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Fair Street Elementary School (2017)

Gainesville, GA

Academic Achievement
Anger Management
Attendance
Bullying
Character Education
Conflict Resolution
Diversity
Dropout Prevention
Group Counseling
Mental Health
Mentoring
PBIS/MTSS
Parent/Family Collaboration
RTI
Violence Prevention

Small Group Responsive Services

This year, the small-group counseling services focused on students with behavior problems. Informal data from teachers, parents, and students themselves plus formal discipline referral data from PowerSchool was used to choose participants for the Friendship Groups. In the 2014-2015 school year, 60% of our discipline referrals came from African American students, though they made up only 20% of our school population. According to PowerSchool data, our discipline referrals in 2014-2015 decreased by 45%, though teachers said they weren't really giving students discipline referrals to students when they deserved them, because teachers did not think anything would be done about the students' misbehavior. So, the decrease in discipline referrals appears to be artificial. Also, the principal asked this counselor to hold 2 rounds of groups this year, rather than one round, in order to try to prevent problems from getting worse, and in order to help teachers and students. Therefore, 2 sets of behavior groups (Friendship Groups) were held - one in the Fall and one in the Spring. An additional group, New Baby Group, was offered in the Spring after a 2nd grade teacher requested the group for 3 of her boys who were experiencing continual problems with behavior in the classroom due to a new sibling in the family. A Changing Families Group (Divorce) was also offered, but it ended up there weren't enough children to continue the group. One child moved, one child's parent would not let them participate, and one child's parents ended up getting back together.



Second Step Skills for Social and Academic Success Curriculum was used to address the needs of the students in the Friendship Groups. The skills taught in the Second Step program K-5, are designed to build students' ability to handle interpersonal conflicts effectively, and improve their social skills. Students capable of calming down and solving their own problems are more successful in school and in their interpersonal relationships. According to Second Step, they are more likely to be academically successful, socially well-adjusted, less impulsive and aggressive. This spoke directly to the kinds of problems our students with discipline referrals were experiencing. Second Step is listed as an evidence-based prevention curriculum.



Perception survey results indicate that students K-5, believe they improved to a greater degree than their teachers believed they did. The majority of students believed they "much" or "greatly" improved in behavior, peer relationships, and bonding to school. Though attendance and academics were listed on this perception survey, the main problems these students were having was with their behavior, and so this is what was focused on and reported. As has been mentioned in the Professional School Counseling Journal (Vol.18, #1), teachers, students, and parents frequently don't report the same amount of improvement in behavior. This calls for the school counselor to be a major player between the different groups of people, creating understanding between teacher and student. As Dr. Kaprea Johnson and Dr. Michael D. Hannon noted in the referenced article above, it appears teachers get stressed out, have decreased tolerance, and are more negative with students with behavior problems as the school year progresses. Thus, in the future, this school counselor will try to effectively help teachers understand more about the problems of their students, offer suggestions that might be helpful, and stay in closer contact with these teachers. Staff development on certain child behavior topics could be beneficial. According to this school counselor, it did appear that the groups truly helped the students.



One change I will make in the future, though, is to somehow figure out how to offer more types of small groups. I had planned to do that this year in the Spring, but teachers and my principal kept asking me to hold the Friendship Groups to deal with the behavior issues. Being the only school counselor for the 637 students is a challenge with which I continually struggle.



Group Name: Friendship Group

Goal: Reduce Student Discipline Referrals from 2014-2015 School Year by May 20, 2016

Target Group: 5th Grade Students Referred by Teacher, Administrator, Parent, or Self for Behavior Problems

Data Used to Identify Students: Discipline Referral Data (Informal and Formal)

School Counselor(s): Dr. Kim Hall

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): Domain:Social/Emotional Mindsets:Sense of belonging in school environment. Self-confidence in ability to succeed. Behaviors: Self-management Skills,Demonstrate ability to assume responsibility; Demonstrate self-discipline & self-control; Demonstrate ability to delay immediate gratification for long-term rewards. Demonstrate ability to manage transitions & ability to adapt to changing situations & responsibilities. Social Skills: Demonstrate empathy; create relationships with adults that support success; demonstrate advocacy skills & ability to assert self, when necessary.

Outline of Group Sessions Delivered: Goal: Develop students' ability to solve problems on their own, such as: Encountering conflicts on playground; Making amends for damaging an item; Seeking help with schoolwork; Dealing with gossip; Resisting negative peer pressure. Wk.1 Students learn how to calm down, & solve problems. They are introduced to the Second Step Problem-solving Steps, focusing on Step 1: Saying the problem without blame. S:Say the problem; T:Think of solutions; E:Explore consequences; P:Pick the best solution.Wk.2.Solving Problems-Part 2; Students learn these next 3 Problem-solving steps: practice generating safe & respectful solutions, identifying consequences, then selecting the best solutions. Wk.3:Making a Plan; Students continue to practice the Problem-solving steps. They learn some solutions are complicated & need a plan. Students practice making a 3-step plan by breaking down a big task into smaller, more manageable parts. Wk.4 Seeking Help. Students review the Problem-solving steps & learn & practice assertively seeking help from a trusted adult. Wk.5:Dealing with gossip. Students learn how to identify harmful gossip. They practice applying the Problem-solving steps to the problem of gossip, generating ideas for refusing or avoiding harmful gossip. Wk.6:Dealing with Peer Pressure. Students apply the Problem-solving steps to figure out ways to resist peer pressure.They practice using assertiveness skills to resist peer pressure. Wk.7 Reviewing Second Step Skills: Students review & practice applying all Second Step Skills & concepts taught these past 6 weeks. Wk.8: Celebrate! Students will celebrate with a party, while sharing the things they have learned.

Process Data (Number of students affected): Fifteen 5th Grade Students - Divided into 2 separate groups

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Eleven of the 15 Post Group Perception Surveys were completed by teachers. Of the 11 completed, 82% said there was either slight improvement or no improvement in students' Behavior, Peer Relationships, & Bonding to School. *(see attached survey). Eighteen percent of teachers said the students had much improvement or greatly improved.**(See narrative about what recent research states about teachers' perceptions on students' behavior after the use of behavior charts. This could be similar). Seven of the 15 students completed the Post Group Perception Survey, & 100% of them gave themselves "much" or "greatly" improved on Behavior, Peer Relationships, and Bonding to School ratings.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): One of the 15 students had no increase in discipline referrals from last year, by May 20, 2016. **See narrative about how first year of PBIS implementation may have affected this data**

Implications: Students rated themselves as doing much better after group on Behavior, Peer Relationships, & Bonding to School than did their teachers. Counselor observations agree with student self-evaluations. Based on the 2014-2015 Professional School Counseling Journal article Vol.18 on parent, teacher, & student discrepancies on rating students' behavior, and on this year's small group results, I will increase my role as mediator between student & teacher to help facilitate more positive teacher/student relationships. I will be more supportive of teachers with problem students in their class in order to decrease teacher stress & to facilitate more positive reactions from teachers. I will share PBIS activities, such as 4:1 teacher-made positive to negative comments to students that PBIS suggests. I will continue to work as PBIS Coach & help our school system implement PBIS in a systematically, consistent fashion so that we will have reliable discipline referral procedures and discipline referral data, in order to compare from one year to the next, and make any needed changes.

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