The ASCA National Model describes the core curriculum, small-group and closing-the-gap results reports to help show how students are different as a result of Peet’s school counseling program. Our results reports are vital for advocating and communicating to stakeholders the positive impact our program has on students’ noncognitive skills, like the ASCA Mindset & Behaviors, as well as our core domains of academic, career and social/emotional development. As Russell Sabella wrote in his recent ASCA article, Kick It Up A Notch, “analyzing this data leads to more focused programming, more effective interventions and a more responsive school counseling program.”

At any grade level or in any core curriculum unit/lesson, the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors provide a foundation in which we identify the attributes, knowledge and skills students are working towards to achieve academic success, college/career readiness and social/emotional development. Within those units, the standards enable us to identify learning objectives, design effective lesson plans and interventions and are fundamentally critical to the delivery and the perception data instruments used to measure the success of each unit or initiative.

From our action plan, we selected three units/lessons, one from each grade level, that encompass our big rocks and main focus for that particular grade. These units/lessons also work towards outcome data related to our program goals focused on attendance and achievement. For 7th grade, we focus on student’s transition and skills for success. In 8th grade, we see more at-risk behavior, and therefore, focus a lot of our energy and core curriculum lessons on personal safety and informed decision-making. For 9th grade, we focus our efforts towards their academic planning and college and career readiness.

The 7th grade lesson, geared towards our incoming students upon transition, focused on student and staff expectations for behavior (B-SS9), but more so, our lifestyle at Peet and what makes up our school culture, the Tiger Way. The overall unit focused on helping students feel more confident in their start of Junior High and important skills that can catapult that success, the growth mindset and organization (B-LS3 & B-SMS6). The data shows that the lessons were very beneficial in that it increased their skill and knowledge, but also strengthened their overall attitude, towards starting junior high. In fact, by the end of the unit, 100% of students said they knew what it took to be successful at Peet.

The objective of the 8th grade unit was to teach students how to make more positive and informed decisions using critical-thinking skills and multiple perspectives (B-LS1 & B-LS9), as well as help them further develop their personal safety skills (B-SMS9). Perception data indicated the lessons were very effective, particularly when it came to our learning objective of students knowing how to respond to cyberbullying in 3 positive ways. Regarding this objective, student perception increased from 71.7% to 98.6% showing 37.5% increase in knowledge when responding to cyberbullying. Our biggest takeaways, confirming the value of this unit, were the post-unit data revealing 100% of students answering “true” to understanding the process of making good decisions and well as 6.2% of students feeling more safe at school as a result of this unit.

Our 9th grade Career Cruising unit/lessons were presented to teach students postsecondary education and lifelong learning are imperative for long-term success (M4), how to make informed decisions regarding their academics and career exploration outcomes (B-LS1), as well as identifying one short and one long-term goal in one or more of our three domains of academic, career and social/emotional development (B-LS7). Perception data results were extremely encouraging as they showed significant gains in overall knowledge, skill and belief ranging from 62% to almost 1350% increase in growth! More specifically, perception data showed that student perception regarding components of a transcript increased from 5.8% on the pre-test to 84% on the post-test showing the highest gain when considering all learning objectives.

Moving forward, our significant gains in perception data, as well as reaching all of our goals regarding outcome data, confirm that these units/lessons have incredible value and are a vital part of our core curriculum implementation. Because there is always room for improvement, we will continue to look for ways to better deliver this content through new instructional strategies, other community collaborations or as we continue to assess prior knowledge and make our initiatives that much more sequential.

Ultimately, our comprehensive program strives to begin and end with the incessant cycle of the use of data to help create systemic change, which optimizes data-driven decisions and sustainable positive outcomes for our students.

Grade Level: 7

Lesson Topic: BOOST: 7th grade Success and The Tiger Way

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): B-SS9, B-LS3, B-SMS 6

Start/End: August 14th – 17th, 2017

Process Data (Number of students affected): This program was offered to all (206) incoming 7th graders, but only 179 7th grade students (87%) were actually present for the pre-test on the first day and 151 students (73%) were present for the post-test on the last day. Eight classes daily (4 for each counselor) 40 minute lessons each class period for 4 days

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Online pre- and post-tests were completed by all students present.
Pre/Post test Results:
1.Believe they are confident in their transition to Peet
Pre: 91.1% Post:99.4%
9.1% increase in attitude/belief
2.Able to describe Growth Mindset and apply it to their life as a student.
Pre:69.8% Post:98.7%
41.1% increase in skill
3.Knows what it takes to be successful at Peet
Pre:94.4% Post:100%
5.9% increase in knowledge
4.Able to change a fixed mindset statement into a growth mindset statement
Pre:65.9% Post:98.7%
49.8% increase in skill
5.Know behavior expectations at Peet
Pre: 96.7% Post:100%
3.4% increase in knowledge
6.Able to stay organized and apply those skills at school.
Pre:93.3% Post:98%
5% increase in skill

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Our ultimate goal/outcome with this core curriculum unit is linked to our program goal regarding a decrease in D/F letter grades from quarter 1 to end of first semester, overall making for higher student achievement. Our focus on outcome data will come from Quarter 1 and first semester grade reports. For 7th grade specifically, at the end of first semester in the 2016-2017 school year, 13 students received at least one D or F letter grade. In total, there were 9 D’s and 9 F’s. At the end of the first semester in the 2017-2018 school year, we had 11 total 7th grade students receive a D or F letter grade. In total, there were 10 D’s and 3 F’s. There was a slight decrease, in number of 7th grade students and in the number of D’s/F’s total, when comparing end of first semester grades from the 2016-17 school year to 2017-18. More significantly, there were fewer F letter grades this year as compared to last year. When addressing our program goal in looking at D/F letter grades for all students across all grade levels, we had 86 total students receive a D or F letter grade with 94 D’s and 21 F’s at the end of the first nine weeks of the 2017-18 school year. Those decreased to 30 students total earning a D/F letter grade, and more specifically, 29 D’s and 12 F’s at the end of first semester. There was a significant decrease when comparing the first nine weeks of D/F letter grades to the end of first semester. We reduced D/F letter grades by 64% from end of the first nine weeks to end of 1st semester.

Implications: The data indicate the unit had a favorable outcome when it came especially to perception data. Our learning goals and objectives were appropriately identified and our ASCA behavior standards were met through those objectives and perception data. Although the curriculum covered a lot of subject matter and activities in four days/lessons, those activities supported those goals and worked towards meeting those behavior standards. From the process data, we learned that not every incoming 7th grader participated in BOOST. BOOST is a transition program that is optional to our incoming students. While we have a great turn-out, we still have a small percentage that do not attend and even some that do not finish the week. In looking at the perception data, we learned from the pre-test just how many of our incoming 7th graders had previously learned and applied the growth mindset. We did not know that almost 65% of those students had that prior knowledge due to some 6th grade teachers incorporating it in class. However, we were pleasantly surprised and we utilized those students to be leaders in our learning throughout the unit. Our outcome data tells us that there was a slight decrease in number of 7th grade students earning a "D" or "F" letter grade by the end of 1st semester when comparing last year and this school year. The impact on achievement was higher when regarding the number of "F" letter grades from last year compared to "F" letter grades received this year, it went from 9 F's to 3. Even those small gains are something to celebrate! Our outcome data also tells us that we could have set our goal much higher than a 10% decrease in D/F letter grades. We set the goal at 10%, not knowing how much we would realistically gain due to one factor that we needed to consider which is that half of our teachers are now piloting Learning Based Grading. This has caused a huge shift in our grading periods and rubric in grading. We have noticed this transition has led to a huge increase in lower grades at our first check in point, end of the first nine weeks (Quarter 1). You can see that with our end of first nine week D/F letter grades. In comparing achievement and D/F letter grades from last year to this year, we have to be cognizant of this change and how it created another variable that we did not know how it would impact our outcome data. After this first year comparison, I think we have a better idea and can move forward with even more realistic, yet attainable, goals. Moving forward, what we could also do to improve would involve surveying our 6th grade teachers, from our feeder elementary schools, and see what prior learning our incoming students have on transition skills, organization and growth mindset. This will direct our efforts to updating and making our next BOOST more effective. Those skills are all important to review, but we wonder how we can implore more depth of knowledge or how we can better sequentially build upon what they know while also teaching students the concept for what may be the first time. Our biggest take away from the results report is that the learning objectives and behavior standards were met with great post-results from perception data. We were excited that after our week with students, 100% said they knew Peet’s behavior expectations, but ultimately, knew what it took to be successful in junior high. Lastly, almost 100% of students said they felt confident in their transition and that was very apparent our first day of school and even into the first couple of weeks. Our 7th graders, through their feedback and our teachers, transitioned very seamlessly.

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Grade Level: 8

Lesson Topic: Internet Safety/Decision-Making

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): B-LS 1, B-LS 9, B-SMS 9

Start/End: November 13th-17th and March 5th - 9th

Process Data (Number of students affected): This lesson/unit was offered to all (224) 8th graders, but only 212 8th grade students (95%) were actually present for the pre-test on the first day and 218 students (97%) were present for the post-test on the last day. Five classes daily (45 minute lesson each class period for three days) done with 1st semester students in November and 2nd semester students in March

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Online pre- and post-tests were completed by all students present (217)
Pre/Post test Results:
1.Know how to stay safe online.
Pre: 96.7% Post: 99.1%
2.5% increase in knowledge
2.Know how to respond to cyber bullying in 3 positive ways.
Pre:71.7% Post: 98.6%
37.5% increase in knowledge
3.Can identify 3 negative outcomes to sexting.
Pre:77.4% Post:97.7%
26.2% increase in skills
4.Understands the process of making good decisions.
Pre: 95.3% Post:100%
5% increase in knowledge
5.Can identify 3 ways to respond to something or someone that makes him/her feel uncomfortable online.
Pre: 82.1% Post:99.1%
20.7% increase in skills
6.Feels safe at school.
Pre: 87.3% Post: 92.7%
6.2% increase in attitude/belief

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Our ultimate goal with this core curriculum unit is linked to our program goals regarding impact on attendance of all students, and also, our closing-the-gap targeted group of 8th grade students. Our focus on outcome data will come from daily attendance reports. (Program Goal #1) Total # of students who missed 16 days or more of school: 2016-2017: 86 2017-2018: 66 (Program Goal #3/CTG) Total # of cumulative days absent by current 8th grade students who missed 16 or more days of school last school year: 2016-2017: 848 days 2017-2018: 630 days

Implications: The data show the unit had a favorable outcome when it came especially to perception and outcome data. Our learning goals and objectives were appropriately identified and our ASCA behavior standards were met through those objectives and perception data. Although the unit covered a lot of subject matter in five days, those lessons supported those goals and the work towards meeting those behavior standards. From our process data, we can learn that we still missed students in the pre- and post-test. Seven students were unaccounted for in perception data due to absences from school, however, 97% is still very good when surveying kids for pre- and post-tests. Based on the perception data, most of the students were already knowledgeable when it came to staying safe online, making good decisions and responding to something or someone that makes them feel uncomfortable. While the increase in knowledge, skill and attitude ranged anywhere from 1% growth to 38% following the lesson, this will need to be considered when planning future lessons and may indicate that the way in which the question was presented was confusing or not as specific. We also worry that students answered with an inflated sense of knowledge or skill as 96.7% of students said they knew how to stay safe online, yet when we asked the class as a large group for specific strategies, we had very few that offered suggestions. Our outcome data tells us that we set our goals very realistically and met those goals without much margin. Through our core curriculum, small group and closing the gap initiatives, we were able to decrease overall chronic absenteeism by 23% when our goal was 20%! We also reduced the number of cumulative absences for a targeted group by 25.5% when our goal was 20%! Attaining these goals also show that our mission in building relationships with students, so that they feel connected to at least one staff member and a part of their school environment, is working and having a positive impact on decreasing chronic attendance at large and within a targeted group. Moving forward, we believe this unit and the individual lessons are still a vital part of our core curriculum puzzle. Our gains in perception data confirm that our work with this unit and with our 8th grade students is reason to continue. We also believe this unit is so valuable because of our community partnership and collaboration with our school resource officer. Our biggest take away from the results report is the data that 100% of our students left this unit with the knowledge of how to make good decisions. Close to 100% also said they felt more confident in how to respond if something/someone made them feel uncomfortable and knowing how to stay safe online. This unit alone made 6.2% more students feel safe at school. These are gains we celebrate and some of our favorite highlights from the overall results report regarding this unit!

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Grade Level: 9

Lesson Topic: Career Cruising (Career Exploration and High School Planning)

Lesson was Presented in Which Class/Subject:

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

Start/End: October 26th, 27th, 30th & 31st 2017

Process Data (Number of students affected): 100 percent of 9th grade students (183), but only 172 9th grade students (94%) were actually present for the pre-test and 169 students (92%) were present for the post-test. Seven classes daily (45 minute lesson each class period for 4 days)

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Online pre- and post-tests were completed by all students present.
Pre/Post test Results:
1.Have set one short-term goal and one long-term goal.
Pre: 60.5% Post: 98.2%
62.3% increase in skill
2.Can list 3 components of a transcript.
Pre:5.8% Post: 84%
1348.3% increase in knowledge
3.Can identify the education level required for their career of interest.
Pre:46.5% Post:96.4%
107.3% increase in knowledge
4.Feel confident in preparing his/her self to take the college admittance test.
Pre:40.1% Post:87.6%
118.5% increase in attitude/belief

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Our ultimate goal/outcome with this core curriculum unit is to increase in students meeting ninth grade promotion criteria; therefore, our outcome data will focus on achievement of our ninth grade students. For outcome data, we analyzed first semester 2017 grades and identified students in danger of not meeting promotion criteria. We used first semester grades as outcome data (as opposed to end of the year promotion criteria) because the lesson was given at the end of Quarter 1. After the first semester, 100% of ninth grade students were on track for promotion (as indicated by passing grades in all of their core classes). Of the 4 students who were not on track for promotion at the end of quarter one, and were failing one core class, they were able to get that "F" letter grade up to passing by the end of semester 1, and ultimately, there were no 9th grade students failing a core class at the end of 1st semester! If by chance we have any 9th grade students who fail a core class during 2nd semester, they are able to participate in credit recovery (APEX) and/or summer school later in the year and are then promoted to 10th grade.

Implications: Based on the perception data, ninth grade students had significant gains in knowledge, skill and belief when it came to our learning objectives. These results confirm that our learning goals were appropriately identified, as well as that our curriculum/activities supported our selected ASCA mindset and behavior standards. The most significant growth came from students learning 3 components of a transcript. This was one area, which our perception data told us from 8th grade Career Cruising, our students did not retain information or learn enough about. Taking that data and putting more emphasis on it during 9th grade Career Cruising, really paid off with over 1300% increase in knowledge! Moving forward, our perception data confirmed that in the future lessons, we will most likely continue with these same learning objectives, pre/post-test questions as well as targeted mindset and behavior standards. From our process data, we can learn that if students are gone on the first or last day of the unit, they miss our pre- or post-test. Although the content is delivered and re-taught, the perception data is not always consistently collected after the unit is underway. The curriculum was delivered to all 9th grade students, however, that would not be indicative by looking at pre/post numbers. If students are absent on the first or last day of the lesson, they would miss it. Our takeaway is to ensure all students take the pre/post-tests so that we can see all gains in knowledge, skill and attitude. With that, we had about 12 students take the post-test a couple of weeks after we finished due to absences and time getting caught up. This possibly affected our post-test scores negatively if they did not retain our learning objectives. Our outcome data tells us that our 9th grade students are doing a great job at working towards necessary requirements to promote to 10th grade. They are taking their high school transcripts seriously as well as the foundation to their cumulative GPA. We always have room to grow as there were 5 students who still earned a "D" letter grade in a core class first semester, however, that is still considered passing. Our outcome data also shows that our teachers and educational team are working hard towards ensuring EVERY student's success. They are doing the necessary steps and following our tiered system of interventions to hold students accountable, but more so, to help ensure their learning, re-learning and overall academic achievement. Overall, we are very pleased by our outcome data. If we could work towards anything 2nd semester, it would be thrilling to see zero "D" and "F" letter grades earned in our core classes. We will continue to keep track of student progress with Quarter 3 grades being our next big check-in point. We will re-evaluate any student at-risk for failing a core class, and therefore, not earning credit. Lastly, our biggest take away from the results report is confirmation that our Career Cruising Unit was a success, and that our 9th grade students reaching full promotion criteria at the end of this year is right on track!

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