a school and then expanding into other programs.  Key components of their program involve smaller groups of students, careful monitoring, developing relationships with kids, and a high staff-to-student ratio.  The strong academic program is the first line of defense.  Next, the program involves City Year volunteers who help to keep track of students attendance, behavior, and grades and then, through staffing meetings, design interventions if the child needs support.  Finally, for those students with needs that exceed what can be provided within the walls of the school, there is a social worker who helps to connect them to outside resources.
• Bridging the Gap Between Home and School: Attendance officers as well as school and community social services reach out to connect parents to what is going on in their children's lives.  Unexcused absences are not the only issue; excused absences are also a reason for concern.  Students will sometimes be excused in order to take care of siblings or to take parents grocery shopping or to the doctor.  By meeting with parents face-to-face and building relationships with them early, the schools try to lessen the "value-disconnect" and help bring families on board with the importance of education.
• The Impact of the High School Dropout Crisis: Alternative schools and second-chance programs allow dropouts to give high-school another try.  Students can find success at programs that have on-the-job training and that tie education to real-world experience.  Students may attend programs that end in a GED, or some will go through schools that offer mentoring, accelerated credit recovery programs, and more convenient hours.  These programs are important, as those who never get a high-school diploma have less earnings and spending potential, are less likely to vote, less likely to volunteer, are at a higher risk for ending up in the justice system, and are more likely to have health issues.  More important, however, is the loss of human potential.

How can you, as a school counselor, take the ideas and concepts discussed in this series and apply them to your individual situation?

• Use data to identify those students who may be at risk, as early as possible.  If I think about my work with my own students, the ABC acronym (attendance, behavior, course performance) is exactly what I use to help me determine who needs additional supports and interventions in order to keep them in school.  Students who consistently miss school, either for excused or unexcused absences, are not getting the instruction they need nor are they engaging in the school community.  Students who are constantly having behavior issues, getting suspended or thrown out of class, are also not getting the instruction they need.  Students who are not performing well academically are not amassing the skills and credits they need for graduation, falling further and further behind, becoming frustrated and more disengaged from education.  If you have a student who is struggling with all three, no matter if they are in elementary school or a junior in high-school, they are at an extremely high-risk for dropping out of school at some point.  
• Use your counseling skills to help figure out what is behind those risk factors.  Students may be missing school, but is it because they hate school and are disengaged from the process, or is it because they are expected to help take care of siblings, parents, or other family members?  Students may be acting out in class, but is it because they are responding to bullying and harassment because of their LGBT status or is it because they are trying to take attention away from the fact that they do not understand basic math, making Algebra 1 impossible?  Their grades may be low, but is that because they are bored in class, ace every test, and do absolutely no homework, or is it because there may be an unidentified learning disability or other impediment?  As school counselors, we are specifically trained to ask the questions that will help us to get the information we need to truly begin to assist the student.
• It takes a village.  Once you have identified a student or a group of students who are struggling with one or all three of the ABC's and gotten some ideas as to what may be the background behind their struggles, gather the troops together.  The more people who are involved in assisting the student or students, the better.  Ask the parents to come in and meet with you, all the teachers, the administrator, the student, and any other personnel or community members that might be relevant or helpful.  For each individual student, if you are able to develop a plan with everyone present, you are much more likely to have consistency.  Further, it send a pretty clear message to the student that everyone at that table cares and wants the student to do well.  For groups, get other staff and community members to assist you in running a group for those who struggle with attendance, setting up an after-school or even during-school tutoring session, or partnering with someone in the community to work on anger-management and conflict-resolution skills.
• Know your resources.  Something that is pretty clear in the radio series is that many school systems have developed alternative programs to help students graduate.  In my own school district, there are multiple programs to help students graduate, from standards-based online coursework to programs that are part vocational, part academic.  We have GED prep-programs that incorporate GED prep, job skills, and career readiness.  Some area school systems have created schools-within-schools to help address at-risk problems like attendance and low grades, developing programs which are small and compact in nature so that students move together with the same students and teachers.  In addition to seeing what options might be available in your school system, gather additional community supports--is there low-cost or free family counseling?  Is there an after-school community resource center for kids?  Do you have a contact or two in social-services to assist with other family needs like housing, medical concerns, or child-care?  Again, you cannot possibly do it all, but if you have a bank of resources in your head (or on your computer), you can more easily help to solve some of the problems that are preventing the student from being successful.
• Build relationships.  This was pretty clear in the series, time and time again.  Students need someone within their buildings to connect to.  You can be that person.  More than this, though, you can help to facilitate relationship building between the student and their teachers, the teachers and the parent, the parent and the school.  The more people in this situation that feel comfortable talking to each other and problem solving, the better that will be for the student and the possible outcome.
• Follow-up.  Keep tabs on the student, meeting with them regularly.  Check in with the parent, especially around grade time or any time an attendance or discipline issue comes to light.  Check in with the teachers to see how things are progressing and if they need any assistance from you.  This way you are able to head possible problems off at the pass plus you are continuing to foster and nurture your relationships with the community of support you have helped to build around this student.

The American Graduate website has additional resources, including report cards by state on the dropout situation to include statistics on indicators, dropouts, dropout factories (schools with fewer than 60% of students graduating),  and the economic implications of students dropping out.  Further, it has reports on the student, teacher/principal, and parent perspectives on what causes students to dropout as well as what solutions each group offers.  My one concern that I've discussed before is that school counselors are left out of the discussion in American Graduate.  The parents, teacher, principals, and students surveyed offer solutions such as stronger relationships between the schools and families, between the students and their teachers, more access to support staff (implying school counselors, perhaps?), more collaboration between all the parties involved, and stronger early-warning systems (source: www.americangraduate.org).  It seems to me that the person in the building most able to have a global perspective on a student (academic, personal/family, career aspirations) is the school counselor.  It seems to me the person in the building most able to examine data to identify early warning signs is the school counselor.  It seems to me that the person in the building most able to facilitate the collaboration and relationship building between the teachers, student, family, school personnel, and district/community resources is the school counselor.  We can have a strong impact on the dropout rate in this country if we are able to identify students early, determine what is behind the risk factors, and then develop and follow through with a collaborative plan to see that student through to graduation.