Melissa Ramirez

Capstone Systems Change Project

CSPU 618

Brandman University
 Introduction of the Need

Corona Norco Unified School District has fifty schools in the district. Three of those

schools are academies that serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The biggest

ethnic group in the district are Hispanic students; fifty-three percent of the student population

identify as Hispanic (Local Control Accountability Plan, 2019). A significant subgroup in the

district are low-income students; forty-four percent of students are considered low-income

(Local Control Accountability Plan, 2019). English learners make up thirteen percent of the

student population across the district (Local Control Accountability Plan, 2019). One of the top

priorities of the LCAP's advisory committee was to add additional counseling services for

students (Local Control Accountability Plan, 2019).

Cesar Chavez Academy is a school that serves students from kindergarten through eighth

grade. There are 919 students enrolled at the school. Seventy percent of students are Hispanic.

Sixty-one percent of students are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. Twenty-one

percent of the students are English learners. Twelve percent of students have a disability. Six

percent of students at the school are chronically absent. There was a two-percent increase in

chronic absenteeism in 2019. There was also a two-percent increase in suspension rates for

students with a disability. Cesar Chavez Academy currently has the Succeeding Together to

Encourage Prosocial Skills (STEPS), an early intervention and prevention program for K-6

students.

A significant need at the school is an early intervention and prevention program for

seventh and eighth-grade students. Seventh and eighth-grade students would greatly benefit from

an increase in presentations on relevant topics. The middle school students would also benefit

from prevention and intervention groups to meet the needs of at-risk students. The STEPS
intervention and prevention program could be expanded for seventh and eighth-grade students.

The topics that would be presented in the STEPS program would include self-regulation

techniques, coping skills, mindfulness, social skills, and study skills. The school could increase

the STEPS paraeducator schedule by one hour daily to accommodate the prevention program for

the middle school students at Cesar Chavez Academy.

Process Used to Identify the Need

During conversations with administrative staff, it was concluded that there was a need for

an increase in support staff. The teachers were surveyed, and an overwhelming suggestion was

an increase in groups offered for middle school students. The counselor has a caseload of 919

students. During a staff meeting, the counselor noted the difficulties of meeting the diverse needs

of both the primary and secondary students at the school. The counselor shared that the addition

of the STEPS program for elementary students increased her ability to meet the needs of at-risk

elementary students.

Students were also asked about changes they would like to occur in the upcoming years.

A majority of the students shared that they would like to be able to have more contact with a

counselor to have their social/emotional needs met. Students also stated that they wished the

counselor had more clubs or programs for them to join.

Upon the review of the school's dashboard, it was decided that the school needed to

address the negative increase in both the academic engagement and the conditions and climate of

the school. In both of the categories, there was an increase of chronic absenteeism and

suspension rates for at-risk populations. Those populations included students with disabilities,

Hispanic students, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and English learners. The increase
in the categories came predominately from an increase in suspension rates and chronic

absenteeism from the middle school students at the school.

Through dialect and data review, it was decided that the legitimate need at the school was

the addition of an early intervention and prevention program for at-risk students in seventh and

eighth grade. The program would provide students with mindfulness, self-regulation techniques,

coping skills, social skills, and study skills.

Survey of the School District

Corona-Norco Unified School District has approximately 0.5 counselors per every

elementary school. Each middle school has approximately 1.5 counselors. The three K-8 schools

in the district only have one counselor per site. Counselors at the high school level vary

depending on student enrollment. There is a total of ninety counselors across the different

schools in the district.

At Cesar Chavez Academy, there is a lack of support staff. The total number of support

staff at the K-8 school is four staff members for approximately nine-hundred students.

Figure 1. From “Accountability Report Cards”, by CNUSD,2019 (https://www.cnusd.k12.ca.us

/our_ departments/educational_services/accountability_report_cards).In the public domain.

 There is only one counselor at the school to serve nine hundred students. The counselor is

the only support staff at the school full-time who can adequately address the social/behavioral

needs of all students.

The other support staff that is not listed is the STEPS paraeducator. The STEPS

paraeducator is employed for six hours a day at CCA during the 2019-2020 academic school

year. The paraeducator is responsible for running an early intervention and prevention program

for elementary students.

Recommendation to Change or Enhance the Delivery of Counseling Services in the District

/ School

There is currently a comprehensive school counseling program in place at Cesar Chavez

Academy. The counselor to student ratio is 1 to 919. ASCA recommends that the counselor to

student ratio be 1 to 250 (American School Counselor Association, 2019). The school needs to

decrease the counselor to student ratio to achieve greater program effectiveness. The school

counseling program has identified student and professional outcomes. The counseling program

could review the progress on student outcomes during the semester instead of annually. The

counseling program at CCA incorporates the three domains of counseling academic,

social/emotional, and career. The delivery of services regarding the three domains could be

enhanced through group sessions in the three domains. In regard to delivery, the counselor does

spend approximately eighty percent of the workday providing direct or indirect services to

students. However, the counselor spends more time providing indirect services than direct

services to students. A recommendation for a change in the counseling services would be to

increase direct services and decrease the amount of time spent on indirect services during school

hours. The school counseling program analyzes data annually to demonstrate the effectiveness of
the program. The comprehensive school program could be enhanced if data analyzed would lead

to a change in the curriculum and the closing the gap action plans. Although the school has a

comprehensive counseling program in place, there exist recommended changes that can be made

to enhance the delivery of services to students.

Steps in the Process

The Corona-Norco district school board is the intended audience for the systems change

project. The school board would need to agree that there is a need to expand the STEPS program

for seventh and eighth-grade students to fund the project.

One of the six goals of the Corona-Norco Unified School district is to implement

measures at all schools to foster a positive school environment and student support (Local

Control Accountability Plan, 2019). One of the school's goals is to increase student engagement.

Figure 2. From “Local Control Accountability Plan,” by CNUSD, 2019 (https://www

.cnusd.k12.ca.us/our_departments/educational_services/local_control_accountability_plan). In

the public domain.

 At the district level, the goal is to foster a positive school environment to decrease

chronic absentee and suspension rates. The goal at Cesar Chavez Academy is also to create a

positive school environment to decrease the same indicators. The district's plan to create a

positive environment includes strengthening students' social/emotional skills and the addition of

counselors to support student's needs (Local Control Accountability Plan, 2019).The expansion

of the STEPS intervention and prevention program for seventh and eighth-grade students to

increase groups and guidance presentations aligns clearly with the district's fifth goal. Additional

counseling services supports both the school and district's goal of creating positive environments

and supporting students at school.

The stakeholders of the expansion of the STEPS intervention and prevention program at

Cesar Chavez Academy are the administrative staff, counselor, parents, teachers, staff members,

STEPS paraeducator, and school board members. The beneficiaries of the systems change

project are the students, staff, and the surrounding community of Cesar Chavez Academy.

The students would be the primary beneficiary of the expansion of the STEPS

intervention and prevention program. According to Frank (2017), "during the middle school

years, an adolescent's teacher, classroom, and school experiences have important effects that set

the stage for future educational and life-course opportunities". Frank (2017), claims that the

transition to middle school is more challenging for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Research has also linked stress during adolescence to the onset of depression, drug use, and other

mental health problems (Frank,2017). Emotion regulation in adolescence is being examined as

essential for "psychological well-being, academic success, and positive developmental

outcomes" (Frank,2017). Frank (2017), studied the effects of a social-emotional wellness

promotion program on middle school students. The participation in the social-emotional wellness
promotion program was linked to a "significant reductions on unexcused absences, detentions,

and increases in school engagement".

According to Ballard (2014), social and emotional development can impact a student's

educational trajectory. A study "indicated that between five and nine percent of all children in

the United States are not learning or reaching their full academic potential in school due to

emotional and behavioral barriers" (Ballard,2014). The study conducted by Ballard (2014)

concluded that there was a significant increase in attendance rates and a decrease in suspension

rates for students who had received additional counseling services in comparison to students who

did not receive counseling services.

The expansion of STEPS for middle school students would greatly benefit the students

and school. By expanding the STEPS program one hour a day, the academic and social-

emotional trajectory of students could be impacted. Research suggests that there are positive

links to providing counseling services to students. Thus, the primary beneficiaries of the systems

project would be students.

The two main goals of the systems change project is to decrease chronic absenteeism and

suspension rates among seventh and eighth-grade students at Cesar Chavez Academic.

Regarding the first two main goals, there will be an emphasis placed on decreasing the chronic

absenteeism and suspension rates of subgroups at the school. The subgroups are English learners,

socioeconomically disadvantaged students, Hispanic students, and students with disabilities. The

first goal would be to decrease suspension rates for the subgroups by one percent. The second

goal would be to decrease chronic absenteeism for the subgroups by three percent.

The first strategy that will be implemented to meet the goals will be the addition of the

STEPS program for one hour a day for five days a week for the following school year. The
second strategy would be offering lessons and groups that are relevant and pertinent to the needs

of students. The third strategy will be to have teachers recommend students to the STEPS

program and allow flexibility for student's weekly attendance. The fourth strategy would be the

monthly session with the counselor and students in STEPS. The fifth strategy would be a

quarterly follow-up with the dean of the school and the students participating in STEPS.

Monitoring Process

Cesar Chavez Academy's plan for monitoring the progress of goal attainment would be to

analyze data promptly. The attendance clerk will monitor the progress by creating a separate

monthly attendance report for the students in the selected subgroups. The counselor will then

report if there is a decline in chronic absenteeism for middle school students who participate in

the STEPS prevention and intervention program. The counselor will be evaluating the attendance

data and presenting it to the administrative staff. The counselor will be monitoring, reporting,

and evaluating the attendance data twice a semester.

The dean will monitor the second goal of reducing suspension rates. The dean of the

school will create quarterly reports with the suspension data. The dean will create quarterly

reports on the suspension rates for middle school students. The counselor will evaluate and

report the data by the end of the semester. The counselor will be monitoring, reporting, and

evaluating the suspension rate data twice a year.

The pre-determined metric would be suspension rates and chronic absenteeism rates. The

data collected will be qualitative. The desired student outcomes to measure would be a decrease

in both suspensions and absenteeism rates. The source of data will be attendance data from Q

connect, the school's information system. The other source of data would be suspension data

from the school's information system. The metric would measure attendance and suspension
rates before and after the implementation of the expansion of the STEPS program for middle

school students.

There also exist standalone measures that report on the data being measured. The CDE

Dashboard measures academic engagement and conditions and climate at schools. The Academic

engagement category reports on rates of chronic absenteeism. The conditions and climate

category measures suspension rates. Thus, the CDE Dashboard will clearly report if there is an

increase or decrease in the indicated categories.

Systems Change Project Budget

The proposed cost of expanding the STEPS intervention and prevention program for

middle school students will be $3,500. Materials for seventh and eighth-grade students, such as

paper to print consent forms, worksheet, and activities for students is $299. The amount is

calculated from the amount of money allotted for materials for the current STEPS program. The

cost of the curriculum for the expansion of the STEPS program would be zero. The school could

utilize the current STEPS curriculum being utilized for middle school students at the two other

K-8 academies that were already purchased by the district. The projected cost of having the

STEPS paraeducator for an extra hour a day for 9.5 months based on the current salary

($16.85/hourly) is $3,201.5. Corona Norco Unified School District can pay for the extra hour of

the STEPS paraeducator through the LCFF/Supplemental Budget (Local Control Accountability

Plan, 2019). According to the LCAP, the counseling budgeted expenditure to support low-

income students is $240,000, and the estimated actual expenditure is $145,400 (Local Control

Accountability Plan, 2019). The school district's budget could pay the annual $3,500 program

cost to expand the STEPS intervention and prevention program for middle school students at

Cesar Chavez Academy.

 References

Accountability Report Cards. (2019). Retrieved February 13, 2020, from

https://www.cnusd.k12.ca.us/our_departments/educational_services/accountability_report

_cards

American School Counselor Association. (2019). Asca national model: a framework for school

counseling programs. Alexandria, VA.

Ballard, K. L., Sander, M. A., & Klimes-Dougan, B. (2014). School-related and social

emotional outcomes of providing mental health services in schools. Community Mental

Health Journal, 50(2), 145–149. https://doi-org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1007/s10597

013-9670-y

Cesar Chavez Academy. (2019). Retrieved January 30, 2020, from

https://www.caschooldashboard.org/reports/33670336114151/201

Frank, J. L., Kohler, K., Peal, A., & Bose, B. (2017). Effectiveness of a school-based yoga

program on adolescent mental health and school performance: Findings from a

randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness, 8(3), 544–553. https://doiorg. libproxy.

chapman.edu/10.1007/s12671-016-0628-3

Local Control Accountability Plan. (2019). Retrieved February 12, 2020, from

https://www.cnusd.k12.ca.us/our_departments/educational_services/local_contr

ol_accountability_plan