REVISED SECTION
The GACA core curriculum lessons were chosen based on input from our annual needs assessment survey and designed to align with our department’s mission and vision, the school improvement goals, and the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors standards. The lessons were designed to support our program’s goals and are based on school data. The counseling department has chosen to highlight the following three lessons: “PSAT @ GACA”; “Know Your Tests: SAT and ACT”, and “All About Financial Aid”. Students elect to attend the lessons and must be proactive in coming to the virtual classroom where the lessons are conducted. Those that cannot attend can listen to a recording after the live session.

In the Financial Aid lesson, all potential 2017 graduates were invited to attend as part of our monthly Senior Success Sessions. Only 48% of our students attend college, potentially because of the lack of awareness of financial aid resources available to them, and may have limited knowledge about the state’s merit based scholarship program, the HOPE Scholarship. The goal of this lesson is to increase student knowledge on the types of financial aid available, how to qualify, and how to apply using the FAFSA.

The data shows that we had a 6% increase in completion of FAFSA applications from 2016 to 2017. The counselors will continue offering this lesson during the fall so that students are prepared when the FAFSA becomes available. The presentation will also continue to focus heavily on the HOPE scholarship due to it being the most popular scholarship opportunity in the state of Georgia.

In the SAT and ACT lesson, all students were invited to participate as part of our annual College and Career Week activities in November. Our students do not have a physical counseling office to visit for informational materials on these tests and many of our students are not aware of the reasons for taking the SAT & ACT, the process of registering, when and where the tests are offered, the best times to take them, or the use of fee waivers, and will contact us confused on where to begin. The goal of this lesson is to increase student knowledge in these areas.

Our students increased their knowledge on reasons for taking the tests and the data showed a 7.4% increase from 2016 to 2017 in students taking the SAT or ACT. We feel that continuing to offer this lesson during College and Career Week is the ideal time because the lessons/activities offered during this week put the college application process in the forefront of the students’ minds and they begin taking steps towards becoming college ready. This also gives them time to register and prepare for remaining test dates. The counselors will continue to use the current curriculum since the data shows that students did increase in knowledge on all areas on the post test.


In the PSAT @ GACA lesson, all 10th/11th grade students were invited to participate in conjunction with registration opening for the PSAT. As an online school that does not have a physical campus, we rent a space to host the PSAT, which gives us the disadvantage of not being able to pull the students from classrooms to take the test. Students must be motivated to pre-register and travel to the testing site. The goal of this lesson is to promote registration for the PSAT and to explain the purpose, procedures for registering, subject matter, and interpreting scores.

The results of the data showed that students who participated mostly increased their knowledge about the PSAT, although there was a 20% decrease of students strongly agreeing that they felt prepared for the material reflected on the post test. We did not see an increase in the number of students that took the PSAT from 2015 to 2016. We feel that there is still a need to complete this classroom lesson before the PSAT date in October. But because students stated that they did not feel prepared with content material, the counselors will heavily promote our College Prep with SAT course, which allows them hands on practice of the SAT through Khan Academy. We will also collaborate with Math and English teachers to offer live lesson sessions focusing on content prep before the PSAT date.

Grade Level: 10th/11th

Lesson Topic: PSAT

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): MS: 4 BS: SMS: 6 BS: LS: 4 BS: LS: 10

Start/End: September 2016

Process Data (Number of students affected): 600 students in grades 10 and 11

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre/Post - Same test (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfp6YcLWyww9hc6l4bdSWisfW3OogFZTpFRZq-MjDn3T8ySg/viewform)

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): % of 10th/11th graders who take the PSAT in 2016/17 school year compared to 15/16 86 test takers (14.3% of 10/11th grade student population took PSAT in 2015) compared to 85 test takers (14.1% of 10/11th grade population took PSAT in 2016)

Implications: Results from the Pre and Post tests revealed that before students participated in the lesson they felt moderately prepared to take the PSAT, knew how to register, somewhat felt that they knew the benefits, had limited knowledge on how to interpret PSAT scores, and felt moderately confident on being prepared for the material covered. 6.7% of the students disagreed strongly with the statement of feeling prepared to take the PSAT prior to the session, compared to 0 students who disagreed strongly after the session. There was a slight decrease of 20% not knowing how to register for the test to 13.3% who still did not know how to register after the session. There was a 14% increase in students knowing the benefits of taking the PSAT, and an increase of 40% knowing how to interpret their PSAT scores after. Results indicated that 0 students felt more confident about being prepared for the material after the session, which was a decrease from the 20% that strongly agreed on the pre-test. The implication is that the information shared in this lesson was slightly effective but should be reviewed and adjusted to help gain more increases, especially in the area of helping students feel confident about being prepared for the material covered on the PSAT.

Attachments

Grade Level: 9-12

Lesson Topic: SAT/ACT

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): C1: 4 C2: Learning Strat-1, 3, 7, C2: Self Manage-1, 5 C2: Social Skills-1

Start/End: November 2016

Process Data (Number of students affected): 1500 Students in grades 9-12

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre-post test - Same test (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSev7Ybqxzx5I5Jr7y9xCSNnF0X74fzF1Tyff3nD6zs0opv__Q/viewform)

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): % of 11th/12th graders that take the SAT/ACT by June 2017 In 2016 we had 21.9% of Juniors/Seniors take the SAT or ACT In 2017 we had an increase of 29.3% of Juniors/Seniors take SAT or ACT

Implications: Results from the Pre and Post tests revealed that students attending had some previous knowledge on reasons why they should take the SAT/ACT and when they should take them for the first time. They had very limited knowledge on where to register, the steps to register, and how many fee waivers are allowed. After the core curriculum was delivered, 100% of the students taking the post test knew the reasons to take the SAT/ACT, and 90% knew when it should be taken for the first time. There were also substantial increases of 94% now knowing where to register, 70% knowing how many fee waivers are allowed, and 75% feel they now know the steps on how to register. The implication is that the information shared in this session was effective and the counselors will continue to deliver this information again in the fall of the following school year targeting the same grade levels.

Attachments

Grade Level: 12th grade

Lesson Topic: Financial Aid

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): C1: 4 C2:Learning Strat 9 C2:Self Manage 1, 10

Start/End: October 2016

Process Data (Number of students affected): 100 12th graders

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre-Post Test - Same Form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvVH6a3hvJTqWXQgDWq3cW0OkzZE8FvkB-KlbpPlPhYJCJfQ/viewform)

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): % of seniors that applied for FAFSA In 2016 we had 39% graduates complete the FAFSA with a total of 126 applications completed. In 2017, we had an increase of 44% graduates complete the FAFSA with a total of 144 applications completed.

Implications: Results from the Pre and Post test revealed that students attending the session came in with limited knowledge on what the FAFSA is, when it is available to complete, and who is eligible. Students also came in with limited knowledge on how to qualify for the HOPE scholarship and who is eligible for it. After the core curriculum was delivered, the number increased to 78% of the students being able to correctly answer about the FAFSA and 85% being able to correctly answer about the HOPE scholarship. The implication is that the information shared in this session was effective and the counselors will continue to deliver this information again in the fall of the following school year targeting the same grade levels.

Attachments