Projects
One of the USD Collaborative Action Research Teams
USD Collaborative Action Research
Each year since 1999 graduate students in the USD School Counseling Specialization have engaged in collaborative action research projects with local schools and school districts. The projects focus on improving the practice of school counseling. Graduate students are assigned to the projects as part of their enrollment in courses on research methods and the organization of student support systems. Through their involvement, students acquire knowledge and skills in research, program evaluation, and collaboration and teamwork. Practicing school counselors and other educators who participate gain practical experience in conducting action research in the field and contribute to closing the gap between research and practice in school counseling.
Since 2003 the projects have been conducted in conjunction with the work of the Center for Student Support Systems (CS3). The center director serves as a consultant to the projects, conducts an annual symposium on action research that utilizes the projects as examples of what can be done through field-based research, and coordinates solicitation and selection of each year’s projects. Beginning in the summer of 2006, project reports will be available through the center’s web site.
The
projects described below have been underway since fall 2006. They will be
completed in May 2007. We wish to thank our practitioner partners for their
commitment to continuous improvement of their programs and their willingness
to take action for change in school counseling and in education.
Dr. Lonnie Rowell, Director, CS3
2006-2007 Projects
Army-Navy Academy: This collaborative action research project involves working with the School Counselor to complete and submit a Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC) as a part of implementing a new counseling program for the academy. The project demonstrates strengthening practice by incorporating a useful accountability tool into implementation of a new counseling program.
La Mesa-Spring Valley District Elementary Counseling Program: This project involves working with a team of elementary counselors and a district counseling supervisor to develop an impact and outcomes data reporting system for elementary counseling in La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. The project addresses the gap between practice and documenting results.
Poway Unified Middle School Counseling: The project examines the implementation of AB 1802 individual student conferences in Poway middle schools. The collaborative action research team includes middle school counselors from three schools, two district administrators, and four graduate students in school counseling. The goal of the project is to gather feedback for improving the planning, content and execution of the conferences.
San Diego City Schools’ Elementary Counseling Program: Providing a safe and secure environment is an ongoing concern for all schools. This project addresses implementing a school-wide project to strengthen school safety and raise awareness regarding the role of all stakeholders in maintaining a safe and secure environment for learning.
Valhalla High School: This project examines how increasing parental involvement at the secondary school level can influence academic achievement. More specifically, the action research team aims to work with parents of 9th grade "at-risk" students on ways they can motivate and play an active role in their children's education.
2005-2006 Projects
San Diego City Schools - Herbert Ibarra Elementary
Herbert Ibarra Elementary, a K-6 school in San Diego City Schools, is concerned
with "soft truancy" students, that is, students who do not meet criteria
for district intervention and legal action but who have established a pattern
of weak attendance and/or frequent tardiness. The school’s counselor
and other staff wanted to take action in an effort to reduce the number of “soft
truancy” students by strengthening the attendance and being on time behavior
of select students. The USD action research team began working with counselor
Eileen Franco in the fall of 2005 to plan, carry out, and assess an intervention
for “soft truancy.”
Southwest High School
The mission statement of Southwest High School is to have all students graduate meeting or exceeding the entry-level requirements of a four-year university. The Southwest action research project called for investigating and taking action on educational planning as one current counseling practice aimed at meeting the school's mission statement. In current practice each ninth grade student along with his or her parent(s)/guardian(s) is presented educational planning information in a one-on-one meeting with a counselor. The team used a questionnaire to gather pre and post test data to further examine and strengthen the practice of a four year educational planning at Southwest High School.
Army and Navy Academy
This team is worked with practitioner partner Goad on the developmental stages
of implementing a comprehensive counseling program at Army and Navy Academy. The
team completed an audit of the Academy’s current counseling program based
on the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) National Model Workbook
and enlisted the involvement of key ANA community stakeholders in assessing
the current program as well. The team used the data from the audit and
key stakeholder interviews to prepare an overview of the current program and
a set of recommendations regarding next steps the Academy can take to implement
a comprehensive counseling program.
Keiller Leadership Academy
The team is worked collaboratively with staff at this new charter school to
increase involvement in conjunction with operation of the school's Student and
Family Center, established as part of the transition to a character school.
The team organized a grand opening for the new Student and Parent Support Center,
facilitated a teacher feedback session on parent involvement, developed a parent
involvement orientation, developed volunteer protocols and coordinated placement
of parents in volunteer opportunities at this site. The team completed the project
by presenting a proposal to the school's leadership team for further strengthening
parent involvement, including an assessment of school climate as it relates
to parent involvement.
La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
This team engaged in Part I of a two-year collaborative action research project
addressing improved attendance at select elementary sites in the district. Veteran
counselors in the La Mesa-Spring Valley district wish to establish attendance
improvement programs at several sites and requested an action research team
to assist them in their efforts. The first year of the project focused on conducting
a review of research on attendance improvement programs, investigating options
for selection of an appropriate attendance improvement program for the district,
designing a training module for program volunteers, piloting the training module
with graduate students recruited from the university’s Counseling Program,
preparing a proposal for the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB),
and working with the counselors on securing district approval for implementation
of the program in 2006-2007.
January 2005 Projects
Keiller Summer Leadership Program
CS3 WORKS IN THE TRENCHES WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS. The center participated in a partnership between Keiller Leadership Academy (KLA), a charter middle school in San Diego and the USD School of Leadership and Education Sciences. Beginning in January 2005, Center Director Dr. Lonnie Rowell led a team of graduate students in school counseling in redesigning the school's guidance and counseling program. As a part of this work, a Keiller Summer Leadership Program was established to prepare a group of students for leadership in the school's first year. The program was funded by a grant to CS3 from the George Unger Foundation. The summer program staff included three Keiller teachers and six USD graduate students in school counseling.
2004-2005 Projects
East Lake High School: Sweetwater Union High School District
El Cajon High School: Grossmont Union High School District
Elementary Counseling Program: La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
Los Angeles County Office of Education/California Counselor Leadership Academy
Mason Elementary School: San Diego City Schools
Nativity Prep Academy: San Diego
Revitalizing California Student Support Systems: Center for Student Support Systems, University of San Diego
San Diego Juvenile Court & Community Schools: San Diego County Office of Education
West View High School: Poway Unified School District
Youth Outreach Program: Metro(Methodist Urban Outreach and Human Services)
