School Counselor Accountability Report

Accountability is crucial to the role counselors will play in the future. TEA states, “The counselor shall work with the school faculty and staff, students, parents, and the community to plan, implement, and evaluate a developmental guidance and counseling program” (2004, p.6). If we, as counselors, do not implement and evaluate our programs, it could seriously affect our role as a school counselor. If roles do not change on a state level, the district and/or school we work at will utilize us differently. Sadly, in the last 20 years I have drastically seen the role of the counselor change. Change is good, but I question if particular changes are in the best interest of all students.
When I become a counselor I will use data to drive the counseling programs and ensure the roles of the counselor correlate with state codes. I will make myself accountable in order to maintain the ethics set by ACA Code of Ethics. This can only be accomplished if there are strong programs in place and a variation of data to show student improvements. It is important to visually share solid facts, data, using graphs and written documentation that back up the importance of our counseling programs.
Data justifies either the need for a program, or the validity of a program.
Either way, both will be an opportunity to determine school needs that will positively affect the goals and student outcome. I would utilize resources such as, School Counselor Accountability: A MEASURE of Students Success and Strategic planning: The school Counselor’s Tool for Accountability to assist in planning using data. Stone and Dahir focus on the big, overall picture of accountability such as, Leave No Child Left Behind down to the school mission (Stone & Dahir, 2004). Lee focuses on the strategic planning and necessary steps in building a program using data (Lee
n.d.). I believe that Multi-level Interventions are key factors to a successful counseling program. The systemic interventions, as written out by Lee, share the responsibility and everyone is accountable. I would look at the strengths of those involved in the Multi-level Interventions to utilize their strengths (Lee n.d.). Stone and Dahir obviously believe that working together is also a necessary component based on T.E.A.M., Together Everyone Accomplishes More (Stone & Dahir, 2004). Stone & Dahir directs counselors to look at school concerns such as: attendance, graduation rate, promotion rate, multiple failure rate, postsecondary going rate, standardized test scores, and drop out rates (Stone & Dahir, 2004). As a counselor, this data is at our fingertips. Our district utilizes programs such as, e-School, IEP, and Aware. If I do not have full access to these programs I would visit with my administrator to convince him that I have a need for this information. Having full access would make me a more effective counselor and prevent me from having others pull the data for me. Prior to setting a meeting with the administrative team, I would disaggregate data based on areas of concern and create an outline for either changes of an existing program or the development and implementation of a new program. I would need to be prepared to explain how the change of an existing or new program will positively affect student outcomes. Programs will be built or tweaked utilizing The School Counselor’s Tool for Accountability.
Once a program is in place I will use multiple sources to gather data to justify programs or the need for improving an aspect of an existing program. I would keep e-mails, document verbal feedback and suggestions, create surveys, and look at statistics based state tests, IEP’s, e-school. Once I have collected an array of data, I would share the information at the administrators meeting at the end of each year so that changes can be made to the program prior to the start of a new year.