अनुलिपि 🔗
Lauren:
00:00:00
So let's talk data. I know it doesn't always feel like
Lauren:
00:00:04
the most glam thing to talk about, but it's really
Lauren:
00:00:07
important, especially at this time of year. Your data is a
Lauren:
00:00:10
huge advocacy tool, and honestly, it's pretty pointless
Lauren:
00:00:13
if you just let it go to waste and you don't do something with
Lauren:
00:00:16
it. So let's be thinking about that as we get into the last few
Lauren:
00:00:20
months of the school year.
Lauren:
00:00:28
You got into this profession to make a difference in your
Lauren:
00:00:31
students' lives, but you're spread thin by all the things
Lauren:
00:00:34
that keep getting added to your to do list. I can't create more
Lauren:
00:00:37
hours in the day, but I can invite you into my counselor
Lauren:
00:00:39
clique where you'll finally catch your breath. Come with me
Lauren:
00:00:43
as we unpack creative ideas and effective strategies that'll
Lauren:
00:00:46
help you be the counselor who leaves a lifelong impact on your
Lauren:
00:00:49
students. I'm Lauren Tingle, your high school counseling hype
Lauren:
00:00:52
girl, here to help you energize your school counseling program
Lauren:
00:00:55
and remind you of how much you love your job.
Lauren:
00:01:01
I hope this episode is coming to you at the perfect time where
Lauren:
00:01:04
you're thinking, Okay, I only have a few weeks or a few months
Lauren:
00:01:07
left. What should I be keeping in mind so that when we get to
Lauren:
00:01:10
the point where we're trying to cruise out the door and turn our
Lauren:
00:01:14
keys in and lay by the pool—okay, wait. I know that was
Lauren:
00:01:17
wishful thinking. But when you are ready to walk out that door,
Lauren:
00:01:20
I want to make sure that you are ready for summer, but that
Lauren:
00:01:25
you've collected your data and used it in a way that can help
Lauren:
00:01:29
remind you of the impact that you've made this school year, so
Lauren:
00:01:32
that when you are relaxing by the pool, you know that what you
Lauren:
00:01:36
have done has been good work, and you are advocating for all
Lauren:
00:01:40
of the great things that you've done this year, and you are
Lauren:
00:01:43
dreaming of all the things that you want to do in the future.
Lauren:
00:01:46
And you can only do that with the data that you've collected.
Lauren:
00:01:49
So you may already have in mind that you want your data to move
Lauren:
00:01:52
your program somewhere special. Maybe you're hoping that next
Lauren:
00:01:55
year you get another counselor hired on, so that your caseload
Lauren:
00:01:58
will be lower and you can have more time with students, because
Lauren:
00:02:01
that's what you really want, right? Your data is clutch in
Lauren:
00:02:04
making that happen. Maybe you're hoping that next year is the
Lauren:
00:02:08
year they assign someone else to testing, anyone but you, and
Lauren:
00:02:11
your data right now could be the thing that moves the needle for
Lauren:
00:02:14
that as job responsibilities are shifting here and there, and as
Lauren:
00:02:18
your principal is maybe hiring someone or moving someone into a
Lauren:
00:02:20
different position.
Lauren:
00:02:22
Perhaps you're just feeling really scattered in general, and
Lauren:
00:02:25
you're wondering if anything you did this year was actually worth
Lauren:
00:02:28
it. Putting together your data where you tie a pretty bow on it
Lauren:
00:02:32
can be a huge sigh of relief and a really welcome reminder, like
Lauren:
00:02:36
what I'm doing truly actually matters. Students are different
Lauren:
00:02:39
because of what I did. And I may sound like a broken record, I
Lauren:
00:02:42
say that a lot. I say, Are students different because of
Lauren:
00:02:46
what I did? I love measuring our effectiveness of being a high
Lauren:
00:02:49
school counselor by this phrase, are students different because
Lauren:
00:02:53
of what I'm doing here?
Lauren:
00:02:54
Whatever you're dreaming of for your program, it's not going to
Lauren:
00:02:57
happen on its own. You know that. You have to bring
Lauren:
00:03:00
something compelling to the table and make it impossible to
Lauren:
00:03:03
say no to. If you want big changes, you got to have the
Lauren:
00:03:06
data to support it. Data is going to be your best friend in
Lauren:
00:03:09
making that happen. So there's a huge piece of all of this that's
Lauren:
00:03:13
advocacy driven. You've done the work this school year. So let's
Lauren:
00:03:17
see the results, and then let's tell other people about the
Lauren:
00:03:20
results.
Lauren:
00:03:21
Now, I'll admit, my brain does not naturally think in numbers.
Lauren:
00:03:25
It doesn't even go there. If I'm being honest, I still have
Lauren:
00:03:28
trauma from my advanced math classes in high school where I
Lauren:
00:03:31
never knew what was going on. And I found it really annoying
Lauren:
00:03:34
that I had to take statistics in undergrad and grad school to
Lauren:
00:03:37
find T scores and Z scores and whatever other scores that I
Lauren:
00:03:41
literally don't know what that means right now. That stuff does
Lauren:
00:03:44
not matter to me if I can't figure out what it means or why
Lauren:
00:03:47
I collected it, or what implications it has on my
Lauren:
00:03:49
program.
Lauren:
00:03:51
So I'm here to encourage you that it doesn't have to be
Lauren:
00:03:53
complicated. Don't make it complicated. I'm gonna link in
Lauren:
00:03:56
the show notes a blog post that really simplifies what you can
Lauren:
00:03:59
be looking for and where you can pull numbers from. I'm also
Lauren:
00:04:02
going to link to a free resource that is 49 places that you can
Lauren:
00:04:06
look for data in your program, just ideas of
Load full transcript
places to dig in
Lauren:
00:04:10
for numbers that are already sitting there waiting for you to
Lauren:
00:04:12
peek at them. So you can download that one for yourself
Lauren:
00:04:15
by clicking on the link in the show notes or going to
Lauren:
00:04:18
counselorclique.com/dataideas.
Lauren:
00:04:20
I want to give you some ideas of some of those places where you
Lauren:
00:04:24
can pull those numbers and see how they may be impactful for
Lauren:
00:04:26
your people. You know, all those stakeholders who are taking
Lauren:
00:04:30
interest in what you're doing. But remember, this is totally
Lauren:
00:04:33
unique to you, your program, what your goals were for this
Lauren:
00:04:36
year, what you're hoping to change for next year, or just
Lauren:
00:04:39
ideas that you hope to implement in the future.
Lauren:
00:04:42
So I would start first by reflecting on my goals from this
Lauren:
00:04:45
year. Did your team, are you working with a team, did you all
Lauren:
00:04:46
set goals way back when, in the summer, on a planning day or
Lauren:
00:04:48
when the year started? Or did you write out some goals in your
Lauren:
00:04:51
administrative agreements? Did you sit down and determine the
Lauren:
00:04:59
direction of where your program would go, or what you'd be doing
Lauren:
00:05:03
this year at a team meeting?
Lauren:
00:05:04
If the answer is no to any or all of those, step one for you
Lauren:
00:05:08
is thinking about next year, putting that on the calendar,
Lauren:
00:05:11
because we can't go back in time right now and change that for at
Lauren:
00:05:14
the end of this year. But if you did have those goals, let's stop
Lauren:
00:05:17
and think, How did you do? It's time to pull out all the
Lauren:
00:05:20
numbers. I'm hoping this one isn't too difficult, like I'm
Lauren:
00:05:23
hoping that you can look at the goal and then kind of answer
Lauren:
00:05:26
that, evaluate it, did you meet it? So if you had a goal of
Lauren:
00:05:30
doing X amount of classroom lessons, or you were hoping Y
Lauren:
00:05:34
percent of students were promoted, or Z number of
Lauren:
00:05:36
students could identify their number one career cluster after
Lauren:
00:05:39
your career fair, did those things happen? Let's provide the
Lauren:
00:05:43
data answers to all of those smart goals that you set.
Lauren:
00:05:46
So remember, you accomplishing those or not accomplishing those
Lauren:
00:05:50
is not a true measure of your value or your success as a high
Lauren:
00:05:53
school counselor this year. You may have arbitrarily picked a
Lauren:
00:05:57
number to increase by or a percentage to hit just because
Lauren:
00:06:00
you needed to pick a number that felt right, because you had
Lauren:
00:06:04
nothing else to start from. So now that you've got a good
Lauren:
00:06:07
starting place, you can pace yourself for years to come. So
Lauren:
00:06:10
don't get down on yourself if you did not meet your goal.
Lauren:
00:06:15
Are you a new high school counselor navigating your role
Lauren:
00:06:18
for the first time? Maybe you started in this role mid year,
Lauren:
00:06:21
or you're dreaming of getting your first job when you finish
Lauren:
00:06:23
up your internship. I've got the perfect free resource for you.
Lauren:
00:06:27
Head to counselorclique.com/newcounselorplaylist
Lauren:
00:06:30
for a curated Spotify playlist, just for new high school
Lauren:
00:06:34
counselors. This tailored resource will help you level up
Lauren:
00:06:37
your counseling skills, boost your confidence, and gain some
Lauren:
00:06:40
wisdom that'll ease your transition for your beginning
Lauren:
00:06:42
years. With episodes like, what I wish I knew as a beginning
Lauren:
00:06:46
high school counselor, to mistakes to avoid high school
Lauren:
00:06:49
counseling, you'll be ready for anything that comes your way.
Lauren:
00:06:52
Get ready to hit play on your podcast player and start your
Lauren:
00:06:55
journey with confidence, inspiration and expertise. Head
Lauren:
00:06:58
to counselorclique.com/newcounselorplaylist.
Lauren:
00:07:02
Happy listening.
Lauren:
00:07:05
I'd say that following up on those smart goals with the
Lauren:
00:07:07
results of data or closing the gap goal are your key places
Lauren:
00:07:11
that you're going to want to pull data from to highlight. But
Lauren:
00:07:13
maybe after looking at the free data ideas guide I mentioned, or
Lauren:
00:07:17
just contemplating some different types of data, like
Lauren:
00:07:20
process, perception, outcome data, you may realize that you
Lauren:
00:07:23
want to organize it in a different way. I write about
Lauren:
00:07:26
this in a blog post that I can link, but it's worth reminding
Lauren:
00:07:29
to you if it's been a hot minute since you learned these things
Lauren:
00:07:31
in grad school.
Lauren:
00:07:32
So I'll just kind of chat with you here real quick about
Lauren:
00:07:35
process, perception, outcome data. A reminder—process data is
Lauren:
00:07:38
like your cold, hard facts, like, how many students attended
Lauren:
00:07:41
an event, how many classroom lessons you did, or how many
Lauren:
00:07:44
students finished a small group that you ran.
Lauren:
00:07:47
The perception data can be things like quotes from students
Lauren:
00:07:50
or pictures of events or initiatives that you hosted
Lauren:
00:07:52
related to your goals, or even stories from your students or
Lauren:
00:07:56
your school counseling team. Perception data really can help
Lauren:
00:08:00
you answer questions of how students are different because
Lauren:
00:08:03
of what you're doing as a high school counselor. The thing I
Lauren:
00:08:05
said before as like a really great measure, perception data
Lauren:
00:08:08
is kind of
the encompassing thing that could help you get
Lauren:
00:08:10
there. So when students answer questions like, I know, or I
Lauren:
00:08:14
believe, or I can, like I can do this thing now, you've got some
Lauren:
00:08:18
insight for your perception data. I like to work these
Lauren:
00:08:21
phrases into post test or like post surveys or, needs
Lauren:
00:08:25
assessment's not the right word, but the surveys that you give,
Lauren:
00:08:28
or the ways that you're assessing students when you're
Lauren:
00:08:32
asking for feedback for something that they've done.
Lauren:
00:08:34
Outcome data is probably the stuff that you're getting
Lauren:
00:08:37
intimidated with around data, the graphs, the charts, the
Lauren:
00:08:40
visuals with the numbers that you collected that show the
Lauren:
00:08:42
results. Think of outcome data like the before and after to
Lauren:
00:08:46
show the effectiveness of your intervention that you put into
Lauren:
00:08:49
A reminder for all of these sorts of data points. Of course,
Lauren:
00:08:49
place.
Lauren:
00:08:53
it doesn't necessarily feel good to be like, Oh, we didn't hit
Lauren:
00:08:57
our goals. Or here's the data to show for it, and it's not the
Lauren:
00:09:01
data I thought it was gonna be. But maybe your outcome data
Lauren:
00:09:04
reveals that your intervention wasn't as meaningful of a thing
Lauren:
00:09:06
as you hoped it would be. But guess what? That is still good
Lauren:
00:09:09
news. You can scratch it from your interventions for next
Lauren:
00:09:12
year, or trash it completely so you don't waste your time
Lauren:
00:09:15
anymore. Or you could tweak things with that intervention,
Lauren:
00:09:18
and now you have education from the data that you collected to
Lauren:
00:09:23
change those things up, and really permission to change it
Lauren:
00:09:25
up.
Lauren:
00:09:26
So now, once you've kind of thought of where you're going to
Lauren:
00:09:28
pull your data from, what kind of data that's going to look
Lauren:
00:09:31
like, what are you going to do with it? I want you to spread it
Lauren:
00:09:34
far and wide. Think of all of your end of the year meetings
Lauren:
00:09:37
that you may already have on your calendar, or the places
Lauren:
00:09:40
that you're going to show up as you're wrapping things up and
Lauren:
00:09:43
putting a bow on the end of your year, I want you to format your
Lauren:
00:09:46
data to be shared out in these places.
Lauren:
00:09:48
So do you have one more advisory council meeting? Use this space
Lauren:
00:09:52
to revisit the goals you've been talking about with this crew,
Lauren:
00:09:54
and then share your results. These people are showing up.
Lauren:
00:09:57
They're interested in it. You've got a captive audience, so let's
Lauren:
00:09:59
go ahead and share it with them. This can be on a printable PDF
Lauren:
00:10:03
handout, like to all of the members of your advisory
Lauren:
00:10:05
council, or can be on a slide deck that you present on a TV
Lauren:
00:10:08
screen. This is a great small group of people to share those
Lauren:
00:10:12
more personal perception type data stories with them. You
Lauren:
00:10:16
don't have to use real names, but you can share student quotes
Lauren:
00:10:18
or pictures of events or interventions that you ran this
Lauren:
00:10:21
year. People love visuals and storytelling. I know that I do.
Lauren:
00:10:26
I'm sure you'll have an end of year staff luncheon, or one more
Lauren:
00:10:28
faculty meeting. Ask for a few minutes of their time, or, you
Lauren:
00:10:32
know, get on the principal's list of the presentations that
Lauren:
00:10:35
are happening at that faculty meeting. If you've been working
Lauren:
00:10:39
on your teachers to have buy in, or this is something that you've
Lauren:
00:10:42
been trying to get them on your team to care about what you're
Lauren:
00:10:44
doing, it's important to be transparent with that data you
Lauren:
00:10:47
collected. Don't just present it at the beginning of the year,
Lauren:
00:10:50
tell them your role and then never check back in and share
Lauren:
00:10:52
what you're doing. I think a lot of respect can come from being
Lauren:
00:10:55
transparent with your numbers.
Lauren:
00:10:57
So let them see what came out of your data driven program that
Lauren:
00:11:00
you've told them that you're running, let them celebrate with
Lauren:
00:11:03
you. You can probably use the same sorts of compelling data
Lauren:
00:11:06
that you did at your advisory council here with your teachers.
Lauren:
00:11:09
Remind them that you got to this point because of their
Lauren:
00:11:12
willingness to partner with you. You genuinely couldn't do it
Lauren:
00:11:14
without their partnership. But if you're listening to this and
Lauren:
00:11:17
you feel like you don't have them on board with what you're
Lauren:
00:11:19
doing, you know that it feels like running a marathon in the
Lauren:
00:11:23
mud, like you've got boots on, trailing through the mud and you
Lauren:
00:11:27
can't make any progress without their buy in. So this is all
Lauren:
00:11:29
kind of tied together.
Lauren:
00:11:31
You can send a follow up email after this faculty meeting with
Lauren:
00:11:34
those key points that you summarized at the meeting. So
Lauren:
00:11:36
whether someone was there and they need this re-emphasized and
Lauren:
00:11:40
they get to look at it one more time, or maybe they missed the
Lauren:
00:11:42
meeting, you're hitting those key things with them here. So
Lauren:
00:11:46
maybe you can link to that PDF that you printed out and put on
Lauren:
00:11:48
their tables. Maybe you can just hit those bullet points, make it
Lauren:
00:11:52
short and sweet in an email, and have them be able to visually
Lauren:
00:11:56
read that and remember all the good things that you're doing.
Lauren:
00:11:59
If you have a district get together that maybe someone
Lauren:
00:12:02
higher up than you hosts, don't be afraid to share out your good
Lauren:
00:12:06
things. I know sometimes it can feel awkward to be the one that
Lauren:
00:12:09
stands up and says, Yeah, I have something to share, but you
Lauren:
00:12:13
being one person to be bold and start that conversation will
Lauren:
00:12:16
inspire other high school counselors. So I'd challenge
Lauren:
00:12:19
you, why can't it be you who stands up and shares something
Lauren:
00:12:22
awesome?
Lauren:
00:12:23
Share online in your communities that you're a part of. If you're
Lauren:
00:12:26
in the Clique Collaborative, go share over in our community, we
Lauren:
00:12:29
want to celebrate with you and chat about how you got your
Lauren:
00:12:32
results and what you hope to do differently next year. If your
Lauren:
00:12:35
school has a social media page or your school counseling
Lauren:
00:12:37
department is active on social media, share out some of those
Lauren:
00:12:41
results there, people want to celebrate you, and honestly,
Lauren:
00:12:44
they're gonna file it in the back of their brain, like, hey,
Lauren:
00:12:47
what they're doing matters, and that's really cool. I didn't
Lauren:
00:12:50
even know they did that.
Lauren:
00:12:52
I ended up having a lot more to say about end of year data than
Lauren:
00:12:55
I originally thought I did, because, like I said, I don't
Lauren:
00:12:58
think it's particularly sexy or glamorous to talk about data,
Lauren:
00:13:03
especially when that's not my natural inclination to gravitate
Lauren:
00:13:07
towards data. It's not what I want to do for fun. My husband
Lauren:
00:13:11
would beg to differ in terms of interests and stuff, he's the
Lauren:
00:13:14
numbers guy. But I wanted you to think a little bit differently
Lauren:
00:13:18
about the data that you might uncover that is already in front
Lauren:
00:13:22
of you, that process, perception, outcome data. And
Lauren:
00:13:25
then I want you to brainstorm places that you're going to
Lauren:
00:13:27
share that good news to. So use those five different places that
Lauren:
00:13:31
I gave you, and I'm excited to see and hear how you share out
Lauren:
00:13:35
your data and how it inspires other people to take interest in
Lauren:
00:13:38
your school counseling program.
Lauren:
00:13:40
So remember to check out the show notes for that free data
Lauren:
00:13:43
guide, and then all of the related blog posts and podcast
Lauren:
00:13:46
episodes around data and other end of year ideas. If I spark
Lauren:
00:13:50
some questions, always feel free to reach out to me on Instagram
Lauren:
00:13:54
DMs, I am happy to chat, and I'll see you next week.
Lauren:
00:13:59
Thanks for listening to today's episode of High School
Lauren:
00:14:01
Counseling Conversations. All the links I talked about today
Lauren:
00:14:05
can be found in the show notes and also at
Lauren:
00:14:07
counselorclique.com/podcast. Be sure to hit follow wherever you
Lauren:
00:14:12
listen to your podcasts so that you never miss a new episode.
Lauren:
00:14:15
Connect with me over on Instagram. Feel free to send me
Lauren:
00:14:18
a DM @counselorclique, that's C, L, I, Q, U, E. I'll see you next
Lauren:
00:14:23
week.