Consultation Collaboration Encouraging Parent Involvement CHAPTER 14 The

Consultation, Collaboration, & Encouraging Parent Involvement CHAPTER 14

The Counselor As Consultant Professional school counselors are an important resource for teachers. Teachers experiencing problems in the classroom after attempting to implement unsuccessful instruction and discipline often turn to professional school counselors for assistance. Parents and family members also seek support from the professional school counselor about what is normal development or expected behavior.

Background Consultation and collaboration services are an important part of a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program, and have been provided by counselors for decades The collaborative approach to consultation is the most common as it allows the counselor to work for change agreed upon by all stakeholders.

Consultation Models Through consultation, professional school counselors can assist more students by working directly with individuals who have frequent contact with students, such as teachers and family members. Three models of consultation: 1. Triadic-Dependent 2. Collaborative-Dependent 3. Collaborative-Interdependent These models are distinguished by the type of interaction that occurs between the consultant and the person or persons seeking the consultant’s help.

Triadic-Dependent Indirect Approach The consultant provides services indirectly to the client by working with the consultee. Direct Approach Mixed Approach Counseling the student. Combines indirect and direct approaches. For example, the counselor may consult with teachers or family members (indirect service to the student) and provide the same student with one-on-one counseling (direct services to the student).

Triadic-Dependent (cont. ) In this model, the consultant is viewed as the expert and the consultee is dependent upon the consultant’s advice and recommendations. The consultant works through the consultee to bring about change for the client. The immediate recipient of this model is the consultee. The immediate goal of this model is to increase the skills and knowledge of the consultee and implement an intervention plan to achieve change for the client. Professional school counselors who help teachers and family members acquire the skills necessary to implement a behavior management plan use this consultation model.

Tips for Effective Triadic-Dependent Consultation Make sure the environment for the consultation is comfortable and professional. Quickly establish the purpose of the consultation. Try to minimize anxiety and maximize cooperation. Give the consultee the opportunity to tell “his or her story. ” Get to the point efficiently and avoid educational or psychological jargon. Establish clear boundaries for the consultee. Probe for any factors or conditions that may be relevant to effective treatment planning.

Tips for Effective Triadic-Dependent Consultation Focus on the student’s behavior, not the student. Use classroom observations to collect additional information. Develop a working relationship with the consultee as an equal partner in the endeavor. Provide resources that can help the consultee better understand the issues and interventions. Schedule follow-up procedures during the initial consultation. Document in writing contacts with consultees or others involved with the issue.

Collaborative-Dependent The consultee continues to depend upon the consultant’s: Problem-solving expertise. Knowledge of normal and abnormal development. Skills for affecting client and systemic change. The consultant and consultee create a partnership. The consultant and consultee establish mutual goals and objectives for the client and develop an intervention plan. However, the consultee is responsible for implementing the intervention plan.

Collaborative-Dependent (cont. ) A collaborative-dependent consultation relationship may focus on help for: A specific client (Client-focused consultation). The consultee (Consultee-focused consultation). organizational context or system (Systemfocused consultation).

Collaborative-Interdependent The previous consultation models are helpful when seeking change for an individual client, family, or single organizational system related to normal developmental problems. When problems are more complex, the collaborative-interdependent model is useful. Family members, educators, professional school counselors, youth, and members of the broader community contribute as equal participants. This model does not presume that any single person has sufficient knowledge or information to understand the problem and develop and implement solutions. The sharing and transferring of knowledge and information among all problem solvers that enable the determination and implementation of a comprehensive plan.

Collaborative-Interdependent (cont. ) Each person in the group is interdependent upon the expertise of other group members in formulating and executing the problemsolving plan. Everyone works as a team.

Collaboration To function most effectively, professional school counselors must seek specialized training to gain knowledge of the collaborative process. A convened team does not necessarily mean that the team is working collaboratively. When true collaboration exists, all parties equally share the outcomes.

Collaboration (cont. ) Collaboration is a mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve common goals. Professional school counselors need to help staff members recognize the benefits of developing relationships with other service providers and agencies. Through collaboration, professional school counselors will gain a clearer understanding of what other agencies can contribute and how they function. These leadership efforts will improve the academic achievement of students.

Features Of A Collaborative Style Of Interaction Collaboration is voluntary. Collaboration is parity - Each participant has an equal voice. Collaboration depends upon shared responsibility for decision making. 4. 5. Collaboration is based on mutual goals and a shared accountability for outcomes. o Commitment is critical. o All participants must agree on what the team is to accomplish. Individuals who collaborate share their resources without dictating how these resources are to be used.

The Consultant’s Role In Helping Others Function Collaboratively The consultant can: Model a collaborative style when interacting with teachers and family members by engaging others as equals in the problem-solving process. This sends a message that no one is “the expert. ” Seek others’ perspectives. Be open to new ways of conceptualizing problems. Integrate others’ suggestions in intervention plans. Reinforce others’ ideas. Be flexible with how one’s role is defined and executed. Assist a team in establishing group norms that reflect collaboration.

Collaborative Group Roles Professional school counselors School-based mental health clinicians and other community mental health practitioners Provide leadership, establish norms, model collaborative behavior, and recommend program evaluation procedures. Teach the group about mental health problems and facilitate referrals. Faculty members Provide the group with theoretical models for primary and secondary intervention.

Collaborative Group Roles (cont. ) Teachers Implement staff development workshops, provide leadership, and advise the group on how to best integrate the goals into the broader curriculum. Family members Serve as liaisons between the work group and other parents to communicate goals and strategies to the broader community. Identify neighborhood leaders who could provide information about community needs.

The Consultation Process Effective consultation in a school setting requires skill in problem solving and an ability to form collaborative relationships with other experts, including family members. There is a six-step systems-based process model for school consultation.

Step One: Entering the System The counselor as a consultant needs to be psychologically ready to enter the organizational system. The professional school counselor needs to enter the school’s system with a mindset that is flexible, committed to establishing collaborative relationships, and motivated to encourage changes to promote student success. When entering the system, it is important to understand the goals of the system and how these goals relate to the consultant’s role. The consultant who can directly link her program to the school’s mission will have an easier time gaining faculty support. The consultant must have a clear understanding of the school’s perception of his or her role.

Step Two: Joining The System It is important to earn the respect of teachers, administrators, and family members. The consultant will begin to earn their respect by attending to the following six points:

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 1. Learn the system’s rules and metarules. The consultant should know: The larger school system’s policies and procedures. The school’s interpretation of how these policies and procedures are implemented. That many unwritten rules (i. e. , meta-rules) exist that can be learned only through interactions with the system. The consultant should be aware of these rules.

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 2. Observe explicit and implicit positions of power. Little works well in the school without the principal’s support. School secretaries occupy an implicit power position within the school. However, they are often vital links in communication between teachers and parents. Certain teachers are highly regarded in the school. These teachers can enhance or jeopardize change depending upon whether they support the initiative.

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 3. Build alliances through shared agendas, recognition of individual strengths, and supportive actions. The need for others to perceive a common agenda between themselves and the consultant is critical to the consultant’s acceptance. Forming alliances with those who have explicit and implicit positions is important. Taking the time to get to know others and offering assistance is helpful in building alliances. The consultant must be sensitive to giving the impression of aligning with any one group against another.

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 4. Establish communication with members of all relevant subsystems. The school system is made up of several subsystems: administrative, faculty, staff, parent, student/peer, and community. Each subsystem may be composed of smaller subsystems. Interventions may involve several subsystems, so it is important to get to know and be known by members of these different subsystems. Developing an awareness of the types of issues that might create friction between subsystems is also important.

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 5. Maintain objectivity Acceptance can take time, but it is important to remain objective. Look at challenges as opportunities and see resistance as a reaction to change rather than a personal affront.

Step Two: Joining The System (cont. ) Point 6. Stay one down In order to work effectively, the consultant needs to work in a way that is not threatening to anyone’s territory. Consultants need to minimize status differences between themselves, teachers, and family members. Acknowledging the expertise of the other person, seeking advice, asking for assistance, asking for the other person’s perspective and suggestions, and being open to trying new approaches are ways the consultant can recognize another person’s skills and knowledge.

Step Three: Initiate Problem Solving This stage begins the working stage of the process model. Problem complexity often determines which consultation model the consultant uses. This stage includes collecting information to assist in identifying the problem. The consultant also brings to this stage knowledge of group dynamics and ability to facilitate group processes.

Step Three: Initiate Problem Solving (cont. ) The consultant can work to: Establish collaborative group norms. Encourage cooperation. Explicitly recognize the expertise of all participants. Create communication patterns that allow all to participate equally in the problem-solving process.

Step Four: Frame Change The consultant works with others to set goals and shape an action plan for accomplishing goals that are realistic and can be executed. It is helpful to keep the following points in mind when framing change: 1. Identify goals - After assessment of the problem, goals are identified. 2. Determine outcome measures. 3. Empower participants as change agents - Create hope that change can be accomplished. 4. Think multi-systemically - Change for the individual is often dependent on changing the system. 5. Encourage flexible roles and permeable boundaries. 6. Plan to protect change - Strategize about what to do if the unexpected happens.

Step Five: Evaluate Change Monitoring progress and determining whether goals have been accomplished are components of evaluating change. The evaluation should assess if change has occurred, and, if so, to what degree. Decisions about continuing the intervention are also made at this time.

Step Six: Facilitate Closure Debriefing with consultees allows an opportunity to discuss outcomes and reflect on the effectiveness of working as a group.

School Consultation & Collaboration with Diverse Populations Multicultural research and practices into the areas of collaboration and consultation has been lacking. Still, most education professionals perceived that they had the skills to work with diverse student groups (Roache, Shore, Gouleta, & de Obaldia Butkevich, 2003) There are strategies that help professional school counselors to address the needs of diverse youth, their families, and teachers.

School Consultation & Collaboration with Diverse Populations Ingraham (2003) proposed a multicultural school consultation framework with five components: 1. Domains of consultant learning and development involve knowledge and skill requirements in eight competency domains, including understanding one’s own culture and its impact on others. 2. Domains of consultee learning and development involve the knowledge, skills, confidence, and objectivity to deal with diverse circumstances. 3. Cultural variations in the consultation constellation involve cultural similarity between and among the consultant, consultee, and client. 4. Contextual and power influences involve societal influences, balance of power issues, and “cultural similarity within a differing cultural system” (p. 327). 5. Hypothesized methods for supporting consultee and client success involve knowledge, skills, and strategies of various supportive interventions in areas such as how to frame problems.

Collaborative Consultation - Reaching Out to the Broader Community The collaborative consultation model has to engage and be responsive to the broader community and advocate for the integration of basic services. In order to create an effective integrated network of community-school professionals, professional school counselors need to be familiar with other social institutions. How do they function? Who in these systems represent potential partners?

Encouraging Parent/Guardian Collaboration Today, schools harbor a population of students with academic, personal, and social problems that create barriers to academic success. Children are arriving in the classroom with needs far exceeding traditional educational methods, and professional school counselors are well positioned to be proactive School reform has redefined the roles of many school professionals. All must become actively involved in strengthening relationships between schools, families, and communities.

Encouraging Parent/Guardian Collaboration (cont. ) Through collaboration, professional school counselors will gain a clearer understanding of what other agencies can contribute and how they function. Professional school counselors can act as a liaison to parents and community agencies in facilitating collaborative efforts. Ponec et al. , concluded that it is only through the enrichment of this relationship that helping professionals can become more effective.

School Outreach and Changing Family Needs Professional school counselors are the key to increasing opportunities for parents to be involved and supportive of their child’s education. Some parents are very involved and supportive of their child’s education and some are not. The great majority of parents, however, care about their children’s education. Job and family demands engage much of parents’ time, often to the exclusion of school involvement.

Types of Parental Involvement Parenting: Parent education workshops and home visits Communicating: Yearly conference with every parent and weekly folder of student work sent home Volunteering: Parent room or family center and class parent Learning at home: Information on homework policies and summer learning packets Decision-making: Active PTA/PTO and district-level committees Collaborating with communities: Service to community and through partnerships

The Importance of Parent Involvement Parent involvement initiatives have been effective in improving achievement (Center for Public Education, 2011). Parent involvement predicts student achievement (Center for Public Education, 2011), student attendance, and dropouts (Wright & Stegelin, 2003) Parent involvement is far more common in elementary schools.

Strategies for Increasing Parent Involvement 1. Focus on student achievement (academic and otherwise) as a school and extended community. 2. Acknowledge parent contributions at school or community events, as well as through print and personalized expressions of gratitude. 3. Be specific in giving directions so that parents understand exactly what you expect them to do. Use varied and repeated types of communications to solicit volunteers. These may include personal, phone, or written contacts by educators, other parent volunteers, and even students. Recruitment must be a continuous process. 5. Include parents in the planning and decision-making stages of programs to enhance feelings of ownership. 6. Find out what parents are interested and skilled in doing so that volunteer activities will match parent needs, interests, and skills

Strategies for Increasing Parent Involvement (cont. ) 7. Develop a school climate that is positive, inviting, and interactive. Make the school a place that parents want to be. 8. Provide (at least) monthly opportunities for parents to visit the school and interact with the educators and parent volunteers. 9. 10. Encourage the rest of the family (e. g. , grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings), neighbors, employers, and community leaders to get involved. 11. Select a coordinator of volunteer activities to keep everyone moving in sync. This can be a parent volunteer. 12. Provide niceties (e. g. , refreshments, name tags) and remove barriers to participation (e. g. , provide transportation and/or babysitting). Provide parents with resources and information that help them to help their children learn at home.

Communicating Effectively with Parents and Guardians Both parents and school personnel set up road blocks to communication. School staff must treat parents as partners in education, involving each to maximize the potential of all students. The counselor is often the first school contact and must strive to make parents feel welcome in school. Many schools offer one-way communication with parents in the form of newsletters or flyers but they also need to engage in two-way communication. For example: phone calls, e-mail, home visits, conferences, etc.

Communicating Effectively with Parents and Guardians (cont. ) Although teachers are often on the front line of communication, professional school counselors play a critical role in maintaining open dialogues with families. Through parent workshops counselors can teach parents skills for listening and communicating with their child.

Strategies for Communicating These strategies are based on the U. S. Department of Education publication, Reaching All Families. Welcome letter sent home at the beginning of the year. Home-School handbook with school rules and policies. Provides an opportunity to define the professional school counselor’s role and function. Information packets provide more detailed information about the role of the professional school counselor. Calendars highlight counselor planned or coordinated meetings and events for parents.

Strategies for Communicating School newsletter allows counselors (cont. ) to post a regular column. Open house is an opportunity for counselors to invite parents into the school and meet them. New families meeting allows new families the chance to tour the school and to meet their child’s counselor. School-parent compacts are voluntary agreements between home and school to define goals, expectations, and shared responsibilities. Positive phone calls are used to report good information about their child to parents.

Summary/Conclusion Through consultation, professional school counselors affect positive growth for students by working directly with teachers and family members, and the systems within which these groups live and work. A professional school counselor’s primary focus is prevention, which can be accomplished most effectively by maximizing the consultation function. Professional school counselors are uniquely positioned to provide both traditional and innovative services to meet the needs of children and families.