REVISED SECTION-SC Core Curriculum Results Report

At Edison High School we continuously seek to enhance the academic, career, and personal/social development of all students. Our mission to maximize student achievement is what guides us in creating and delivering comprehensive school counseling curriculum. Maximizing student achievement is not solely defined as success within the walls of Edison High School. We strive to ensure each student will continue to experience success in their post-secondary endeavors. All three of our units outlined in the Core Curriculum Results Report were designed with this in mind.

Of the three lessons outlined in our results report, two were developed for our 9th grade students to provide them with the support and resources that they need. The other lesson was developed for our 12th grade students to provide assistance with post-secondary planning.

In our freshman orientation lesson, we provided the students with information such as who’s who in the building, graduation requirements, and the importance of getting involved in their school community via a Jeopardy game. The counselors plan to discuss graduation requirements on a more consistent basis in an effort to ensure that students retain this information from year to year. Perception data showed there was a 19.8% increase in students who felt they knew what they needed to do in order to meet graduation requirements. This implies our lesson was effective but still has room for improvement. While the majority of our students advanced to sophomore status by the end of August 2016, 11% failed to do so indicating the need for academic interventions and reminders on how to promote from grade to grade. As a department we believe through collaboration with advisory teachers, we can plan lessons that are synchronous in meeting their objectives and ours, too.

Going forward we feel that it would be advantageous to utilize the time given for this guidance lesson to discuss technological supports available, as well. This will allow for the counselors to deliver more content throughout the school year. Student Vue and Family Connection are two resources that can be extremely beneficial in helping students find success.

In our Freshman Learning Styles lesson, we defined the various learning styles and then had the students complete a learning styles worksheet so that they would be able to identify their own learning style. Students were provided a handout on how to study better based on their learning style. During group discussion emphasis was placed on the fact that the teacher’s teaching style and their learning style would not always match up. At the end of the lesson we found a 16.2% increase in the number of students who felt knowledgeable about how to study effectively based on learning styles after this lesson was delivered. The numbers increased from 77.6% to 93.8%.

In our senior post-secondary planning lesson, we presented the various post-secondary options, Edison’s college application process, and we provided them with a credit tracking sheet. Moving forward, we plan to spend more time discussing other options as much of our time is spent focusing exclusively on college. In addition, we will be providing students with the credit tracking sheet prior to senior year. This will allow students to independently track their graduation requirements from year to year.

Many students meet with their counselors one on one if they have questions regarding the college application process after our post-secondary planning lesson. In conjunction with College Application Week students had the opportunity to meet with the Career Center Specialist and the local community college representative. In addition counselors returned to their advisory classes to answer follow up questions. However, there are still some students who needed additional support. Therefore, in the future, we hope to meet with the seniors in at least 2 follow-up group sessions that are geared specifically towards the college application process. We have found that this information becomes more relevant to students as their deadlines start to approach.

Our department would like to see the advisory classrooms become more inclusive. Currently, our advisory classrooms are set up by grade level and alpha. However, our students with disabilities remain with their special education case managers. When counselors are delivering guidance lessons through advisory classes, students with disabilities travel to the general education advisory class for their alpha. We believe this creates division and possibly a level of embarrassment for these students. Conversations have already begun with the administration team regarding this structure to be more inclusive of special education students.

Grade Level: 9

Lesson Topic: Orientation to High School

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): M 3, B-LS 3, B-SS 3

Start/End: October 3, 11, 17, 25

Process Data (Number of students affected): 600 freshman were giving this lesson through their Advisory class

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre/post test- Among 287 freshmen who completed the pretest and answered question “I know what I need to meet my graduation requirements,” 57.5% indicated either “agree” or “strongly agree.” Our improvement of 19.8% more students being able to say the same in the post test implies our lesson was effective but still has more room for improvement to hit the majority of the audience.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): 89% of freshmen advanced to sophomore status by earning 5 credits by the end of summer school-August 2016

Implications: Our outcome data shows that the majority of our freshmen advanced to sophomore status by earning at least 5 credits by August 2017. Our lessons were focused on orienting the freshmen students to high school by making them aware of what they needed to accomplish from year to year to meet graduation requirements. The process data showed that by the end of the lesson there was a 19.8% increase of students who felt they had a better understanding of graduation requirements. The data indicates that this lesson was effective. While the majority of our students advanced to sophomore status by the end of August 2016, 11% failed to do so indicating the need for academic interventions and reminders on how to promote from grade to grade. As a department we believe through collaboration with advisory teachers, together, we can plan lessons that are synonymous. Going forward we feel that it would be advantageous to utilize this time to discuss additional topics. Particularly, various technology supports that students can access to aid in not only their academic efforts but in preparation for life beyond high school. After meeting with seniors regarding the college application process ninth graders are our second guidance lesson focus. We feel that delivery this lesson at this time worked very well because it allowed us to speak with our freshman within the first few weeks of the school year. Over the summer we have freshman orientation during the day and a welcome back night for all students, however, all students do not necessarily attend. So, this guidance lesson provides us the opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting with all of our freshmen students. To increase the percentage of freshmen who pass their 9th grade year, we believe that it would be beneficial to create a small group focused on study skills and organization in conjunction with this lesson. This group would provide an additional level of support for students at risk of failing.

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Grade Level: 9

Lesson Topic: Learning Styles

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): M 5, B-LS 3, B-LS 8

Start/End: April 5

Process Data (Number of students affected): 600 freshman were giving this lesson through their Advisory class 600 freshman were giving this lesson through their advisory class

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre/post test –“I know the best way to study based on my learning style”
There was a 16.2% increase in the number of students who felt knowledgeable about how to study effectively based on learning styles after this lesson was delivered. The numbers increased from 77.6% to 93.8%.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): 89% of freshmen advanced to sophomore status by earning 5 credits by the end of summer school-August 2016

Implications: Outcome data shows that most freshmen were successful in their freshman year. We have found at our school that many freshmen are not prepared for the rigor of high school level work and do not know how to effectively adapt their learning styles to different teaching styles. We were happy to see an increase in the perception data of students who felt they could study better based on their learning style. By the end of the 2016-2017 school year 11% of the freshmen class did not advance to sophomore status, indicating that those students need additional support in the academic domain. In a greater effort to intervene with these students we will be going into advisory classes more often for follow up, inviting failing students to join a study skills/organizational skills small group, and collaborating with teachers to find additional resources for students. In reviewing the lesson we felt the time of year we delivered this lesson worked well. By delivering the lesson in the spring it allowed our freshmen to gain an understanding of their teachers teaching style prior to the delivery of this lesson.

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Grade Level: 12

Lesson Topic: Preparing for After High School-Post Secondary Options

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): M 4, B-LS 7, B-SMS 1

Start/End: September 13 & 15

Process Data (Number of students affected): 450 Seniors received this lesson through their advisory class.

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre/post test- “I feel prepared for senior year” There was a 13.8% increase in how students felt in how students felt about seniors year.
There was increase from 67% to 80.8%

“I know how to search for colleges on Family Connection that fit my interest” There was a 14% increase in number of students who felt they knew how to utilize Family Connection. There was an increase from 79.7% to 93.7%

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): 87.84% of seniors graduated by August 2016, which is 2.16% shy of our goal

Implications: We will continue to discuss postsecondary options with seniors through individual meetings throughout the course of the year, as it is a vital part of our programming. We will continuously revise the delivery of our lesson to ensure students are engaged and that we are presenting them with relevant and the most up to date material and resources available. This lesson is the first core curriculum lesson we present, as it is important for seniors to start tackling their plan for post-secondary options right at the start of senior year. After we deliver this lesson, we deliver grade level lessons for 9-11th grades and return to the senior Advisory classes for a core curriculum lesson after winter break. In looking ahead to next year we will be utilizing our senior Advisory teachers more to deliver follow up lessons surrounding post-secondary options. These lessons will be designed by the Student Services team and given to the Advisory Planning Committee to share with the senior Advisory teachers. Going forward, we would like to provide more information about post-secondary options aside from 4-year/ 2-year college. Based on the data-51% of our students attend 4-year colleges and 38% attend 2-year colleges, indicating there is a significant amount of students who pursue other options. In the future, we’d like to provide credit tracking sheets prior to the senior year. This will allow students to independently track their graduation requirements from year to year. We enjoy delivery this lesson at the start of the school year. We have found it raises student’s level of awareness, which prompts them to seek out their counselors more regarding post-secondary plans and next specific steps. This allows ample time for planning and action.

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