EVALUATION REPORT

School Counseling Program

Math and Science College
Preparatory
Fall 2017

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Executive summary……………………………………………………………………….… 3

II. Introduction to the report…………………………………………………………………..…. 4

A. Purpose of the evaluation
B. Audiences for the evaluation report
C. Limitations of the evaluation
D. Overview of report contents

III. Focus of the evaluation……………………………………………………………………… 5

A. Description of the evaluation object
B. Evaluative questions used to focus the study
C. Information needed to complete the evaluation

IV. Brief overview of evaluation plan and procedures…………………………….……….…… 7

V. Presentation of evaluation results……………………………………………………......…… 9

A. Summary of evaluation findings
B. Interpretation of evaluation findings

VI. Conclusions and recommendations………………………………………………………… 10

A. Criteria and standards used to judge evaluation object
B. Judgments about evaluation object (strengths and weaknesses)
C. Recommendations

VII. Appendices………………………………………………………………………………… 11
A. Description of evaluation plan/design, instruments, and data analysis and interpretation
B. Detailed tabulations or analyses of quantitative data, and transcripts or summaries of
qualitative data
C. Other information, as necessary

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this program evaluation was to define and have a short evaluation of
the school counseling program at Math and Science College Preparatory. By comparing
discipline data from Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 the study sought to find if the increase of school
counselors helped decrease the number of disciplines referrals. The evaluation also sought to
find what the perception of teachers were in regards to school counselors at MSCP. Some
limitations of this study include the lack of teachers access and time constraints.
Reccomendations

INTERVIEW THEMES
3-5 Minute Interview 1) Teacher’s feel supported and have quick/easy access to school
counselors
3 Teachers 2) Teacher’s believe school counselors provide individual
Interviewed counseling, parent workshops, test preparation/ facilitation,
college field trips
3) Teacher’s express a need to have more resources to support
student’s emotional well-being
MSCP SCHOOL COUNSELING
PROGRAM

Tier 3: Crisis Counseling, Referrals, Risk

Assessments

Tier 2: Group Counseling, Tutoring Contracts,

STEM Pathways Opportunities, Workshops

Tier 1: Individual College Counseling, Parent

Nights, Guidance Lessons, Field trips, SAT ]&
ACT Preparation/Facilitation

DISCIPLINE Counseling Staff 2017- 2018

REFERRALS 2 Full Time School Counselors
3 Full Time School Counselor
FALL 2016: 158 Interns
Counseling Staff 2016- 2017
2 Full Time School Counselors
FALL 2017: 117 1 Full Time School Counselor Intern

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 Introduction to the Report
The rationale behind this report is that the school counseling program at Math and
Science College Preparatory is changing and adapting quickly. Along with that change, it is
important to take into account the different aspects of the school counseling program. The
purpose of this evaluation report is to assure teachers have a good understanding of what the
role of school counselors are at this school. Not only that but to evaluate if the implementation of
a bigger staff has helped decrease disciplinary issues. The evaluation was conducted through the
use of interviews. The contents of this report include a description of the school counseling
program at Math and Science College Preparatory, evaluation questions, interview protocol, and
the program report. Program evaluation is used to improve programs and create baseline for
improvement.

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 Focus of Evaluation
Description of Evaluation Object

The school counseling program at Math and Science College Preparatory began in 2015
and served the first cohort of MSCP freshmen. The team consisted of one counselor and one
counseling intern. Today, the program serves 536 students and has increased it’s staff over the
years. The counseling program today has 2 full time counselors and 3 counselor interns. The
school counselors serve as advocates for teachers, students, and parents. Counselors interact with
students through the use of classroom guidance lessons and individual counseling meetings that
happen once a semester. Counselors also keep parents informed of the college process during
their semester parent college nights. School counselors identify student’s needs by evaluating
records such as discipline, attendance, and grades. They work with stakeholders such as teachers
and administrators to help increase areas of excellence. Figure 1 illustrates the components of the
school counseling program at MSCP.
Figure 1. Logic model. This figure illustrates the components of the school counseling program
at Math and Science College Preparatory.

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PROGRAM EVALUATION QUESTIONS
1) Did disciplinary incidents decrease with the increase of school counselors?
2) What are teacher’s perspective about the role of school counselors?

Information Needed for Evaluation

Information needed for evaluation is gathered from the counseling department, discipline
records, and teacher input. Data on discipline referrals will be collected from an existing school
record of discipline referrals. The data for Fall 2016 and Fall 2017. Interviewing teachers on
their opinion regarding the school counseling program will be another form of information. This
will be in the form of interviews that will seek to investigate the perception of teachers towards
school counselors in terms of their roles and duties. Three teachers will be interviewed as part of
the case study. The information will be collected through the use of purposive sampling. This is
to ensure that the desired information for the study is collected. The three teachers will serve as a
representation of the entire group.

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 Overview of Evaluation Plan and Procedures
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF EVALUATION PLAN AND PROCEDURES
The type of design that will be used in the following program evaluation will be a time-
series design which seeks to demonstrate changes or trends over time. Time-series design
involves the use of existing information as data (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen 2011).
Another approach that will also be used is the case study design. The purpose of this design is to
explain in detail a situation and provide a clear understanding. It seeks to explore contributions to
program success or failures (Fitzpatrick, Sanders & Worthen 2011).
To answer the question of how the increase of school counselors impacted disciplinary
incidents, the time-series design will be the most useful because it will compare trends over time.
Specifically, because it is not looking at the impact that an intervention has but instead at just
seeks to explore and attempt to describe the changes (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen 2011). In
the case of Math and Science College Preparatory it is hypothesized that the increase of school
counselors at the school through time helped decrease the number of disciplinary issues over the
course of three years.

Table 1

Program Evaluation Data Collection Steps

The second part of this evaluation will look at perspectives that teachers have of school
counselors at Math and Science College Preparatory. A case study design will be used since it

will help provide a more detailed and holistic view of the teacher’s perspectives. This is because

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a case study provides an in depth understanding and description. Since this design has a
qualitative focus the best method of delivery will be through 3 - 5 minute interviews that will be
conducted with three teachers. To answer the evaluation question and collect data an interview
protocol was created (Appendix A) by the evaluator. The protocol includes the interview
questions that were used to answer the overarching program evaluation question. Interview
questions were acquired from a study conducted by Clark The interview questions to answer
question two of the program evaluation are:

1) How do you think your school counselor should contribute to addressing the
needs of your students? What particular types of skills and interventions does
your school counselor have for helping you address challenges?
2) What services does the school counselor(s) perform in your school (e.g., for
students, teachers, administrators, parents)? Which should be given the greatest
priority in your opinion?
3) What improvements can the school counselor work on?
4) There are many different ways in which counselors interact with teachers and
administrators to improve the life of the school and the kinds of services provided
to students. In what ways has your school counselor worked with you and
influenced you and your student’s lives?

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 Conclusion
Presentationand
of Evaluation
Recommendations
Results
SUMMARY OF EVALUATION FINDINGS

Part of the evaluation was to interview three teachers to find out what their perception
was in regards to the role of school counselors at Math and Science College Preparatory. What
the research found was that three common themes emerged from the interviews. Teachers felt
fully supported by school counselors. Teachers in the interview expressed that their schools
counselor was someone they could easily access. According to teachers, counselors are quick to
respond to student concerns or teacher questions whether it be by e-mail or in person. The
second theme that emerged was that teachers understood the types of interventions their school
counselor provided to assist students. They saw SAT and ACT preparation as an intervention
that school counselors provide. They also saw the coordination of field trips and extracurricular
opportunities as a way to help students explore careers and colleges. The last theme that emerged
was that teachers saw that there was room for improvement in providing students with emotional
support. Teachers expressed that they wished their school counselors would provide more
emotional support in and out of class. After analyzing discipline records the evaluator found that
there were a 155 discipline referrals made in the Fall of 2016 and a 117 discipline referrals in the
Fall of 2017. This indicates that there is a 26% decrease of referrals in the time-span of one year.

INTERPRETATION OF EVALUATION FINDINGS

The results indicate that the role of school counselors is clear to both stakeholders. The
school counseling program at Math and Science College Preparatory seeks to support students in
the social/emotional, career, and college domains by providing individual counseling, test
preparation, extracurricular opportunities, field trips, parent college nights, and workshops.
Teachers feel that their school counselor is easy to access and quickly available to address
student concerns. Teachers also understand the interventions that school counselors provide for
their students. One are of growth that was reflected upon the evaluation was that school
counselors should provide more social-emotional support for students. In the Fall of 2016, Math
and Science College Preparatory had a total of 2 Full Time School Counselors and 1 Full Time
Intern. This Fall 2017, the program consists of 2 Full Time School Counselors and 3 Full Time
Interns. This can be inferred to have had a direct impact on the number of discipline referrals
between the Fall of 2016 and the Fall of 2017. There was a 26% decrease in referrals.

Criteria and Standards Used to Judge Evaluation Object

The school counseling program at Math and Science College Preparatory seeks to
disrupt the status quo and provide access to a good quality education and college to
students in a low income community. The program focuses on the social-emotional,

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academic, and career domains for students to succeed in high school. All students will
receive a minimum of two guidance lessons per semester and one individual counseling
meeting with their respective school counselor. To prepare students the school counseling
program provides students opportunities to attend field trips to college, college parent
nights, sat preparation/ testing, classroom guidance lessons, and individual counseling.
Based on the interviews teachers had a clear understanding of the school counselor’s role
at Math and Science College Preparatory.

JUDGEMENTS ABOUT EVALUATION OBJECT

The evaluation of the school counseling program at Math and Science College
Preparatory had it’s strengths and weaknesses. On one hand the evaluation found that
teachers felt supported and saw their school counselor as an additional person on the
student’s team. The teachers showed a clear understanding of the counselors role at
school. Teacher’s expressed that an area of improvement would be in the social-
emotional aspect of students. Limitation of this evaluation included time-constraints and
the lack of access to teachers. Only 3 teachers were able to participate in this interview.

RECCOMMENDATIONS
After reviewing the results of this report it is important that the school
counseling program addresses the needs of teachers and students as found on this
evaluation. Teacher’s believe that students need more social-emotional support in and out
of the classroom. To improve in this aspect the school counseling program can implement
group counseling as part of it’s implementation. Currently, school counselors are
collaborating with the school psychologists to start a program this semester that will help
girls who have been at risk of suicide. This in the long run can help provide a Tier 2
support system in which several students can be addressed during group counseling
session.

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 Appendices
Appendix A
Interview Protocol for Teacher’s Perceptions of School Counselors

Dear Participant,

Thank you for your time. This interview will help inform the school counseling program
of teacher’s perceptions at Math and Science College Preparatory. This information can
potentially help direct the role of school counselors at this school for the 2017-2018
school year and on.

Overall Description of Participation

Participation in this interview will only be requested once for the 2017-2018 school year.
Interview will be conducted at the school and will be transcribed for data. Once
transcribed you have access to all information pertaining this evaluation.

Length of Participation
Interviews will take approximately 3-5 minutes.

Risks and Benefits of Participation

The risk of participation in the following interview are minimal and all information will
help inform the school counseling program.

Volunteer
Your participation in this interview is voluntary. At any point you can choose to end the
interview.

Confidentiality Statement
To ensure confidentially all recordings and transcripts will remain confidential by
providing identifying numbers instead of names. After the Fall 2017 semester ends all
recordings will be deleted.

Statement of Fair Treatment and Respect

To ensure you are treated fairly and with respect. If you have any concerns you can
contact our university supervisor at Jacob.Olsen@csulb.edu.

Informed Consent Agreement

By continuing, you provide consent for this interview and agree that you have read all
information to participate.

Directions Prior to Starting the Interview:

The purpose of this interview is to gather teacher’s perceptions of school counselor’s role
at Math and Science College Preparatory. Information will be used to inform the program
of positives and improvements to work on for future school years. All information will
remain confidential and recordings will be disposed of after. The interviews will take
between 3-5 minutes and will audio recorded.

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Interview Questions:
1) How do you think your school counselor should contribute to addressing the
needs of your students? What particular types of skills and interventions does
your school counselor have for helping you to address these challenges?
2) What services does the school counselor(s) perform in your school (e.g., for
students, teachers, administrators, parents)? Which should be given greatest
priority in your opinion?
3) What improvements can the school counselor work on?
4) There are many different ways in which counselors interact with teachers and
administrators to improve the life of the school and the kinds of services provided
to students. In what ways has your school counselor worked with you and
influenced you and your students' lives?

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 Appendix B

Teacher’s Perceptions of School Counselors

Example Interview Transcript: Participant 1

High School Resource Teacher (Interviewee) interviewed by Geraldine Jovel.

Interviewer: The first question is how do you think your school the school counselor at
your school contribute to addressing the needs of your students

Participant 1: So I have two school counselors and I have met with them both on
separate occasions about everything from grades to tutoring contracts to Some DCFS
concerns and each time both counselors have been willing to meet with the student talk
with a student talk with parents they're just constantly there any time I've had a concern
it's been met like as soon as possible so.

Interviewer: Mmmmm okay.

Participant 1: I love my counselors, haha.

Interviewer: What particular types of skills and interventions does your school counselor
have for helping you address these challenges

Participant 1: So I don't… I have my counselors involved in my IEP meetings so I feel

like it my IEP meetings specifically they've been able to talk with the parents about
graduation plan progress about umm you know what are some possibilities for post-
secondary education and so these are things that I'm just not a hundred percent educated
in as much as they are and so I just feel like they're able to talk to the parents in a better
way than I can about um these opportunities.

Interviewer: Mhmmm awesome. Okay second question what services does the school
counselor at your school performing your school for students teachers administrators, or
parents

Participant 1: I know that they do the college workshops with our parents um with my
students they’re constantly meeting with them about grades which is nice to have
somebody else on my team trying to get them to get their grade up. Tutoring contracts
graduation plan progress and so I feel like it's just another person who's able to provide
that support and really helping students figure out after high school. Umm I know that
they do they do um they do support teachers about social emotional concerns and umm

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they're always willing to me about those things and strategies on how to handle different
concerns.

Interviewer: Awesome okay, Which which should be given greatest priority in your
opinion.

Participant 1: Meaning like all of those services? Umm I do believe social emotional
support for our students is vital I understand our need for post-secondary and I... I
hundred percent support it but that is an area that I would like to see more strategies
maybe growth in. Is it how to support our students social emotional learning in the
classroom and what that looks like

Interviewer: Mhmmm wow okay and that kind of leads into my last like what what
improvements would you like to see you in the school counseling program

Participant 1: Yeah that's that's definitely it just more awareness of social emotional
strategies how to support students umm in those areas.

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