Running head: CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 1

Capstone Systems Change Project

Jessica DeChristopher

CSPU 618
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 2

Menifee Valley Middle School Demographics

Menifee Valley Middle School (MVMS) is located in Menifee, CA and is a part of the

Menifee Union School District. They are one of three middle schools in the district. In this

district, there are a total of eleven elementary schools and three middle schools with no high

schools. Counselors are spread out amongst the school with a total of twelve school counseling

positions in the district. All of them hold the title of “school counselor” (A. Munoz, personal

communication, June 6, 2019).

The twelve school counseling positions are spread across the different levels of

elementary and middle school. There is a total of six middle school counselors, with two of them

at each middle school site. The other six counseling positions are spread out across the

elementary schools. Out of those six counselors, five of the elementary school counselors are

covering two elementary school sites and one elementary school counselor has one elementary

school site to cover (A. Munoz, personal communication, June 6, 2019).

For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on just one of the schools in the district,

Menifee Valley Middle School. This is the site that I have begun my internship with and

completed internship hours. According to the California School Dashboard, the total number of

students enrolled for the 2018 school year was 1,169, including: 395 sixth graders, 377 seventh

graders, and 397 eight graders (School Accountability Report Card, 2017-2018). This would

mean that the Counselor/Student ratio was approximately 1/584.5. A ratio that is far from the

American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended ratio of one counselor to 250

students (American School Counselors Association, 2019).

Due to refusal from my school sites administration, I was unable to conduct a current

needs assessment. Since I was unable to do that, I have attempted to gather as much information
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 3

as possible to develop, plan, and propose a system’s change. I was given access to view some of

the results from a needs assessment conducted in 2017. I will attempt to utilize the information

from that need’s assessment, personal interview, information from the California Dashboard and

surveying of the school site as evidence for my proposition.

To gain a better understanding of the school’s population and services being provided, I

utilized information from California Dashboard based on the 2018 enrollment period. The total

number of students enrolled for the 2018 school year was 1,169 students. Of the total number of

enrolled students, 53% of them were classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged. The

California dashboard refers to socioeconomically disadvantaged as “students who are eligible for

free or reduced priced meals; or have parents/guardians who did not receive a high school

diploma” (California School Dashboard, 2017). The English Learners make up for 4.5% or a

total of 53 students, foster youth 0.7% or a total of 8 students and 1 homeless for a total of 0.1%.

Students with disabilities was a bit higher at 11.3%, totaling 132 students (California School

Dashboard, 2017).

The additional support staff at this site includes one nurse, one student services support

staff and the administration (principal, assistant principal). There are also two school

psychologists on site, one whom shares her time with another middle school. The student

services support staff is responsible for receiving incident reports, conducting investigations of

incident reports and collaborating with the administration to hand down disciplinary actions to

students as well as communicate with parents regarding those disciplinary actions (A. Munoz,

personal communication, June 6, 2019).

Comprehensive Counseling Program

Menifee Valley Middle School does have a comprehensive counseling program. There is
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 4

a great foundation modeling the different aspects of ASCA. I believe that there is always room

for improvement in any program, and this program is no different. The delivery of counseling

services involves: direct student services, school counseling core curriculum, individual student

planning, responsive services, and indirect student services (American School Counselors

Association, 2019).

Direct student services include having things in place such as behavior support plans,

before school check-in’s, individual sessions, IEP counseling, academic counseling, and

restorative circles. The school counseling core curriculum that is used by the school counselors

is the Second-Step Curriculum that can be provided to all students to promote positive behavior

and create a positive learning space for all students. The individual student planning is utilized as

continued support in assisting students to reach their goals. One example is daily check-ins and

monitoring of students by utilizing a daily classroom check-in sheet for students that struggle

with behavior or academic issues and benefit from positive reinforcements.

Responsive services is the fourth item listed under delivery. A majority of my time and

of the school counselors time was consumed with walk-in students and/or dealing with crisis

situations. Responsive services takes priority over every day responsibilities because they are

usually dealing with crisis responses and safety of others. Due to this, I often noticed that the

academic counseling, core curriculum, classroom support and other areas of services were

neglected due to handling crisis situations. If I had been able to conduct a needs assessment, this

also would have been an area that I addressed.

Indirect student services is the final category under delivery. The school site implements

a SOAR (Strong leaders, Orderly campus, Accountable individuals, Respectful citizens)

program. The SOAR brochure is placed on posters all around the campus and is also included in
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 5

the front of the student handbook. The SOAR brochure provides examples of positive behaviors

in all identified categories and specifies what that positive behavior may look like on certain

parts of campus (Menifee Valley Middle School, 2018).

Other forms of indirect services also include the schools incident reporting procedures,

creating a safe place for all students to file a report if they feel unsafe and/or are being bullied by

other students. They believe and stand strong that all students should feel safe when they come

to school and want to come to school. They follow a disciplinary flow chart that is available to

all students and parents. The disciplinary flow chart breaks down different types of incidents

(minor or major) and flows through offenses (first offense, second offense) of each behavior and

what discipline will follow based on the offense and actions taken (A. Munoz, personal

communication, June 6, 2019).

Another tool that is utilized as a form of indirect services is the implementation and

utilization of PBIS Tier I, II, and III interventions. An example of Tier I interventions is setting

positive behavior expectations (OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral

Interventions and Supports, 2017). Some of the ways that this site does this is through the use of

billboards, posters and brochures displayed across campus and in the classrooms. An example is

the ‘SOAR’ brochure that is placed on posters around campus and in the front of the student

handbook. Rather than stating “do not” do this behavior, they are identifying the positive

expectation of the behavior.

Along with behavioral and emotional support, there are academic resources that are

available to students in need of additional support. Intervention is one resource that is provided

to students. This offers a space for the middle school teachers to provide tutoring in the areas of

math, science, history and language arts. This is offered before and after school for one hour
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 6

each. Another resource available to students is the Before School Tutoring with AVID Tutors

which is an option for students to get additional assistance with schoolwork. Finally, the Center

for Success (CFS) which creates an environment during lunch where students who need

additional support or just need a space to complete school work can go (A. Munoz, personal

communication, June 6, 2019).

MVMS currently offers some community service integration options including: Parent

Workshops (Family Literacy, Technology Literacy, Next Generation’s Science Standards, Parent

Education Nights, Family Internet Safety, and Language Acquisition Program options),

Community Resources Expo, Job Fairs, and a Parent’s Night (Menifee Union School District,

2019). Their website also lists the following resources as available for parents with interest in

mental health issues: Triple P - Positive Parenting Program, Riverside County Department of

Mental Health, Up To Riverside, Teen Mental Health, Victor, Positive Environments, Network

of Trainers (Menifee Union School District, 2019).

When addressing the coordination with administration, faculty, and staff we want to look

at the coordination based on the counselors perspective as well as the perception of others. Per

MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment (2017), one of the questions proposed was, “I am

familiar with the role of a school counselor as per the American School Counseling Association

(ASCA) standards”. Only 33.3% responded with a “Yes”. That leaves 66.7% of the

respondents that were either not sure or had no idea about the responsibilities of a school counselor

per ASCA standards (MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment, 2017).

(MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment, 2017)

When we are talking about collaboration with teachers, administration and other support

staff, I think it is important for them to understand our role as the school counselor. If others do

not understand our role, then we create more issues for ourselves, such as: staff trying to place

responsibilities and duties on the school counselor that does not fall within the responsibilities of

our role. We can save time and energy in the future by collaborating more effectively and

educating others regarding the role of the counseling position. If I were able to conduct a needs

assessment, I would have included this question in order to understand if this area has improved

over the past two years or if it continued to be an area of growth.

The management portion is really a collaborative effort between all support staff and

counselors. Some ways that they have collected data is by utilizing a counselor monthly log that

is used across the district. They track the amount of individual, group sessions, classroom

lessons, suicide risk assessments, referrals, CPS reports, and home visits that are made each

month. This information is shared with the District and the school board to help track time and

services being provided at each site (A. Munoz, personal communication, June 6, 2019).
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 8

Accountability is a big factor when considering the effectiveness of a counseling program

and being able to identify needed changes and/or areas of improvement and strengths. It is

crucial to understand the impact of a school counseling program in all areas of student

achievement and behavior. They have three main areas where data is analyzed and put into

measurable terms to evaluate the effectiveness of their school counseling program: behavior

support, academic support and IEP services (A. Munoz, personal communication, June 6, 2019).

For counseling services that support behavior: the Student Services Support Staff runs a

weekly report that identifies the students with most behavioral comments/incidents on

Illuminate. The administration then uses the information from that weekly report to refer

students to the school counselors. When they are referred, they receive mostly individual

sessions to provide check-ins, provide resources and supports. This is also a time that the school

counselors may identify them as a Tier 2 student requiring more consistent support. The student

services coordinator then compares the data at the end of the month to determine if there is a

change or if progress has been noted (A. Munoz, personal communication, June 6, 2019).

For IEP counseling services, the school counselors review progress of social-emotional

goals every month and revisit the original baseline to make a comparison of the progress the

student has made during counseling. Based on the progress, lack of progress, or presentation of

new concerns/social-emotional goals the counselor continues to evaluate the resources being

utilized and participation in services offered (A. Munoz, personal communication, June 6, 2019).

For academic counseling services, a report is generated on Illuminate that identifies all

students in each grade and categorizes them based on their GPA. If under a 2.0 or in jeopardy of

non-promoting, the school counselors will print their current grades, conduct academic

counseling, and continue to evaluate whether they are improving or declining (A. Munoz,
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 9

personal communication, June 6, 2019).

Proposals

In proposing a system’s change, I believe the following areas need to be addressed:

1. Improving direct student services

2. Collaboration with students, teachers and support staff

3. Improving community collaboration

The first step of improving direct student services, would be to decrease the student to

counselor ratio in order for the school counselors to have more time to expand services beyond

that of responsive services. One cost effective and alternative option would be to hire school

counseling interns. School counseling interns are required to complete hours within the school

site and could assist in implementing direct and/or indirect student services. The district can post

an ongoing job opening on Ed Join that would allow interns to apply as they needed for their

program. There are many schools in the area that offer the PPS credential in school counseling,

and for that reason there should be many opportunities to have an annual school counseling

intern.

From the MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment (2017), one of the questions was

“to what degree is our school in need of the following services: group counseling”. 75% of

respondents gave the highest rating (see chart below), with all other respondents being spread out

across the grid (MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment, 2017). As of this school year in

2019 when I began my practicum, there were still no group counseling services being provided.
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 10

(MVMS School Counseling Needs Assessment, 2017)

I would propose that the school counseling interns would oversee running group

curriculums with the tier II and III students. Group counseling is a great way to impact more

students and to assist in ensuring that no student is left behind. This could create an opportunity

to reach a group of students and work toward decreasing problematic behaviors and increase

overall school morale. The counseling interns could also be assigned to conduct academic check-

ins and provide academic resources to students who have below a 2.0 GPA. This would again

make sure that these students were receiving additional support, while freeing up the school

counselors time as they are dealing with responsive services, IEP’s, and other areas of

responsibility.

At the middle school, the issue with the functionality of those interns is of concern due to

lack of space at school site. Due to the lack of extra office space, the school site would need to

be creative in finding a space that is appropriate and still allots a space for confidentiality. I do

believe there are options such as sectioning off an area in the library and/or allowing interns to

utilize classrooms/spaces that are only used for special circumstances and are open under normal

circumstances. With the appropriate space and support, interns could be extremely valuable to
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 11

the school counseling program to ensure that they are reaching a wider range of children and that

the school counselors are able to delegate and oversee some of those responsibilities.

I would also propose the addition of another school counselor. Once again, the issue with

space is presented; however, as the school site is completing construction renovations over this

summer and expanding some of the buildings, there could be an allotted space for a third school

counselor. The renovations are already occurring and could be included in the current budget and

plans. By adding an additional school counselor, the counselor to student ratio would decrease to

approximately 1 to 388. This is almost a 200-student decrease per school counselor. That is

crucial when we are talking about the direct and indirect services that would be able to provided

for all of the students.

Another area of proposed improvement is the collaboration with students, teachers and

support staff. I was unable to conduct a needs assessment to get feedback from others on this

topic, but it seemed that the collaboration piece was missing and there seemed to be a lot of

conflict and disconnect between the counselors, support staff, and the teachers. I would propose

a monthly staff meeting to discuss any concerns, issues, strengths and to collaborate regarding

the implementation of curriculum and disciplinary procedures. I believe this would assist in

bridging the gap and ensuring that everyone feels heard and are on the same page regarding

roles, responsibilities, and procedures.

My final proposal is to improve community collaboration. Due to the high percentage of

socioeconomically disadvantaged students at the school site, I believe that an increase in

community outreach and support is crucial to the success of students and their families. I would

want to evaluate and assess the number of participants in the current community outreach

programs to determine the participation percentages. I know that I attended one community
CAPSTONE SYSTEMS CHANGE PROJECT 12

outreach program and only one family showed up. I would want to ensure that the advertisement

of these programs was improved by adding pages to the student handbook identifying when and

where these supports are. I would also have support staff conduct phone calls home and send out

emails to remind parents and children of the events that are coming.

Budgetary Information

A. Adding a counseling intern: $0 per year

a. This is one of the great low cost options that would create great opportunities

to expand the services that are allowed in the classroom. The counseling

intern could find a space anywhere within the school that could ensure

confidentiality.

B. Adding another counseling position: $51, 407-$100,266 per year

a. Depending on experience and person hired for the position, the salary for

Menifee Unified School District is on a teacher’s salary pay scale.

C. Increasing community outreach and support.

a. Adding five events per school/year, having each staff sign up for an extra-duty

shift. If you have six staff sign up for each event at $35.98 an hour for each

event.

5 Events  2 hours  6 staff  $35.98/hour =$2,158.80 per year

D. Depending on budget left over following the previous proposals, you could also add a

community outreach specialists/liaison. The cost of this would be the similar to the

cost of hiring another school counseling position. Space would continue to be an issue

for this position as well.

References

American School Counselors Association (2019). ASCA National Model. Retrieved from:

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/asca-national-model

American School Counselors Association (2019). Press. Retrieved from:

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/press

California School Dashboard (2017). Menifee Valley Middle School. Retrieved from:

https://www.caschooldashboard.org/reports/33671166107197/2018

Menifee Union School District (2019). Special Education. Retrieved from:

https://www.menifeeusd.org/District/Department/147-Special-Education/1186-Mental-

Health-Resources.html

Menifee Valley Middle School (2018). Parent/Student Handbook. Retrieved from:

https://www.menifeeusd.org/files/user/3/file/MVMS/MVMS%20Student%20Handbook.

pdf

OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (2017).

Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports [Website]. Retrieved from www.pbis.org

School Accountability Report Card (2017-2018). Menifee Valley Middle School. Retrieved

from: https://www.menifeeusd.org/files/user/3/file/SARC/SARC_MVMS.pdf