Counselor's Notebook, January 2012

MASCA

MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL COUNSELORS ASSOCIATION

VOL. 48, NO. 5

JANUARY 2012

MASCA joins Career Readiness Task Force MALDEN, December 8, 2011 — Katie Gray, MASCA Liaison to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Rich Lapan, Professor of Education at UMass Amherst, are members of a newly-appointed task force that will develop recommendations on better integrating college and career readiness into K-12 education.

The task force — chaired by Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Year Up—will meet five times over the next six months. In June, the group will present its report to the Board with recommendations around the adoption of a clear, measurable definition of career readiness.

The task force will identify “power” standards (knowledge and skills) inherent in a core career development program, identifying indicators of career readiness and identifying and documenting successful policies and programs that provide students with multiple pathway options to integrate knowledge and skills for career readiness and readiness for postsecondary education.

“In today’s world,” says DESE Commissioner Mitchell Chester, “students need to acquire the knowledge and skills to prepare them for career success at the same time they acquire mastery in core academic subjects. I will follow the task force’s deliberations closely and eagerly await its recommendations on how best to integrate career readiness into the program of study for all Massachusetts students.”

Other members of the task force are: Maura Banta, Chair, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Integrating College and Career Readiness Task Force Between now and 2018, nearly two-thirds of all jobs created will require at least some postsecondary education. Recognizing the importance of providing students with early access to career education and multiple pathways to success in postsecondary education, the Integrating College and Career Readiness Task Force will explore ways to better engage students and employers in activities to boost career readiness.

Dennis Berkey, President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Francis X. Callahan, Jr., President, Massachusetts Building Trades Council Harneen Chernow, Director, 1199 SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund Gerald Chertavian, Founder and CEO, Year Up Donna Cupelo, New England Regional President, Verizon Communications Conny Doty, Director, Office of Jobs and Community Services, City of Boston Mayor’s Office Richard Freeland, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Carlos Garcia, Chief of Staff and Chief of Corporate Affairs, Sovereign Bank Charles (Chad) Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Gary Gottlieb, President and CEO, Partners HealthCare Paul Grogan, President, The Boston Foundation Sheila Harrity, Principal, Worcester Technical High School Lance Hartford, Executive Director, Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation Nancy Hoffman, Vice President and Senior Advisor, Jobs for the Future Joseph (Jay) Hooley, Chairman, President and

CEO, State Street Corporation Wendell Knox, Former President and CEO and Current Board Member, Abt Associates Ivana Maya, Nursing Student, Simmons College: School of Nursing and Health Sciences George Moriarty, Director, Massachusetts Department of Career Services Linda Noonan, Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education Dan O’Connell, President and CEO, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership The Honorable Alice Peisch, Co-Chair, Joint Committee on Education, The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Paul Reville, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Robert Schwartz, Professor of Practice and Academic Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education Neil Sullivan, Executive Director, Boston Private Industry Council Andy Sum, Director, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University William (Bill) Swanson, Chairman and CEO, Raytheon Company Henry M. Thomas III, President and CEO, Urban League of Springfield, Inc. ■

ADVOCACY ACTION: A New Year, A New Approach

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COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

2011 – 2012 MASCA OFFICERS

MASCA

PRESIDENT MICHELLE BURKE Beverly High School 100 Sohier Road Beverly, MA 01915-2654 Tel. 978-921-6132 x 11107 E-mail: mburke@beverlyschools.org

January 2012

PAST PRESIDENT CAROLYN RICHARDS Somerville High School 81 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143 Tel. 617-625-6600 x 6120 • Fax 617-628-8413 E-mail: crichards@k12.somerville.MA.US PRESIDENT-ELECT JENNIFER LISK Medway High School, Medway, MA 02053 Tel. 508-533-3228 x 5107 • Fax 508-533-3246 E-mail: lisk@medway.k12.ma.us VICE PRESIDENT ELEMENTARY JACQUELINE BROWN East Somerville Community School 42 Prescott Street, Somerville, MA 02143 Tel. 617-625-6600 x 6517 • Fax 617-591-7906 E-mail: jbrown@k12.somerville.ma.us VICE PRESIDENT MIDDLE / JUNIOR HIGH ALBERT MERCADO Stacy Middle School 66 School Street, Milford, MA 01757 Tel. 508-478-1181 • Fax 508-634-2370 E-mail: amercado@milfordma.com

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School Configurations: Outcomes for Students

By Donna Brown

Technology in Our Lives

By Joe Fitzgerald

VICE PRESIDENT SECONDARY TBA VICE PRESIDENT POSTSECONDARY JOHN MARCUS Dean College 99 Main Street, Franklin, MA 02038 Tel. 508-541-1509 • Fax 508-541-8726 E-mail: jmarcus@dean.edu VICE PRESIDENT ADMINISTRATORS RUTH CARRIGAN Whitman-Hanson Regional High School 600 Franklin Street, Whitman, MA 02382 Tel. 781-618-7434 • Fax 781-618-7098 E-mail: ruth.carrigan@whrsd.org VICE PRESIDENT COUNSELOR EDUCATORS THERESA A. COOGAN, Ph.D. Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, MA 02325 Tel. 508-531-2640 E-mail: theresa.coogan@bridgew.edu VICE PRESIDENT RETIREES RALPH SENNOTT P.O. Box 1391, Westford, MA 01886 Tel. 978-692-8244 E-mail: ralphsennott@hotmail.com EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DONNA M. BROWN Adjunct Professor, UMass Boston P.O. Box 366, 779 Center Street Bryantville, MA 02327 Tel. 781-293-2835 E-mail: browndonnamarie@gmail.com TREASURER ASHLEY CARON 25 Belmont Ave., Stoughton, MA 02072 Tel. 508-212-0676 E-mail: ashcicero@hotmail.com SECRETARY JENNIFER JUST McGUIRE Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School 220 Sandwich Road, Bourne, MA 02532 Tel. 508-759-7711 x 247 • Fax 508-759-5455 E-mail: jmcguire@uppercapetech.org MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR DEBORAH CLEMENCE P.O. Box 805, East Dennis, MA 02641 E-mail: membership@masca.org COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK EDITOR SALLY ANN CONNOLLY 19 Bayberry Road, Danvers, MA 01923 Tel. 978-774-8158 • Fax 978-750-8154 E-mail: sallyconnolly@att.net

JANUARY 2012

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THE INTERN’S TALE: Finding a Way to Connect

By Kristin M. Schank

ADVOCACY WORKS

By Shannon N. Doran

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Governor Patrick Plans to Close Achievement Gaps

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Massachusetts Legislature Information: Senate Bill 185

Published by: Massachusetts School Counselors Association 10 issues per year, September through June. The yearly subscription rate is $30.00. Individual copies are $3.00.

Opinions expressed in the articles published herein represent the ideas and/or beliefs of those who write them and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association, Inc. The acceptance of an advertisement for publication does not imply MASCA endorsement of the advertiser’s programs, services, or views expressed.

Questions concerning submission of articles, publication deadlines, advertising rates, etc., should be addressed to Sally Ann Connolly, Editor.

www.masca.org

©2012 by the Massachusetts School Counselors Association.

All rights reserved.

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School Configurations: Outcomes for Students

The Path to Success “America’s education system — and its students — would benefit from developing a broader measure of high school success, one that includes vocational and technical education as well as the arts and humanities.

Research demonstrates that career and technical education — courses that teach applied skills in agriculture, engineering, health science, and the like — increases attendance, raises completion rates, and improves earnings and employment prospects of high school graduates whether or not they attend college.

International comparisons further reveal that countries offering more access to vocational options have higher high school completion rates as well as higher scores on international tests.”

By DONNA BROWN MASCA Executive Director

— Russell W. Rumberger, “How college prep is killing high school,” Boston Sunday Globe, November 20, 2011, K3.

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“While there are excellent reasons for nurturing all students’ unique gifts and talents, claiming that we could be overlooking the next Einstein without special resources for the academically adept is a specious argument . . . .

Increasing the numbers of good, sharp teachers who are committed to all their individual students’ learning needs would help motivate and focus bright kids far more effectively than labeling them or separating them from the pack.

We can have it all—challenges for our brightest kids (who are not necessarily our best kids), and rich opportunities for everyone.”

— Nancy Flanagan, “Cheating the gifted?” Education Week Teacher, http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2011/12/ cheating_the_gifted.html. Accessed on December 3, 2011. ■

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DONNA BROWN

A

bout twenty years ago, our school district decided to convert our junior high school into a middle school. A variety of experts worked with the staff to develop “Middle School Magic.” At some point, someone decided that the high school staff needed to learn how a middle school differed from a junior high school, so our next professional development day dealt with learning about this new concept.

The presenter opened the workshop by calling middle school “the range of the strange.” She followed that comment with another memorable statement. “There is nothing wrong with middle school students. Their elevators go up and down, just like ours. Unfortunately, they seldom stop at the floor we’re on.” We all laughed and secretly thanked our lucky stars that we were at the high school.

Fast forward to fall of 2011 and the release of “The Impact of Alternative Grade Configurations on Student Outcomes through Middle and High School” by Harvard researchers Martin R. West (corresponding author) and Guido Schwerdt.

According to their abstract, the authors found that “students moving from elementary to middle school suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year.” Additionally, their achievement was negatively impacted through grade 10. It also appeared that middle school students (as opposed to students in grades 6, 7, and 8 in K-8 schools) tended to be absent more often. This seemed to COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

establish a pattern that continued to high school where it was cited as a drop-out risk factor.

How much grade configuration influences student achievement has not received much notice. In his introduction, West points to countries like Germany and Finland whose student achievement is consistently high. Both have grade configurations that allow students to spend the bulk of their education in the same school, thus eliminating most grade/school transitions.

In the U.S., many districts are aware of the difficulties students have in transitioning from grade 8 to grade 9. Indeed, as counselors most of us at the secondary level participate in these kinds of transition activities. However, are we as diligent in planning for transition to middle school?

Apparently we are not. According to this study, students are negatively impacted by the transition.

As well we know, students of this age are undergoing many physical, emotional, and social changes. Adding the stress of transitioning to a new school with very different expectations creates an academically challenging situation for many students.

Those who remain in K-8 schools have already learned the navigation skills necessary to be successful. Most students know the adults in the building and can access them when needed. Transitioning to middle school means learning a new building and staff. Many students are unable to do this and find themselves “twisting in the wind.”

Unfortunately, this study showed the effects of poor transitioning lasted well into high school. In the Florida study, students who entered grade 9 from middle school were 18% more likely to “not enroll” in grade 10 than students who entered grade 9 from K-8 schools. This statistic alone should give educators pause.

What does this mean for school counselors?

For one thing, it should start a conversation about grade configuration. Considering the economy, most school districts are in no position to build new schools, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t take a long look at how they allocate the current resources.

School counselors are uniquely positioned to be part of that conversation.

Creating activities that help students move smoothly from one school to JANUARY 2012

another is certainly part of our role. In Massachusetts, however, the lack of elementary counselors in many school districts may well be a factor in developing transition strategies. Additionally, in regional districts, students often move from small elementary schools to a larger central middle school. This requires a lot of coordination on the part of the middle school counselors and the elementary staff, especially if there is no elementary counselor.

This thoroughly researched study

should lead to some rich conversation about student achievement. At the very least, we as counselors need to take a long look at how we work with students during these transitions. As Patti Kinney— associate director of middle-level services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals — opined, effective transitions should be “a process, not an event.”

Our job is to design transition processes that will ensure success for all our students. ■

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Technology in Our Lives

By JOE FITZGERALD, Ed.D., MASCA Technology Committee Chair

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fter I retired several years ago, I enjoyed not having the deadlines of work, and I travelled a little. Even though I stayed involved with MASCA, serving on several committees, I still needed to do more. What I wanted to do I found by accident at my local community college.

A few years before my retirement I had began taking technology-related courses, and I became very interested in this area. I continued doing this after I

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retired. One day at the school, I discovered the SeniorNet Program, which introduces technology to 50+ adults. For the past three years I have taken their courses and workshops, and I have volunteered to coach and teach in the program and the newly formed Senior Computer Learning Center.

In both programs I have taught basic and introductory computer courses to older adults and have found it to be very

rewarding. I get to work with adults who are appreciative of the learning experience, and I get to do something I love.

Recently, I have been asked to join the Board of Directors and to coordinate the curriculum.

I share this with you because it has given me a new outlook on how to use my time, and it has piqued my interest in technology and its effects on society.

Several books and articles about the effects of technological advances have been especially meaningful to me. Sherry Turkle, writing in Alone, Together, discusses the positive and negative effects of technology. In a previous article in the Notebook I discussed some aspects of her thinking.

Turkle maintains that technology should not take over our lives and make us insular. Technology, she says, should not be keeping us busy; rather, we should be keeping technology busy.

In addition, Turkle says many people today have “lives on the screen” and some of them hide behind the screen.

This second self takes on a persona much different than the real one.

Another book of interest is Kevin Kelly’s What Technology Wants. In this provocative work, Kelly “claims that technology is an extension of the human body— not ‘of our genes, but of our minds.’ Everything that humans have thought of and produced over time — which Kelly dubs ‘the technium’ — has followed, shaped and become integrated into human evolution — so much so, in fact, that it’s now a part of evolution itself.” (Susan Jane Gilman, NPR Books) Gilman goes on to say that according to Kelly, technology “has a greater ability to alter us than we have to alter it. Increasingly, it’s taking over jobs we used to do — rendering human skills obsolete. Some technology has even become self-replicating, such as computer viruses and genetically modified organisms. This progress, Kelly argues, is inevitable.”

My thinking about technology is more in line with Alone, Together. I love the music on my iPod, the FaceTime visuals with my new grandson in California, movies, television, reading, newspapers, etc. Proper use of technology can help us greatly with tasks and improve both our emotional and intellectual lives. ■ COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

THE INTERN’S TALE: Finding a Way to Connect

By KRISTIN M. SCHANK Master’s Student in School Counseling, Bridgewater State University

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n my work as a school counseling intern, I have learned a wealth of knowledge, but one factor stands out as the ultimate key to being successful: connectedness.

We all long for that sense of connectedness to one another in our daily lives.

Whether it’s a quest to find a new doctor or a familiar face in a crowded room, it’s nice to feel that sense of acceptance and understanding.

Students seek that same connection when they walk into our guidance office or encounter us in the school. Counselors seek it as well in their work with students, parents, teachers, administrators, and colleagues.

As school counselors, we are truly privileged because that sense of connectedness can sometimes happen effortlessly with students, especially at the younger ages. Many students feel comfortable revealing their deepest, darkest secrets to us although we are nearly strangers to many of them.

These students know that our role is to assist them in times of need with academic, personal/social, or career concerns.

In addition, the school culture and climate can support the work of counselors, which then positively impacts the students.

With some students it can be more difficult to develop rapport and create that sense of connectedness. They may be more reserved, afraid, or they may not understand what our role and duties are as school counselors. In order to help these students, we need to make them feel comfortable and willing to trust us.

There isn’t a magic potion to make this happen, and it cannot be taught in graduate school. Rather, the small acts we do or what we say show students that we care.

Several strategies that I have found helpful in building rapport are: a smile, friendly greeting/welcome, open body position, attentive listening language, asking questions about the student, being present in the building, and attending extracurricular activities.

Every child is unique and will respond to these cues differently, but all students want to feel accepted and understood.

Taking that extra step by going to a basketball game, choir concert, or afterJANUARY 2012

school club can show students that you are genuinely invested. And when that level of trust is developed, they will be more likely to reach out for help. Creating an environment where students feel comfortable sharing the small stuff can help open doors so that they will feel comfortable sharing the big stuff.

It is truly an honor to know that the work that we do each day can make such a large impact on the lives of our students. A small smile, sincere greeting, or helping hand can go a long way to enhance the work we do each day in making sure that our students feel connected and are successful. ■

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Assumption College The Institute for School Counseling and School Psychology Professional Development 2011-2012 SCP 730.19 Special Topics: Best Practices for School Counseling Workshop Dates and Topics 8am – 2:30pm Location: Hagan Campus Center Hall, Hagan Hall, Assumption College

Date 9/23/11

Title and Speaker The Dropout Crisis: Identifying At-Risk Students and Strategies for Dropout Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Jenny Caldwell Curtin, Coordinator of High School Graduation Initiative, Office of College and Career Readiness, MA, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Janice Chiappone, Ph.D, Director of Guidance, Bellingham High School; Instructor, M.A. School Counseling Program, Assumption College

12/2/11

Maximize Your Potential – Reduce Stress and Build Resiliency Rana Chudnofsky, MEd, Director, Education Initiative Laura Malloy, LICSW, Director of Yoga Program, Co-Director, Education Initiative

1/27/12

The Role of School Counselor in Response-to-Intervention Model: Planning Behavior Interventions for Students Diane Myers, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Special Education at Assumption College

2/10/12

Juvenile Justice: the Courts and the Dept. of Family Services: What Every Counselor Needs to Know About the Courts to Serve Children Professor Mary Francis Kingsley Donnelly, JD, currently staff attorney for the Mass. Dept. of Children and Family, Instructor at Anna Maria College and Assumption College Professor Michael Donnelly, JD, MPA, Instructor at Anna Maria, Assumption, New England School of Law, and UMASS Medical Center

03/30/12

Legal and Ethical Issues for School Counselors and Administrators Matthew MacAvoy, Esquire, Partner in Law Firm Sullivan, Nuttall, MacAvoy & Lyons, P.C.

Registration Information For More Information & Registration Please Call (508) 767-7430 School Counseling Department Secretary, Lucia Doucette, Assumption College, 500 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609.

Consult our website for directions & information www.assumption.edu (go to Institute/Centers).

Registration fee includes continental breakfast and lunch.

PDP’s, CEU’s Option (6 CEU’s, PDP’s) A $50 registration fee will be charged for each workshop participant earning PDP’s or CEU’s.

Each participant receives 6 PDP’s or 6 CEU’s (NBCC approved) per workshop.

Register for all 5 workshops for ONLY $225 (30 CEU’s or PDP’s).

Graduate Credit Option (3 Credits) SCP 730.19 Special Topics: Best Practices in School Counseling.

Attendance at all 5 workshops and completion of additional course requirements is mandatory. *Special tuition rate for school counselors/school psychologists is $885 plus registration fee. *(cannot be used towards a degree program at Assumption College)

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COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

ADVOCACY WORKS

By SHANNON N. DORAN MASCA Advocacy/Government Relations Committee Chair

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f the Advocacy Committee were to ask you to make one New Year’s resolution, it would be to make advocacy a part of your monthly routine. Although the results of advocacy may seem abstract at times, legislation has a very direct and long-term impact on our profession, education, and the students we serve. The school counseling community has learned that we must be visible, and this certainly holds true at the legislative level.

Among other things, the New Year signals a shift in our approach to advocacy.

The Joint Committee on Education is currently deciding which 2011 bills will be eliminated or passed on to the Senate or House for further consideration. Since the bills that will impact our profession could be decided upon at any point between now and mid-March, now is the time to write or call the Chairs of the Joint Committee on Education. MASCA members have experience and expertise. Collectively we can inform and influence these legislators’ decisions on House Bill 1068, 1941, and 1945, and Senate Bill 185.

To make the advocacy process simple

JANUARY 2012

and accessible, the Advocacy Committee will continue to provide guidance and resources through the Advocacy Works section of the MASCA website and the Counselor’s Notebook. As usual, you will also receive invitations to hearings, rallies, and advocacy events. This is a great way for the school counseling community to show legislators that we are committed professionals who are concerned about specific bills under consideration.

Advocacy is an essential component of our work as school counselors. When it comes to systemic change, it is the large brush stroke that affects the largest system of education, the state government.

There are many ways to be involved in advocacy. Even one five-minute phone call can make a difference. However, our success depends on the amount of feedback legislators receive from the MASCA membership as a whole.

Through advocacy work we secure and enhance our ability to support students, our schools, and our communities. There is power in numbers, and WE make a difference. ■

JOINT COMMITTEE on EDUCATION Contact Information House Chair: Rep. Alice Hanlon-Peisch 617-722-2070 Alice.Peisch@mahouse.gov Senate Chair: Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz 617-722-1673 Sonia.Chang-Diaz@masenate.gov House Vice Chair: Rep. David B. Sullivan 617-722-2070 David.Sullivan@mahouse.gov Senate Vice Chair: Sen. Patricia D. Jehlen 617-722-1578 Patricia.Jehlen@masenate.gov For information about committee members and others, go to http://www.malegislature.gov/ Committees/Joint/J14 If your local legislators are on the Joint Committee on Education, please contact them as well.

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Governor Patrick Plans to Close Achievement Gaps BOSTON — November 9, 2011— Governor Deval Patrick has announced several new strategies aimed at closing the most persistent achievement gaps among Massachusetts students.

The Governor outlined significant progress made in closing achievement gaps since the Achievement Gap Act was signed in 2010, and he laid out key initiatives that the Administration will pilot in the Commonwealth’s Gateway Cities to ensure that all students are prepared for success in the classroom and beyond.

His plan also calls for the creation of a statewide Commonwealth Education Innovation Fund, a public-private fundraising partnership that will strengthen our capacity to meet 21st Century education challenges. This fund will not be limited to the Gateway Cities.

Each of these goals align with the Administration’s efforts to ensure that every child, regardless of socioeconomic background, is prepared for success. These initiatives will focus on closing achievement gaps in Gateway Cities, where they are

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most persistent. The Gateway Cities are home to many of the state’s immigrants, low-income students, English Language Learners, and others stuck in the achievement gaps.

The Governor’s second-term education strategy will focus on four goals: 1. Getting every child to be able to read proficiently by the third grade.

Three-quarters of children who struggle with reading in third grade will continue to struggle academically, greatly reducing their chances of graduating high school, going to college or successfully participating in our high skill economy.

The Administration will create a Kindergarten Readiness Literacy Pilot Program in Gateway City Districts, which will support at-risk students with an intensive summer program between pre-k and kindergarten and will place special emphasis on early literacy development.

2. Providing every child is entitled to a healthy platform for education. In order to benefit from high quality education, students must attend school regularly and

be attentive, motivated, and ready to learn.

The challenges associated with poverty present serious impediments that prevent students from realizing their full academic potential. The Administration will create Student Support Councils in all Gateway Cities and provide Student Support Counselors to predominantly low-income schools in Gateway Cities. Support Councils will consist of local human and social service providers focusing their efforts on connecting with students and families in each city’s predominantly low-income schools. Support Counselors will work to connect families and students with service providers who can help them mitigate the problems that impede school attendance and effort.

3. Creating a differentiated education system that meets students where they are.

Every student should receive the quantity and quality of instruction they need to meet high proficiency standards.

In order to better provide students, specifically students for whom English is a second language, with the opportunities, challenge and support needed to be successful, the Administration will pilot Gateway Cities Summer English Learning Program designed to give English Language Learners (ELLs) more time to acquire competence in English. This program will improve learning and close achievement gaps for ELLs while establishing the necessity of differentiating between our students and giving those who need it sufficient time to learn English.

4. Preparing all students for both college and career success. A successful education system is one that prepares all students for lifelong success. This means establishing multiple pathways through secondary school and college education by exposing our students, early in high school, to career options, giving each student access to quality internships, assessing career readiness, and more tightly linking secondary school achievement with college admission.

To this end, the Administration will pilot high school career academies in several Gateway Cities to offer high school students the opportunity for early career exploration, more applied learning, and motivating educational experiences. ■ COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK

JANUARY 2012

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Massachusetts School Counselors Association, Inc. COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK Sally Ann Connolly, Editor

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Massachusetts Legislature Information: Senate Bill 185 A mandate requiring that graduation coaches perform school counseling duties (“Drop-out Prevention”)

By SHANNON N. DORAN, MASCA Advocacy/Government Relations Committee Chair S.185 Excerpt — Section 21.

Massachusetts Graduation Coach Initiative The Massachusetts graduation coach initiative shall place coaches in every public middle school and high school, that for a high school, has a total annual dropout rate of 5% or more or an annual dropout rate of 5% or more.

Graduation coaches’ responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, the following: identifying at-risk students; implementing school wide support interventions; motivating students to focus on a graduation plan; negotiating extra help for atrisk students; providing academic advice and student support; developing effective transition programs to aid at-risk students moving between schools; connecting parents of at-risk students with appropriate school and community resources; connecting at-risk students with school and community resources; and encouraging parent and community involvement.

For hiring purposes, graduation coaches shall...hold at least a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.

Candidates for employment as a graduation coach also shall have some past experience working effectively with youth.

Pros and Cons This bill is focused on drop-out prevention, which is very important to all of us. However, it is very hard to anticipate what it will mean for school counselors (and students) if middle and high schools are mandated to hire one or more graduation coaches.

Graduation coaches will have limited training and experience, but they will fulfill school counseling duties. Furthermore, there is no mention of school counselors in this bill. If this bill becomes law, graduation coaches would not be required to work in collaboration with or under the supervision of a school counseling department.

Graduation coaches will receive payment and professional development from the state, and schools will be required to provide graduation coaches with administrative and technical support. They will likely require space as well. School counselors are not currently mandated by the state, and administrators are not required to provide school counselors with specific supports.

Whatever your opinion is about this bill, the two Chairs of the Joint Committee on Education — especially Sonia ChangDiaz, the bill’s main sponsor — need to hear from you.

The MASCA Advocacy Committee also wants to hear from you: your thoughts, other people’s ideas, what you did in response to learning about the bill, etc. Thank you for doing what you can.

See the entire bill at http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/Senate/S00185