Welcome Back!

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Counselors are coming back—or digging out—from a well-deserved holiday break, only to discover a handful of challenges and opportunities awaiting them at the office.  If you’ve had a good break, one of those challenges may be remembering your computer password; once you’re past that one, here are a few things to keep an eye on as you and your students settle back into the routine:

College admission Decisions—more ‘Maybes’ than ever before.  High school counselors will likely return to a number of seniors who received dismaying college news over the break, as many strong, competitive colleges ended up deferring a high number of students.  While this isn’t unusual at the highly selective colleges, more selective schools are asking good applicants for additional information like current grades—and these requests are being made of students who would have easily been admitted just a couple of years ago.

While the holidays may have given seniors time to sort out their options, the return to school gives them fewer distractions, and more reason to focus on the surprise news they received in December.  Be sure your first few days includes ample time in the hallways, so students can find you and set up times to see you. January may not be the best time to rework college lists, but given the curves some schools threw students, now is the time to refocus college plans.

Planning for life without the PLAN.  As reported in a previous column, ACT will discontinue its PLAN and EXPLORE tests at the end of this year, replacing them with the ASPIRE test, a series of assessments that can be used by all students in grades 3-11.  While these new tests may offer more fluidity in pupil accounting options, they can also create gaps in some long-standing testing plans of middle schools and high schools, especially since ASPIRE doesn’t use the same 1-36 grading scale of the ACT.

This change in testing may not be news to you, but you don’t want this to become news to your principal or district coordinator this spring, when it’s time to order tests.  Once the snow settles after  the first week of class, find some time to meet with everyone who could be impacted by this change, and make sure to think far down the road; October 1 isn’t time to realize your Fall Testing program has to change to accommodate ASPIRE.

“This New Class is So…” January is typically a short school month, but it’s often the first time teachers articulate their impression of the new ninth grade class in a high school, or the sixth grade class in a middle school.  For the first four months of school, they were all students from different feeder schools; by now, they’re a cohesive whole, and their tone and values are getting easier to read.

The time to capitalize on those impressions is now.  If you have a staff development day coming up, put together a brief survey and series of guided questions to create a discussion of what teachers are seeing in the academic, social, interactive, and moral development of these new students.  February – April is an ideal time to provide students with the programming and resources needed to understand more about themselves and the world around them, and faculty can tell you where the biggest needs lie.  Don’t miss this opportunity to create a collaborative opportunity to improve the quality of learning and living in your building, as you confirm your role as the school leaders in shaping affective climate.

The Year in Review, and a Look at What’s New

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

2013 was filled with consistent change, the kind of contradiction school counselors have to get used to in order to make long-term commitments to their schools and their profession.  New data isn’t out yet, but counselors continue to report larger caseloads and more time on tasks unrelated to counseling.  While policy makers are acknowledging something needs to change, the nuts and bolts of reform have yet to be worked out—and with Congress up for election next year, it’s unlikely any real change will occur in the few short months the House and Senate will be in session before their members hit the campaign trail.

There are many highlights and promising moments to focus on, so here is just a sampling of where we’ve been, and where we’re headed:

Counselors and Common Core Implementation of Common Core standards was ramped up in many states, leaving counselors in their usual ambivalent role of part cheerleader, part referee.  The higher order thinking skills Common Core purports to measure are welcome news to counselors, since analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are key qualities to emotionally healthy students.  At the same time, the assessment of Common Core outcomes may be even more odious and time-consuming than No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, which could lead to more testing and fewer electives for a generation of smart phone users that could use a little imagination stretching.  Counselors have generally responded to the possibilities Common Core offers; time will tell if these possibilities will be realized.

Common Application  High school counselors leveled uncommonly high criticism at a trusted counselor friend this fall, when the new version of Common Application debuted with significant flaws.  The most popular college application in the country, Common App 4 made it difficult for counselors to download transcripts; told students they hadn’t paid for an application when they had, and sent more than a few submitted applications to college—with nothing on them.  The fine tuning is complete, so school counselors have moved on to other heartbreaking issues—like NBC’s remake of The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood.

First Lady Leads Counselor Fanfare  Counselor hopes for improved working conditions were nurtured by Michelle Obama’s publicly demonstrated interest in improving college access and readiness for low-income and first generation youth.  Launched in November, the initiative seeks to raise public awareness of the importance of earning an education after high school, and has garnered the attention of policy makers who can improve the training and working conditions of all school counselors.  Much good is expected of this effort in 2014.

2014 offers these challenges and opportunities for counselor growth:

• Middle- and high-school counselors will have to adjust to life without PLAN and EXPLORE, as ACT ends these successful tests and replaces them with the multi-grade ASPIRE exam.  Implementation seems easy enough—the question really lies with how well the results will relate to college readiness and Common Core achievement.

• College access and readiness seem to be pulling counselors in different directions, as some reports indicate a four year college degree is losing its economic prestige, while other reports accuse school counselors of sending high-achieving, low-income students to colleges that don’t really challenge them.  Overeducating and undermatching are two watchwords for 2014.

• Further change in K-16 education is expected as states begin to shift attitudes about undocumented students. Expect more colleges to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduate from state high schools, and don’t be surprised if financial aid for these students becomes a bigger issue by year’s end.

So, you about ready to wind things down at school for the holidays?

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

As a colleague once said, the end of a calendar year or school year never gives educators a chance to wind things down.  It’s more like running as fast as you can towards the edge of a cliff, where the number of things you have to do grows every day, requiring you to run faster and faster just to keep up.  When the last day of school is over, there is this momentary feeling of bliss, because you realize time is up, and you don’t have to run any more—but then you look back at everything that didn’t get done, and you go into emotional free fall.

That doesn’t have to happen this year.  With a few days left before the last bell rings, take a minute to take care of your students—and yourself—with these simple strategies:

Take care of the logistics.  No one likes to come back from break with a long list of phone messages and e-mails from parents and students asking for basic information— the link to that Web site you mentioned in a career presentation, the School Code to register for the ACT, the name of that article about effective communication with relatives over the holidays. 

Find five minutes to write down every post-holiday question or concern you’ve come back to in past school years, and write down the answers to those questions.  That’s the content of a newsletter you e-mail to all parents, students and faculty, and post on your Web site—then include that Web link on your e-mail Auto Reply, and put it on your outgoing voice message.  Not everyone who calls or e-mails over the holidays will help themselves, but this gives them every chance to try—and sends the clear message that you want to help them, even when you’re not there.

Take care of your clients.  The newsletter offers blanket advice to clients making inquiries, but the clients you’re seeing on a regular basis require support more tailored to their individual needs.  Now is the time to review the lesson plans for your counseling groups and the notes from your meetings with high-needs students.  At your last meeting before the holidays, set aside five minutes to talk about the articles, community-based resources, and coping strategies they have access to while school is closed.  It may even be wise to talk about the strategies students have used when faced with challenges over a weekend, or when you were away at a conference.  Showing them how they can take care of themselves affirms their understanding that you see them capable of taking care of themselves; that in itself goes a long way to making their December break manageable and enjoyable.

Ask for help.  Long school breaks can often be a time of anxiety for students who are otherwise very much in control of their lives.  Without the day to day activities of school, some students become overly focused on pending college decisions, struggles with relatives they only see at the holidays, or a self-perceived lack of growth and achievement this past year.

It’s impossible to keep an eye on every student during the last days of school, so call on your peers for support. A quick e-mail to teachers will give them the direction they need to guide students to you who may be approaching the season with some unusual angst—and you’d be amazed how reassuring that e-mail will be to the teachers, too.

Cry for Help, or Pity Party?

By: Patrick O'Connor

I once—and only once--- received a compliment about my dancing.  My wife and I were invited to a square dance, and the caller guided the group through sets of dances, each one a little more difficult than the last.  At the end of the third set, the caller motioned to us, so we walked over to him.  “You two are picking this up pretty quick” he said.  “Tell me, what do you do for a living?”

“We’re teachers” we said together.

With that, the caller took a couple of steps back, and turned ashen.  “No”, he said, “you can’t be teachers.  I’ve called dozens of square dances for teachers, and they never get past the first set before they start arguing with each other.  You can’t teach nothin’ to teachers.”

This episode came to mind when a counselor told me they felt isolated in their work.  Isolation is easy to understand; whether we’re classified as teachers or administrators, school counselors are in fact neither.  We really feel this when we’re having a bad day, because no one knows what we do, but they think they know what we do—and that doesn’t engender a lot of sympathy.

I suggested the counselor form a Counseling Advisory Committee. Established by school counseling guru Norm Gysbers, CACs are designed to help counseling offices review and implement their curriculum.  CAC members are picked by the counselor, and usually include teachers, the PTA president, representatives from the business and religious communities—people who care about kids who need to know what counselors do.  By combining their efforts, CAC members keep in close touch and create an atmosphere of support that’s the cure for counselor isolationism.

The response was understandable, but less than I had hoped for.  “Great idea, but I don’t even have time to do my job.  When am I going to have time to put this committee together?”

And that’s when the square dancing story came to mind.

There is no question school counselors are overworked and underappreciated, and there is little hope that any economic relief is in sight to solve that problem.  As we so often tell our students, when outside resources offer no sign of help, it’s time to help ourselves—so,  just as we tell our students, if we want something different, we have to do something different.

As trained school counselors, we know change has a price.  You have to find an extra hour to organize a committee; not everyone will want to serve; you may end up with the wrong mix of people, and you’ll have to start over, all while considering the number of students you could have seen during the hours you put in to a failed committee.

It’s certainly true there are no guarantees of success—but there are two things to keep in mind.  First, you may, in fact, succeed.  One school counselor used her PTA as a Counseling Advisory Committee, and told them the college counseling curriculum would really be enhanced if she could just get some funding to attend a national conference. The PTA sponsored her, she went to the conference, and the college choices for students soared—as did the scholarships they earned.

The second thing to remember is that if nothing changes, nothing changes.  This isn’t easy to hear, but important to remember when you, a well-connected adult with multiple college degrees, tell a sixteen year-old to be the change they want to become.

Good counseling is all about humility, empathy, and leading by example. The time for dysfunctional stasis is over--so grab your partners.  

College Applications and Thanksgiving

By:  Patrick O'Connor  Ph.D

This holiday season brings plenty of good news for high school seniors. Thanksgiving is as late as it possibly can be, creating one more week to complete college applications before the holidays begin. This also gives you one more week to hear back from colleges that have your completed applications, increasing the chances you can share good news with the relatives you see once a year.

But a late Turkey Day date also brings a few challenges.  If you’re thinking you’ll have a few days after Thanksgiving to submit college applications with a December 1 deadline, look again.  December 1^st is the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, so it’s easy to see there won’t be much time to do quality application work on a holiday weekend.

In addition, one more week before Thanksgiving gives you one less week after Thanksgiving—calendars can be harsh that way.  This means any plans you have to apply “later” to colleges with a January 1 deadline may be counting on time you really won’t have, even if you work through the night before Christmas or the eight days of Hanukah.

The key to good college applications is the same as the key to good holidays—plan ahead.  Follow these steps, and you’ll make sure the only turkey you deal with is the one you eat on Thanksgiving, not the last-minute college essay you have to send in on a tight deadline.

Count your colleges and your blessings. Start by writing down the number of college applications you still have to complete.  Now, organize them by due date—not by the number of essays they require—and re-write the list in that order.

If you have eight or fewer applications to complete, you’re in great shape. Most students can complete an application in two hours, especially if the basic part of The Common Application is now complete.  If you set aside a two hour block every Saturday and Sunday between now and December Break, you’ll find you have time to do homework and activities during the school week, give yourself ample time to write quality college essays on the weekends, and…

Take Thanksgiving Weekend Off.  Completely.  Think about everything you did last Thanksgiving—parade, football, shopping, listening to Uncle Mike talk about how LBJ is the best president ever. All of that’s going to happen this year—and you don’t want to miss a minute of it.

If family gets to be a little too much (hey, it happens) you’ll want to plan on some quality screen time, or friend time, or taking-a-breath-from-three-AP-classes time.  All of this is perfectly understandable, and perfectly healthy—and this break will actually help your college applications.  If you complete a few applications before Thanksgiving, then take off one weekend,  you’ll regain your focus when you start again the weekend ofDecember 7^th,  and write better essays than you would if you were trying to “squeeze in” some writing time during Thanksgiving.  Believe me—this works.

Cut Your Relatives Some Slack.  They’ll sigh when they find out you haven’t heard from your colleges, and look at you blankly when you name a school they’ve never heard of.  They don’t doubt you—they love you—and they want to know you’ll be OK.  Show them you are OK, and college will be great—live in the moment, let college go for a weekend, and let Uncle Mike win the wishbone contest, while you tell him he’s just as strong as Lyndon Baines Johnson.  It’s all good. 

A School Counselor's Request to Michelle Obama

By: Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Mrs. Obama, your remarks this week to Washington DC sophomores were inspiring, both to the students, and to those who work with students in choosing a college.  By highlighting the White House’s progress in making college information accessible to the public, you’ve encouraged students to make the most out of College Navigator and College Scorecard.  In emphasizing the importance of daily homework habits and making the most of every opportunity available to students, you’ve inspired them to build the study skills and interests that will serve them well in high school, college, and beyond.

It is also encouraging to know this was the first of many conversations you’ll be having about college access—and as you build your schedule of college conversations, I hope there will be time for one about counselor readiness.  College experts recognize school counselors as uniquely situated to make a significant difference in the college plans of every student.  We see the students in school, we know their strengths and interests, and we take every opportunity to help them make strong choices about college.

But just like the statistic you cited that puts the United States 12th in the world among college graduates, school counselors know they could do better helping students make good, personalized college plans.  We’re well aware of national surveys where young adults report their counselor was of little help with college selection, and while it hurts when at-risk valedictorians call us “pretty lousy” and “incompetent”, we understand where they’re coming from. 

Two years of College Board survey results show counselors wish we had been better prepared for college counseling when we were trained.  Only 30 of the hundreds of counselor training programs in our country offer a course in college counseling, and only one or two require it.  We had to learn this skill on the job, and given the crisis-driven nature of school counseling, there just isn’t time to learn college advising skills while we’re putting out so many fires. We need a better foundation.

There are some professional development opportunities for counselors to learn more about the college selection process, but our students need more—and quite frankly, so do we.  Because college programs are very slow to change, it would be most helpful if you would call on all counselor training programs to develop a course in counseling in the college selection process, based on the essential college counseling proficiencies identified by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. These courses already make a difference in the lives of counselors and their students, as counselors feel empowered to help students with college counseling facts and programs they had never been able to use before, because they never knew they existed. 

Asking colleges to offer this class would create opportunities for some counselors and their students, and requiring colleges to offer this course would impact all students and families. President Obama has put a high value on a college education; an Executive Order directing all counseling programs to include this course as a degree requirement would send a clear message that the United States is determined to help all students attain the highest level of college awareness and readiness, and significantly advance us towards the 2020 objective.

School counselors have a rich tradition of supporting the goals and needs of our students, a record that helps us realize the importance of asking for help-- especially when we need it ourselves.  We long to be of greater service to our students and families by being better trained in college counseling; your support will help us attain that higher level of service.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. O’Connor, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of College Counseling, Cranbrook Kingswood School
Past President, National Association for College Admission Counseling

Ideal Gifts for That Special Counselor in Your Life

By:  Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

In case you missed it, your local drug store is stocking candy canes this week—and that puts them a couple of weeks behind the local big box store that’s had Christmas trees up since mid-October.  These commercial displays remind us that a season of gift-giving is upon us; if you have a spare minute or two, you may want to add these professional resources to your wish list, just in case someone asks.

NOSCA’s Principal-Counselor Toolkit provides strategies, worksheets, and other tools to create a strong working relationship between you and your supervisor.  The toolkit covers everything from the right use of data (a staple when developing a strong relationship with a principal), effective communication practices, leadership, and taking your practice to the next level.  This series of downloads is free, but since busy counselors don’t have time to stand around the printer, the toolkit is the ideal gift for your school-aged, tech-savvy children to give  you, nicely wrapped in your favorite-covered binder.   http://nosca.collegeboard.org/research-policies/principal-counselor-toolkit

Dr. James T. Webb’s  new book expands the understanding of the gifted.  Searching for Meaning: Idealism, Bright Minds, Disillusionment, and Hope talks about ways to help the bright students in your school who sometimes struggle when the challenges of reality clash with their strong, clear vision of what their world—or our world—can be. 

About 30 years ago, the American education system decided to treat gifted children the same way it treats students who get straight As, glossing over the important differences in the psychological make-up of students who are achievement oriented, and students who are focused on sharing their very personal vision of the world.  James Webb has been trying to articulate the needs of the gifted for over 40 years, and critics are hailing Searching for Meaning as an ideal guide to help gifted students understand themselves and the world around them.  It’s the perfect book to save for a quiet winter day—and if you don’t have his classic Guiding the Gifted Child, make sure that goes on your gift list as well.  http://www.greatpotentialpress.com/searching-for-meaning

Top Student, Top School? How Social Class Shapes Where Valedictorians Go To College explores a different group of students, and offers a more solemn but important message to school counselors. Alexandria Walton Radford studied the college choices of high school valedictorians, and discovered that the two factors preventing low-income valedictorians from attending top colleges were the lack of college awareness of their parents, and the lack of knowledge and support of their school counselors. 

The author pulls no punches in her assessment of the students’ experiences with school counselors—the students used words like “pretty lousy” and “incompetent”—and matches that description to the irony that these high-achieving students are actually more likely than their higher-income counterparts to be admitted to top colleges and enroll in them, provided the adults in their lives guide them to the right information and the right financial resources. This may not be the ideal page-turner to read in those days of renewal during the holidays, but it’s the perfect book to keep in mind when it’s time to make that list of New Year’s resolutions that fuel our desire to make things better for our students. http://www.amazon.com/Top-Student-School-Valedictorians-College/dp/022604100X

Finally, a nifty little tool from Levenger is the ideal stocking stuffer for counselors who still clip articles from print magazines and newspapers. The Single Sheet Cutters allow you to save that article in the middle of the page without mangling the rest of the paper, and since Levenger has frequent 20% off sales before the holidays, it’s a thrifty decadent splurge. http://www.levenger.com/Pair-Of-Levenger-Single-Sheet-Cutters-421.aspx