From September 2011 through February 2012, the Student Services Advisory Committee (SSAC) held monthly meetings and focused on these areas:

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1 To: Arlington School Board From: Student Services Advisory Committee Date: March 6, 2012 Subj: Non-recommending Report The Student Services Advisory Committee (SSAC) reviews the services offered by school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and substance abuse counselors, and makes recommendations for changes or improvements in these services. Current Year Activities: From September 2011 through February 2012, the Student Services Advisory Committee (SSAC) held monthly meetings and focused on these areas: The Committee made a strong push to recruit more members, by placing announcements on APS School Talk, on neighborhood list serves, and through personal contact of committee members. Nine guests attended our November meeting, seven of whom decided to officially join the committee. SSAC made a decision to continue work pending on the Committee s recommendations rather than develop new recommendations for , in light of the addition of seven new members to our committee and the appointments of a new Supervisor of Counseling, Marcia Jackson; and a new Director of Pupil Services, Jeff Carpenter; both of whom serve as staff liaisons to our advisory committee. The Committee feels strongly that enhancing communication and building strong relationships among students, staff, and parents should continue to be a focus of our committee for Improving these relationships will have a positive and meaningful impact on the achievement gap, the dropout rate, and the acquisition of developmental assets, all areas of concern addressed in the APS Strategic Plan. Appendices B through D contain survey data that illustrate areas of particular concern to our committee. Appendix B is a sampling of survey data from the 2009 APS Community Satisfaction Survey. Appendix C contains a sampling of survey data regarding developmental assets as reported by the Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. Additional research and data, reported by the Centers for Disease Control, is presented in Appendix D. 1

2 Staff Response: This has been a year of transition for the SSAC. Mr. Everett Fisher (Chair ) elected to return to committee member status. Sarah Jackson and Emily Hunt (student) became committee Co-Chairs. Our committee worked to increase enrollment with much success. Our ranks increased by roughly 50% under this effort! During the enrollment drive, and subsequent ACI presentation, it is clear that the community is confused about the name of our committee and our focus. Our current name Student Services Advisory Committee, gives the appearance that we represent the Department of Student Services, which incorporates the Offices of Special Education and Pupil Services. In fact, our work focuses on the Office of Pupil Services and reviewing the services offered by school counselors, psychologists, social workers, substance abuse counselors, among other services, and making recommendations for changes or improvements in those services. Given the expansion of our committee membership, in addition to the change in committee leadership and staff liaisons (Jeffrey Carpenter Director of Pupil Services, and Dr. Marcia Jackson Supervisor of Counseling), the committee decided to continue working on previous recommendations and to abstain from making new recommendations to the School Board. The addition of Dr. Jackson as Supervisor of Counseling has been an asset to the committee and its efforts to enhance the services provided by APS Comprehensive Counseling Program. The Office of Pupil Services supports the SSAC in its efforts solicit feedback from the community regarding our programs and services. Update of Previous Recommendations: Past Recommendation #1 Following a review of survey data from the APS Customer Satisfaction Survey and the Developmental Assets Survey by the Partnership for Children, Youth and Families, the Committee recommended that Arlington Public Schools establish focus groups and/or other opportunities for a broad range of high school students, staff, and parents to discuss and provide feedback and input on improving connections and relationships among students, their families and staff. Status: On the SSAC s recommendation, staff of the Office of Pupil Services in conducted two focus groups on strengthening communications and building stronger relationships among students, staff and parents. One focus group consisted of 34 students from Wakefield, Washington-Lee and Yorktown. A second was a group of 2

3 middle and high school teachers receiving training on mental health issues and how they impact students. Both groups were asked the following questions: -- What strategies would help adults build more trusting relationships with students? -- What do you think about the teachers use of social media such as Facebook? Summaries of their responses are included in Appendix A, titled Staff and Student Focus Group Feedback. To further this work, our Committee held one parent focus group this year and will continue to solicit input from parents, students and staff this coming year. We plan to meet with small groups of parents, drawn from a variety of organizations within the schools, such as PTAs and minority parent groups, in informal roundtable chats. The purpose of these gatherings will be to continue to solicit ideas for improving communication and engagement among parents, students and staff. In addition, the Committee will be working closely with the Office of Pupil Services to prepare an inventory of current programs developed by individual middle and high schools to build stronger parent/staff/student relationships while also impacting APS strategic goals. We will also be talking to parents, during our roundtable chats, about these initiatives to get a better sense of how parents believe these programs impact student engagement and achievement. The goal of this work will be to get a better sense of the initiatives purpose and scope, budgetary impact, and perceived or measurable success. Our committee is interesting in using this inventory as a means of identifying programs that could assist other students, staff and parents in building positive relationships in Arlington schools Strategic Plan Alignment: Goals 1, 2, and 5 ACI Vote: ranked #13 among 16 recommendations that received a majority vote by ACI Past Recommendation #2 The Committee recommends that in-service training be provided to teachers, counselors, and parents regarding cyber-bullying and social media. Status: All counselors received in-service training on social media and cyber-bullying in November Elementary counselors received training from Iris Beckwith, connected4safety, on Social Media and Cyber Bullying in August Staff indicated 3

4 that counselors would be a resource to teachers and parents if this issue occurred in their respective schools Strategic Plan Alignment: Goals 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ACI Vote: ranked #10 among 16 recommendations that received a majority vote by ACI Past Recommendation #3 The Committee recommends that Arlington Public Schools explore the legal and practical implications of developing social media technological gateways that may be used to improve communication and to streamline information sharing among students, their families and school staff. Status: The committee has decided that implementing a two-way social media gateway for Arlington Public Schools appears to present significant legal and technological issues. However, the Committee would like to solicit input from parents, students, and APS staff on how best to streamline current systems in order to provide one single website through which parents, students and staff could obtain information about homework assignments, grades, attendance, and links to academic content such as online textbooks. Currently, multiple websites and platforms such as Blackboard, GroovyTwo, Naviance, and the new Parent Portal offer information for students and parents. The Committee supports APS s effort to move to a consolidated portal accessible to parents, staff and students. The Committee would also like to investigate using the new APS Open Town Hall to solicit community ideas on fostering positive relationships among students, parents, and APS staff Strategic Plan Alignment: Goal 5 ACI Vote: ranked #16 among 16 recommendations that received a majority vote by ACI Student Services Advisory Committee members: Kirk Bare 4

5 Jeff Carpenter, staff liaison Dan Dixon, observer Everett Fisher Judy Hadden, ACI liaison Linda Hardy Brian Hobbs Emily Hunt, co-chair Marcia Jackson, staff liaison Sarah Jackson, co-chair Gordon Janis Janis Johnson Paula Levin-Alcorn Jean Waterbury David Welker 5

6 Appendix A - Staff and Student Focus Group Feedback Staff responses - Middle and high school teachers listed these ways to build stronger relationships with students: Quarterly individual conferences with students Mentor-mentee activities Say good morning to every student More staff-student interactive afterschool and lunch activities Home visits for students who are new to APS and grade 10 Teachers have a small cadre of students to follow Build social-emotional learning into lesson plans Have someone that each student could see as a go to person More opportunities to talk with students about their interests Fun book discussions with students Go to the activity of a student if possible Provide individual contact in the classroom with students Student responses - Students cited these characteristics of adults that students believe would encourage positive student-teacher relationships: Work to befriend students outside of class Allow students to come in before and after class - open door policy Connect activities to real life Ask students how they are doing Invite students to come talk Be open and willing to share more about themselves Become involved in extra-curricular activities like student clubs and coaching Be flexible Try to understand and relate to students situations Understand commitments and pressure students face, such as homework, sports, and extra-curricular activities Be accessible Have a sense of humor and be someone a student can joke with Act youthful Be supportive even when a student make a mistake - do not be judgmental 6

7 Appendix B - Sampling of Results from 2009 APS Community Satisfaction Survey Under Areas of Concern of the 2009 APS Community Satisfaction Survey : More than a quarter of students said they did not have an adult in the school with whom they could talk about almost anything data for this survey question indicates that 55% represents a slight decrease in students responding positively in The 2007 APS report noted concerns with the results for this question and indicated that APS would begin to focus on how to ensure that every child has a positive relationship with an adult in their school. 7

8 Appendix C - Selected Data on Developmental Assets The level of Developmental Assets among young people in a community can be measured using the responses to a 160-item questionnaire (known formally as the Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors Survey and informally as the Assets Survey). The Partnership most recently administered this questionnaire in March of 2009 to a random sample of about 2000 students in grades eight, ten and twelve in all public middle and high schools in Arlington County. About 700 students in 6th grade filled out a different version of the survey. Findings from the Assets Survey of Arlington Youth, a report by the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. Figure 1. Number of assets by students in grades 8, 10 and 12 Arlington County, March 2009 Grade Average Number of Assets The Search Institute researchers believe all young people should have 31 or more of the 40 developmental assets to become healthy, caring, and responsible adults. Research has shown that high levels of Developmental assets both protect youth from problem behavior and promote positive attitudes and actions. Of the 40 developmental assets, Search Institute identifies 20 external assets. External assets are the developmental assets that grow from relationships created by adults and peers. Below are highlighted results for a sampling of external assets: 8

9 Appendix C - continued Figure 2. Percent of Arlington Youth Reporting External Support Asset All Students Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade 12 Parents involved in school Caring school climate Adult role models Positive family communication

10 Appendix C - Data from CDC Research Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009 Researchers identified several factors that increase school connectedness, improve academic success and protect youth against risky behaviors. Protective factors are individual or environmental characteristics, conditions, or behaviors that reduce the effects of stressful life events. These factors also increase an individual s ability to avoid risks or hazards, and promote social and emotional competence to thrive in all aspects of life, now and in the future. School connectedness the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals is an important protective factor. Research has shown that young people who feel connected to their school are less likely to engage in many risk behaviors, including early sexual initiation, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use, and violence and gang involvement. Students who feel connected to their school are also more likely to have better academic achievement, including higher grades and test scores, have better school attendance, and stay in school longer. What Are the Factors that Can Increase School Connectedness? Adult Support: School staff can dedicate their time, interest, attention, and emotional support to students. Belonging to a Positive Peer Group: A stable network of peers can improve student perceptions of school. Commitment to Education: Believing that school is important to their future, and perceiving that the adults in school are invested in their education, can get students engaged in their own learning and involved in school activities. School Environment: The physical environment and psychosocial climate can set the stage for positive student perceptions of school. 10