Module 4
Putting time and effort into designing your CSCP is a crucial first step in implementing a CSCP. Creating a program you are proud of will sustain your team through the ongoing efforts required for continuous implementation and improvement. The Course Development Team hopes that the content provided in the first three modules has assisted you in developing or improving the district’s CSCP. Three additional steps should be taken by your team in the ongoing development of the program:
First, return to module three and review the information provided there about the many counseling interventions that may already be taking place across the district. Listed were eleven examples of interventions that may already be delivered. Now, the next step for these extant interventions is to: (a) Delineate the student needs being addressed by these interventions and the data stream attending the need so the efficacy of the intervention can be assessed; (b) Utilize the SMART goal-setting process to define the intended program outcome for the intervention, (c) Begin collecting the pre-intervention and post-intervention data to demonstrate the degree to which the program outcome is being achieved, (d) Make modifications to the interventions as indicted.
While this process is challenging, over time the CSCP team will be able to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the program and the changes in student outcomes achieved as a result of the program.
Second, the school counseling curriculum should address Oregon’s adopted counseling program student standards called Mindsets and Behaviors, which support their emotional intelligence, build on their employability skills for future work, and provide them with a set of life-long skills for success. You and your CSCP team anecdotally know from working with hundreds of students that social and emotional abilities, sometimes more than a student’s scores on SATs and ACTs, predict career and college readiness. If CSCPs can begin to build a curriculum addressing the Mindsets and Behaviors, then students will benefit from gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in school and life.
To review the Mindsets and Behaviors further, download the PDF below (also cited in Oregon’s Framework on page 78). The Mindsets and Behaviors Program Planning Tool can be utilized to determine where the Mindsets and Behaviors might be addressed PK-12. Over time, the CSCP team will want to ensure that each of the Mindsets and Behaviors is being addressed at one or more grade levels.
Finally, as noted previously, interconnected to the Mindsets and Behaviors standards are Oregon’s Transformative Social and Emotional Framework and Standards. These provide a set of guiding principles, conditions for learning and a set of standards that support the learning environment where adults and students can grow and thrive. The Framework and Standards are to be implemented in 2024 so it will benefit CSCP teams to begin planning the integration of these Standards into the district’s CSCP.