AzSCA Newsletter
Fall Issue, 2017
Hello and welcome to AzSCA's first issue of the new quarterly e-newsletter!
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your colleagues and friends.
About Us
Arizona School Counselors Association, Inc.
Email: azsca.events@gmail.com
Website: www.azsca.org
Location: P.O. BOX 30776 Mesa, AZ 85275-0776
Phone: (520) 329-7223
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AzSCA-Inc-138225022893557
Twitter: @azsca
AzSCA Board Biographies
Janine Menard, AzSCA Chair, School Counselor, Mom, and Wife
About Me:
I am excited to announce I will be the 2017/2018 Chair of the Arizona School Counselors Association! I have been a school counselor for 14 years. I have worked 13 of those years in the Isaac School District. I am proud to be the school counselor at Moya Elementary (K-5) and Pueblo del Sol (K-8) Schools. As an elementary school counselor, I provide a supportive and comprehensive counseling program where academic success, career readiness, and social/emotional health is embedded in my professional practice.
My Passion:
There is no lack of passion for this profession! I am excited to be a part of something bigger than myself. I am enthusiastic and eager to move the school counseling profession forward. I am ready to work towards fulfilling our education agenda, school counselor agenda, and our state association agenda! I am ready to do whatever it takes to promote the importance of school counselors in every school, at every level.
AzSCA Board Goals:
I look forward to working with our Board of Directors and General Board, and of course providing meaningful membership benefits for all our members. I look forward to the opportunity to work with our previous AzSCA leaders who I continue to learn from and continue to grow from their mentoring and leadership.Meg Hughart, AzSCA Past-Chair, School Counselor
About Me:
I am the Past-Chair of the Arizona School Counselors Association, and have served on the Board for eight years. We have some exciting things happening with our association! I earned my M.Ed. in School Counseling from NAU in 2011, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in College Consulting from UCLA in 2014. I was fortunate to work at Winslow High School for three years, where we were awarded the RAMP designation.
I currently work as a high school counselor at Coconino High School in Flagstaff with a great staff. Additionally, I work with the Arizona Department of Education in developing a curriculum for educators aimed at increasing their career literacy. As Project Manager of AZ Career Ready, I have trained teachers, counselors and administrators in how to promote career development with student populations. I also serve on the Arizona ACT Council, Arizona Reach Higher State Team Lead, Arizona Career Leadership Network, CTE Industry Leaders Committee, Arizona College & Career Readiness Task Force, and I am a National RAMP Reviewer.
Good News & Recognition
Arizona's own Kat Pastor-Lorents has been elected to the ASCA Board of Directors!
Congratulations Kat on being elected to represent school counselors and students as a member of the ASCA Board of Directors!
AzSCA's School Counselor of the Year - Tracy Pressley!
Throughout her career, Pressley has worked with numerous students on a range of topics, such as applying to competitive universities, providing knowledge and resources on career exploration, and handling crisis situations. Pressley has demonstrated a special passion for working with students suffering from substance abuse or addictive behaviors, most recently serving as the Coordinator of the Drug Diversion Program at LHHS and co-facilitating an Mpowrd program, a peer support group for any students with addictive behaviors.
Meet the 2017 Arizona CTE Counselor of the Year!
Shelly Thome was recognized as 2017 Arizona CTE Counselor of the Year at the ACTEAz Conference in Tucson, AZ on July 19th, 2017.
Shelly is entering her 20th year of working in high school education as both a social worker and counselor. Currently, she serves as a Counselor Liaison for West-MEC. In this role, her focus is on both career technical education and implementing intervention strategies to enable student success. She has also had the opportunity to provide presentations and advocacy for instructors and counselors who work with special education students through West-MEC, ACTEAZ Premier Series and in collaboration with Arizona Department of Education. Shelly is passionate about intervention and retention for all students.
Click the button below to see how some Arizona High Schools have been succeeding in preparing students for College, Career, and Life!
Professional Development Opportunities
Arizona Career Ready Program
Click here for more information and the see which modules are being offered near you.
2017 National College Access Network (NCAN) National Conference
Monday, Sep 11, 2017, 07:00 AM
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA, United States
RMACAC ROADMAP
RMACAC’s Roadmap is a one-day professional development workshop for high school and independent counselors to advance in their work to help students realize their full potential in the college planning process. We hope you can join us for this day of learning and professional growth in the work we do to support students!
Monday, Oct 23, 2017, 01:00 PM
Arizona State University West Campus, Glendale, AZ, United States
Fall 2017 Arizona College Fair Week
Phoenix~Mesa~Tucson~Prescott~Flagstaff
We cordially invite a representative from your institution to take part in the Fall 2017 Arizona College Fair Week. We are extremely fortunate this year to be able to align back-to-back each of the major college fairs in the state of Arizona. Combined, these college fairs draw a very diverse group of students and parents from virtually every corner of the state – with over 12,000 in attendance!
The Fall 2017 Arizona College Fair Week begins Sunday, October 22nd, 2017 and runs through Thursday, October 27th and will consist of seven separate college fair programs:
Click the button below for the schedule and more information:
2018 AzSCA Conference Call for Programs is Now Open!
This year's conference theme is "Collaborations for Student Success: What's Your Game Plan?"
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
- Evidence-based school counseling
- Digital environment
- Safe and supportive schools
- Reach Higher: College and Career Readiness
- Professional practices.
AzSCA Board Information
AzSCA Committee Reports
Professional Development Committee Report
Research Committee Report
Advocacy & Government Relations Committee Report
The Advocacy & Government Relations Committee would like to welcome everyone back to another school year. Our Committee, Anna Cicero, Chair and Michelle Powers, Director-at-Large, are ready to be of service to our members.
Advocacy is defined as “the act of speaking on behalf or in support of someone or something” for that reason, our committee Ends Policies will focus on advocating for your school counselor role and program contributions to student success with stakeholders in positions to influence the school counseling profession.
- Be your voice at workshops, symposiums, conferences and stakeholder events ~ look for your AzSCA Table and pick up documents and talking points that you can use in advocating in each school.
- Represent you by taking a “seat at the table” with district Administrators, ASA, School Boards, CTE Directors, AEA Education leaders, ADE Leaders, ESSA –A-F discussion groups, Legislature and parent and business community.
- Participate and plan school counselor summer trainings that will further define your role and participation in your school’s plan for student success. Program planning in academic, social emotional and college and career readiness will be part of the plan.
- Educate school counselors in areas of advocacy at the grassroots level- starting with asking you to create a way to define your role in a 1 minute speech, 5 min. speech, or more. Be prepared. We encourage you to check our AzSCA and ASCA website to be familiar with resources to use in advocating for the profession. Position Statements in the ASCA (national) website are an excellent resource for advocacy.
Government Relations is defined as “the process of influencing public and government policy at all levels, local and state, when someone is affected by the decisions made by government or administrators” for that reason, our committee Ends Policies will focus on advocating with legislators and policy makers in collaboration with education stakeholders that may include ACTEaz, AEA, ABEC, ASA, ASBA, PTOs, ADE and more…in a position to influence the school counselor profession.
- Participate and invite you to contact your legislators and participate in AzSCA School Counselor Day on the Hill, on Feb. 5, 2018
- Participate and Invite you to speak at the Senate and House/ Education Committee when bills that impact our profession negatively are introduced
- Collaborate further with Superintendents and Administrator Associations to further define the school counselor role and program and their contribution to student achievement and college and career readiness.
- Create relevant advocacy folders with content to be used in speaking with legislators, district staff or administrators
- Continue conversations and maintaining relationships with leaders at the AZ Dept. of Education to further define the role of the school counselor
Communications Committee Report
The AzSCA Communications Committee has been quite busy as of late. In an effort to keep members and prospective members up to date with school counseling news, updates, professional development and all things AzSCA, we have developed the online E-newsletter that you are reading right now. We are also trying to expand our audience and use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, newsletter, etc.) as both as a marketing and member engagement strategy. The Communications Committee has also vowed to recruit new members to join the AzSCA General Board. So if you would like to feel more connected with the field of school counseling, visit our website (www.azsca.org/leadership) for more information. If you have any questions related to the communication committee, please contact Sherry Erling, Erin Woodell or Marty Campitelli. We hope you have a great school year!
FYI...
Arizona State Board of Education Adopts A-F School Accountability Plan
After a two year hiatus allowing for a transition to higher academic standards and a new assessment, the State Board of Education adopted on April 27, 2017, a new A-F School Accountability plan effective for the 2016-2017 school year. The new plan adopted by the Board complies with the requirements of A.R.S. §15-241 and the accountability provisions of ESSA while recognizing the opportunity to measure the quality of a school and its effectiveness across a broader range of measures than in the past.
The committee identified the following purposes in adopting an A-F School Accountability Plan
1) fairness and equity
2) student‐level focus
3) transparency, ease of understanding, and ease of communication
4) incentives to action
The K-8 plan provides for multiple indicators weighted as follows: proficiency at 30%, growth at 50%, English Language Learners’ growth and proficiency at 10% and acceleration/readiness at 10%.
The 9-12 plan provides for multiple indicators weighted as follows: proficiency at 30%, growth at 20%, English Language Learners’ growth and proficiency at 10%, graduation rate at 20% and college and career readiness at 20%. These indicators also include multiple measures of student performance.
Click here for information and the tables that detail the indicators and measures.
Workshops and trainings will be offered in the near future.
ASCA Annual Conference 2017 - Denver, CO
CTE Summer Conference, 2017
Leadership Development Institute (LDI), 2017
Thanks to the following Board Members for attending the AzSCA Board of Directors Meeting on August 18, 2017
Candice Alvarez
Cadi Angeli
Marty Campitelli
Marisa Cady
Anna Cicero
Julie Cota
Ivette D’Angelo
Joyce DeVoss
Jesus Flores
Suzanne Graun
Meg Hughart
Thom Hughart
Amanda Nolasco
Janine Menard
Nerissa Patrone
Michelle Powers
Tracy Pressley
Cindy Ruich
Greta Skelly
Sarah Skemp
Shiloh Wheeler
Erin Woodell
Patricia Young