DIGEST-V6i3

10 TPC Digest Read full article and references: Harrington, K., Griffith, C., Gray, K., & Greenspan, S. (2016). A grant project to initiate school counselors’ development of a multi-tiered system of supports based on social-emotional data. The Professional Counselor , 6 , 278–294. doi : 10.15241/kh.6.3.278 determined by PFI data. Tertiary tier interventions included behavior improvement plans for students in need of intensive behavioral support in the classroom as well as coordination with special education and other mental health professionals when necessary. Expanding the range of data collected in the school also broadened the scope of data team discussions. School counselors became members of these teams and introduced PFI data through colorful graphs illustrating such issues as students’ level of motivation or ability to self-regulate. Data teams began to link PFI data with achievement data to examine the relationships between academic struggles and social emotional issues. A multi- tiered system of supports was established to determine which universal, targeted, or intensive intervention would promote the development of academic competencies as well as the protective factors to support school success for every student. Karen Harrington is the Assistant Director at the Center for Youth Engagement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Catherine Griffith is Associate Director at the Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation and Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Katharine Gray is a leadership coach at Unique Potential Consulting and Leadership Coaching in Hopkinton, MA. Scott Greenspan is a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Correspondence can be addressed to Karen Harrington, Furcolo Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, Karen.harrington07@gmail.com . S chool counselors promote positive social-emotional, behavioral and academic skills for students. Their role has much promise in strengthening school-based data teams and, in turn, informing effective interventions. This article highlights this promise by providing an overview of the implementation of a 3-year grant-funded elementary school counseling project within an urban-suburban district in the Northeast region of the United States. The project included four overarching initiatives: (1) hiring school counselors, (2) reducing the number of disciplinary infractions, (3) establishing an empirically-supported set of social-emotional indices, and (4) incorporating social-emotional data into the district’s existing data collection mechanisms. Data-informed decision making, a multi- tiered system of supports (MTSS), and a strong leadership team, which included school district leadership as well as outside consultants and grant experts, set a foundational backdrop to this program. The leadership team developed a robust system of strengths-based measures grounded in research, which suggests that motivation, self-knowledge, self-direction and relationships are key constructs in promoting positive development. Strongly informed by these constructs, the authors developed The Protective Factors Index ( PFI ), a standards-based modality of assessing students’ social-emotional gains. PFI rankings were completed by teachers for students’ tri- annual report cards and were recorded in the student information system alongside academic achievement data. To better understand the nature and frequency of behavioral issues in the building, the leadership team created enhanced office discipline referral (ODR) forms and also integrated these behavioral data into the student information system. Incorporating social-emotional data into the school’s established data collection infrastructure relieved counselors of the task of gathering their own data through needs assessments or pre- and posttests. The school counselors could easily access real-time data to identify gaps in social-emotional competencies, choose interventions to address the individual student or building-wide issues, and monitor subsequent PFI and behavioral data to continuously evaluate the impact of the interventions. To address universal needs, school counselors offered weekly classroom lessons guided by social-emotional domains in need of improvement. Secondary tier interventions included targeted group counseling sessions with membership and continued participation Melissa J. Fickling A Grant Project to Initiate School Counselors’ Development of a Multi-Tier System of Supports Based on Social-Emotional Data 10