As school counselors, our expected role in standardized testing typically starts and ends with the administration of the exams. Currently, the stakes of high stakes testing have never been greater. Therefore, we must move past the image of test facilitators and take an active role in increasing student achievement. Finally, we should be producing evidence supporting our role in boosting student achievement. So, where do we fit in?
Identifying Low Achieving Students
Individual student standardized testing data should be readily available to you. Create a list of students who are scoring at a non-proficient level. Depending on the needs of your school, you may want to separate these students into groups based upon their historical testing data. Once you identify students who would benefit from assistance in regards to standardized testing, create a plan of action.
Individual Counseling
Meet with individual students to discuss their past testing experiences. Discuss what the score reports of previous standardized tests mean. Many students have no idea what deficiencies previous standardized tests have identified. Providing students with this information can be very empowering. Allow the students to discuss what difficulties they encountered on previous tests.
Group Counseling
Form groups as needed. A study skills group could be used to help students address areas of need while preparing for the test. We always hear of students who are, simply, poor test takers. In this case, develop a group which provides students with test anxiety coping skills. A generalized informational group can be beneficial, as well. Provide group members with increased confidence by explaining the question formatting and timing sequences of the test. This can limit their fear of the unknown.
Communicate With Staff
Be sure to communicate the information gathered from your students to the appropriate staff. A student’s conventional educational experience only allows a teacher to spend one year with that student. Therefore, many teachers are unaware of previously identified areas of non-proficiency. Continually reach out to staff members to monitor you students’ progress leading up to standardized testing dates.
Communicate With Parents
The field of education is loaded with terminology and acronyms which can be quite confusing for parents of all levels of involvement. Explain standardized testing results in a clear and understandable manner. Let parents know what it means to score below proficiency. Help them read and interpret score reports.
Produce Data Demonstrating Your Role in Increasing Student Achievement
Implementing an evidenced based school counseling program relies on the ability to produce data for accountability purposes. As school counselors gain the ability to demonstrate how they have increased student achievement, the ability to self-advocate is gained, as well. Find opportunities to communicate your analyzed data, explaining your role in increasing student achievement. Use your department website, newsletters, or various meetings to pat yourself on the back. You earned it!
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Stuart Chen-Hayes
Nate, excellent points. I also think we need to be challenging the over-reliance on standardized tests and be advocating more schools be adopting International Baccalaureate K-12 in schools as a way to counteract the overfocus on multiple choice exams and moving toward more critical thinking that comes via the intensive essay exams done in IB and other inquiry-based educational programs. We also need to challenge the incredible over-focus on teaching to the test that is happening in all too many schools. School Counselors must advocate with our teacher colleagues for rich curricula, lots of critical thinking, and the best teaching strategies in order to create success for every learner.
Jeffrey
Right, Stuart, regarding the move toward critical-thinking exams. They are a much better gauge of whether learning is taking place.
Nate
I agree with Stuart and the responder in regards to the manner in which we measure student achievement. However, the reality is that the stakes of high stakes testing have never been greater. This does not mean that I agree with it, but have accepted it to some level. Due t recent budget cuts we have seen many counselors lose jobs, even entire departments eliminated. Why? School counselors don’t affect class size. How do we prove our worth to our districts? We create and publish data explaining our roles in schools. This allows the decision makers to see what they would be missing if we were gone. Student achievement is such a hot topic, that if counselors we able to develop data which demonstrated their role in improving achievement, those counselors would be irreplaceable. I think you would have a difficult time finding any school which doesn’t have “Improve student achievement” as a yearly goal, and making a positive contribution to school goals makes us a more valuable member of the team. This post is not in support of the current model of achievement measurements, but rather speaks to how school counselors can move towards more important members of the school team, in the eyes of many stakeholders.
Stuart Chen-Hayes
Nate, you are accurate. School Counseling programs that can’t show their data are on the chopping block around the country. Why should any district pay for a service that can’t show evidence it benefits all students? The Education Trust’s National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC) and the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research & Evaluation (CSCORE) and the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCAL) and the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) all provide excellent resources for SCs and SC programs seeking to become equity-focused and data-driven to close achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps. There are so many good data-based decision-making models out there now for SCs….Tim Poynton’s EZ-Analyze, Dahir & Stone’s MEASURE, Young & Kaffenberger’s DATA, Sylinda Bank’s SOARING, & Turba’s SPARC, Hatch & Bower’s ASCA Model process/perception results data……there is no reason that any SC or SC program can’t show their data now.
Stuart Chen-Hayes
Nate, you are accurate. School Counseling programs that can’t show their data are on the chopping block around the country. Why should any district pay for a service that can’t show evidence it benefits all students? The Education Trust’s National Center for Transforming School Counseling (NCTSC) and the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research & Evaluation (CSCORE) and the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCAL) and the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) all provide excellent resources for SCs and SC programs seeking to become equity-focused and data-driven to close achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps. There are so many good data-based decision-making models out there now for SCs….Tim Poynton’s EZ-Analyze, Dahir & Stone’s MEASURE, Young & Kaffenberger’s DATA, Sylinda Bank’s SOARING, & Turba’s SPARC, Hatch & Bower’s ASCA Model process/perception results data……there is no reason that any SC or SC program can’t show their data now.
Patricki
We need to stop teaching to the test and start teaching to the students.
Tom Dodson
All comments made about alternative testing besides the standardized approach and the overreliance on standardized testing period are helpful. One reality, too, is that there is standardized testing in the schools and one way a school counselor can address the “test booklet boxes filling their offices” duty is to show what would be a more appropriate role of service for the school counselor related to standardized testing. Moving from a clerical role at testing time to more whole school service provider that is consistent to the overall school counseling program.
Cody
Standardized testing is only one of many ways to track the progress students make in the classroom. It’s not perfect but it does work more times than not. It is also useful to schools to judge how well they are doing educating children.