End of the Year Data for School Counselors to Gather and Share

It's no secret, I LOVE DATA!! I wasn't always like this, though. I use to think of data as a burden and a means for dehumanizing the very human work we do as school counselors. Now, data is my best friend! I'll tell you why.

Why data rocks:

1. First of all, it's super validating! So often we make "to do lists" but never "already done lists"! As school counselors, we work SO HARD and sacrifice so much to create a program that best serves our students. It feels great and is very emotionally healthy to take time to reflect and see what we have done.
2. The less touchy feely but equally important reason, data is the path to change! Data doesn't lie! The people who make decisions about education (large or small scale) are very often following the paths of data. Whether you have a small district or a large district, showing your data is (in my opinion) the best and most effective way to advocate for change and make specific requests for change for your program.
3. People don't know what they don't know, until they see it! When I show teachers and parents my data, they grow to understand what I do. They see my struggles with time, they see how my counseling affects change, and they grow to empathize and advocate for my program, without me having to complain or really say a word. The numbers speak for themselves and are eye opening for the MANY stakeholders who are still learning about our role.
4. Data is the primary fuel that fires growth in the areas of productivity and program and personal efficiency. Many of you, like me, strive to make the most out of your time by using effective and efficient systems and processes. Tracking data is the way to make these changes. 

Data to collect at the end of the year:

• A complete project / responsibilities list - You will thank yourself later! Go back through your systems and make a complete list of every project you've initiated or have been asked to work on, each team you lead or are a part of, and EVERY SINGLE type of activity you worked on this year.
  1. How can you advocate to get rid of certain duties, if you don't have a complete list of all of what's on your plate?!
  2. This list will help you explain "what you do" to parents, teachers, kids and more next year!
  3. I promise you, there WILL come a time when you think "hmm.. I know I've been working hard all week.. but what was I doing?" and your list will help you turn that meaningful work into data.

 

• Use of time analysis - Tracking the way you spend your time is, in my unpopular opinion, an ABSOLUTE non-negotiable GOLDEN RULE of being a school counselor. It's not easy and even I'll admit it's taken me a few years to finally develop a system that works for me consistently, but it's SO important. 
  • I believe this is THE MOST IMPORTANT piece of data you can track. If you are assigned inappropriate duties that you eventually want to change, you need to develop a system you can be consistent with and STICK WITH IT!
  • When I go to advocate for the removal of a certain duty, I can say "I spent ______ hours on this task this year. In that amount of time I could've led 2 small groups, or met individually with 6 additional students, etc."
  • More on this in another post.. but I use SCUTA to track my time in 15 minute increments and I keep it bookmarked on my computer, ipad, and cell phone so no matter where I am at (on the floor with a kid in crisis, waiting outside for a fire drill to end, etc.) I can update my time. 

• Individual Counseling Data - I like to be able to share with stakeholders how many individual counseling sessions I had, the pie chart of individual counseling per grade, what topics were focused on the most, and the source of the referrals. I get this data from an ongoing google form I use.

• As much Process Data as you Can Find - Number of counseling lessons taught, number of suicide assessments completed, number of CYF reports, number of students who applied for FAFSA, college, etc. Changes in caseload numbers, gather it all! 
  • Even if you only choose to share some.. collect it all! Then you can compare the data in years to come, so you can say "suicide assessments have doubled in the last 3 years, what can we implement to help our students with these issues?"

Each program is different and you may have other components of your program you need to track as well. The most important part of tracking data is consistency. You have to commit to the importance of tracking and plan thoughtfully and reasonably about what you can keep up with. If you only track for half a year or a few months, your data won't be usable. When you plan for next year, think about little changes you can make in your daily habits that will set you up to be able to easily and quickly pull some of these number!

Comment below some other types of data you round-up and I will add them to a list for a follow up post! :)

XOXO
​Alaina