Psychology and Psychotherapy: School Counseling Project

(Part A)

Step One: School Data Summary

The data expert for this plan seems to be Mr. Finch (M.T.S.S. coordinator), who has access to high-quality data at all levels. Mr. Finch knows about the district-level and school-level data and would assist in accurately interpreting the data.

The school improvement plans/goals are:

i. The instructional practice would be based on B.E.S.T. Standards for improving academic grades in Geometry and Algebra

ii. The instructional practice would be based on differentiated instruction (DI) as the differentiated needs of diverse students need to be met.

iii. Fostering school culture and the environment with community involvement for resolving issues of staff morale and work overload

iv. Development of a program for empowering teachers to get a Leadership Succession Plan- a crucial pan for enhancing school climate and long-term consistency

The areas where school counseling programs would support are:

Helping students to overcome Math anxiety that is possibly hindering them from excelling in Algebra and Geometry and preparing them for accepting B.E.S.T. Standards

Helping school staff and leaders cope with work overload and assist in differentiated instruction (DI) that the school is planning to introduce. Further encouragement would also be suggested in staff empowerment with professional development (P.D.) and helping them lead for the Leadership Succession Plan.

The school data reports that showed trends for which the above goals are developed are:

The lowest 25% of the students were not performing at the required levels of performance, thus, unable to make adequate progress.

The need for DI arose when the lowest 25% were seen underperforming in all sub-groups determined from the results of mid-year assessments.

School Climate Data report indicated that 60% of the school staff felt concerns regarding morale as they were experiencing a high workload.

Absence of School Leadership Succession Plan due to insufficient participation of school staff beyond classrooms.

The data report indicates that the school performs well in the following areas.

In 2020-2021, the school performed well in the discipline. This is evident in the number of suspensions. No children were suspended from the school from Grade K to Grade 12 due to indiscipline cases. The same issue also applies in the academic year 2021-2022. The school might have put more effort into counseling students on discipline resulting in zero suspension cases.

The total proportion of pupils attending the institution in the academic year 2019-2021 is higher than that of the academic year 2021-2022. The decrease in students enrolling might be due to poor performance in Mathematics and Algebra.

There is a significant improvement in attendance below 90%. The attendance rates improved in 2022, particularly among students from grade 9 to grade 12. However, grade K to grade 8 is excellent as all of them attend their classes. The reason is that the students in lower grades seem to be performing excellently in their academics. They are therefore motivated to study more and work harder. This leads to higher attendance rates in those classes.

The school should research ways to increase students' enrollment from grade 9 to grade 12. Most students in this category dislike school and negatively perceive education. Much effort should be put into counseling these students and teaching them the benefits of being educated. The subjects challenging to this group of students, such as Mathematics and Algebra, should be allocated more time. The teachers should also develop learning methods that make the school environment friendly.

When these students change their attitude towards learning, enrollment and attendance rates will also increase. Therefore, counseling will reduce the pressure of learning among students by changing their perceptions and making them value education.

After comparing the school's data with district and state data, E.L.A. achievement dropped in 2021 while it was equal to the state level in 2019 and above the state level in 2018. E.L.A. Learning gains have dropped enormously in the year 2021 compared to both district and state levels while it was below but close to both comparable data levels in 2019 and 2018. Math achievement dropped significantly in 2021 compared to the district and state data for 2019 and 2018; the same stands true for Math Learning gains. Science achievement is also considered low compared to the district and state data for the previous years, as it was 57% in 2021, markedly below expectation. Social studies have the same results as well.

Other things that should be known are the students who...…date

Targeted group

will

?????increase achievement levels in Math for students of grade 9 and above

(Increase/decrease something related to achievement, attendance, or discipline)

by

???7% increment??

from

?????21%

to

?????28%

Measure of change

Baseline data

Target data

Supplemental Data

Parents, school staff, management, and students would be instigated to form collaboration to overcome the changes and contribute positively to the hard work that students and teachers put in to obtain higher academic scores at the state and district levels. Further contributions require a change in traditional instructional methods and replacing them with DI, professional development of teachers, and recreational opportunities outside the classroom, along with identifying psychological support needs for either students or teachers if they face personal problems.

Mindsets and Behavior Data

A.S.C.A. Mindsets and Behaviors that are most relevant for the targeted group and goal are:

M4: Self-confidence toward work and learning if teachers communicate that making mistakes is fine (American School Counselor Association, n.d.).

B-LS 2: Creative approach to learning with DI, individually paced problem-solving, and involvement in mathematical tasks assigned in class (American School Counselor Association, n.d.).

Based on the selected A.S.C.A. mindsets and Behaviors, the learning objectives or competencies that students need to learn include:

Participating in individual or group tasks for seeking support where they think they are confused as diverse students might be reluctant to get help from the teacher compared to fellow students of the same culture or ethnicity.

Possible activities or interventions that counselors could use to help students address their Math challenges are:

Visualizing oneself as a Math expert and using those visual interpretations for relaxation techniques (Furner, 2017)

Self-talking to teach their selves about concepts they find difficult or use "Math Journals" for writing them down (Furner, 2017)

Pre-/Post-Assessment

Converting learning objective/ competency of inclusion in group work when class tasks are assigned and culturally diverse students seeking help from their kind rather than a teacher would be asked through a Likert scale as follows:

I seek help from my ethnic fellow when I am confused about a Math task rather than taking help from a teacher when in group tasks:

1

2

3

4

Rarely

Sometimes

Most of the time

Almost all the time

(This question would help determine the need for DI and predict accurately whether students find it hard to perform better in Algebra or Geometry with their ethnic fellows, individually…