Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

SCHOOL COUNSELOR–

ADMINISTRATOR

teams

A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community

In Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams: A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community, authors Tonya C. Balch and Bradley V. Balch help educators maneuver legal questions, ethical considerations, personnel problems, confidentiality, scheduling, parent and guardian engagement, crises, and more. K–12 school counselors and administrators learn how purposeful collaboration is often the solution to these challenges and gain a systematic approach to professional development focused on six characteristics of high-performing teams: (1) trust and transparency, (2) results orientation, (3) professional relationships, (4) respect for diversity and divergent thought, (5) agreed-on decision-making processes, and (6) commitment to continuous improvement.

Readers will: • Engage in activities that help build strong, healthy collaboration that puts student achievement at the forefront • Consider ethical decisions for students, parents and guardians, and other stakeholders

• Understand the team’s legal authority and its various origins and limitations • Participate in professional development activities on leadership, confidentiality, master scheduling, and more

—Stephanie Kozuch

Board President and Chairperson, Indiana School Counselor Association “This book drives home the importance of the collaborative relationship between the school counselor and administrator by walking us through the gray areas when making difficult decisions and helping us define best practices in our respective fields.”

—Kirsten Perry

2018 School Counselor of the Year, American School Counselor Association; K–12 School Counseling Specialist, Chicago Public Schools “This work provides a timeless and relevant account regarding the imperative of effective school counselor–administrator teams.

The power of such a relationship has been well examined by Balch and Balch. Their account is compelling and to the benefit of student wellness.”

SCHOOL COUNSELOR–

ADMINISTRATOR

teams

A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community

—Jennifer McCormick

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Indiana Department of Education

ISBN 978-1-947604-23-0 90000

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

building great

9 781947 604230

Balch  Balch

• Examine purposeful collaboration and how to apply it for students’ academic and emotional well-being

“This work goes beyond the concept of counselors and administrators playing nicely together in the sandbox to truly collaborating as a team.

The activities included at the conclusion of each topical section are pragmatic and would serve any school counselor– administrator teams as a forward step to effecting systematic change in their individual schools and districts.”

Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

building great

tonya c. balch  bradley v. balch

Copyright © 2019 by Solution Tree Press Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to download the free reproducibles in this book.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Balch, Tonya Christman, 1967- author. | Balch, Bradley V., author.

Title: Building great school counselor-administrator teams : a systematic approach to supporting students, staff, and the community / Tonya Christman Balch and Bradley V. Balch.

Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018031036 | ISBN 9781947604230 (perfect bound) Subjects: LCSH: School management teams--United States. | School management and organization--United States. | Educational leadership--United States. | School administrators--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Student counselors--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Classification: LCC LB2806.3 .B35 2019 | DDC 371.2--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov /2018031036 Solution Tree Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO Edmund M. Ackerman, President Solution Tree Press President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife Associate Publisher: Sarah Payne-Mills Art Director: Rian Anderson Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton Senior Production Editor: Tonya Maddox Cupp Senior Editor: Amy Rubenstein Copy Editor: Jessi Finn Proofreader: Evie Madsen Text and Cover Designer: Abigail Bowen Editorial Assistant: Sarah Ludwig

[ table of contents ] About the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 A Team With a Grand Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Power of a Team Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Convergence of Roles Over Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Need for Systematic Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Importance of Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 This Book’s Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Professional Development Activity on Teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 1 Team Effectiveness and Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Organizational Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Characteristics of High-Performing Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Resistance to Working in Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Professional Development Activity on Team Effectiveness and Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 2 Legal Precedents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The Importance of Legal Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Legal Basics and Sources of Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The Principles of Commonwealth and Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

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Democratic Principles as an Operational Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Expectations for Legal Scrutiny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Legal Lens as a Limitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Professional Development Activity on Team Power and Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 3 Ethical Considerations for Different Stakeholders . . . 45 Ethics Standards That Teams Follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Six-Step Ethical Decision-Making Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Ethical Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Professional Development Activity on Ethical Decision Making. . . . 56 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 4 Personnel Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Personnel Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Conflict Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Professional Development Activity on Personnel Issues. . . . . . . . . 68 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 5 Confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Confidentiality and Privileged Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Confidentiality Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Confidentiality Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Professional Development Activity on Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . 78 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Chapter 6 Abuse and Neglect Reporting and Mitigation . . . . . . 83 The State of Child Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Mandated Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Mitigation of Adverse Childhood Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Growth Mindset and Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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Professional Development Activity on Protective Factors . . . . . . . 94 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Chapter 7 Student Misbehavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Individual Student Misbehavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Small-Group and Large-Group Student Misbehavior. . . . . . . . . . . 105 Investigations and Due Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Professional Development Activity on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Chapter 8 Master Scheduling, Supervision, and Testing . . . . . 113 Master Schedule Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Supervision Duties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Testing Responsibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Professional Development Activity on Master Scheduling . . . . . . 123 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Chapter 9 Parent and Guardian Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Effects of Parent and Guardian Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Purposeful Parent and Guardian Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Engagement Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Tools for Parent and Guardian Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Professional Development Activity on Parent and Guardian Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Chapter 10 Crises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Crisis Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Crisis Preparation and Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Crisis Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Crisis Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Considerations for Crisis Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

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Professional Development Activity on Trauma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Chapter 11 The Future of the School Counselor–Administrator Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Periodical Assessment of the Team Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Future Influences and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Professional Development Activity on Leadership Reflection . . . 163 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Appendix Trauma-Sensitive School Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 References and Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

[ about the authors ] Tonya C. Balch, PhD, is a professor in counseling and a faculty member in the Department of Communication Disorders and Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology at Indiana State University. Tonya is a former school counselor who worked with students in grades 7–12 in West Central Indiana.

She served as the director of guidance at Fountain Central Junior-Senior High School in Veedersburg, Indiana. She has been the program coordinator for the school counseling master of education program at Indiana State University since 2005.

Tonya is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American School Counselor Association. She is a member of the Indiana Counseling Association, receiving the President’s Award in 2013, and the Indiana School Counselor Association, receiving the Exemplary Counselor Educator Award in 2011. She has given presentations throughout the United States and internationally on topics ranging from mentorship of African American students and continuous improvement to school counselor–administrator teams. Tonya has published on topics such as effective transitions and leadership skills influencing student achievement, and has written grants totaling more than $430,050 in sponsored program support for the human service professions.

Tonya received a bachelor of science degree in physics, a master of education degree in school counseling, and a doctorate of philosophy in educational administration from Indiana State University.

To learn more about Tonya C. Balch’s work, follow @TonyaBalch on Twitter.

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Bradley V. Balch, PhD, is a professor and dean emeritus at Indiana State University. He is a graduate faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership at Bayh College of Education, and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Management, Information Systems, and Business Education at Scott College of Business. Brad was formerly a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, and teacher throughout West Central Indiana. Brad was also a two-term board member and president for the Covington Community School Corporation in Covington, Indiana. He has been an educator of industrial technology and mathematics since 1984, having taught kindergarten through twelfth grade in a variety of school settings. His educational work experiences range from rural settings to urban schools with a range of socioeconomic statuses and academic performances, including the North Montgomery School Corporation in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and the Vigo County School Corporation in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Brad served on the board of directors for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education from 2012 to 2015. He also served on the board of directors for the Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities from 2008 to 2016 and was president from 2011 to 2012. Brad is a member of the Indiana Association of School Principals and, in 2012, won its President’s Award. Brad strongly believes in continuous school improvement and the power of strong leadership and governance at the district level to restore trust and confidence in local control. He has given more than one hundred sixty presentations throughout the United States and internationally, on topics ranging from accreditation and continuous improvement to leadership and governance imperatives. Brad has authored or coauthored more than sixty publications, including three books: Transformational Leadership and Decision Making in Schools, Preparing a Professional Portfolio: A School Administrator’s Guide, and Building Great School Board–Superintendent Teams: A Systematic Approach to Balancing Roles and Responsibilities.

Brad received a bachelor of science degree in education from Ball State University, a master of arts in education from Ball State University, and a doctorate of philosophy in educational administration from Indiana State University.

To learn more about Bradley V. Balch’s work, follow @BalchBrad on Twitter.

To book Tonya C. Balch or Bradley V. Balch for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.

Introduction The complex nature of teaching and learning in schools dictates that all education stakeholders work together in support of student success. Working in isolation, regardless of an educator’s role, is simply not plausible in an environment fraught with constant change where everything is inexorably connected to everything else.

This is especially true for school counselors and administrators.

Consider only a few of the pressing issues facing education. Education writer Grace Chen (2017) indicates that poverty, family factors, bullying, student attitudes and behaviors, and parental involvement are among the most pervasive challenges. Leadership consultant and educator Peter DeWitt (2018) adds school choice, social-emotional learning, transgender student rights, crises, collective efficacy, testing, school accountability, authentic engagement, and school climate as other key challenges facing schools.

No doubt these representative issues are imperatives for both school counselors and administrators. Each may tackle most, if not all, of these challenges on any given day. Doing so alone may serve the school counselor’s or administrator’s personal accountability needs (such as the personal need to be an effective or caring counselor or administrator, for instance). It also may serve as an efficient means to accomplish tasks, but solo work will always be void of the powerful collective efforts and collaborative outcomes associated with an effective team.

Alternatively, working together as an educational team harnesses the power of collaboration to face and overcome these challenges in systematic and sustainable ways. It is noteworthy that team composition will vary given local context (by grade level or school size, for example), including representative members such as assistant principals, deans, school psychologists, nurses, and social workers. The College Board (2011), National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), and American School Counselor Association (ASCA) also see the strength of collaborative relationships through the power of the school counselor–administrator team. This team has the potential to have a “dynamic and organic relationship that evolves over time in response to the ever-changing needs of a school” (College Board, 2011, p. 8).

[ 1 ]

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

At the heart of the team are the professionals who wrestle daily with building-level issues as administrators and school counselors. Admirably, they face these challenges willingly, forever advancing the cause of education within their schools.

It has increasingly become the goal of school counselor–administrator team members to “understand the greatest needs in their school and then to develop a better working partnership to meet these needs [for] their students” (College Board, 2011, p. 11). College Board research scientist Doreen Finkelstein (2009) says: School principals and school counselors have something in common: both want to see students succeed. And although their individual roles and responsibilities are very different, both principals and counselors face difficulties and challenges in their efforts to improve student outcomes within the school.

When principals and counselors can work effectively together, their efforts stand a far better chance of making a difference and helping all students achieve. (p. 2)

The majority of this book makes the case for developing and strengthening this partnership amid a variety of issues persistently facing the team. Additionally, U.S. history forms the basis of this section due to the plethora of literature and study findings, and the authors’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. context, but the remainder of the book applies to readers in Canada and beyond (save chapter 2, which focuses on legal context in the United States).

As a school counselor or administrator, you are working on a team with a grand purpose to help all students achieve. To fulfill that purpose, you will want to harness the power of a team approach. Understanding the convergence of roles over time will help you harness it. From there, you will see the need for systematically implementing change and the importance of professional development. To that end, you will finish the introduction with a professional development activity on teamwork.

A Team With a Grand Purpose For approximately 300,000 school counselors (Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.) and 900,000 administrators (Department for Professional Employees, 2016), it may seem like a daunting task to take responsibility for providing a public education that benefits approximately 49.5 million students and that employs 3.1 million teachers in over 100,000 primary and secondary schools throughout the United States (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], n.d.). In addition to the preceding numbers, consider the millions of support personnel required to support public education—bus drivers, food service workers, daily maintenance employees, custodians, classroom aides, security staff, health professionals, and others. It is quickly and inarguably understood that public education is collectively one of the largest employers

Introduction

3

in the United States; it’s the fourth largest employer in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2015). Additionally, when you consider the scores of businesses and industry partners that provide direct and indirect supports to education, it is little wonder education persists as a top priority for North America among so many stakeholders, groups, agencies, and organizations.

People enter the education profession as a career and as a public service for a variety of reasons, but to be successful, personal interests must meld with education’s purposes as outlined in state and provincial constitutions and refined within respective schools, districts, and communities. Fulfilling education’s purposes requires strong human service professionals and leaders who are driven to help people and schools perform at optimal levels academically, socially, and emotionally. Many decisions that the school counselor–administrator team addresses follow fairly predictable patterns—student inductions into the National Honor Society, class scheduling, awards ceremony planning, or student transfers, for example.

Educational purposes will intersect with issues that commonly land in the following categories. §§ Legal concerns: Student rights and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 §§ Ethics: Right-wrong decision making and morality §§ Personnel: Procedural due process and positive support §§ Confidentiality: Legal and ethical standards and individuals’ rights §§ Abuse and neglect: Agency reporting and prevention §§ Student misbehavior: Procedural due process and positive support §§ Master scheduling: Prioritization among competing demands and a student-centered focus §§ Parent and guardian engagement: Involvement impact and meaningful two-way communication §§ Crisis: Prevention techniques and reaction Individually addressing the preceding issues can lead to duplicated effort by school counselors and administrators who are not closely communicating. It also results in linear strategies that lack the depth that an informed team conversation can create. Working together not only informs next-step decisions, but better ensures sustainable decisions.

School leaders and human service professionals greatly enhance this performance when they join together as a team, forming a professional relationship that collectively impacts education far more than any individual efforts can. Author and

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executive coach Maggie Craddock (2011) notes that not many people know that a team “can accomplish what an individual alone cannot do.” This book helps you build a healthy team.

The Power of a Team Approach Many effective examples of school counselors and administrators engage in what Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith (1993), leading authorities on team dynamics, call working groups. These working groups “share information, perspectives, and insights” and “make decisions that help each person do his or her job better . . . and reinforce individual performance” (p. 112). Moreover, while this type of professional relationship has merit in any school, the focus remains on the individual and his or her accomplishments. In a working group culture, principals and counselors often make representative statements such as, “Wow, the principal and assistant principal saw 112 students via referrals today and quickly got them back to class. They’re getting pretty efficient!” Alternatively, a counselor might say this to a principal: “The counseling area is getting really good at minimizing bullying. We’ve dealt with more referrals this year than any other year.” These statements reinforce the individual nature of the working group relationship.

However, the essence of this book is about building the school counselor and administrator’s capacity to move beyond the working group relationship to that of a team, hopefully resulting in optimal academic and social-emotional student growth and continuous school improvement. The richness of the team concept is, in part, a “set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others” (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993, p. 111). Consider also that a “collection of teachers does not truly become a team until members must rely on one another to accomplish a goal that none could achieve individually” (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016, p. 60). This reliance is underscored by a collective approach infused with shared vision and purpose, which is too often absent from working groups.

This notion of the team is further reinforced in a study of school counselor–principal relationships that has discovered a purposeful collaboration relationship (Janson, Militello, & Kosine, 2008). Purposeful collaboration is when two groups “come together for specific and meaningful purposes such as the school plan or closing the achievement gap. This style not only has a high degree of open communication, but there is also a shared purpose” (Janson et al., 2008, p. 356). While the team’s shared purpose will vary based on situational context, it is typically underscored by students’ academic and social-emotional growth and continuous school improvement.

Introduction

5

The College Board (2011), NASSP, and ASCA refine and reinforce the importance, even the urgency, of focusing on how the school counselor–administrator team accomplishes its work through the collective statement that the team must “build effective relationships in which communications are open and fluid, all professionals trust and respect one another, all professionals serve in leadership roles, and planning involves close collaboration” (p. 9).

We posit that it is only through a collective commitment to the school counselor– administrator team and agreed-on goals that schools may best address the issues and challenges within an educational system as manifested through faculty, staff, students, parents, guardians, and other key education stakeholders.

The Convergence of Roles Over Time In the simplest terms, school counselors in North American are members of educational teams providing “valuable assistance to students, helping them with their academic goals, their social and personal development, and with their career development” (Sokanu, n.d.). Alternatively, school administrators are charged with overseeing the school’s daily operations, leading in an official capacity. However, due to shifting educational priorities, these roles have converged over time.

School counseling and administration have experienced many changes throughout education’s storied history in North America. (School counselors have different roles in other regions of the world.) These changes have largely mirrored the changes experienced by education, which, in turn, have impacted the roles and responsibilities of both professions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the school counselor and administrator served in very different, distinct, and limited roles. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the U.S. Industrial Revolution impacted education and the responsibilities of the school teacher and administrator. In fact, vocational teachers’ roles during this era gave rise to the vocation-focused counselor, whose purpose was to ensure he or she prepared students for the working world (Gysbers, 2001).

School counselors were rare prior to the Industrial Revolution. Canadian counselors too began with a focus on career development in the late 1880s and early 1900s (Education International, 2017). U.S. federal support for hiring school counselors during this era came from the Smith–Hughes National Vocational Education Act of 1917 (Wright, 2012). Representative words associated with school counseling during this time include vocation, career, skills, abilities, and workplace.

The focus on postsecondary education was misplaced because it was primarily aimed at high school students and not inclusive of other academic levels. During this time, a transition was occurring in which the traditional headmaster or headmistress

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(a school’s senior teacher) was becoming a building administrator primarily charged with supervising teachers. The building administrator still assumed the role of master teacher, but was “vested with sufficient authority [to] keep all subordinates in their proper place and at their assigned tasks” (Payne, 1875, p. 17). Representative words associated with the building administrator during this time include supervision, supervisor, authority, tasks, and responsibility. Limitations this era placed on the building administrator included a lack of professional development for supervising and a lack of consistent administrative expectations among schools. Also, schools lacked an overall administrator selection process, so the teacher with the greatest seniority or the teacher willing to assume additional responsibilities frequently took the role (Rousmaniere, 2013).

Another role-changing milestone occurred after a surprising and successful Russian space satellite launch infamously known as Sputnik, which occurred in 1957. Roles and responsibilities among school counselors and administrators evidenced growing alignment, and this new era thrust them into new educational roles as the United States’ race to space created a sense of “immediate need to put into place social and educational reform that would quickly bring Americans back to the forefront of science and technology” (Schimmel, 2008, p. 20). It was during this time that federal funding increased the number of school counselors across the United States threefold (Wittmer, 2000). The school counselor role expanded to include individual counseling, consultation, and coordination-related duties focused on efficient school operations (Gysbers, 2001). Representative words associated with school counseling during this time include professional growth, consultation, individual and group counseling, coordination, obstacle removal, and student life goals.

For building administrators during this era, their leadership became slightly more managerial as they reacted to the wounded reputation of K–12 education and a push for back-to-basics education. As such, building administrators kept “complaints to a minimum . . . [did] nothing that [was] controversial . . . [and went] ahead with the program without making a huge issue” (Wolcott, 1973, p. 209). Representative words associated with the building administrator during this time include management, cooperation, professional growth support, satisfaction, disciplinarian, expert, building leader, and trust. The building administrator’s day was framed by generally predictable routines and innovation within limited structures, and he or she arrived first in the morning and left last in the evening (Markle & VanKoevering, 2013).

Finally, another milestone occurred for both the school counselor and administrator professions with the onset of the era of accountability in the mid-1990s. This era served to increase a nationalized approach to education and reduce the federalized concept, the latter of which vertically diffused power to the states. (You can read more about this concept in chapter 2’s section The Principals of Commonwealth and

Introduction

7

Sovereignty on page 35.) President William (Bill) Clinton did much during his tenure to move the United States toward standards-based education, but it was President George W. Bush, through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), also known as the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), who built on President Clinton’s initiatives and added mandated testing, school choice, adequate yearly progress among select groups of students, and statewide benchmarks requiring federal approval. It is noteworthy that this era continues by virtue of President Barack Obama’s reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015).

By the time this era arrived, both school counselors and administrators were established as highly trained professionals in their respective education fields, requiring a master’s degree as a minimum and adherence to standards-based state certification expectations. Both professions also have national organizations to ensure professional excellence, rigorous preparation, and continuous improvement to strengthen K–12 student learning. Two representative organizations are ASCA and the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC). This era also dictates that both professions focus on building, district, and state initiatives. That includes strategic plans that feature foundational statements, including vision (your school’s realistic future-oriented dream of when things are as good as they get, but stated in present tense), mission (who your school is, what you do, why you do it, and whom you serve), core values (those things your school holds itself accountable to and what you will not compromise), and schoolwide goals or school-improvement goals; college and career readiness; mandated assessments; student success; parent and guardian involvement; and a host of other issues.

School counselors are trained to provide individual and small- and large-group services and are likely to do so on a regular basis throughout the school year. However, time is a limiting factor further exacerbated by federal and state accountability laws in which several non-counseling duties have been assigned, leading to role confusion (House & Hayes, 2002). More specifically, school counselors find themselves involved in testing, test preparation, and school-improvement initiatives, which directly compete with their roles in student growth and development emphases, as well as their larger roles as valuable school community members (Wright, 2012).

Representative words associated with school counselors in the 21st century include transformation, student success, curricular access, college and career readiness, collaborator, leader, data drivenness, advocate, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and abbreviated counseling.

Since the 1990s, the administrator has been compelled to remain focused on many time-honored duties related to management, employee supervision, financial management, student discipline, and law and policy interpretation and implementation.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

And like school counselors, administrators are also being asked to focus on testing, assessment, accountability, student performance, and a host of other issues directly related to measurable student success. In addition to the words of emphasis shared in the preceding sentences, words associated with contemporary building administrators include a focus on school crises, communications and marketing, curriculum and instruction, a vision for college and career readiness, data-driven decision making, climate and cultural awareness, commitment to parent and guardian involvement, advocate, and strategic planner. Administrators in the 21st century face persistently changing expectations coupled with inadequate support and training (Alvoid & Black, 2014) and an overwhelming sense that job complexity has led to high levels of stress and lowered job satisfaction (MetLife, 2013).

As the changes have influenced commensurate professional changes to school counselor and administrator expectations, the case may be made that a convergence of roles and responsibilities has occurred—changes directly reflective of broader society supporting efficiency and strategic planning. To make the case for converging roles and responsibilities, envision a list of desirable skills for a school counselor– administrator team published on behalf of a school in a local newspaper. Many roles and responsibilities would be similar. Figure I.1 illustrates role and responsibility overlap.

The school counselor and administrator must both be able to do the following.

• Lead a complex organizational environment.

• Support the school’s vision, mission, and values.

• Build capacity for continuous school improvement.

• Directly support students, faculty, staff, parents, guardians, and other key stakeholders, and establish healthy work relationships with individuals, groups, and communities.

• Deal with conflict and ambiguity.

• Work with families.

• Supervise and evaluate as needed.

• Coordinate budgets and schedules.

• Model sound time-management, decision-making, communication, and human-relations skills.

• Address academic, emotional, and social challenges.

Figure I.1: Ad listing school counselor and administrator desirable skills.

This ad illustrates the many predictable demands facing the school counselor and administrator. Imagine the inefficiency of the school counselor or administrator who independently tackles those challenges. Further, imagine the confusion among education stakeholders—staff, students, parents, and guardians—as the school counselor or

Introduction

9

administrator uses his or her unique professional lens without awareness of or regard for the other’s efforts on similar issues.

Simply stated, the team’s power comes from addressing school demands together to improve the odds of success across a variety of issues. However, doing so implies role and responsibility overlap, which can serve as a source of tension. If team members focus on effectiveness and performance, they can minimize this predictable tension.

The following chapters detail key issues of overlap and how to effectively work together with a solution-based orientation to minimize tension. However, while detailing the importance of a team, we acknowledge the professional differences in the fundamental roles of school counselor and administrator, and do not recommend forcing the team concept in a way that marginalizes these unique roles and responsibilities.

The Need for Systematic Change Actual practices can vary substantially from one school to another, based largely on situational context. These situational differences, many driven by local traditions as well as the building’s distinct culture and climate, often interfere with the school counselor–administrator team’s attempts to address teaching and learning needs, and they can actually damage the overall team relationship when differences become negative forces or toxic factors.

School counselors and administrators who have worked toward personal or professional improvement understand the benefits of implementing change systematically.

For example, if the school counselor–administrator team prioritizes schoolwide strategic planning as a next-step imperative, the team might consider several steps as part of a systematic approach. It is easier for the team to accomplish some steps (creating a mission statement, for example) than others (such as making sense of grade-level data and deciding how to use it to achieve stated objectives). In that case, the team is still responsible for completing this step.

Picking strategic-planning steps while disregarding others will not yield the desired comprehensive continuous improvement. Thus, this book intends to provide school counselors and administrators with a systematic approach to building an effective school counselor–administrator team, which may have several change implications.

While the recommendations in some chapters are easier to accomplish than others, it is impossible to form an effective team while disregarding some chapters and embracing others. If a team is further along on some effectiveness measures than others, we recommend using certain chapters to affirm its ongoing teamwork before continuing with the remaining chapters. This is a key to professional development, as we discuss next.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

The Importance of Professional Development Effective school counselor–administrator teams pursue professional growth and development opportunities regularly. Research cites professional development as a top priority and long overdue for both school counselors and administrators (Konstam et al., 2015; Young & Kaffenberger, 2015). We also recognize the value of professional development, especially when approached as a team. We have developed specific professional development activities that contextualize each chapter’s content in a way that recognizes and values the many school counselor–administrator team differences that exist. These team-building activities appear at the end of each chapter.

Professional development, as presented in this book, strengthens team relationships, improves congeniality and collegiality, deepens trust and respect, and enhances general habits of mind related to team effectiveness. Allow for vulnerability to maximize the activities’ benefits. Vulnerability is too often associated with negative emotions such as weakness and fear. In efforts to be invulnerable, we often avoid or suppress discussions that reveal our imperfections, shortcomings, lack of knowledge, and feelings in general. However, avoiding vulnerability has the negative effect of communicating that we are not authentic, truthful, trusting, or approachable. Great strength lies in vulnerability (Taljaard, 2016). The willingness to participate fully in this book’s activities builds individual and team trust, encourages truthful disclosure, places a high value on differences, promotes an openness to risk, and strengthens the professional relationship among team members necessary to function effectively.

These benefits are difficult to derive in the absence of a willingness to be vulnerable.

This Book’s Organization In chapter 1, we examine the importance of effective and high-performing teams and how to engage in best practices and deal with resistance to participation. Chapter 2 offers a legal lens, building enthusiasm around the concept of local control while challenging pushback such as “It’s not a bad idea, but it’s against regulations.”

Chapter 3 clarifies ethical considerations for when teams deal with varying stakeholder groups. In it, we also discuss and provide a model for ethical decision making.

Personnel issues are chapter 4’s focus, with an emphasis on conflict resolution and the challenge areas of negativity, resistance to change, and generally difficult people.

Chapter 5 details confidentiality limits in a school setting, privileged communications, and team member professional perspectives on confidentiality. We also address agency reporting and the impact of relationships with parents, guardians, teachers, and other key stakeholders. In chapter 6, we focus on reporting and mitigating the effect of abuse and neglect, as well as fostering students’ resilience and growth

Introduction

11

mindsets. In chapter 7, we frame student behavior and discipline from a team perspective through three important lenses: (1) individual student issues, (2) small- and large-group issues, and (3) investigations and due process. Chapter 8 deals with the school counselor–administrator team’s approach to developing a master schedule and other duties. We discuss the rationale for a team approach to scheduling and how to reconcile other roles and responsibilities and ensure a true student orientation as a scheduling priority. In chapter 9, we explore the school counselor–administrator team approach in fostering parent and guardian engagement. We explore engaging parents and guardians via technology and social media. The focus of chapter 10 is a team approach to crises. We put special emphasis on crisis prevention and preparation, response, and recovery strategies. We also detail specific leadership skills and dispositions the team might consider important during crises. Finally, chapter 11 summarizes the book’s main ideas and discusses the future of the school counselor–administrator team. Each chapter includes a professional development activity to help teams instill in members the concepts each chapter covers and to improve their ability to work together. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to access free reproducible versions of these activities. Finally, every chapter ends with a summary.

Unfortunately, an all-inclusive handbook for school counselors and administrators that methodically describes everything they need to know to fulfill their responsibilities has yet to be written. Research on the respective roles of the school counselor and the building administrator is far more plentiful than research on the concept of these same professionals working collectively as a team.

Professional Development Activity on Teamwork This introductory professional development activity helps members practice engaging as a team for meaningful growth. The activity builds on the rationale that effective teams pursue professional development and that vulnerability is necessary for optimal teamwork. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to access a free reproducible version of this activity.

Time Frame The team should allow fifteen to thirty minutes for this activity.

Materials This activity requires a facilitator and the quotable quotes in figure I.2 (page 12). Figure I.2 should be distributed to each participating team member or displayed publicly.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

• “When you cease to dream, you cease to live.” (—Malcolm Forbes) • “Life should be a World’s Fair of delights.” (—Walt Disney) • “Necessity is the mother of taking chances.” (—Mark Twain) • “Deliberation is the function of the many; action is the function of one.”

(—Charles DeGaulle) • “This very moment—this is the moment I can make a difference.”

(—Lionel Ketchian) • “Leaders gain strength by sharing strength.” (—Tom Armstrong) • “What counts in life can’t be counted.” (—Unknown) • “A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.” (—Eleanor Roosevelt) • “You have to know what you’re good at and what you’re bad at.”

(—Dineh Mohajer) • “Find the facts before finding faults.” (—Unknown) • “It’s in going into the darkness that we find enlightenment.”

(—Hector Aristizábal) • “Change is not likely; it’s inevitable.” (—Barbara Sher) • “Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve.” (—Marianne Williamson)

Figure I.2: Quotable quotes.

Process One team member should volunteer to serve as facilitator. The facilitator should take the following four steps.

1. Ask team members to view the list of quotes in figure I.2.

2. Pose the following: “As you think about the school counselor and administrator as a team, which quote best describes the team from your perspective? Why?” If a member has a quote he or she prefers to use instead, he or she may do so.

3. Ask each team member to volunteer his or her answer and rationale.

Other team members may ask questions for clarity but should judge no answer.

4. Restate the common areas of strength, challenge, or both that team members share and how this information might help the team in the future. Effective communication and trust often define any team’s future.

Discuss the following points: Were participants willing to truthfully share and be vulnerable? Were the team’s quote choices closely aligned? What differences were there? Did members judge or value other responses?

Introduction

13

Results Participation in this activity strengthens trust among team members, encourages truthful disclosure, emphasizes team members’ differences, and contributes to stronger relationships, which builds a more effective team.

Summary School counselors and administrators must provide effective leadership in a challenging and change-oriented environment characterized by the need for continuous improvement, rational responses to high-stakes accountability, intense focus on student success, and sustainable decisions for persistent school challenges. A strong sense of urgency, often raised to the level of crises, further amplifies these challenges.

If school counselors and administrators are to function effectively through a myriad of issues inherent to both professions, they must adapt to the practice of functioning as a team. The team must embrace the idea that some level of role and responsibility overlap will occur, and must be comfortable with the predictable tension that manifests from role and responsibility overlap. This book makes the case for a school counselor–administrator team and provides the foundation for its effective functioning. The guidance this book provides will support aspiring preservice school counselors and administrators to build the requisite skills to serve in these noble positions, and build team capacity for success among veteran professionals as well.

Chapter 1

The educational landscape is strewn with teaching and learning changes, high-stakes accountability measures at state, provincial, and national levels, stakeholders who want choices, and a host of other change-laden influences that directly impact school counselors and administrators—frequently in competing ways. For example, master scheduling at the middle school might provide competing roles. The principal must consider student transportation, part-time teachers, and other structural features (such as short or long periods in the schedule) as a priority driver for the schedule, while the counselor may be focused on students’ needs that are informed by brainbased research (such as the best adolescent learning not occurring early in the morning). These perspectives compete when the school must offer early credit-bearing classes in algebra 1 or Spanish 1 to accommodate shared mathematics teachers—all this, in spite of what best serves student learning. This landscape is further cluttered with prevailing thoughts that the “state of our educational system has plenty of room for improvement” (Chen, 2017). No doubt all these forces have enormous implications for school counselor–administrator teams.

Yet, amid these many challenges, the effective team collectively has much potential and opportunity to influence the educational landscape in positive, sustainable ways.

This chapter will explore capacity-building means to strengthen the team’s performance and effectiveness in an effort to realize Helen R. Martin’s (1917) concept of a team: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success” (p. 95). In other words, your team will do what educator and author Stephen R. Covey (1990) describes as the goal of all teams focused on high performance and effectiveness: “Combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success” (p. 49).

This chapter covers organizational constructs, characteristics of high-performing teams, and resistance to working in teams. Finally, you will participate in a professional development activity on team effectiveness and performance.

[ 1 5 ]

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Team Effectiveness and Performance

16

Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

Organizational Constructs Most educators have been part of an effective, high-performing team in which trust and respect among team members are evident, collaboration flourishes, and team outcomes are efficient. What underscored this effective, high-performing team, and how does it apply to your school counselor–administrator team?

§§ The number of school counselors, administrators, and other faculty, staff, and human service professionals (such as social workers) included in the team §§ The full- or part-time status of each team member §§ The chains of command and reporting structures, both direct and indirect, between and among team members §§ The team members’ physical proximity to each other §§ Each team member’s job description versus how he or she actually spends his or her time Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership for a form on which team members can record how much time they spend doing tasks. Assuming a workday is 100 percent, distribute percentages spent on daily tasks. On filling it out, the team should discuss the following questions. §§ Does the percentage of weekly effort spent on a duty match that duty’s priority? Does the highest priority duty get the greatest percentage of time, and does the lowest priority get the smallest percentage of weekly effort? If not, what might explain this? §§ If the duty’s priority and the percentage of time don’t align, what changes can the team make? §§ What are the team implications for the current percentages and a potential change?

A thoughtful discussion of the preceding organizational elements helps set the tone for addressing the team’s effectiveness and performance. No doubt, there may be other organizational issues to discuss as well, depending on unique local context.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

The school counselor–administrator team is complex and exists in varying forms in most every school. These differing configurations all serve as team influencers. Discuss your organizational model in terms of strengths and challenges. Organizational topics of consideration might include the following.

Team Effectiveness and Performance

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Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

Trust and Transparency This characteristic is possibly the most important cornerstone of an effective team relationship. Former secretary of health, education, and welfare John W. Gardner (1990) believed the time-honored means of building trust is to be trustworthy. Being dependable is key. This builds predictability into team members’ actions and decisions.

Also, it adds an essential element of fairness to dealing with team issues because each team member understands how the team deliberates and ultimately decides on actions and decisions. Importantly, trust underscores most major theories of interpersonal relationships, though little research exists on how trust develops (Simpson, 2007).

However, trust cannot be rushed and the science of trust suggests such “relationships emerge and evolve over time” (McAllister, Lewicki, & Chaturvedi, 2006, p. 1).

The team will find trust imperative since school counselor and administrator perspectives can differ based on each discipline’s professional orientation. Trust aligns nicely with transparency (Penn, 2017). If the team exhibits transparency, so other education stakeholders interacting with members understand the team’s actions, the team will show predictability, which strengthens stakeholder trust. As trust deepens, as the Leader’s Institute (n.d.) notes, high-trust teams “take risks, and share successes and praise.” As a direct benefit, team performance improves, which lends itself to improved organizational performance (Sako, 1998).

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Building on the dialogue generated from the previous section to partially answer the question, What underscored this effective, high-performing team and how does it apply to your school counselor–administrator team?, you have already read many elements influencing effective, high-performing teams. More than just work together, effective, high-performing teams “share a common vision, goals, [and] metrics [and] collaborate, challenge, and hold each other accountable to achieve outstanding results” (Center for Organizational Design, 2015). Similarly, positive psychology coach Catarina Lino notes, “Simply working with other people doesn’t mean that you’re working as a team; real teamwork implies collaboration, communication and the acknowledgement of a common purpose” (Lino & Desmond, 2016). School counselor–administrator teams realize these aspirational statements when they persistently aspire to evidence the following six key characteristics: (1) trust and transparency, (2) results orientation, (3) professional relationships, (4) respect for diversity and divergent thought, (5) agreed-on decision-making processes, and (6) commitment to continuous improvement. These six characteristics form a system that a team should address to ensure team effectiveness. They should not address only the more easily accomplished characteristics, which will vary according to local context. We will discuss these characteristics in the following sections.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

Results Orientation

Professional Relationships Congenial team members do much to strengthen the team because they care about other team members. However, too much focus on being congenial can create a culture in which “getting along and preserving harmonious relationships” (Janssen, 2014) competes with a results orientation and can even impede honesty for fear it may strain relationships and hurt feelings. In fact, the Leader’s Institute (n.d.) finds that “if all a team does is agree and go along to get along, this is a sign of trouble.”

Team members should value congeniality but not let it serve as the primary team characteristic.

Collaboration, on the other hand, gives emphasis and attention to a healthy professional relationship. Working together for a common purpose encompasses the basic spirit of collaboration, but more specifically, it requires solution-based thinking and brainstorming among team members, a strong sense of purpose evidenced by the value of working together, and a commitment to equal participation in which every voice is valued (Hill, 2017).

Effective communication is often described as an essential component to a healthy professional relationship. Effective teams understand that some communication has the potential to cause confusion and, in these cases, rely on “face-to-face interaction or telephone conversations” (Tallia, Lanham, McDaniel, & Crabtree, 2006, p. 48) and minimize the use of email or other one-way communication. Strong communication not only implies you can send and receive information but also means you can adapt to different situations, read people, compromise, and resolve conflict (Kermode, 2016). These characteristics and outcomes make for a stronger, more efficient team.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Strong teams focus on the vision and mission and have a strong sense of purpose (Covey, 1990; Gabriel & Farmer, 2009; LaForce, n.d.; Leader’s Institute, n.d.). A results-oriented team has the capacity for individual team members to work independently on various issues with the same goal in mind. It is likely the team has school or district vision and mission statements, as well as other measurable outcomes (such as goals) to guide it, but the team may want to adopt its own vision and mission statements to strengthen its sense of purpose and articulate its reason for being.

More specifically, each time the team faces an issue, team members should discuss the goal—what the team hopes to accomplish. This enhances efficiency and offers team members the opportunity to discuss the issue at hand from varying school counselor or administrator perspectives.

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Respect for Diversity and Divergent Thought

School counselor–administrator teams work in an environment that encourages fast decision making. Yet, members’ diverse opinions, skills, and backgrounds, when valued and respected, tend to balance decision-making time lines and outcomes because they are informed by many voices. This leads to more sustainable, reasonable time lines and outcomes, since challenges such as unintended outcomes are best addressed with a diversity of voices. Additionally, some team members may be more problem focused while others are solution focused. Sharing these diverse perspectives on the surface may leave some team members wondering about each other’s true intentions: “He didn’t even take time to consider all the facts” or “Does she hope this will just go away if we do nothing at all?” Teams can support moving beyond this limitation to a healthier place by listening to team members’ divergent thoughts with genuine curiosity and asking questions for clarity whenever needed. Above all, team members should never mistake another team member’s divergent thoughts or perspectives for a personal affront against them. Doing so can break down the team’s common purpose and marginalize effectiveness.

Agreed-On Decision-Making Processes As teams mature professionally, sustainable decision-making processes should emerge. Ultimately, an effective team identity includes team decision making. The reason focusing on decision-making processes is so important is rooted in predictability. In the absence of predictable decision making among team members, stakeholders may view the team’s outcomes as being spontaneous and emotive, lacking in judgment or facts, being biased, or attempting to be all things to all people. When this happens, a stakeholder relying on the team’s decisions may state, “I never understand the rules to the game” or “I certainly didn’t see this one coming!”

Solving problems and making sound decisions are the key goals of effective decision making. A number of decision-making models exist and are often distinguished by how participatory they may be, whether top down, consensus, or bottom up (Stein, n.d.).

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Definitions of diversity are many. Attention to diversity, however it is defined, only serves to strengthen the team. For our purposes, organizational culture consultant Margy Bresslour (2013) appropriately notes that “goals can often be best achieved when diversity of opinion, background, and skill are engaged.” Occasionally, team members have described an openness to diversity as a source of strain or misunderstanding, but persistently focusing on diversity in a way that enculturates team members’ worldviews actually builds their capacity to “illuminate, broaden [their] horizons, provide growth, and help [them] to gain new insights” (Bresslour, 2013).

It is a team imperative that individual members be willing to see diversity as a means to complement one another.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

Forming In this stage, team members define their next-step roles in problem solving. In essence, they transition from individual (school counselor or administrator) to team member status. As a team, the goal in this stage is to accurately frame the problem.

Resist the temptation to rush to a solution. Be sure this stage includes the following. §§ All facts known to date §§ Relevant policy or other guidelines that impact decision making §§ Any decision-making constraints (such as legal limitations) §§ Uncertainties This includes defining the problem, discussing the resources needed (time and personnel), and setting the boundaries for the decision (for example, urgency and scope of individuals included both inside and outside the school). Discuss individual team member roles as well. In this stage, ask ample what questions: “What is the problem?

What do we know so far? What information do we need to collect?” A pitfall to this stage is discussing symptoms or issues irrelevant to the key problem. Stay focused on the issue at hand. For the team, forming may look like the beginning of a personal relationship when you are trying to get to know each other, with an emphasis on being intentionally positive and polite.

Storming Storming is when difficulties begin to arise, and this stage requires gathering input from necessary sources. Here, members often realize that collecting relevant information and considering the weighted influences among all this information may prove more challenging than first imagined. Often, information presents conflicting or competing views and team members must do some interpreting. For example, if investigating a major student discipline issue, one team member may present the parent perspective, which evidences an out-of-school justification for the student misbehavior influenced by other students and parents, and escalated by social media

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Team members’ differing skills, abilities, and roles, as well as the task, may dictate a variety of decision-making models. Further confounding which model might be most appropriate, Nathaniel Greene and Paula Stewart (2016), science teacher and director of student affairs at the Founders Academy, respectively, indicate that administrators often make decisions from an organizational perspective, while school counselors focus more on the individual or small-group level. However, the four simple steps adapted from psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman’s (1965) seminal team-building stages— (1) forming, (2) storming, (3) norming, and (4) performing—work in many situations the team will face, and you can modify them as needed in your situational context.

Team Effectiveness and Performance

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outside of school. However, another team member might present the in-school perspective, which evidences a pattern of predictable misbehavior driven by anger and outbursts as reported by teachers and student peers. The team has to interpret all evidence—in- and out-of-school perspectives—to make an informed decision.

Norming Decision-making norms set in during this stage as team members both understand and value individual members’ roles and responsibilities. Communication becomes open and productive, and members believe they are progressing toward solving the problem. During this stage, the team moves from analyzing the problem to generating possible solutions. As your team brainstorms, ensure there is not judgment or evaluation. However, do ask questions for clarity: “Could you explain that?” or “What do you mean?” Given the complex nature of schooling, keep in mind that multiple solutions might be necessary to solve a single problem. Resist the temptation to oversimplify the solution.

In this stage, asking how questions is the emphasis: “How should we proceed? How consistent is this with similar problems we’ve solved?” Once you have exhausted plausible solutions, evaluate them on their overall worth, effect, and sustainability.

Sustainability is a challenge when making most decisions. The more complex the decision, the higher the team should assume the consequences are; this helps ensure a sustainable decision. Author and leadership coach Peter Bregman (2015) suggests using if-then questions for clarity and greater sustainability. For example, if considering sharing information with parents about a school incident, the team might say to itself, “This is a fifth-grade-only issue. If we only share the incident information with fifth-grade parents, then other grade-level parents may draw unreasonable conclusions because they did not get the information. Maybe we should share the information with all parents.” As part of the evaluation, be sure to also discuss the

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

This stage’s pitfall is the urge to move on or conform in order to arrive at a rapid decision. At this point, some team members might get impatient and wish they had moved forward based on their own personal or professional experience, resisting the need for team collaboration. To reorient the team, collectively focus on why questions: “Why did this occur? Why did we discover such conflicting witness perspectives? Why didn’t we anticipate this issue?” Good questions help the team thoughtfully analyze the problem. Actively listening to each other is necessary as well.

For the team, storming may look like a personal relationship in which each person has revealed who he or she truly is as a person, sometimes causing frustration and relational issues. Just as many relationships fail after the people begin getting to know each other better, problem-solving teams fail in this stage over frustration with team member differences and the strain that comes with unforeseen challenges.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

Performing In this stage, team confidence in implementing and assessing the solutions is high.

The team performs well together and makes decisions collaboratively. As solution implementation occurs, some facets may be immediate, and others delayed. For example, if the team were addressing schoolwide lunchroom behavior issues, lunch supervisor interactions with students might change immediately, with professional development for lunchroom supervisors occurring as soon as possible. A longer-term goal might be to have a strong teacher presence in the cafeteria, but that would be delayed until administrator-teacher negotiations occurred over months.

Discuss members’ implementation roles. §§ How much time are team members expected to spend on those efforts? §§ Who has the best knowledge or skills for certain implementation efforts? §§ Will certain implementation efforts create a role conflict (such as the counselor acting in a disciplinarian role)?

The team’s key implementation goal is sustainability. Assessing the solution contributes much to sustainability. The most basic assessment question is this: Is the solution working? Additional questions include, Will it work one year or five years from now?

Should we expect it to? Be prepared to reassess at any time and modify or vacate an existing solution when necessary. This stage has minimal pitfalls because members feel part of the team and relationships are intended to be at all-time highs in the decision-making cycle. Some members may leave, depending on the problem, and doing so rarely creates disruption to the team. For example, if the issue were extra- or cocurricular, an athletic director or club sponsor may have temporarily joined the team for problem resolution, but leaves the team when implementation starts. Team members should have a much better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses because of this process. For the team, performing may look like a fully matured personal relationship in which all the hard work put in has yielded a deep trust and respect.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

solution’s negative or unintended consequences. This stage’s pitfall is attempting to keep the productive, more positive team spirit that comes from solution generation alive by avoiding conflict. If conflict does occur, which may happen during the evaluation process, keep it constructive and focused on the solutions. For the team, norming may look like a personal relationship that continues maturing. Members resolve individual differences and a mutual respect for each other prevails. However, occasional setbacks pertaining to trust and differences may occur; then the overall relationship is reevaluated. When setbacks occur for the team at this stage, revisiting the storming phase can provide a healthy reset.

Team Effectiveness and Performance

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Commitment to Continuous Improvement

1. Deploy improvement strategies carefully: Considering the appropriate time and resources needed for implementation will greatly support sustainable improvements. Additionally, avoid one-size-fits-all solutions, which often oversimplify complex issues facing schools and overlook important situational contexts.

2. Pace improvements incrementally and anticipate slower development: Quickened improvement often wears out stakeholders and makes them view change as nothing more than the flavor of the day. Understanding the pace of change is essential. Some faster changes may be successful, while others must be approached more slowly. Pacing has much to do with answering, What pace best ensures the change is sustainable and supports the school’s strategic plan and continuous improvement planning? Additionally, approaching change step by step makes greater sense to stakeholders. Incremental change by steps also allows the team to demonstrate that the change is intentional, with predictable practices and measurable outcomes. These factors are easily overlooked when change is not step by step or is associated with volatility.

3. Involve others in the implementation process: As a team, assume a more facilitative process and allow other stakeholders to make meaning of the change. To make meaning of change is to participate in the change agenda.

Participating in change is very different than being changed. Receiving, reacting, and reflecting on change does much to encourage participation.

Be cautioned, as others are involved, that a person’s first reaction may be to resist change (For instance, the team may hear, “This won’t work and here’s why!”) Allow room for this reaction by letting people speak. It may be the only pathway to openness during reflection. The team’s implementation role remains providing the vision for change and allowing for ample buy-in among stakeholders closest to the change agenda. As other stakeholders get more involved and express more divergent views, it can be easy to stray from the original vision. The team must persistently, strategically reshare

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

This characteristic has a strategic emphasis that helps the team build its capacity to move beyond always putting out fires and regularly making last-minute decisions.

Author and team productivity expert Laura Stack (2013) cites English military and political leader Oliver Cromwell’s quote—“He who stops being better stops being good”—and offers five simple steps for continuous improvement that can help the team resist the status quo and minimize operating from a reactive mode.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

the vision (the dream or change’s desired outcome) to ensure it informs implementation.

• Quantitative data—Aggregating and summarizing are important first steps. After that, look for trends in the data. For example, if reviewing office discipline referrals, the team might aggregate the data by morning and afternoon to look for trends. If they find more afternoon referrals, they will dig deeper to find out why.

• Qualitative data—Review your written observations, notes, or question responses for repeated keywords or phrases. This is a form of coding. After coding, determine what themes the data suggest. For example, maybe parentinvolvement survey feedback yields keywords around impact, value, and busy schedules. Further analysis might uncover a common belief that parents don’t understand the impact of the parent activities at school because they don’t know what value an activity has for their child’s education, and most evening activities compete with their busy parenting schedules.

5. Regularly discuss the implemented improvements, and solicit feedback from team members and key stakeholders closest to the changes: Additionally, share feedback and other evaluation information with your key stakeholders in a forum that allows for thoughtful discussion and dialogue. Be sensitive to the nature of change, recognizing that for some, change is part of day-to-day operations, and for others, it is a complete departure from all they know to be true and right.

This five-step process also helps identify gaps to address as improvement opportunities. A cornerstone of successful continuous improvement is twofold. First, as mentioned in point two, proper pacing is essential. A too-slow pace is unresponsive and, similarly, a too-fast pace is unsustainable. Find the pacing balance! Second,

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

4. Assess regularly: As you collect data on changes, convert the data into useful information to answer the important question, What is working and what is not? Data will vary greatly depending on the improvement topic. Quantitative data measure grades, discipline referrals, growth or performance feedback, and assessment summaries. Qualitative data measure parent and student feedback from open-ended survey questions, observations from team members or others, and focus group conversations.

The team will address the data types different ways.

Team Effectiveness and Performance

25

the team must model continuous improvement by acknowledging that in schools, change is now a way of life.

Resistance to Working in Teams In spite of the many effectiveness characteristics your team may embrace, some members may resist team efforts, choosing instead to work independently. When this occurs, consider the basic reasons team members resist working together. Consider these reasons in hopes of identifying some interventions to build greater team capacity. The absence of any of the preceding effectiveness characteristics (trust and transparency, results orientation, professional relationships, respect for diversity and divergent thought, agreed-on decision-making processes, and commitment to continuous improvement) may be why someone resists working with others. Additionally, consider the following four predictable reasons for team resistance: (1) perceived unfairness, (2) change, (3) cultural values, and (4) problem-focused orientation (Brown, 2018; Georgalis, Smaratunge, Kinberely, & Lu, 2015; Katzenbach & Smith, 1993; Kirkman, Jones, & Shapiro, 2000).

Perceived Unfairness Researchers Bradley L. Kirkman, Robert G. Jones, and Debra L. Shapiro (2000) note fairness considerations are frequently grounded in issues that include pay and workload distribution among team members, decision-making criteria, and interpersonal treatment of team members. If a resistant member believes a task is above his or her pay grade (in other words, “I’m not getting paid enough to do this” or “That’s not in my job description”), the team must discuss this bias so members can move past it. This conversation’s goal is to encourage the belief that the team’s overall work is important despite titles, wages, workload, and other position-based benefits, roles, or responsibilities.

One strategy for framing this conversation includes moving away from positionbased considerations and focusing members on individual gifts and talents relative

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Similar to the characteristics of team effectiveness, the College Board (2011) identifies four key research-based characteristics for the school counselor–administrator team. Make these four characteristics part of your efforts toward continuous improvement: (1) communication, (2) trust and respect, (3) leadership, and (4) collaborative planning. It provides a downloadable document titled “Enhancing the Principal– School Counselor Relationship: Toolkit” (https://bit.ly/2eBf8PH), which may prove helpful to the team as well. The toolkit will help team members emulate these characteristics by analyzing the team’s relational status, developing means to work and communicate more effectively, and addressing barriers to effectiveness.

26

Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

to the issue at hand. In other words, each team member possesses gifts and talents other team members may not have and team leaders can minimize those barriers by acknowledging these gifts and talents and using them to their full potential when addressing issues. Further, this conversation will hopefully deepen team members’ understanding that they each must be committed to the team and productive for it to flourish.

Change When it comes to change, team members are likely to interpret it differently and diversity among team members would enhance this possibility as well. The differences are based on perceptions. Education researchers Tim Waters and Sally Grubb (2004) describe this as first- and second-order change. First-order change, which many team members experience, is simply “an extension of the past” (Waters & Grubb, 2004, p. 8) and aligned with their existing norms, values, and beliefs. In this case, they more readily embrace change.

Second-order change, however, may be considered a complete “break with the past” (Waters & Grubb, 2004, p. 8) and in direct conflict with their existing norms, values, and beliefs. Team members find it challenging to willingly depart from everything they know and understand about a particular topic. To address this secondorder change reaction, a “supportive and facilitative approach is necessary” (Waters & Grubb, 2004, p. 8). Ultimately, team members’ perception of change is more important than the change itself. That perception is why some might readily accept a change, while others might resist.

A supportive approach means, in part, allowing time for members to express their perceptions. Always welcome clarifying questions, but never judge (or allow judgment of ) perceptions. Facilitation includes intentionally inviting resistant team members into the conversation to share their perspectives. During these conversations, minimize role and position power so that everyone is adapting and being responsive to each other’s feedback. You can minimize power multiple ways, including not participating as the principal or head of guidance (but as one voice among others instead) and sharing moderation, facilitation, or leadership duties. Those with role or position power must make intentional, proactive efforts to invite others into the conversation. This approach takes the team more time but ensures meaningful input

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Additionally, this chapter previously discussed the importance of adopting decisionmaking processes (pages 19–22), as the absence serves as a great team limitation. The team must have predictable decision making, whether it faces mundane tasks or crisis situations. In addition, trusting and respecting each other is tantamount to a desire to commit to the team and should be a focus during team interactions.

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and sustainable team outcomes, as the team members more deeply understand the change agenda’s context.

Cultural Values

Simply stated, take time to embrace team member differences. For example, during a conversation about a school safety issue, a team member could say, “Problem solved.

I’ll take care of it! Next issue.” Individualism may be driving the belief that this task is best accomplished by a single team member, but doing so misses the important collaborative efforts that may reveal the safety issue being part of a larger problem; only the shared team discussion would reveal the problem.

Problem-Focused Orientation Many teams wander into a predominantly problem-focused culture, reacting to day-to-day issues, absent a strategic and solution-based orientation. Lacking focus on performance and success only serves to increase resistance to full team member participation (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993). Team members often express this limitation as “We’re spinning our wheels” or “We could have handled this in an email.” When team members do not understand the end goal, the short- or long-term strategy, or the desired outcome, they may view participation as meaningless and futile.

To the greatest extent possible, have an agenda (written or verbal), and connect issues back to the larger vision and mission of the district, school, and team. Making these connections does not necessarily mean restating all visions and missions, but rather means developing a language that is expressive and inclusive of the larger purpose. For example, if the broad vision and mission contain words about student success and a safe environment, the team’s conversations and even its agendas might continually focus on how team participation enhances student success and supports a safe learning environment. These connections invite team participation.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Alessia Contu (2012), author and chair of the Department of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, notes that “cultural diversity in teams is on the increase” (p. 137). Diversity can help inform team participation, or it may serve as a source of tension—it depends on whether members understand and appreciate that others may have different cultural values. One such well-researched value is collectivism. Contu (2012) compares it to individualism. Team members emanating from a collectivist culture are more likely to “share, collaborate, and depend on others for results” (Contu, 2012, p. 137), while members from an individualistic culture like North America may value the benefits of teamwork less and be more resistant to participation, at least initially.

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Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

Professional Development Activity on Team Effectiveness and Performance

Time Frame The team should allow thirty to sixty minutes for this activity.

Materials This activity requires a facilitator, flip chart or butcher paper, and, for every participant, a pen, pencil, or marker.

Process One team member should volunteer as facilitator. He or she should conduct the following three steps.

1. Ask participants to reflect on the following questions and, on the flip chart or butcher paper, individually write the answers they are comfortable sharing later in the activity.

• “Why did you become a school counselor or administrator?”

• “What is your biggest hope for the school counselor– administrator team?”

• “Think of an effective team you have worked with in your personal life or in your professional life. What elements made the team effective?”

2. Solicit responses to the questions from team members, and develop a viewable response list on flip chart or butcher paper by combining on a single sheet, or displaying individual responses in close proximity.

3. Discuss commonalities, differences, surprising disclosures, what team members learned about each other, and how these things may strengthen the team. The team should also decide what next steps are appropriate.

© 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Over the years, we have observed teams that are effective and high performing, as well as teams that are weak and dysfunctional. The cornerstones of effective, highperforming teams are generally predictable regardless of context. Building on the rationale that predictable characteristics for team effectiveness and performance exist, we offer an activity to engage the team in its own team experiences. We coined this activity “Great Teams Ask Great Questions.” Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to access a free reproducible version of this activity.

Team Effectiveness and Performance

29

Results Participation in this activity builds the team’s capacity to better understand predictable elements of team effectiveness, better understand each other, and encourage the expression of vulnerability through truthful disclosure.

A challenging high-stakes school environment encourages a team approach among school counselors and administrators. The power garnered by the team is what improves the odds of successfully addressing demanding school issues. Yet, to work effectively as a team member means to accept that some role and responsibility overlap will occur and can serve as a source of tension. Those who understand the characteristics of team effectiveness and performance are best positioned to minimize the predictable sources of tension associated with team participation.

Six characteristics build capacity for effective and high-performing teams. These include (1) trust and transparency, (2) results orientation, (3) professional relationships, (4) respect for diversity and divergent thought, (5) agreed-on decision-making processes, and (6) commitment to continuous improvement. Yet, in spite of these capacity-building characteristics, resistance to working in teams may persist and should be addressed. Four predictable reasons for resistance may serve as team limitations. These include (1) perceived unfairness, (2) change, (3) cultural values, and (4) problem-focused orientation (Brown, 2018; Georgalis et al., 2015; Katzenbach & Smith, 1993; Kirkman et al., 2000). Predicting resistance and maximizing effective characteristics like those on high-performing teams greatly enhances the team’s ability to confidently address the complex issues associated with school.

Š 2019 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Summary

SCHOOL COUNSELOR–

ADMINISTRATOR

teams

A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community

In Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams: A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community, authors Tonya C. Balch and Bradley V. Balch help educators maneuver legal questions, ethical considerations, personnel problems, confidentiality, scheduling, parent and guardian engagement, crises, and more. K–12 school counselors and administrators learn how purposeful collaboration is often the solution to these challenges and gain a systematic approach to professional development focused on six characteristics of high-performing teams: (1) trust and transparency, (2) results orientation, (3) professional relationships, (4) respect for diversity and divergent thought, (5) agreed-on decision-making processes, and (6) commitment to continuous improvement.

Readers will: • Engage in activities that help build strong, healthy collaboration that puts student achievement at the forefront • Consider ethical decisions for students, parents and guardians, and other stakeholders

• Understand the team’s legal authority and its various origins and limitations • Participate in professional development activities on leadership, confidentiality, master scheduling, and more

—Stephanie Kozuch

Board President and Chairperson, Indiana School Counselor Association “This book drives home the importance of the collaborative relationship between the school counselor and administrator by walking us through the gray areas when making difficult decisions and helping us define best practices in our respective fields.”

—Kirsten Perry

2018 School Counselor of the Year, American School Counselor Association; K–12 School Counseling Specialist, Chicago Public Schools “This work provides a timeless and relevant account regarding the imperative of effective school counselor–administrator teams.

The power of such a relationship has been well examined by Balch and Balch. Their account is compelling and to the benefit of student wellness.”

SCHOOL COUNSELOR–

ADMINISTRATOR

teams

A Systematic Approach to Supporting Students, Staff, and the Community

—Jennifer McCormick

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Indiana Department of Education

ISBN 978-1-947604-23-0 90000

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

building great

9 781947 604230

Balch  Balch

• Examine purposeful collaboration and how to apply it for students’ academic and emotional well-being

“This work goes beyond the concept of counselors and administrators playing nicely together in the sandbox to truly collaborating as a team.

The activities included at the conclusion of each topical section are pragmatic and would serve any school counselor– administrator teams as a forward step to effecting systematic change in their individual schools and districts.”

Building Great School Counselor–Administrator Teams

building great

tonya c. balch  bradley v. balch