Katherine Stinson Middle School

By Lourdes Medina, Principal

Stinson counselors are the heart and lifeline of Katherine Stinson Middle School. On a daily basis, they positively impact student learning and school climate by devoting time to ensure students’ emotional, social, and academic needs are met. Though we are a campus with 40% of our students identified as economically disadvantaged, we do not receive Title I funds, and yet, our counselors are successful with our students by offering numerous, high-quality programs for our students. Throughout the year, our counselors provide students with individual planning to guide students in their educational development, intervene to respond to students’ specific needs, including crisis, provide individual and small group counseling and implement a guidance program to support academic instruction for all students, so they achieve their full educational potential.

To design targeted interventions for students and effective programs, our counselors use multiple data sources to support the Stinson student body. Programs which support our students’ academic success and develop a positive and safe climate include a school-wide Career Day for students to learn about potential careers which represent high school endorsements; our Red Ribbon Week to educate students to live a drug free life; anti-bullying programs, such as the Don’t Be a Monster presentation to promote acts of kindness, Junior Students To Students (JS2S), which involves a trained group of students who welcome new students to our school to assist with the transition process, and parent presentations throughout the year, such as The Five Love Languages of Teens parent book study, Drugs, Dares, and Dangerous Trends”, Teen Trafficking and Middle School Success Night. Our counselors use the American School Counseling Association National Model and The 4 Student Skill Goals as the framework and foundation for our counseling program, which is evident in their planning and implementation of programs on our campus. In addition, our counselors support our school improvement plan, serve on campus design teams which target school improvement goals, and provide training to our teachers on the 40 Developmental assets, and Educator’s Guide to Helping Students with High-Risk Issues, such as suicide, bullying, and abuse. As our counselors collaborate with teachers, parents, and community members, they enhance the middle school experience by encouraging, engaging, motivating, and guiding our students to fulfill their potential. Through their daily efforts, they demonstrate why they are truly the heart and lifeline of Stinson.

The School Counseling Advisory Council at Stinson Middle School is referred to as the School Advisory Team (SAT). The counseling department is proud to join various committees to stay connected with staff and student needs. The purpose of the SAT is to assist in campus decision making and improvement. The SAT has a positive impact on student learning and uses campus data appropriately to follow the district’s strategic plan

The SAT consists of at least two parents, one community member, the principal, a counselor, and a variety of teachers. Participants are selected by the principal based on their interest and desire to ensure Stinson students become productive members of society. Member selection is reflective of the student population to ensure that all student subgroups are represented. The SAT panel meets for a minimum of four times during the academic year to give input and discuss campus goals that lead to overall student success. Meetings allow SAT members to discuss topics that relate to campus goals, design teams, campus procedures, fundraisers, and parent nights. Examples of agenda items include but are not limited to: data review, school improvement plan, instructional planning, school safety, and school culture. The feedback that is discussed guides the school counseling program by giving the counseling department insight on campus issues, provides improvements to existing programs, and promotes new projects.

The Stinson Middle School Counseling Department recognizes the importance of school climate and safety. The department is involved in various programs to help give a voice to the social, emotional, and developmental skills of adolescents. At Stinson, counselors offer different opportunities for students to organize and lead various events throughout the school year. These events address intrapersonal and interpersonal effectiveness, post-secondary planning and the importance of personal health and safety. These variety of events help students feel a connection towards school and build positive relationships. For example, Stinson counselors recruit and train office aides each year, helping create and build leadership roles for students. Counselors also offer and train students in the Junior Student to Student organization (JS2S), Youth Lead organization and Helping And Leading Others (H.A.L.O.) organization. These three organizations provide students across all three grade levels with the opportunity to learn the skills of collaboration, team building and experience the benefits of contributing, organizing and planning school events. Students in these organizations also have the opportunity to present to their peers at Success Assemblies and PREP days, as well as meet and greet new students to Stinson throughout the school year. This helps create a positive welcoming environment where all students feel invested in campus events and campus needs.

Stinson Counselors work closely with school administration in a variety of ways. The role of the school counseling team is to hear campus concerns and goals in order to create and implement a comprehensive developmental guidance program to serve all students. The Stinson Counseling Department believes communication and involvement helps promote overall student success. Stinson Counselors plan and train staff at the beginning of each school year about the school safety plan and campus crisis management plan. Stinson Counselors play a vital role in helping cultivate a safe environment. Each school year, counselors and administrators explain the process for reporting bullying and cyber-bullying to both students and parents. They assess each situation and communicate with administration about various situations weekly. The goal is to promote a safe counseling environment where students feel safe to report incidents, and counselors can assist students in times of a crisis or stressful situation.

These various opportunities provided by the Stinson Counseling Department help provide positive experiences, positive relationships, and a strong school bond. Stinson students feel a sense of involvement and connection with their school which is reflected in increased daily attendance.

The chart above displays our attendance rates for the past 3 years. Schools that address the social and emotional needs of students foster a positive environment and promote positive social behaviors. These experiences help students feel safe and important at school which also increases school daily attendance. The programs offered provide social responsibility and focus on moral character.

Stinson data leads the campus in making decisions. The Stinson Counseling Department recognizes that campus data reconciled with the National and Texas Standards of Counseling is an important activity. Counselors work collaboratively with administration and teachers to guide students to a successful middle school experience. They are influential in the academic, emotional, and mental development of middle school students through the many programs they initiate. Stinson campus discipline data showed trends that led to establishing both counseling department goals for students addressed in this category.

First, to achieve these goals, over the course of the year, the Stinson Counseling Department will continue to implement a variety of interventions such as:

• Creating Community Day - a full day event where students attend sessions with various community presenters and learn about creating community and how to treat others with respect;

• Groups - meetings to impact those who are struggling with certain behaviors by creating small groups of students identified with similar needs;

• Declaration of Respect - a program for students and staff to sign a pledge to demonstrate respectful behavior;

• Guidance Lessons - counselor created lessons that help nurture a positive school community and culture;

• Howdy Visits - enables counselors to visit classrooms to deliver a "welcome" guidance lesson and teach students about the campus culture of respect; and

• Individual Planning - counselors meet with students to assist them in their educational, career, and personal/social development.

GOAL #1 STATEMENT

The first goal for the Stinson Counseling Department is to decrease the number of classroom and student disruptions in grades 6th - 8th by 10% each academic year. The rationale behind selecting this goal was Stinson discipline data showing a steady rise in the number of classroom and student disruptions over the course of several years.

Over the past 3 academic years, data has begun to show a new trend. Data now shows a steady decrease in student disruptions at Stinson. Through the implementation of programs, interventions, and strategies led by the Stinson Counseling Department, the campus is on track to reach it's lowest student disruption rates across all grade levels since 2015. The Counseling Department recognizes the importance of classroom expectations and behavior and has created and presented lessons that reinforce a positive school community and culture.

To achieve the goal of decreasing classroom and student disruptions, the Stinson Counseling Department will continue to implement a variety of interventions such as Creating Community Day. Creating Community Day is a full day event where students attend sessions with various community presenters and learn about creating community and treating others with respect. Counselors continue to implement guidance lessons such as Howdy Visits, which allows them to visit classes to deliver a welcome guidance lesson and teach students about the campus culture of respect.

GOAL #2 STATEMENT

The second goal of the Stinson Counseling Department is to decrease the number of theft incidences in grades 6th - 8th by 10% each academic year. The Stinson Counseling Department promotes a positive school community through guidance lessons and presentations on respect and citizenship.

The rationale behind selecting this goal was based on Stinson campus discipline data. The discipline data leading up to 2015 showed an increasing trend in theft at Stinson. After focusing on implementing lessons about respect, citizenship, and building a positive school community, data began to show a decrease in the number of theft incidents on campus.

To achieve the goal of decreasing thefts, the Stinson Counseling Department will continue to implement a variety of interventions. These interventions will include guidance lessons, presentations on respect and citizenship, boys/girls groups, Creating Community events and through the Youth Lead Organization. These interventions help nurture and reinforce making good choices and creating a positive school community. The counseling department includes students who struggle with discipline and include them in the groups to ensure that they are exposed to positive peer role models and positive peer interactions.

The Stinson Counseling Department strives to provide a comprehensive developmental guidance and counseling program to students. In order to ensure that the counseling program is continuing to evolve, counselors seek opportunities for professional growth and student impact. The following are examples of the counseling departments major achievements:

• Grant recipient for the Youth Lead Workshop- Stinson Middle School was selected as a recipient for the grant that funded the Youth Lead workshop by Search Institute®. Student and sponsor attendance to the workshop lead to the Youth Lead organization at Stinson Middle School. The goal of the Youth Lead organization is to cultivate students’ leadership skills through campus wide projects, community volunteerism, and service learning. Students learn to use their energy and imagination to create positive change in their school and community by implementing campus events like courtyard clean up, Breast Cancer awareness events in October, canned food drives, and wrapping gifts with Elf Louise.
  

• Recipients of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Department of Public Safety School grant- The Stinson Middle School Counseling Department selected fifty students to participate in the annual Heroes & Helpers event. Stinson students were awarded a $100 to spend on gifts for themselves and their family members. This opportunity helped promote a positive and nurturing student culture.

• Leadership role in Stinson’s first Student Led Conference - Stinson counselors were selected to serve as leaders on the Stinson Middle School Student Ownership Design Team (SODT), which focused on developing students’ ability to reflect on their individual instructional plans. Under the leadership of the Stinson Counseling Department, the SODT successfully implemented the first ever Student Led Conference for all sixth graders at Stinson Middle School. Over 120 parents and students participated in this student learning event. Students had the opportunity to conference with their parents and reflect on their academic progress and set goals. These conferences directly supported the Guidance Curriculum and Individual Planning Components.
  

GUIDANCE CURRICULUM 20%

Stinson counselors provided over 245 guidance lessons during the 2017-18 school year. Guidance lessons focused on the following:

• bullying prevention - the importance of being an upstander and ways to report bullying;
  
• interpersonal skills - ways to communicate with others;
  
• career goals - exploring a variety of career strands and endorsements;
• academic goals; and
  
• social and personal development.

Parent Night guidance lessons increased high school credits earned by middle school students by 10%.

RESPONSIVE SERVICES 25%

Stinson counselors addressed over 1,100 individual responsive services during the school year. Counselors conducted five different groups designed to work on:

• relationships - ways to improve communication skills, self-esteem, self-control, motivation, and, decision making;
  
• academic success - setting and working towards academic goals;
  
• healthy choices - understanding who I am and what I need;
  
• social challenges - peer pressure and self control; and
  
• resiliency.
  

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PLANNING 40%

The Stinson Counseling Department met with students as needed throughout the school year for various reasons. Counselors assisted over 2,350 students for help with the following:

• academic - academic goal setting and tools for success;
  
• choices - communication and problem solving;
  
• transitioning - preparing for change;
  
• peer relationships - mediations, conflict resolution, communication skills;
  
• career/endorsement choices - high school elective paths and programs; and
  
• course selections.
  

SYSTEM SUPPORT 15%

The counseling team provided staff development on topics such as:

• e-RTI - ways to document interventions and work towards helping students be more successful;
  
• Jenna’s Law - a Texas law which mandates that all public schools train school aged children, staff and parents on the signs and symptoms of child abuse;
  
• Drug Signs and Symptoms - drug awareness and the educator's role in drug and alcohol prevention;
  
• Responding to Suicidal Students - working with staff on ways to appropriately respond to students with mental health issues;
  
• 40 Developmental Assets;
  
• Four Skill Goals - intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships, post-secondary planning and personal health and safety;
  
• Dual Credit;
  
• 504 Meetings;
  
• STAAR Training;
  
• Student Led Conferences;
  
• Red Wagon; and
  
• Attendance Recovery Meetings.
  

Community partnerships at Stinson Middle School have proven to be instrumental in meeting the social, academic, and career development goals of students. Stinson currently works with over 50 businesses to improve and enhance the effectiveness of the counseling program. Partnerships with businesses have provided the opportunity for students to explore career possibilities. In addition, they also assisted the counseling department by improving student academic success by providing incentives for honor roll students. Strong relationships show students that the community has a vested interest in their success.

Having community partners helps strengthen the campus culture in many ways. For the past four years, the Stinson Counseling Department has held a campus wide Career Day where community members volunteer their time and knowledge about their profession and life experiences. Local businesses such as Starbucks, Taco Cabana, and Las Palapas have assisted in providing free coffee and discounted food for career day presenters. Businesses such as Burger-Fi and Lenny’s Subs have also provided incentives/coupons to reward students for their accomplishments.

ACADEMIC DOMAIN

The Stinson Counseling Department works closely with community partners, and with community services, to provide the best support possible for the students. In order to incentivize students to perform their best in academics, Lenny's Subs provided free sub coupons to those who achieved A/B Honor Roll. Bush's Chicken also provided coupons for free meals to students who achieved this honor.

CAREER DOMAIN

Career days give students an up-close-and-personal view of an array of occupations, especially ones that are unfamiliar. They also can learn what skills and education are required for the industries and fields they have interest in and potential aptitude for and have the opportunity to ask questions. During Career Week, The University of Texas San Antonio Health Science Center allowed a university doctor to speak to Stinson students on the role and career path of medical professionals. The Northside Police Department also provided an officer to present to students on the role and career path to becoming an officer.

PERSONAL/SOCIAL DOMAIN

Stinson Counseling Department has developed and delivered a comprehensive school counseling program that promotes positive development which includes offering education, prevention and short-term intervention services designed to promote positive mental health, and to remove any barriers to student success. The San Antonio Spurs provided Stinson students receiving the “Pillars of Character” award a free ticket to games. In addition, Kona Ice partnered with Stinson and provided funding which allowed the Counseling Department to take the students to an Anti-Bullying symposium.

The Stinson Counseling Department recognizes that communication with parents is important to facilitate student success. Counselors use a variety of approaches to keep parents informed and involved. The counselors are committed to collaborating with parents through the four counseling program components of the guidance curriculum, responsive services, individual planning and system support.

Communication methods used by the Stinson Counseling Department are Remind101, automated phone calls, flyers, emails, website (https://goo.gl/hx5KJi), open houses and parent workshops as mandated in Texas Education Code (TEC) 33.004(b).

GUIDANCE CURRICULUM

A parent needs assessment is conducted to improve the counseling services provided and to enhance guidance lessons. During the first weeks of school, a Counseling Department Parent Night is held where parents receive information about the guidance curriculum as well as a preview of counseling materials as mandated in Texas Education Code (TEC) 33.004(b).

RESPONSIVE SERVICES

Counselors collaborate with parents to address the needs of their students. Students in need of responsive services are supported with one-on-one and group counseling. Counselors collaborate with parents to provide community referrals and resources when necessary. Counselors continuously communicate and collaborate with parents through phone calls, conferences, emails, and even home visits when appropriate.

INDIVIDUAL PLANNING

Counselors offer parent nights about magnet schools and high school credit courses. They continuously engaging parents in the transition process as a student transitions from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school. Counselors encourage parents to assist their students with course selection for each academic year. This practice allows parents to discuss interest and future career goals with their students. Counselors collaborate with parents to understand and interpret assessment scores. This practice encourages parents to get involved with their children when they set short and long-term academic goals. Parents are also welcomed as volunteer speakers on Career Days.

SYSTEM SUPPORT

The Stinson Counseling Department values parent input. The School Advisory Team is comprised of both counselors and parent representatives, in addition to other key stakeholders. Parent feedback is valued as counselors develop and implement programs. Workshops for parents are held regularly to discuss topics of interest such as social media, high-risk behaviors, communication, and annual transition. Parents also collaborate with the Counseling and Guidance Program by assisting with school-wide counseling activities such as career day and campus events.