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MEASURE OF SUCCESS
School Counseling Program

Name and Address of School:

Oscar Smith High School
1994 Tiger Dr.
Chesapeake, VA 23320

Name of School Counseling Intern Leading the Initiative: Megan Paradise (School
Counseling Intern), & Amy Lundgren (School Counseling Supervisor)

Principal: Paul Joseph

Enrollment: 2,275

School Demographics:
Caucasian/Non-Hispanic: 21.2%
Hispanic: 13.0%
African-American: 55.2%
Asian: 2.7%
American Indian: 0.4%
Native Hawaiian: 0.5%
Multiple Races: 7.1%
Free-Reduced Meal Eligibility (2019-2020): 57.9% (eligible students)
Free-Reduced Breakfast Participation (2019-2020): 33.0% (participating eligible students)
English as a Second Language: 4.0%
Students with disabilities: 20.0%

STEP ONE: MISSION

School Mission:
N/A

School Counseling Department Mission:

N/A

*School counseling supervisor is not aware of either mission statements

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STEP TWO: ELEMENTS

Current Critical Data Element(s): 2019-2020 School Year

• 48 credit recovery students

• 76 credit recovery courses
• 76.04% average Percent Complete (Count)
• 75.78% average Percent Complete (Time)
• 5 students received zeros in their credit recovery course (did not start the course)

Current Critical Data Element(s): 2020 Fall Semester

• 10 credit recovery students

• 10 credit recovery courses
• All students began credit recovery course starting at 0% Percent Complete
(Time) and 0% Percent Complete (Count) - (avg. 0% for both categories)

STEP THREE: ANALYZE

Baseline Data: Goal:

Out of 76 credit recovery courses taken by
48 credit recovery students in the 2019-
2020 school year, the average Percent
Complete (Time) (time spent on credit
recovery) on credit recovery classes was
75.78%. The average Percent Complete
(Count) (activities completed in credit
recovery) was a 76.04%. There was a total
of 5 students that received zeros in their
course, as they did not start their course.
All 10 credit recovery students were
placed in their single credit recovery
course starting with 0% Percent
Complete (Time) and 0% Percent
Complete (Count) for the 2020 Fall
semester. The Percent Complete (Time)
stands for “the percent complete
weighted by time”
1) The six credit recovery students
receiving the school counseling intern’s
strategies will have an average increase of
35% of Percent Complete (Time) on their
credit recovery courses by November 23,
2020.
2) The six credit recovery students
receiving the school counseling intern’s
strategies will have completed 10% more
in Percent Complete (Time) on their credit
recovery courses than the three credit
recovery students not receiving the school
counseling intern’s strategies by November
23, 2020.
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STEP FOUR: STAKEHOLDERS-UNITE

Stakeholders Strategies
Credit recovery students were not spending Beginning date:
enough time on their credit recovery Approximately 09/21/2020
course(s) throughout the 2019-2020 school Ending date:
year, which further reflected in the average 11/23/2020
percentage of work completed.
Stakeholders came together to continue
with previous strategies, while also
implementing new strategies such as
weekly meetings with credit recovery
students, weekly video recordings of
helpful tips sent to credit recovery students,
weekly motivational images sent to credit
recovery students, weekly prizes and a
single “grand” prize for credit recovery
students, office hours for credit recovery
parents, and the creation of a parental
involvement flyer sent to credit recovery
parents.

School Counseling Intern • Communicated with school

counselors, graduation coach,
credit recovery
mentor/teacher, caseworkers,
and parents about credit
recovery and specific credit
recovery students
• Engaged in weekly
communication with credit
recovery students via phone,
email, or Google Meet
• Recorded and shared short
video recordings (max. 2
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mins.) weekly via Google

Meet to credit recovery
students suggesting tips meant
to assist with their credit
recovery work
• Promoted and provided
weekly office hours to credit
recovery students to assist
with any questions, concerns,
or individual needs
• Promoted and provided office
hours for parents of credit
recovery students to call in and
discuss any questions,
concerns, or student needs
• Created and emailed a flyer on
the importance of parental
involvement to credit recovery
parents
• Sent credit recovery students
weekly motivational
pictures/images via email
• Promoted and provided
weekly incentives/prizes for
the credit recovery student that
completed the most amount of
work within a given week
• Promoted and provided a
“grand” prize for the credit
recovery student that
completed the most amount of
credit recovery work by a
specific date

School Counselors • Sought and received parental

permission for credit recovery
students within their caseload
to work with the school
counseling intern

Administration (Principal)
Graduation Coach
Credit Recovery Teacher/Mentor
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• Communicated with the school
counseling intern about credit
recovery and specific credit
recovery students within their
caseload
• Communicated with the school
counseling intern about credit
recovery (as needed)
• Provided encouragement to
credit recovery students
• Made contact with credit
recovery students and/or their
parents if credit recovery work
remained stagnant
• Completed check-ins with
parents of credit recovery
students
• Communicated with the school
counseling intern about credit
recovery and specific credit
recovery students
• Provided incentives/prizes
(gift cards and donated TV) to
the school counseling intern
• Provided weekly credit
recovery progress report to
school counseling intern,
school counselors, &
graduation coach
• Provided weekly credit
recovery progress reports to
individual credit recovery
students
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• Communicated with the school

counseling intern about credit
recovery
Case Workers • Attempted weekly contact
(for 5/6 credit recovery students – with credit recovery students
those with disabilities) • Made contact with credit
recovery students and/or
parents if credit recovery work
remained stagnant
• Communicated with the school
counseling intern about credit
recovery and specific credit
recovery students
Parents • Provided permission to their
student’s school counselor for
their student to work with and
partake in strategies put
together by the school
counseling intern
Students • Participated in strategies put in
place by all stakeholders
involved in their credit
recovery work (listed above)
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STEP FIVE: REANALYZE, REFLECT, AND REVISE

Reanalyze baseline data:

Before action plan 2019-2020:

• 48 credit recovery students

• 76 credit recovery courses
• 76.04% average Percent Complete (Count)
• 75.78% average Percent Complete (Time)
• 5 students received zeros in a credit recovery course (did not start the course)

Before action plan 2020 Fall Semester:

• 10 credit recovery students

• 10 credit recovery courses
• All students began credit recovery course starting at 0% Percent Complete
(Time) and 0% Percent Complete (Count) - (avg. 0% for both categories)

After action plan (approx.) September 21st – November:

• 10 credit recovery students

• 10 credit recovery courses
- 6 students received the school counseling intern’s strategies
- 3 students did not receive the school counseling intern’s strategies
- 1 student was excluded from data as they received some of the school
counseling intern’s strategies
• 36.86% average Percent Complete (Time) for the six students that received the
school counseling intern’s strategies
• 4.54% average Percent Complete (Time) for the three students that did not receive
the school counseling intern’s strategies
• 32.32% difference in Percent Complete (Time) between the two groupings of
credit recovery students that did or did not receive the school counseling intern’s
strategies
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Credit recovery students Credit recovery students

that received intern’s that did not receive intern’s
strategies strategies
# of students 6 3
Avg. Percent Complete 0% 0%
(Time) at start of course
Avg. Percent Complete 36.86% 4.54%
(Time) on November 23,
2020

Effective Strategies

• Weekly individual credit recovery meetings helped students remain accountable

for the time and amount of credit recovery that they were regularly completing or
not completing.
• The school’s credit recovery teacher/mentor sent weekly credit recovery progress
report to the school counseling intern, school counselors, and graduation coach so
that further action could be taken if need be.
• The school counseling intern communicated with parents by sending a flyer via
email on the importance of parental involvement and asked for their continued
assistance.
• The school counseling intern collaborated with the graduation coach as she
provided weekly prizes and a “grand” prize to provide to those credit recovery
students completing the most amount of credit recovery.
• Collaboration via the school counseling intern and graduation coach when credit
recovery students were remaining stagnant in their credit recovery work, which
prompted the graduation coach to then contact either the student, the parent, or
both.
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Areas of Improvement

• The school counseling intern will more greatly enforce that credit recovery
students partake in some of the strategies that were not as favored or clearly
expected of them (e.g. weekly videos, weekly office hours, etc.).
• The school counseling intern will keep better track of additions to stakeholders, as
one caseworker was unknowingly not contacted until the month of November.
• The school counseling intern will collaborate more with the case workers and ask
them to provide detailed information that includes what they are doing each week
to help their credit recovery student(s) succeed in their course(es).

Systemic Changes Made

• The school counseling intern made weekly contact with all six credit recovery
students involved via email, Google Meet, or phone calls in order to provide
academic support throughout the entirety of this data project.

STEP SIX: EDUCATE

MEASURE
Newport News Public Schools
School Counseling Program Accountability Report Card

School: Oscar Smith High School

Enrollment: 2,275
Principal: Paul Joseph
School Counseling Intern: Megan Paradise

Principal’s Comments: Results:

Before action plan 2019-2020:
“I was very impressed with the Credit
Recovery program developed by Ms.
Paradise. She made meaningful connections
with a number of our most needy at-risk
students. A number of these students had not
done any work in quite some time, but she
was able to get them back on track to earn
credits and take a step closer to earning a
diploma.”
- Paul Joseph, OSHS Principal
• 48 credit recovery students
• 76 credit recovery courses
• 76.04% average Percent Complete
(Count)
• 75.78% average Percent Complete
(Time)
• 5 students received zeros in a credit
recovery course (did not start the
course)
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Before action plan 2020 Fall Semester:

• 10 credit recovery students

• 10 credit recovery courses
• All students began credit recovery
course starting at 0% Percent
Complete (Time) and 0% Percent
Complete (Count) - (avg. 0% for
both categories)

After action plan (approx.) September 21st –

November:

• 10 credit recovery students

• 10 credit recovery courses
- 6 students received the
school counseling intern’s
strategies
- 3 students did not receive
the school counseling
intern’s strategies
- 1 student was excluded
from data as they received
some of the school
counseling intern’s
strategies
• 36.86% average Percent Complete
(Time) for the six students that
received the school counseling intern’s
strategies
• 4.54% average Percent Complete
(Time) for the three students that did
not receive the school counseling
intern’s strategies
• 32.32% difference in Percent
Complete (Time) between the two
groupings of credit recovery students
that did or did not receive the school
counseling intern’s strategies
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School Improvement Issues:

There was an apparent need to help increase

the amount of time that credit recovery
students spend on credit recovery to ensure
academic improvement. Credit Credit
recovery recovery
students that students that
received did not
intern’s receive
strategies intern’s
strategies
# of students 6 3
Avg. Percent 0% 0%
Complete
(Time) at
start of
course
Avg. Percent 36.86% 4.54%
Complete
(Time) on
November
23, 2020

Critical Data Element(s):

The Oscar Smith High School’s school counseling intern reviewed the 2019-2020 school year
data for credit recovery and saw that the average amount of time that students spend on credit
recovery work needed to increase. The credit recovery start of course data for Fall 2020 was
also used as a baseline for results (e.g. Percent Complete (Time)).

• Increase the average Percent Complete (Time) students spend on credit recovery work
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Stakeholders:

School Counseling Intern: Addressed credit recovery outcomes through communication with
other involved stakeholders. Provided weekly videos, weekly office hours, weekly credit
recovery meetings, weekly motivation emails, weekly prizes, and a “grand” prize to credit
recovery students. Provided office hours to parents of credit recovery students and created and
sent a parental involvement flyer to parents.

School Counselors: Received parental permission for each credit recovery student to work
with the school counseling intern. Communicated with the school counseling intern about
credit recovery and credit recovery students.

Principal: Openly communicated with the school counseling intern about credit recovery as
needed.

Graduation Coach: Provided check-in’s for both credit recovery students and parents and
encouragement to credit recovery students. Communicated with the school counseling intern
about credit recovery and credit recovery students. Provided incentives/prizes and “grand”
prize to the school counseling intern.

Credit Recovery Teacher/Mentor: Provided weekly progress reports to school counseling

intern, school counselors, graduation coach, and individual credit recovery students.
Communicated with the school counseling intern about credit recovery.

Case Workers: Attempted weekly contact with credit recovery students and made contact
with credit recovery students that remained stagnant in their work. Communicated with the
school counseling intern about credit recovery and their credit recovery student(s).

Parents: Provided permission for their student to work with the school counseling intern.

Students: Participated in weekly meetings (not all students/not every week), earned prizes for
amount of credit recovery work completed, and answered to stakeholders working with credit
recovery in regard to credit recovery (listed above).

Human Faces Behind the Data

Anecdotal Outcomes:

One credit recovery student named Carl said, talking about the weekly credit recovery
meetings between the student and school counseling intern, that “they have been helpful. It
helps me get my work done.”

Another credit recovery student named Aaron also spoke to the weekly credit recovery
meetings with the school counseling intern as he stated that “it’s helpful because you gave me
a date of when I should get it finished so I’m more focused.”
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