Reading List!

There have been a lot of new studies and new information pertinent to the role of the school counselor. Please add these to your reading lists for this winter break!!

College Admissions Stress and Support

While some students continue to apply to colleges, many students are preparing to hear back from the colleges through the many Early Action or Early Decision programs available.  Where these programs used to attract only a small percentage of applicants, some colleges now admit up to 50 percent of their class through these programs. Since many of these colleges are among the highly selective colleges, students report a higher level of stress both waiting for these decisions, and hearing their results.  Counselor are trying to meet these needs in a wider variety of ways, including lunch time programs, after school seminars, and newsletters and columns on how parents can support students through this challenging time (O'Connor, HuffingtonPost).  

An Introduction to School Counselors

While school counselors are often seen as the building professionals in charge of testing and schedule changes, these more visible parts of the job often overcrowd the other work of counselors.  This is one of the reasons many people don’t understand why large counselor caseloads can prevent counselors from completing their work with students.  This introductory overview of a counselor’s job puts to rest some long-held beliefs, and creates an opportunity to see how schools can make the most of their counselor’s skills (Lahey, New York Times). 

Resources to Use

• The St. Louis Fed's Econlowdown Teacher Portal. The Econlowdown Teacher Portal is a tool to enhance instruction by providing free online courses, videos, and podcasts for students about economics, personal finance, and money. The St Louis Fed also has print lessons, curricula, readings, PowerPoints, and SMART and Promethean Board materials for pre-K through college classrooms that can be searched by grade level and easily downloaded for free.
• Kindergarten Observation Tool. A new study from the Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest examined the construct validity of the New Mexico’s Kindergarten Observation Tool and provides evidence of the tool’s validity and reliability. The study found support for using the Kindergarten Observation Tool to measure two distinct domains of students’ knowledge and skills: cognitive school readiness and noncognitive school readiness.  
• ASCD Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy. Join educators from across the country to learn about the new administration and new leadership in Congress and hear from education policy experts about the education policy issues to be addressed in 2018. ASCD's Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy provides a unique venue to network with educators from around the nation who share an interest in education policy and advocacy.  

Study: How do emotions affect learning?

(Pixabay)

Emotions such as feeling sad or happy may affect how students learn, asserts researcher Caitlin Mills, who co-authored a recent study on the topic. Study findings show that watching something aimed at inducing feelings of sadness yielded better reading comprehension than watching something intended to make viewers feel happy.

The Hechinger Report (12/18) 

Encouraging Emotional Diversity in Boys Studies show that from a young age, boys are taught to suppress their emotional experience, despite research that shows that boys are more emotionally expressive than girls from infancy through early childhood. Psychologists have also found that children who deny emotional vulnerability are also more likely to become adolescents who engage in health-risk behaviors, such as substance use. Furthermore, later in development, men suppress their emotions more than women; and men, in turn experience greater depressive symptoms, and resort more often to physical violence. Click here for the full article from Scientific American that explains how boys are being emotionally suppressed, and why its important for boys, and for society at large, for that to change. Scientific American Traumatic Experiences Widespread Among U.S. Youth, New Data Show Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, can have serious, long-lasting impacts on children's health and well-being by contributing to high levels of toxic stress that derail healthy physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. New national data show that at least 38 percent of children in every state have had at least one ACE.  Click here to read more on newly released data from the Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Click here for a special supplement detailing the first-ever national agenda to address ACEs and promote resilience, healing, and child and family well-being. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

 

Registration open!!!!

Registration for 2018 Iowa Go Alliance Academy courses is open!

Building a College-Going Culture for All Students: How to remove barriers to higher education, especially for low-income, first-generation and minority students.

January 22-March 16, 2018

March 2-April 20, 2018

June 11-July 27, 2018

College, Career, and Academic Planning: (Prerequisite: Building a College-Going Culture for All Students) How to engage students in early college and career awareness, and support students in postsecondary and career planning.

January 22-March 16, 2018

March 2-April 20, 2018

June 11-July 27, 2018

Financial Aid and College Applications: (Prerequisite: Building a College-Going Culture for All Students) How to support students and families navigating the complexities of filing the FAFSA and other financial aid and college applications.

January 22-March 16, 2018

March 2-April 20, 2018

June 11-July 27, 2018

Maximizing Counselor Impact: Module for Administrators: How school leaders can engage effectively with school counselors. Developed in collaboration with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

January 22-March 16, 2018

March 2-April 20, 2018

June 11-July 27, 2018

Iowa Go Alliance Academy is a college and career counseling training program provided by Iowa College Aid in partnership with Southern Regional Education Board and AEA Learning Online. See best practices in action and gain knowledge and resources that can be incorporated in your work with students immediately. Courses are offered for license renewal or graduate credit through Drake University, Morningside University and Viterbo University. Space is limited, so register today. For more information about Iowa Go Alliance Academy and course availability, e-mail Ashley McKenna.

Job Descriptions

If you have a formal job description (from your HR dept) for your school counseling position, would you please send it to me? I am collecting several as examples. Please send it to: sschirmer@heartlandaea.org
Thanks!!

Opening

Due to a retirement, there will be a school counselor opening in Indianola at the middle school. If interested, go to the Teach Iowa website or the school's appli-track system. Great district!!

A Perfect Storm!

Greetings Counselors!!

I have crossed paths with many of you recently and have been spreading the word about how this is such an exciting time in our profession. So many efforts are all coming together and they all have school counselors in a highly leveraged position. Some of those connections are:

•  House File 2392 – the district plan and individual career and academic plan (ICAP)
•  The MTSS process is gaining traction in schools – this is what we have always done when implementing an ASCA program
•  Greater focus on Early Warning Systems (EWS) to detect struggles and provide interventions 
•  Strength and growth of PBIS programs
•  Iowa definition of College and Career Readines
•  Future Ready Iowa and the October release of their recommendations
•  Iowa AEA Postsecondary Readiness and Equity Partnership (AEA PREP)

I like to say this is a “perfect storm” for school counselors and the school counseling profession. This is our time to shine!!!

If you are not familiar with some of these connections and initiatives, please let me know and I would be happy to share more information. There are links provided for some of the information. 

One of the areas you might not be aware of is AEA PREP. This is a relatively newly formed group that was convened by the AEA Chief Administrators. Dave Ford is the leader of this group whose focus is to improve postsecondary readiness and education attainment with a focus on closing attainment gaps that exist for those populations traditionally underrepresented in higher education. The group will focus on building equitable capacity throughout Iowa among AEAs, and in turn, PK-12 schools. The primary functions include:

• the collection and distribution of timely and relevant postsecondary readiness data to PK-12 districts including the creation of a statewide postsecondary data dashboard with district-specific data;
• the development of a statewide network of postsecondary readiness leads with specialized training in leading and implementing postsecondary readiness initiatives and programs;
• a resource center for K-12 educators to improve postsecondary readiness, including the latest research, evidence-based practice, webinars, presentations, and other relevant materials.

In the midst of this “perfect storm” is you – a valued school counselor! Please take this opportunity to demonstrate your leadership by connecting with those in your building about these exciting programs and initiatives. 

Thank you for all you are doing and have done for students and communities!!

Sue Schirmer

Homeless - Cyberbullying

The Dept of Education Superintendent notes are attached here. Please read the updates regarding homeless criteria and support as well as updates to cyberbullying.