The behavior goal for the School Counseling Program was developed to address a disproportionality among grade levels. Through the disaggregation of data, in 2014-2015 there was a notable difference among the number of office referrals in 1st and 2nd grade as compared to the rest of the building. This lead to the development of the program goal: The number of identified 1st and 2nd grade students in 2014-2015 having 5 or more offender office referrals will decrease by 18% by the end of the 2015-2016 school year when they are in 2nd and 3rd grade. However, as a Comprehensive School Counseling Program it is important to align interventions and curriculum with the school and district’s goals as well.

Findley Elementary’s School Improvement Plan in regards to behavior is to increase the number of Tier I students (0-1 office referral) by 3% with a focus on increasing the number of Tier I African American students by 5%. District-wide there has been disproportions among African American students and efforts have been made to positively impact these numbers. Aside from behavior, the district is also focusing on increasing math growth for African American students.

At Findley Elementary School is there is disproportionality among office referrals and student race. Although African American students only make up 16% of the student population, they make up over 30% of the office referrals. Based on this data, the School Counseling Program developed interventions to positively impact the office referral data for African American students at Findley Elementary School. Interventions that took place included core counseling curriculum, small group counseling, and individual counseling. Through all of these interventions a variety of skill sets were taught including: conflict resolution, self-regulation, school success, and coping.

As a result of the counseling interventions, the goal of increasing Tier I African American students by 5% was not met. The number of Tier I (0-1 office referrals) African American students went from 42.68% in 2014-2015 to 32.69% in 2015-2016. Even though the goal was not met there is still cause for celebration. The number of Tier III (6 or more office referrals) African American students decreased from 14.75% in 2014-2015 to 11.54% in 2015-2016.

The data from the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support shows that the number of Tier I and Tier III African American students decreased. As a result, the number of Tier II African American students has increased. This information is vital to the School Counseling Program and serves as a potential goal/focus for the 2016-2017 school year. Interventions and curriculum will be revised to meet the needs of Tier II African American students.

Goal: Increase the number of Tier I students by 3% with a focus on increasing the number of African American students in Tier I by 5%.

Target Group: African American Students

Data Used to Identify Students: Infinite Campus Portal - Tableau Reports on Behavior based on demographics

School Counselor(s): Jaclyn Dehner

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): MS:1; BS:LS 1,5, 9; BS:SMS: 2, 7; BS:SS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Type of Activities to be Delivered in What Manner?: Six small group lessons to identified students with the focus being School Success. All students received six Core Counseling lessons on Conflict Resolution. Seven identified students received individual counseling for self-regulation.

Process Data (Number of students affected): Qualified: 52 students Received Services: 14 students in small groups 52 students in core curriculum lessons 7 students in individual counseling *not all qualified students had small group or individual counseling due to mobility or Tier III identification.

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Attitude: Prior to the behavior interventions, 100% of students believed they had some form of control over their emotions. After the behavior interventions, 74% of students believed they had some form of control over their emotions. Skills: Prior to the behavior interventions, 12% of students could de-escalate a problem. After the behavior interventions, 50% of students could de-escalate a problem. Knowledge: Prior to the behavior interventions, 31% of students could identify feelings from a peer. After the behavior interventions, 92% of students could identify feelings from a peer.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Behavior Data: Access Infinite Campus portal to get Tableau Reports on MTSS data regarding Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III percentages In 2014-2015, the number of African American students in Tier I (0-1 office referrals) was 42.62% and in 2015-2016 it decreased to 32.69%.

Implications: Although the goal was not met there is cause for celebration. The number of African American students in Tier III (6 or more office referrals) decreased from 14.75% in 2014-2015 to 11.54% in 2015-2016; that is a decrease of 3.21%. In the future, the school counseling program should target Tier II students (2-5 office referrals) for preventative measures. Intervention topics should include: self-regulation, conflict resolution, and school success skills. Knowing that the highest number of office referrals for African Americans were minor disruption, minor defiance, and major disruption will help guide curriculum in the future. Also, the school counselor can attend professional development opportunities. For example, upcoming Cultural Conference in Des Moines, IA in June 2016.

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