New Mexico Comprehensive School
Counseling Program Guide

Management System
Counselor/Administrator Agreements | Advisory Council | Use of Data | Action Plans | Use of Time

Use of Data

An effective comprehensive school counseling program is data-driven. Data is collected, analyzed and interpreted in order to make program improvements. The use of data to effect change within the school system is integral to insuring that every student receives the benefits of the school counseling program.

To create a data-driven school counseling program, school counselors must work with administrators, faculty and advisory council members to analyze data in order to create a current picture of students and the school environment. This picture focuses discussion and planning around students' needs and the school counselor's role in addressing those needs.

Data, Data, Data - Detailed explanation of data collection and analyzation

MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS

School counselors should be proficient in the collection, analysis and interpretation of student achievement and related data. School counselors monitor student progress through three types of data: student-achievement data, achievement-related data and standards and competency related data.

Student achievement data measures students' academic progress. Student achievement data fields include:

Achievement-related data measures those fields the literature has shown to be correlated to academic achievement. These data fields include:

Standards- and competency-related data measure student mastery of the competencies delineated in the ASCA National Standards. These data could include:

Disaggregate data

To disaggregate data, school counselors separate data by variables to see if there are any groups of students who may not be doing as well as others. These data often bring light to issues of equity and focuses the discussion on the needs of specific groups of students. Although there are many variables by which data may be separated, the common fields include:

Program Evaluation Data

It is important that school counselors use data to show the effectiveness of the school counseling program. To do this, counselors need to evaluate process , perception and results data.

Process data provide evidence that an event occurred. It is information describing the way the program is conducted and if it followed the prescribed practice. Examples of process data include:

Perception data measure what students and others observe or perceive knowledge gained, attitude and beliefs held and competencies achieved. These data are often collected through pre-post surveys, tests or skills demonstration opportunities such as presentations, role play, competency achievement, data, surveys or evaluation forms. Examples of perception data for competency achievement include:

Examples of perception data for knowledge gained include:

Results data show the impact of an activity or program. These data are collected from many sources such as attendance rates, number of discipline referrals, and grade point averages. Examples of results data for behavior change include:

Data Over Time

In order to get a picture of the impact of the school counseling program, it's important to look at data over time. Data can be collected over three different time frames: immediate, intermediate, long range.

Immediate data measure the immediate impact of knowledge, skills and attitude changes as a result of counselor activity or intervention; such as, pre-post tests of competencies addressed in the classroom or the completion of four-year plans.

Intermediate data measure application of knowledge, skills and attitudes over a short period of time (improved grades after study skills lessons; improved classroom behavior after small group counseling).

Long range data are longitudinal impact data collected year to year for such areas as student attendance, graduation rates and suspension rates.

CLOSING THE GAP

 The ultimate goal of a school counseling program is to support the school's academic mission. Ensuring academic achievement for every student includes counselor-initiated activities designed to meet the needs of the under-served, under-performing and under-represented populations. School counselors do this by examining the student academic achievement data and developing interventions designed to help students succeed.

School counselors must be advocates for students. As advocates, school counselors work to remove barriers that hinder academic success. They challenge school policies that don't promote student achievement or equal access to a rigorous curriculum. School counselors advocate for adequate academic support mechanisms, such as tutoring classes.

Quality teachers, rigorous curriculum and standards-based assignments are all variables that the literature has shown influences the achievement gap. School counselors also advocate for a school climate where access and support for rigorous preparation for every student is expected.

The results of counselor interventions, designed to close the gap, can be documented with student-achievement data and achievement-related data. These types of programs move school counseling from the periphery of the school's mission to a position where the educational community views it as critical to student success.

Guidance Activity Feedback - (Word Document) American School Counselor Association (2004). The ASCA National Model Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Sample Data Worksheet - (Word Document) American School Counselor Association (2004). The ASCA National Model Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Get a GRIP (PDF File) - Measuring the effectiveness of your counseling program

Get a GRIP (power Point Presentation) - ASCA 2005 Conference

Rhode Island School Counseling Association RISCA Toolkits - The RISCA Toolkits contain tools for implementing comprehensive school counseling programs based on the ASCA National Model.

 

 

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