REVISED

Our rationale for which groups to run was decided by a School-wide Needs Assessment given to students and staff. This year our top three needs for personal-social counseling were anger, anxiety and grief. These needs coincided with what we were seeing in our crisis response services. Additionally, they line up with 3 of the top 4 most important developmental needs for adolescents to master, as identified by the American Psychological Association:

Recognizing and managing emotions.

Resolving conflict constructively.

Develop a cooperative spirit.

Participants for our personal-social groups were identified by our student needs assessment data, as well as teacher or student self-referral. Our counselor, Tyrez Howard, collaborated with our School Social Worker and School Psychologist to run our personal-social groups. As Tyrez spoke to our students, he was able to gather enough student interest for the Anger Group and Anxiety (“Learning to Breathe”) groups, but was unable to find students willing to commit to the Grief Group. Additionally, we decided to have an academic intervention small group with a cohort of our off-track 10th grade students, to help increase our on-track to graduation rate of our most off-track grade in the building. Intervening intensively with this group should have a positive impact on our graduation rate, on-track rate, and possibly could decrease the dropout rate for this at-risk group. This directly lines up with our Goal #1 for this year. Additionally, research strongly suggests early intervention, as “only 19% of those who graduated reported that they had fallen . .. behind at any point”, according to Philanthropy News Digest.



We advertised our 10th Grade Academic Intervention group through Advisement class announcements. We ended up with 10 students who expressed interest, and made sure each participant was only 1-2 classes off-track, to reach a group of students who could more easily become on-track again. These students received a 4 session “Student Success” curriculum, targeting the importance of using time management, organizational and study skills (B-LS 3). Additionally, we believed if students understood what type of learning style they had (auditory, visual, tactile), they would be stronger learners (B-SMS 6). The curriculum topics were determined by the areas of greatest deficit, as determined by counselor, administration, and teacher observation. The rationale was that if students can master specific skills, they can use these skills in the classroom to improve their academic performance. Amber Lister, Kelly Bravo and Heather Ray worked collaboratively to plan this intervention, since this intervention would impact their particular student caseload. Each counselor took the lead on one lesson, Heather Ray led two. It was decided, after discussion with Administration and advisement teachers, that using the 40 minute Advisement block on 4 days would be the most appropriate time to implement this small group.



For data, we looked at our pre- and post- data, number of classes failed second semester, and failures in english and math grades from the 4th 6-week grades to final grades at the end of semester 2. Our outcome data showed a decrease from 70% of students failing english or math to 20% at the end of the semester (71% decrease). Three of the students are now back on track, with even more expected at the end of summer school. We also saw a 55% decrease in the number of overall F’s. We saw a 200% increase in students using their planners, 50% increase in students knowing their learning style, and 28% increase in students believing they have the skills to be successful in school.



As we look to next year, we would like to still intervene with 10th grade students. As we saw a 71% decrease in number of students failing English and Math due to our intervention, we plan to have lessons implemented early in the year, in September, to avoid failures in first semester. Looking at our perception data, we were encouraged to see that 90% of students now know their learning style. However, this does not mean anything if they do not know how to leverage their strengths. Counselors will provide a list of student learning styles to teachers, and will target Tactile learners for more hands-on programs offered at our Career Education Center. Finally, we saw a 200% increase in students creating a daily schedule or plan after our intervention. This seemed key to their academic success. Due to this, we have ordered ALHS Planners for all students next school year, and will have a lesson in Advisement concerning planners and their use.

Group Name: 10th Grade Intervention Small Group

Goal: Assist in getting students back on track, give them the skills to be successful in school, prevent dropout.

Target Group: Ten students who are off-track by 1 or 2 classes

Data Used to Identify Students: on/off track to graduate spreadsheet, OTG report

School Counselor(s): Kelly Bravo, Amber Lister, Heather Ray

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): B-SMS 6, B-LS 3

Outline of Group Sessions Delivered: There were 4 lessons for this group of 10 students: 1. Organizational Skills 2. Study Skills 3. Time Management 4. Learning Styles

Process Data (Number of students affected): 10 students, 45 minute lesson

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre- and post-tests were completed by all 10 students. 1.Students who believed that they had the skills necessary to be successful in school. Pre: 70% Post: 90% 28% increase in attitude/belief 2. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being high), how successful did students think they were at prioritizing tasks? Pre: 2.75 Post: 3.3 20% increase in attitude/belief 3. Students who were able to identify their learning style: Pre: 60% Post: 90% 50% increase in knowledge 4. Students who have a daily schedule/plan for academic success. Pre: 20% Post: 60% 200% increase in skill

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): At the onset, all 10 students were off-track by 1-2 classes. At the end of the intervention, based on final semester 2 grades, 3 students are now on-track, with more potentially after summer school. At the 4th 6-weeks (between all of the 10 students) there were 18 classes with F’s. At the end of semester 2, this number decreased to 8. 55% decrease in # of F’s At the 4th 6-weeks, 70% of the 10 students were failing English or math. At the end of the semester, only 20% failed English or math. 71% decrease in number of students failing English and Math.

Implications: We would like to have lessons implemented early in the year, and have scheduled them for September. We are planning lessons that go deeper into the same topic areas, and have a practical implementation element, helping students actually do what they have learned. We also have added a post-secondary emphasis, to tie current learning and skills to opportunities after graduation. As a result, we will plan to carry out this implementation with all off-track students in the 10th grade, to bring this kind of impact to the entire school. As students get back on-track, they are less likely to drop out, and more likely to pursue training after graduation. With teaching tools that lead to school success, we see students having greater success in their classes at Abraham Lincoln. We received positive feedback from our stakeholders at our Advisory Council concerning this intervention. Advisement teachers have requested similar lessons to implement in Advisement classes, and community members indicated interest in making sure students had supports available to get back on-track and graduate on time. We will change the pre-post test so the questions are more specific and detailed, so that we can get a better idea of the takeaways from the individual lessons. The current pre-post test seemed like it was a little vague for our students. We were encouraged that 90% of students knew their learning style by the end of the lesson series. By knowing their strengths, students will know how to better study and learn, and as a result become more on-track to graduate. This will help our students overcome barriers to learning, as indicated by our designed goal of Behavior Self-Management Skills : B-SMS 6. For 60% of the students, they now have a daily plan for academic success. Many were seen using planners, and one student stated that “organization of a planner can help get things done quicker”. Another students stated that he learned to “never leave anything for the end. Always study.”. This is one more step closer to the goal of Learning Strategy Behaviors B-LS 3 - using time-management, organizational and study skills.

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