Our district’s 3rd goal was to promote positive skills with the expectation of decreasing our suspension rate by 15%. As we reviewed the Single Plan for Student Achievement, School Accountability Report Card, AERIES, and California Dashboard; our administrator was concerned about our suspension rate increase. We agreed to focus on the suspension rate proactively. We identified 7 students who received suspensions. All 7 students were 4/5th-grade male students, 86% were Hispanic/Latinos, and 86% were in free/reduced lunch. Stakeholders collaborated to discuss how to close-the-gap (CTG) regarding students who receive suspensions. The CTG goal targets our vision and mission statements as we want all students to gain collaborative, communication, and critical thinking skills to have success in their future endeavors.
Several multi-tiered interventions were planned. A tier 1 intervention, was implemented by our staff’s commitment to teach SEL Curriculum to all students, every week to reinforce positive social skills that provide safety to our school and decrease suspension/discipline referrals. The lessons build the belief of creating positive and supportive relationships with other students (B-SS 2) and demonstrate empathy (B-SS 4) so students understand what other individuals are feeling. Our perception data showed a 14.6% increase of understanding empathy, emotion management, and problem-solving strategies. CTG student’s perception data showed an average of 25% increase in bullying prevention awareness.
A tier 2 intervention, Behavior/Anger Management groups, were based on student discipline record report and office referrals. The group’s purpose is to help students learn coping strategies to self-regulate behaviors. The participants included CTG students, and students who had multiple office referrals who were at-risk at being suspended. Our perception data from small groups showed an average of 14.5% increase in understanding how to follow the rules at school. Tier 3 interventions, including Individualized interventions, were specifically designed for CTG students who benefitted from having individual sessions. Perception data from individualized interventions showed a 40% increase in understanding how to follow the rules at school.
A character counts group intervention emphasizing character education for selected 4/5th-grade students who had office referrals. This group provided positive social skills mentoring with students who are high achievers and receive character trait awards. Character education supported CTG students who benefit from practicing 6 character traits. The perception data showed us a 7.82% increase in understanding and applying 6 character traits pillars.
Collaboration with parents and teachers are interventions delivered to support CTG students’ needs in the classroom and home. Providing this service promoted positive behavior and reduce the suspension. Our program provided 2 positive social skills awareness weeks to promote positive behavior through weekly lessons, lunch activities, and morning announcements.
Outcome data results showed 3 students were suspended during the 2017-2018 school year, 4 less than the 2017-2018 school year. We met our goal with a 57% decrease. Data results demonstrated effectiveness of the implemented interventions/activities. For example, social-emotional lessons were done with fidelity. Each lesson targeted multiple mindsets and behaviors such as the belief in the development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well-being (M 1). To deliver lessons more effectively, I will incorporate learning strategies. Perhaps implementing more technology and using additional teaching strategies such as cooperative learning will keep students engaged. Some of the perception questions may need to be specifically based on the content in order to bring reliability and validity. I will rephrase the perception questions to better align with mindsets and behavior, such as the ability to show empathy (B-SS 4). We will continue to use the curriculum due to its research and evidence-based practice.
Additional reflection led me to believe that I need to better analyze student data. I believe increasing the time from being 30 minutes to 45 minutes would assist in being able to deliver all content. I would revise the perception questions to show clarity.
Collaboration between teachers and parents will continue as it helped decrease student’s aggressive/short-tempered behavior. This collaboration created relationships with adults that supported success (B-SS 3). For example, students learned to express themselves with an adult about their problem-solving strategies. Perhaps sending monthly parent letters can further enhance collaboration between parent-counselor.
Finally, the data outcome provided a record of weekly/daily activities that our school has done to successfully decrease the suspension rate. We plan to continue implementing many of the same strategies for the following year, however, we will revise our data collection. I would implement student behavior contracts for all CTG students and check-in with them on weekly basis with their behavior progression.
Goal: By June 5, 2018, the number of TK-5 students who received in-school/out-of-school suspensions for aggressive/short-tempered behavior will decrease by 40% from 7 students to 4 students.
Target Group: TK-5th grade students who were referred for aggressive/short-tempered behavior.
Data Used to Identify Students: Suspension Data, Aggressive/short-tempered referrals report
Type of Activities to be Delivered in What Manner?: 1.Behavior/Anger Management Small Group (Fall 2017)
2.Behavior/Anger Management Small Group (Spring 2018)
3.Second Step: Social-emotional Learning Curriculum for Transitional Kinder-3rd grade (Core Curriculum)
4.Second Step: Social-emotional Learning Curriculum for 4th and 5th grade (Core Curriculum)
5.Second Step: Bullying Prevention Unit- Recognize, Report, Refuse (Core Curriculum)
6.Second Step: Bullying Prevention Unit-Bystander Power (Core Curriculum)
7.Character Counts Group
8. Individualized Intervention: Aggressive/Short-Tempered Behavior
9.Intensive, Individualized Intervention: Aggressive/Short-Tempered Behavior
10.Collaboration with classroom teacher and school counselor regarding student’s behavior
11.Collaborations with parents school counselor regarding student’s behavior
12.Bullying Prevention Week (School-wide)
13.PBIS Assembly (School-wide)
14.The Great Kindness Challenge (School-wide)
Process Data (Number of students affected): 618 students were present in core curriculum.
37 students participated in groups.
3 students participated received individual counseling.
Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Activity 1:
Pre/Post Test was given in a likert scale rating from 1-5. Pre-Test was given before sessions began and Post-Test was given after the sessions ended.
Q1.There was a 2% increase in the number of students able to identify if they come to school on time every day.
Pre-Test: 4.22 Post-Test: 4.28
Q2.There was a 9% increase in the number of students able to identify they follow the rules at school.
Pre-Test: 2.39 Post-Test: 2.83
Q3. There was a 5% increase in the number of students able to identify they do their best at their schoolwork.
Pre-Test: 4.2 Post-Test: 4.4
Q4+Q5. There was a 1 % increase in the number of students able to identify how they can express themselves.
Pre-Test: 3.53 Post-Test: 3.61
Q6. There was a 4% increase in the number of students able to identify they have people in their life who can help them.
Pre-Test: 4.67 Post-Test: 4.83
Q7. There was a 3% increase in the number of students who were able to learn coping skills that can help them deal with certain problems.
Pre-Test: 3.06 Post-Test: 3.22
Q8. There was 7% increase in the number of students who like being part of a school counseling group.
Pre-Test: 4.61 Post-Test: 4.95
Activity 2:
Pre/Post Test was given in a likert scale rating from 1-5. Pre-Test was given before sessions began and Post-Test was given after the sessions ended.
Q1.There was a 6% increase in the number of students able to identify if they come to school on time every day.
Pre-Test: 3.93 Post-Test: 4.27
Q2.There was a 20% increase in the number of students able to identify they follow the rules at school.
Pre-Test: 2.73 Post-Test: 3.73
Q3. There was a 9% in the number of students able to identify they do their best at their schoolwork.
Pre-Test: 3.93 Post-Test: 4.4
Q4+Q5. There was a 11% increase in the number of students able to identify how they can express themselves.
Pre-Test: 3.27 Post-Test: 3.79
Q6. There was a 6% increase in the number of students able to identify they have people in their life who can help them.
Pre-Test: 4.47 Post-Test: 4.73
Q7. There was a 31% increase in the number of students who were able to learn coping skills that can help them deal with certain problems.
Pre-Test: 2.8 Post-Test: 4.3
Q8. There was 20% increase in the number of students who like being part of a school counseling group.
Pre-Test: 4
Post-Test: 5
Activity 3:
Second Step Summative assessment was divided into 4 units. Pre-Test was given before sessions began and Post-Test was given after the sessions ended.
Unit 1: There was a 19.6% increase in the number of students able to identify skills for learning.
Pre-Test: 42.1% Post-Test:61.7%
Unit 2: There was a 18.4% increase in the number of students able to identify empathy.
Pre-Test: 52%
Post-Test:70.4%
Unit 3: There was a 25.8% increase in the number of students able to identify emotional management.
Pre-Test: 47% Post-Test:72.8%
Unit 4: There was a 28.9% increase in the number of students able to identify problem solving strategies.
Pre-Test: 42.2% Post-Test:71.1%
Activity 4:
Second Step Summative assessment was divided into 3 units. Pre-Test was given before the curriculum began and Post-Test was given after the curriculum ended.
Unit 1: There was a 3% decrease in the number of students able to identify empathy and skills for learning.
Pre-Test: 70.2% Post-Test:67.2%
Unit 2: There was a 7.7% increase in the number of students able to identify emotion management.
Pre-Test: 50.3% Post-Test:58%
Unit 3: There was a 9.2% increase in the number of students able to identify emotional management.
Pre-Test: 54.8% Post-Test:64%
Activity 5:
A Recognize, Report, and Refuse assessment was provided with two questions. Pre-Test was given before the lesson began and Post-Test was given after the lesson ended.
There was a 52.5% increase in the number of students able to identify when a student is being mean, but not being a bully.
Pre-Test: 33.3% Post-Test:85.8%
There was a 8% increase in the number of students able to identify a bullying situation.
Pre-Test: 82%
Post-Test:90%
Activity 6:
A bystander assessment was provided with two questions. Pre-Test was given before the lesson began and Post-Test was given after the lesson ended.
There was a 27.1% increase in the number of students able to define bystander power.
Pre-Test: 57.7% Post-Test:84.8%
There was a 13.5% increase in the number of students able to identify one way bystander power can be used.
Pre-Test: 72.8% Post-Test:86.3%
Activity 7:
A character counts assessment was provided with 5 categories. Pre-Test was given before the session began and Post-Test was given after the session ended.
There was a 7.25% increase in the number of students able to define character education.
Pre-Test: 77.90% Post-Test:85.15%
There was a 13.5% increase in the number of students able to identify one way bystander power can be used.
Pre-Test: 26.65% Post-Test:48%
There was a 1.24% decrease in the number of students able to identify ethics.
Pre-Test: 42.78%
Post-Test:41.54%
There was a 7.87% increase in the number of students able to identify good character.
Pre-Test: 46.13% Post-Test:54%
There was a 11.75% increase in the number of students able to identify the 6 pills of character.
Pre-Test: 82.03%
Post-Test:93.78%
Activity 8:
Pre/Post Test was given in a likert scale rating from 1-5. Pre-Test was given before sessions began and Post-Test was given after the sessions ended.
Q1.There was a 40% increase for that student being able to identify if he/she comes to school on time every day after completion of sessions.
Pre-Test: 3
Post-Test: 5
Q2.There was a 40% increase in for that student being able to identify if he/she follows the rules at school after completion of sessions.
Pre-Test: 1
Post-Test: 3
Q3. There was no difference for that student being able to identify if he/she can do their best at their schoolwork after completion of sessions.
Pre-Test: 5 Post-Test: 5
Q4+Q5. There was an 80 % increase for that student being able to identify how he/she can express themselves after completion of sessions.
Pre-Test: 1
Post-Test:5
Q6. There was no difference for that student being able to identify if he/she has people in their life who can help them after completion of sessions..
Pre-Test: 5
Post-Test: 5
Q7. There was no difference in that student being able to learn coping skills that can help him/her deal with certain problems after completion of sessions..
Pre-Test: 1
Post-Test: 1
Q8. There was no difference in that student being able to say he/she like coming to the school counseling sessions after completion of sessions..
Pre-Test: 5
Post-Test: 5
Activity 9:
Pre and Post Test
MH clinician has not yet provided this information, but assured us that a pre/post was completed.
Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): There was a decrease in our students who have received suspension(s) due to aggressive/ short-tempered behavior from 7 to 3 students. There was a notable 57% decrease in our suspensions rate. Therefore, we met and exceeded our goal.
Implications: There was a decrease in the number of students who have received suspension(s) due to aggressive/short-tempered behavior from 7 to 3 students. There was a notable 57% decrease in our suspension rate, therefore, we met and exceeded our goal.
There were several strategies/activities that were selected to meet this goal. We wanted to reach all students, therefore, we wanted all students to get exposed to core curriculum based on social-emotional learning, weekly activities (The Great Kindness Challenge and Bullying Prevention Week), and an assembly (PBIS Assembly) that emphasizes on positive behavior. We also created group and individual sessions to reach students who received a suspension due to an aggressive/short-tempered behavior or who are at-risk of being suspended due to their misbehavior. Moreover, we created an specific group for 4th and 5th grade students who benefit from learning the 6 character trait pillars and teach it to their peers. The Character Counts group emphasizes on 4th and 5th grade due to those two grade levels having a high suspension rate. We also collaborated with teachers and parents so they can support students needs. Nonetheless, we also had individual interventions to students who benefited from individual sessions.
The Great Kindness Challenge, Bullying Prevention Week, and PBIS Assembly were provided so all students can create positive and supportive relationships with other students (B-SS 2). Participation was high as all students were exposed to it. In the future, we plan to have accurate data collection asking specific questions regarding to the topic of the activities.
The core curriculum (Second Step: Social-Emotional Learning; Recognize, Report, Refuse Bullying; and Bystander Power) were provided so all students will get exposed to social-emotional learning so all students will have a positive attitude towards work and learning (M 6). Participation was high as lessons were done in the student’s classroom. Data collection will remain the same as we used Second Step summative assessment that is evidence based. In the future, we plan on providing follow-up lessons so students can continue to practice with they learned.
The group sessions (Behavior/Anger Management and Character Counts groups) were provided so those group of students will have positive attitude toward work and learning (M 6). Participation was high on all, but collection of data needs to be more accurate. In the future, we plan on providing questions based on the specific group content.
Individual sessions (Individualized Intervention and Intense Individualized Intervention) were provided so those specific students will demonstrate social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment (B-SS 9). Participation was high on all, but collection of data needs to be more accurate. In the future, we plan on providing questions based on the specific individual content. In addition, we were unable to receive mental health clinician’s data collection due to county approval access. However, we will review results as soon as it is made available and make necessary changes.
School counselors also collaborate with teachers and parents. Collaboration with other stakeholder helps parents and teachers provide various intervention strategies that can support the student and create relationship to support success (B-SS 3). Collaboration with teachers and parents is a best practice that will continue in the future.
