Indian Creek Elementary
Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas 2020
Our School
Principal: Lori Sowers
Assistant Principal: Marcine Simpson
Mission Statement
Students, staff, and community design and implement a safe, engaging, and nurturing learning organization to build a strong foundation for students' personal growth.
Vision
Indian Creek is a community that works collaboratively to develop lifelong learners, build meaningful relationships, and place value on each other’s cultures and individual strengths.
Core Beliefs
At Indian Creek Elementary, we:
Build relationships with all students to support social-emotional and academic skills
Value students' experiences and cultures
Believe parent and community support increases student engagement
Believe every child has the ability to learn
Value risk-taking
Recognize students for their social and academic achievements
Work collaboratively as a staff to support ALL students
Indian Creek Elementary
Email: pachecol@lisd.net
Website: https://www.lisd.net/indiancreek
Location: 2050 Arbor Creek Drive, Carrollton, TX, USA
Phone: 469-713-5180
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indiancreekes/
Twitter: @IndianCreekES
Section I: Role of the Professional School Counselor
At Indian Creek Elementary, the counselor's role is to help ALL students have a fulfilling experience at school: socially, emotionally, and of course, academically, through individual counseling, group counseling, classroom guidance and collaboration with administrators to provide programs and resources to help parents, students and the community.
GenTX Week
Leah Pacheco, Professional School Counselor
Texas School Counselor Association Member
Building Leadership Team Member (BLT)
Response to Intervention (RTI) Committee Member
Counseling Advisory Council (CAC) Member
Falcon Father (WatchD.O.G.S.) Coordinator
About Our School
Enrollment: 572 Students
Bilingual: 13.62%
Gifted & Talented: 3.54%
Special Education: 9.70%
Economically Disadvantaged: 36.75%
LEP: 13.81%
2018 Accountability Rating: Met Standard
Distinction Designations:
Top 25 Percent: Comparative Academic Growth
Top 25 Percent: Comparative Closing the Gaps
Leadership & Advocacy
Mrs. Pacheco is an active member of the Building Leadership Team which plans and implements activities to support school safety and engagement. An example of her leadership is in her organization and implementation of GenTX week, a week to celebrate higher education and career exploration. Not only were there dress up days and activities planned for each day, but guidance lessons on the importance of higher education to advance careers were taught in classrooms. The students heard from different speakers in our community about their jobs and how education played an important role in who they are today.
Career Day
Higher Education Guidance Lesson
Career Exploration Guidance Lesson
Section II: Program Implementation Cycle
Members of CAC:
Lori Sowers, Principal
Marcine Simpson, Assistant Principal
Leah Pacheco, Professional School Counselor (PSC)
Jordan Utt, PK Teacher
Paige Edelen, Kindergarten Teacher
Kaleigh Cambere, 1st Grade Teacher
Killeen Hossbach, 2nd Grade Teacher
Lisa Cunningham, 3rd Grade Teacher/Parent
Kaylie Murphy, 4th Grade Teacher
Nancy Legg, 5th Grade Teacher
Kristan Hayes, SPED Teacher
Amy DeArmon, Specialist
Use of Implementation Cycle
The CAC met to review the results of the needs assessment, the end of year (EOY) program survey and the discipline data to plan for the upcoming school year. The conclusion was the need to improve conflict resolution/problem solving strategies among students. One idea was to focus on one strategy at a time, practice in classrooms with teacher support, and then add another over a three-week time period. Groups would be developed for students who exhibit high need in conflict resolution/problem solving. A perception survey for students and staff would be used to measure their effectiveness, as well as a review of reported behavior incidents.
Section III: Foundational Components
Our Vision
Our Mission
Counseling Program Definition
Indian Creek ES Counseling Program’s goal is to support all students by ensuring mental health, reinforce positive emotional choices, and advocate for students, which would overall maximize opportunities for academic achievement. Professional school counselors, along with staff, teachers, community, students and parents design, deliver and evaluate the school program. These programs are then integrated into the school’s mission and become part of the learning environment regardless of a student’s age or grade level.
Counseling Program Rationale
The aim of our program is to ensure the best outcome for every student regardless of age, physical limitations, mental acuity, special abilities, and social factors including family circumstances, home environment or cultural differences. The program has a broad base with a special focus on preventative and developmental strategies. Program development is based on student data collected over the years and the collaboration between staff, parents, teachers, community and students. The District and community provide opportunities for the professional school counselor, administration, families and faculty to attend current trainings and practices that will further the understanding of social emotional learning for our students and in turn, improve academic performance.
Counseling Program Assumptions
In order for Indian Creek ES to have a successful counseling program, the following conditions/resources need to exist:
· The professional school counselor (PSC) employed is certified and provides each of the four components (individual planning, guidance curriculum, system support and responsive services).
· All students, families, and teachers have equal access to the resources available and partner with the PSC in the education of their students (TEC §26.001).
· The Counseling Advisory Council is made up of the community, parents, administration and counselor. All partner with the PSC to develop a comprehensive counseling program, as well as provide feedback and evaluate the program for its effectiveness.
· The school administrators and staff support the counseling initiatives, help promote a positive environment and assign roles and responsibilities that will support those initiatives.
· The PSC and the CAC use the data collected to create a comprehensive campus program based on the results and interpretation of the data collected through a campus wide needs assessment. Relationships among all staff on campus are regarded as respectful, collaborative and cooperative.
· Campus and District budgets support the counseling program by providing funds for materials such as books, games, storage and general office supplies.
· A confidential workspace is provided for the PSC with adequate space to provide individual and small group counseling.
DEVELOPMENT OF GOALS
Developing the program goals is critical for a school counseling program to ensure the integrity and fidelity of the activities and focus of the program. The process of developing the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals is to review a variety of data points, and they are to be carefully and purposefully considered. A variety of sources are used such as needs assessments from parents, teachers and students, the EOY survey, the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP), the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) reports, Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR), Building Leadership Team (BLT), and Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) are some examples. These sources help the PSC collaborate with the CAC and other stakeholders to develop meaningful goals to address specific campus needs.
Evaluation
Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of our program is necessary and critical to serve the needs of the students and campus, and they are ever changing. This can be done in a number of ways. The CAC meet 4 times a year, at least, to look at the data points that were used in developing the program goals in the first place. Perception surveys such as pre-tests and post-tests can be effective tools to hear directly from the students/clients affected. An overall audit of the counseling program helps the PSC look at the overall needs of the program. It can provide data on what key elements are working and what might need to be improved. Looking for trends over time by plotting them on a graph can provide valuable information. This is valuable to the PSC and the counseling program to ensure the success and excellence of the program.
Section IV: 4 Service Delivery Components
SMART Goals by Delivery Components
Individual Planning: The PSC will hold minute meetings will all 3rd - 5th grade students in both the fall and the spring to build relationships/connection to determine individual needs and areas of global concern. This will be evidenced in Google docs.
Guidance Curriculum: Guidance lessons will be delivered by the PSC from August to May, serving 100% of the student body, utilizing the Second Step curriculum for bullying prevention, child protection and social/emotional learning. They can also be delivered by special request for an immediate need.
Responsive Services: The counselor, along with other specialists in the building, will hold weekly mentoring groups to support our at-risk students socially and emotionally. The students involved will show an increase in social skills and positive attitude towards school as shown in discipline data overall.
System Support: Information delivered to parents in the Falcon Forecast each week from August to May, highlighting current lessons, counseling events, and parent topics for the purpose of increasing student participation and parent awareness to the school counseling program.Activity by Service Components
Individual Planning
- Meet with individual students on goal planning for the year
- Minute Meetings with grades 3-5 students
- Generation Texas (GenTex) Activities - to promote college awareness/readiness
- Student transition planning meetings for 5th graders
- Small groups for students on topics such as self-regulation, social skills, divorce, grief, etc.
- Parent/Teacher Conferences
Guidance
- Guidance lessons per grade level addressing social/emotional learning, bullying prevention, healthy relationships/personal safety, college and career readiness
- Evaluate needs assessment to plan for campus support lessons
- Indian Creek Elementary (ICE) Career Day events
- Support teachers and classes during ICE’s Red Ribbon Campaign
Responsive Services
- Plan class specific lessons upon teacher request, i.e. bullying vs tattling
- Coordinate Angel Tree Christmas support for ICE families
- Coordinate with LovePac Inc. August to May, to provide food to families on long weekends/holidays
- Coordinate with Food 4 Kids through the North Texas Food Bank to provide a backpack for snacks every Friday for the weekends from August to May
- Train staff on mental health awareness, Bullying/David’s Law, Child Abuse/Sexual Abuse, Dating Violence, Drug and Alcohol Prevention, McKinney-Vento, Sexting, and Suicide Prevention
- Weekly Mentoring Groups with At Risk Students
System Support
- Student Data Collection/Evaluation on academic and behavior issues
- Coordinate volunteers for WatchDOGS program (Dads of Great Students)
- Student Response to Intervention (RTI)/Behavior and 504 Meetings
- Serve/Consult on PAWS/CAC & Building Leadership Team (BLT)
- Consult with ICE Administration on state/district testing data
- Update weekly Falcon Forecast Newsletter for Parents/Staff
HIGHLIGHT EXAMPLE
Restorative Practices will be implemented into every classroom. Students will be able to give two examples and explain the expectations from their social contract. The relationships between teacher/staff and students will lead to higher student engagement as evidenced by the discipline offenses decreasing by at least 20% in insubordination, bullying and disrespect.
A thriving student experience comes from an environment that engages and connects students to each other and with staff.
In LISD, we know students thrive when they are engaged in their learning and feel a sense of belonging in our schools.
When students are provided enriching opportunities outside the classroom, they will find success not only in school but in their lives beyond our hallways.
Discipline Data by Student
Number of Discipline Offenses
Social Contracts/ Treatment Agreements
Mood Meters in Every Classroom
Morning Meetings
Partnership in Community Highlight
Section V: Program Curriculum
Lesson Example
The Stakeholders
In order for a counseling program to reach its highest potential, stakeholders are an important component. Mrs. Pacheco works with all stakeholders to organize, plan, design, implement and evaluate the school counseling program. The stakeholders are teachers, staff, parents, community, administration and sometimes students. The Building Leadership Team (BLT) and CAC meet to discuss important events, review data presented, and ensure that needs are being met. Stakeholders have opportunities throughout the year to view curriculum, access resources and discuss program plans. The PSC is the guide to help define roles of each stakeholder as the process relates to the four components (Guidance Curriculum, Responsive Services, Individual Planning and System Support). The stakeholders are an integral part to ensure the fidelity and integrity of the entire counseling program.
I Choose Excellence! Fly High, Falcons!