Throughout the 2016-2017, the counselors conducted several small groups across all grade levels. The counselors typically collaborated with our school social worker and school psychologists when running the groups. The areas in which our small groups focused on were attendance, social skills, self-esteem, stress/anxiety and lunch bunches on a weekly basis. Student participants were referred through our needs assessments students completed at the start of the school year, counselor, teacher or parent recommendations. After reviewing the data from our needs assessments, each counselor created a small group action plan to outline the groups that we would like to run during the school year. We had to make some revisions to the plan as the year progressed, but we were able to accommodate the groups and provide support to our students. Within our groups, we addressed many ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors in the academic, career, and social/emotional domains.



As mentioned previously in the application, we split up the RAMP application and duties. Therefore, we chose for the 8th grade counselor, Patti Bagdasarian, to complete the small group portion of the process to focus on decreasing student’s absences. Research shows that absenteeism can have an impact on student achievement, negative behaviors, and dropout rates (National Center for Educational Statistics). We had 44 students with a total of 26 or more absences throughout the 2017-2018 school year (15%). We chose to target a smaller population from this list of students and decided we would look at a specific grade level. Because she works with our 8th grade population, we invited 8th grade students who missed more than 15% of the 1st and 2nd quarters to participate. Eight students from the 8th grade were invited to participate, based on the school’s attendance data, and four parents gave permission for their child to participate.



The group met during the 3rd quarter during the 2017-2018 school year. Lessons and activities included students creating their group rules, and their own goals related to attendance and academic achievement. Counselors monitored their status throughout the group sessions. Overall, we felt that we had a great amount of success with this group. We monitored grades and attendance each week and completed the activities to help the students see that their attendance at school had a direct impact on their success in the classroom. As you will see on the attached Small Group Results Report, three of the students decreased their absences during the group and three decreased their number of tardies. One important thing to note that impacted the students and their progress towards the small group goal was the fact that two of the four students experienced significant mental health concerns either right before group began or during the group time frame (February to April) that resulted in missed time from school for therapy and psychiatry appointments. These appointments were very important for the students to attend. The families of these students worked closely with the 8th grade counselor to keep her informed of the students mental health status, attendance, and any interventions that were being pursued with outside providers. Due to these factors, our data isn’t as strong as we would like, but there was still positive growth towards our goal in three of the four students for both absences and tardies.

Group Name: Attendance Group

Goal: By June 2017, the number of eighth grade students who have missed more than 15% of school during the 1st and 2nd quarter of the 2016-2017 school year will decrease their absences and/or tardies by 5%.

Target Group: Eighth grade students who have missed more than 15% of school during the first and second quarter of the 2016-2017 school year.

Data Used to Identify Students: Attendance Reports

School Counselor(s): Patricia Bagdasarian (8th Grade Counselor) Holly Melko (School Counseling Intern)

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): Domain: Academic Mindsets: M1, M2, M3, M6 Behaviors: Learning Strategies B:LS3 Self Management Skills B:SMS1, B:SMS2, B:SMS3 Social Skills: B:SS2, B:SS3 Virginia School Counseling Standards: MA1, MA2

Outline of Group Sessions Delivered: Session 1: Introduction/Jenga Materials: loose leaf paper, pencils, poster for rules, markers, Jenga with scenario cards, attendance trackers, stickers Session 2: What keeps you from getting to school? Materials: What keeps me from getting to school handout, Attendance Problem Solver handout Session 3: Routines Materials: Responsible Routines Session 4: Where does the time go? Materials: How I spend my day worksheet, colored pencils/markers, Planning my week worksheet Session 5: Managing your time Materials: Student’s cell phones with calendar app, bad examples of agenda entries Session 6: Your agenda is your friend Materials: Bad agenda example, agenda poster, homework cards Session 7: Study Skills Materials: Study Habits Survey, Good Working Habits Improvement tracking sheet Session 8: Closing and Reflection Materials: Attendance goals, grades, pizza

Process Data (Number of students affected): Four 8th grade students Theses students met once a week for 8 weeks for 45 minutes

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Perception Data was gathered through a group survey that all students filled out at the beginning and end of the group. Questions consisted of Multiple Choice (Yes, No, and I don’t Know) The results were analyzed and are depicted on the graph attached 100% of students agreed that it is important to come to school every day and that it is important to study and prepare for upcoming tests and quizzes. Q1. I think it’s important to come to school every day At the end of the sessions, 100% agree it is important Q2. I think it’s important to be on time to school and to my classes At the end of the sessions, 75% did not know if it was important to be on time and 25% agreed Q3: I think my attendance has an influence on my grades At the end of the sessions, 75% of the students agreed attendance influenced grades and 25% did not know Q4: I think it’s important to complete my homework and classwork At the end of the sessions, 75% agreed it was important to complete homework Q5: I think i do well with managing my time At the end of the sessions, 75% agreed they managed their time well and 25% did not know Q6: I think it’s important to study and prepare for upcoming tests and quizzes At the end of the sessions, 100% agreed it is important to study and prepare for upcoming tests and quizzes.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Outcome data was collected through attendance monitoring and reports. 3 out of 4 students had improvements in their rate of absences. 3 out of 4 students had an improvement on their rate of tardies. (Please see the attached data/chart below). Goal: Only 2 students met the goal of a 5% reduction or more in absences, however, a 3rd student did have a small reduction (2%). One student had an increase in absences due to mental health concerns and that is addressed in the narrative. 3 of 4 students had a reduction of 5% or more in tardies. One student had an increase due to mental health concerns (also addressed in the narrative).

Implications: Implications for next year are that we continue to offer a group focused on attendance at all three grade levels. We received several suggestions that came out of our Advisory Board meeting in June and from evaluating our data. First Deans or Counselors to make a personal phone call on the morning of an absence to check on student. We should have personal conversations with teachers regarding efforts surrounding students in attendance groups. Including the students in the conversation would be extremely beneficial so they know we are working with them to get them to school. We should ask students that are absent/tardy frequently (not due to appointment, illness, trips, etc.) to make up the time either before or after school Counselors and administrators will continue check-ins and monitoring after groups conclude. We should also assist students with setting up a system to self-monitor their attendance. Next year, we will be starting our Advisory Program. We can provide Advisory teachers with attendance data for their students so it can be a daily conversation within their groups. At the start of the school year, it would be helpful to meet before the school year even begins with students who miss a lot of school due to school phobia/anxiety and ensure students and their parents that we want to work together on keeping them in school.

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