14 September 2007
Counseling Program
The counselors at Studio School will implement a comprehensive developmental counselingprogram based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model (ASCA, 2003). The counseling program will provide classroom guidance lessons, small group counseling, individual counseling, mentoring services, peer mediation, and parent/teacher workshops. The counselor will also meet individually with each student, his/her parents/guardians, and teachers to develop a Success Plan.
Studies indicate that while students at risk for school dropout often display antisocial and aggressive behaviors, a safe learning environment is crucial for at-risk students to succeed (NDPC/N, 2004b). To address these concerns, counselors at Studio School will provide classroom guidance lessons and small group counseling on topics such as anger management, positive behavior, conflict resolution, communication skills, and building and maintaining healthy relationships. Counselors will also provide individual counseling as needed.
In addition to counseling services, counselors will coordinate a mentoring program that assigns each child to an adult mentor. Mentoring is an effective strategy for working with students at-risk for dropping out. Some benefits of mentoring include improved school achievement, increased school attendance, increased graduation rates, and decreased disciplinary referrals (NDPC/N, 2004a). Counselors at Studio School will coordinate a mentoring program that utilizes university students at Mississippi State University (School of Education) as mentors for each child. This will provide a mentoring relationship for the child as well as provide “real-world” experience for future teachers and school counselors.
Peer mediation is an effective strategy for not only changing how students understand and resolveconflicts in their own lives but also for reducing conflicts within the school environment (Landsberger, 2006). Mediation is a process for resolving disagreements and discord in which a neutral third party acts as a moderator. Counselors will train students to serve as mediators in a peer mediation program aimed at providing an alternative to traditional disciplinary practices. These trained students will help their classmates identify problems behind the discord and find solutions. Studies indicate that peer mediation improves self-esteem, listening and critical thinking skills, and the overall school climate (Burrell, Zirbel, & Allen, 2003; Smith, Daunic, Miller, & Robinson, 2002).
Family engagement contributes to improved academic achievement (Henderson & Mapp, 2002)and is crucial for ensuring the success of students at Studio School. Because some of our students may not have supportive parents/guardians, students will be asked to identify their strongest person of support as a family representative. Counselors will meet with each child’s parent(s)/guardian(s) or assigned family representative monthly to discuss the child’s progress in Studio School as well as any other concerns that they may have regarding the success of the child. Additionally, the counselors will provide parent and teacher workshops aimed at building and strengthening child/family/teacher relationships. Workshop topics will focus on developing support and encouragement for the child at home and at school.
A critical component of the counseling program at Studio School will be the development of Success Plans for each child. Counselors will meet individually with each child, his/her parents/guardians, and teachers to develop an individual Success Plan. The Success plan will outline goals, objectives, and interventions needed to help the child succeed in the areas of academics, social/personal needs, and career interests. Interventions will include services such as individualized teacher instruction, behavior intervention plans, small group and individual counseling, and career interest inventories. Once interventions have been implemented, counselors will follow up with teachers and parents bi-monthly to determine each child’s progress towards meeting goals. Changes will be made as needed. Additionally, counselors will meet with each child, his/her parents/guardians, and teachers at the end of the second and fourth 9-week periods to determine if goals need to be revised.
The primary goal for the Counseling Program at Studio School will be to ensure student success. By providing classroom guidance, group and individual counseling, mentoring, peer mediation, parent/teacher workshops, and individual Success Plans, counselors will work with children, parents/guardians, and teachers to ensure that each child reaches his/her goals.
Much of the counselors’ time will be spent for set up, as will teachers’ and others’ who get Studio School up and running. We should remember to think of “classroom” time in a different way though. Studio School kids will be involved in very little whole group typical classroom style instruction. Most of the time they spend in school will be referred to as studio time, in studio, small group studio, and critique time. I can see that the only time they would convene as large groups of 25 is for outside lectures from researchers/career people/ professionals. Once the school is up and running. Teachers and counselors should have time to work together with students and family to write success plans as a team.
In the beginning students will be involved in assessment activities with an adult who may not be the classroom teacher or counselor. This would leave time for the counselor-teacher-student family advocate to draft the origirnal Success Plan together as a team one student at a time.
The children that we will be working with will likely have problems with family members, peers, authority figures, low self-esteem, anger managements, violence, etc. Counselors will need to provide individual and group counseling to address these many concerns so that children can focus in the classroom. Countless studies have shown that when counselors are able to provide support to help them solve problems, then academics and motivation increase dramatically. This will mean allowing time for counselors to work with children during the school day- which is often a problem in traditional academic settings. The counselors at
Studio School will be organizing and supervising a mentoring and peer mediation program which will take up a good amount of time initially. Then of course they will provide extensive counseling services as well as parent and teacher workshops. Counselors will also meet individually with student/parent/teacher teams to develop Success plans – this will be 75 individual meetings at approximately 1 hour each. This will take up the primary time for counselors at the beginning of the school year, at the end of the 2nd nine weeks, and again at the end of the school year. In addition, counselors will be driving out to the communities at least once a week to hold parent meetings.