The Student Success Skills lessons were effective in the areas of behavior and increasing MAP data scores in grades K-5 across the board. However, the perception data did not seem to indicate a large impact from pre-to-post for second and third grade students. The pre-post assessments showed larger impacts for fourth and fifth grades. The goals of the interventions were to increase MAP scores, reduce behavior referrals, and increase attendance. We used the evidence-based school counseling program, Student Success Skills, which seemed to have its greatest impact on academic success by increasing each grade level’s reading proficiency rate by 10% or more in all grade level areas except for one. The lessons specifically focused on strategies to self-manage behavior and find ways to do well on tests outside of just content knowledge.
The counselors were able to analyze the effectiveness of the lessons through the collection of various sets of data. Throughout the school year reports were gathered from three different places. Behavioral data included behavior referrals broken down by grade level and month. School attendance data was collected through the Infinite Campus website which could be broken down monthly or quarterly. Academic data was collected through the NWEA website after students completed their MAP (measure of annual progress) tests. The counselors were able to compare data from the fall semester of 2015 to data collected in the spring semester of 2016. The initial data, from the fall, from all three sources was collected prior to the implementation of the Student Success Skills lessons, while the data collected in the spring was collected after full implementation of the Student Success Skills lessons, with additional booster lessons in the spring semester.
To measure the effectiveness of the lessons the counselors looked at whether or not the Core Curriculum (goal 1) was met. Through the gathering of data, the lessons proved to be effective in the area of MAP reading scores increasing proficiency to 10% in all grade levels except for 4th grade, which was right below the goal increasing 9% in reading proficiency. Also, when comparing fall, 1st quarter, behavioral referrals to spring, 4th quarter, behavior referrals there was a decrease in all grade levels except for Kindergarten. The data collected for attendance showed that the implementation of Student Success Skills did not, however, improve the overall attendance rates for each grade level when comparing 1st to 4th quarters. We have uploaded three attachments as visuals representing our data outcomes. Perception Data Results provides tables, Perception Results Visuals provides graphs, and the Core Curriculum Data Report Visuals provides outcome data tables and visuals.
The results from the analysis have given a clear picture of what parts of the program and its implementation need to be changed. The majority of the program was implemented in the first semester of the 2015-2016 school year. Although it is important for Student Success Skills to be implemented over the course of consecutive weeks, classroom guidance lessons during the spring semester need to still be connected to what students learned from the program in the first semester. These issues related to implementation might be reflected in the poor impact on the pre-post assessment as reflected in the perception data visuals for second and third grades. Further, this past year, the program was implemented by the school counselor rather than through regular classroom teachers. The buy in of the teachers will be important in future implementation because so much of what the program focuses on is related to what kids are doing in their classrooms, and the climate of those classrooms. Different areas of the program can easily be referred to during regular classroom time on a weekly basis, because of the lack of teacher buy in, the program was not referred to in the classrooms throughout the school year. This program creates a culture and climate, but in order to do so the language and strategies have to be used on a regular basis.
Another change would be to begin implementation of the Parent Success Skills portion of the program. This not only helps build a bridge between the school and the parent community, but it is another way to reinforce the strategies and the language of the program outside of school. The Parent Success Skills program also offers guidance to parents to help with behavior management outside of school, and offers effective strategies that can be used at home.