REVISED - 10. Small-Group Responsive Services:



The counseling department has continuously focused on improving the academic success of our EL students due to the achievement gap noticed from our school data profile. For example, our school’s graduation rate for limited-english proficiency students had dropped steadily in the last four years. A program goal for the 2016-17 school year is to reduce the number of “F’s for EL students. These students accounted for a large percentage of the failed courses at our school. Our counseling department vision and mission statements include the importance of serving all students in our school, further indicating the need to close this achievement gap.



To identify our group lesson topics, we followed these steps:

First, counselors conducted focus groups with EL students from the previous year and used perception data from these groups. We learned several EL students worked a job several hours a week in order to provide for their families and their school work often was put off until the last minute. We decided to include lessons about procrastination, prioritizing and time management and other skills for academic success to help these students manage time more efficiently and not to put off schoolwork.

Next, we had discussions with the EL teachers on barriers to success for this population.

Then we linked the major themes with the Mindsets and Behaviors.

Finally, we used all of the input to select lessons from the Grab Bag Guidance book which provided evidence-based small group lesson curriculum to enhance student success skills.



Participants of the small group were selected based upon the number of failing grades earned at the end of quarter one and teacher recommendations from the EL department. Due to the large number of students who met the criteria (12 students), we determined it was necessary to divide them into two groups, a 9th &10th grade and an 11th & 12th grade group respectively.



Our pre-post test questions were created based on the topic and the mindsets and behaviors in which they are linked. Perception data revealed that 100% of EL students indicated a 7 or higher on a 10 point Likert scale for the question “Attending the Skills for Success Group helped me become a better student.”



Outcome data revealed that in the 11th and 12th grade group, 2 of 6 students earned a total of 5 F's during S1. None of the 4 remaining students earned any F's during S2 or Y1.



We learned from our experience that because of the varied backgrounds, cultures and educational experiences of this group, facilitating this group was very difficult. We realized that we lacked the training needed to most effectively support EL students in a group setting. For example, many different languages were represented in our group which made communication difficult. Also, a few students left our school during the middle of our group before we had a chance to help them improve their grades.



We plan to continue our group approach in assisting our older EL students; however, we plan to take a different approach with our younger EL students. We will discuss with our EL department, how to provide more academic support for these students by expanding the tutorial services available to them.



In a larger context, our hope was that by reducing the number of F's earned by the students in our 2 EL groups, we would be able to again reduce the percentage of school-wide F's earned by our entire EL student population. However, the outcome data represents the first increase we have observed since we began to track this data in 2013-14. As our EL student population continues to grow, we will continue to explore ways to provide additional support for students in this program!



Our school social worker also leads two groups: one for boys and one for girls. These groups were developed to address the needs of at-risk 8th graders who are transitioning to high school. Students were selected based on the data from an at-risk questionnaire filled out by middle school staff. The group is for all grades as students can remain in the group from year to year. The research-based “Struggle to be Strong” curriculum was used for both groups which focuses on positive coping skills and resiliency. The goal is to support these students as they transition throughout high school. We believe the group was successful as the group members’ attendance and their attitudes toward school improved.

Group Name: Skills for Success

Goal: By the end of the 2016-2017 school year, the English Learner Population will decrease the number of failed courses by 2% compared to the previous year, from 17% of the total number of school-wide “F’s” to 15% of the total number of school-wide “F’s”.

Target Group: Students identified for ELL services and earning at least one F for quarter 1 grades.

Data Used to Identify Students: Students Grade reports for quarter 1: students who meet criteria for ELL program.

School Counselor(s): Marilyn Ripplinger Geoff Gaukler Bernie Houdek Leah Fredrickson

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): M 2, M 6 B-LS 3, B-LS 7 B-SMS 1 B-SMS 5 B-SMS 6 B-SMS 8

Outline of Group Sessions Delivered: 1) Defining Success & Failure 2) Goal Setting 3) Study Skills 4) Time Management 5)Responsibilities and attitudes 6)Procrastination 7) Booster Session and Individual Check Ups

Process Data (Number of students affected): 6 students *For the purpose of this small group results report, we have focused on our 11th and 12th grade group which started with 6 students. We also ran a group for our 9th and 10th grade EL students which used the same lessons. The 9th and 10th grade group started with 7 students. By the time we held our "booster" session in March, 6 of the 13 students in these two groups were no longer attending Red River High School. Therefore, we combined the remaining 7 students from the 2 groups for our booster session.

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): (Percents shown represent students answering true) Session 1: "Success" and "failure" are connected to money, grades, athletic abilities or popularity. Pre-test- 80% true, Post test- 0% true Session 2: I know how to write a SMART goal. Pre-Test-33%, Post Test-100% Session 3: I can identify at least 3 barriers to my academic success. Pre-test-100% Post test- 83% Session 3: I can identify at least 3 positive study strategies. Pre-test-20% Post test- 83% Session 4: I know a strategy for managing time. Pre-test 40%, Post test 83% Session 5: I believe that having a positive attitude can help me improve my grades. Pre-test-75%, Post test-100% Session 6: I know what procrastination means. Pre-test-0%, Post test- 100%

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): -Semester 1, Semester 2 and Year 1 grades -S1, S2, and Y1 F's received by group members. -Six 11th and 12th grade students were identified at the conclusion of the first quarter (Q1) for our Skills for Success group. -Three of the six students received a total of 4 F's in Q1. The other 3 students had received many D's in the 1st quarter and were recommended by their teachers. -Our group was conducted throughout Q2 and 5 of the 6 students received a total of 11 F's during Q2. -However, we were most concerned with the number of students earning F's for the 1st semester (S1). Two students earned a total of 5 F's during S1. -One student from this group moved during Q3 and 4 of the 5 remaining students earned a total of 5 F's during Q3. One more student moved during Q4 and none of the 4 remaining students earned F's for Q4, S2, or Y1 (year-end) grades. -In summary, 2 of 6 students earned 5 F's during S1. None of the 4 remaining students earned F's during S2 or Y1. -A summary table with our outcome data is attached and we have also included our additional EL group representing our 9th and 10th grade students.

Implications: Our perception data shows that students gained knowledge and skills (for example, how to write a SMART goal and identifying positive study strategies). Students also showed belief in the statement, "the Skills for Success group helped me become a better student." We were pleased to see that the four 11th and 12th grade students who completed the year at Red River did not earn even 1 F during Q4, S2, or Y1. Our results with our 9th and 10th grade students were not as promising. We also took note that 6 of the 13 students overall moved during the course of the school year. For this reason, we think it may be beneficial to address the specific needs of students who are more transient than most. In taking a closer look at which students continued to struggle despite our group efforts, we recognized that the "newcomers" with more limited English speaking skills were more likely to earn F's. Therefore, we believe that with more concentrated assistance for our newcomers they could be more academically successful. We will continue meeting with our EL teachers, and building and district administrators to fine tune the system we have in place to provide additional assistance for these newcomers. Over the past few years, we have increased the time spent collaborating with the teachers in our EL department. During that same time frame, we have also increased the time spent with our EL students and their parents. Additionally, we have advocated for our EL students in our communication with building and district administration. In looking at the number of F's earned by our 2 different groups, the data validates the belief we gained from our experiences with these 2 groups; that the older students were more receptive to applying what was covered throughout our group. For this reason, we plan to continue our group approach in assisting our older EL students; however, we plan to take a different approach with our younger EL students. We will discuss with our EL department, how to provide more academic support for these students by expanding the tutorial services available to them. This could be done by recruiting additional students from our local university and / or connecting our EL students to our school's peer tutoring program. In a larger context, our hope was that by reducing the number of F's earned by the students in our 2 EL groups, we would be able to again reduce the percentage of school-wide F's earned by our entire EL student population. However, the outcome data represents the first increase we have observed since we began to track this data in 2013-14. As our EL student population continues to grow, we will continue to explore ways to provide additional support for students in this program!

Attachments