Support Personnel Accountability Report Card

2006-2007

A continuous improvement document sponsored by the California Department of Education and Los Angeles County Office of Education

Lancaster High School

44701 32^nd Street West

Lancaster, California 93536

661.726.7649 Fax 661.726.7694

www.lnhs.org

PRINCIPAL: Cheri Kreitz

DISTRICT: Antelope Valley Union High School District

GRADE LEVEL: 9 – 12 ENROLLMENT: 3,297

SCHOOL YEAR: Traditional

Principals Comments

The administrators at Lancaster High School depend on the critical role the student support team plays regarding safety on our campus. Their proactive approach to school safety is demonstrated by the Comprehensive Competency Based Guidance (CCBG) lessons they teach on tolerance, conflict resolution, relationships, and violence. Their contributions to school safety are not limited to the classroom. They often monitor the campus during lunch and breaks. They facilitate small groups, are involved in extra-curricular activities, are actively involved in our WASC accreditation, and are an integral part of our crisis team

The Student Support Personnel Services Team (SSPST) at Lancaster High School (LnHS) plays a vital role in our student’s academic success. They have enthusiastically embraced aligning all comprehensive guidance lessons with the American School Counselors National Standards, as well as our Expected School Wide Learning Results (ESLRS). The team is continually evaluating the effectiveness of the programs they offer to meet the needs of our changing demographics and enrollment.

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I wholeheartedly support our guidance department and their proactive approach to our student’s academic success and the safety of our campus.

School Climate and Safety

The student support system is designed with a positive school climate and the safety of our students at the forefront. Our team uses CCBG lessons to promote school safety, particularly our personal/social domain counselors. We use standards based curriculum to address school safety, for example: “Take on Tolerance”, “Rules for a Fair Fight”, “Conflict Resolution Strategies”, and “Good Relationships/ Studs and Duds”. Our team is particularly targeting the freshmen class where statistically the most instances of unsafe conduct and safety issues occur. We are instrumental in the LINK program on campus, where 100 students (upperclassmen) called link leaders, are assigned to mentor nine freshmen apiece. Each counselor is partnered with 16 link leaders who act as a conduit between freshman and counselor.

This graph shows the number of conflict mediations for first semester compared to the second semester for the school year 2006 – 2007, at Lancaster High School.

The data clearly indicates the importance of maintaining a vital conflict mediation program. Therefore, we have expanded the conflict mediations efforts by adding more trained student mediators as well as an additional Counselor.

This graph shows the number of freshmen who have participated in Comprehensive Guidance Lessons, presented by counselors, related to school climate and safety for this year as compared to the 2005-2007 school year

Student Support Personnel Team (SSPT)

The Lancaster High School guidance program serves all 3,297 students on our campus including our special education severe population and our independent study students. To achieve this goal it is imperative that we are an inclusive team. The principal and three vice principals and their support staff play an important role in what we do. We have six credentialed counselors who have masters’ degrees and seventy years of teaching experience combined. We also have a full-time Title One Counselor that plans and programs Interventions for At-Risk students. Other key student support personnel team members who are an integral part of our daily operations are:

Pupil Personnel Services Tech, Guidance Clerk, Registrar Data Tech, Title One Clerk, and SB813 Clerk.

Another level of support personnel critical to our mission is:

Psychologists, Attendance Clerks, Health Clerk, Parent Volunteer Coordinator, Attendance Officer, and School Nurse.

The final level and equally as important to student success is:

Department Chairs, Program Coordinators, Teachers, Regional Occupation Programs, and Security Advisors, Parent Advisory Committee, Custodians, ASB, School Board, and District Office.

The role of the school counselors is to design, coordinate, implement, and evaluate the student support system. To facilitate this we have a team retreat every spring. In addition, each counselor is assigned to at least one department and serves as a liaison between the department and guidance program. The counselors are also members of one of the focus groups on campus that meets regularly to achieve school wide goals. We are on almost every committee including the Western Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges (WASC. Our involvement on campus, at the district level, and in our community gives us insight and guidance in designing, coordinating, implementing and evaluating our student support system.

Student Results

Student results are the outcome of how students perform. The student support personnel team measures our success by the success of our students. To this end, we are compiling, collecting and evaluating data like we never have before. Pre-tests and post-tests are now a part of our comprehensive guidance lessons. Lists and surveys are developed and maintained in our office. One of the most extensive ways we have enhanced student results is by increasing the number of honors and AP classes we offer.

In 2004-2006 we offered 36 sections of AP/Honors classes with a total enrollment of 1160 students. In 2006-2007 we are offering 41 sections with 1226 students enrolled.

In October 2006, the district sponsored a college information night at Highland High School. Many colleges were there to answer questions and promote their schools. Our team of counselors took this opportunity to blitz senior classes and promote this event..

Major Achievements

The student support system at LnHS is involved in all aspects of the campus culture. We measure our achievement by the opportunities our students have to achieve. Some of our major achievements are:

•Aligning our CCBG lessons to the national standards

•Guidance notes sent home every other month to keep families informed

•Academic Improvement lessons for freshmen and their parents

•An informal introduction of campus programs for incoming freshmen and their parents the week before school starts

•A Career Center Tech who’s available to promote and maintain the resources available in our comprehensive career center

•Evening hours offered by counselors to better serve our clients

•Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) six year accreditation

• Grief Support Groups (5 years of continuing service)

Community Partnerships

We understand that our school belongs to the community. Lancaster high school is a microcosm of our society in general and of our community in particular. Therefore, we rely on community partnerships to communicate their needs and maximize resources for our students. Our partners include:

Academic Domain –Universities of California, California State Universities, Private and Community Colleges, Making High School and College Count, Migrant Ed Program, English Learners Program, Antelope Valley Adult School, Desert Sands Charter School, Opportunities for Learning, Local Businesses and Organizations (Local Scholarships).

Personal/Social Domain – Child and Family Services, L.A. County Sheriffs Department, Grizzly Youth Academy, LACOE, A.V. Youth Services, Probation Department, United Community Action Network (UCAN), Tarzana Treatment Center.

Career Domain - Armed Services, Career Prep Council, Regional Occupation Programs, NASA/Dryden, United States Air Force, Edwards Air Force Base, Vocational/Technical Schools, Job Placement Office Antelope Valley College (AVC), Independent Living Program, Early Start to Emancipation Preparation.

Not Domain Specific – Rotary Club, Assistance League, Equal Opportunity Program’s and Services (EOPS) at AVC, Child and Family Education (AVC), Grace Resources, Assemblywoman (Sharon Runner) Office, Lancaster School District, Westside School District, Eastside School District.

Parent/Guardian Involvement

Our student support system relies on parent involvement to achieve our mission. We are excited to have parents participate in making a difference for all students. To help facilitate parent involvement, we have a parent volunteer coordinator who organizes and schedules volunteer activities. Often we will have parent/guardians stop by and we will not hesitate to use their expertise. Some of the activities for which we use parent volunteers are:

Registration – Prepare and disseminate information, handout and collect paperwork, maintain assigned stations throughout the registration process.

Freshmen Orientation and Social – Prepare and disseminate information, handout schedules, support clubs, promote programs and academies, set up tables and chairs.

Credit Retrieval Registration – Maintain assigned stations and help counselors get students registered.

Pre-registration – Assist in the classroom with presentations, organize and prioritize forms and information.

Parent Volunteer Recognition – May 6, 2007

For more information contact Cindy Tyndall at (661) 726-7649 x126 or ctyndall@avhsd.org.

Academic, Career, and Personal/Social Measurements

The LnHS guidance team uses a variety of assessment tools and survey results to help students, families and staff reach their full potential. We carefully use this information and incorporate it into the management and responsive services of our program. The following is a comprehensive list by domain.

Career Domain:

Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) ––Match students with military and civilian careers.

Career Cruising – Interest, ability and value inventories help students evaluate which careers they are best suited for.

Academic Domain: Six-year Plans – Help students plan for high school and post secondary education to achieve their educational and career goals.

California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) – Work with students, teachers and administration with preparation and administration of this state requirement.

STAR – Use SAT Chats to meet with students one-on-one to help improve test scores and raise our Academic Performance Index (API).

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), American College Testing (ACT), Advanced Placement (AP) Exams, Golden State Exams (GSE) – These tests for college bound students are critical to our counseling program.

Geometry Placement Test – Help determine student placement in appropriate math classes.

Special Education Assessments – Determine proper placement and services for special ed students.

Personal/Social Domain:

Individual Education Plans (IEP) – Determine the need for DIS counseling services which are administered in our department.

Discipline Entry Queries–– Help evaluate which CCBG lessons are most valuable to students.

Student Study Team Referrals – Help assess students need for special ed testing and/or modifications.

Student, Parent, Teacher Surveys – Help direct our services toward particular areas of need.

All Domains:

Use pre/post tests to evaluate the effectiveness of CCBG lessons.

Focus for Improvement

Our student support team’s focus on improvement starts with evaluating the effectiveness of the services we offer. We are using surveys, questionnaires, and pre/post tests to help us in this process. Our number one priority is to raise our Academic Performance Index (API) scores. Some of the strategies we are using to help us achieve this goal are: offering more honors and AP classes and encouraging students to take the most rigorous classes they can handle, participating in SAT chats – we personally meet with every student and talk to them about the importance of the standardized tests, adopting the reading skills and skills for success classes where we can closely monitor our lower performing students.

The second area of improvement we want to focus on is to reduce the amount of student/teacher conflict our campus and promote a better learning environment. To achieve this goal we are: increasing the number of CCBG lessons dealing with tolerance, conflict resolution and relationships, Power of Choice, increasing our involvement with the LINK program which uses peer mentors to help with the transition from middle to high school, facilitating groups and workshops. The following chart compares the number Discipline entries for the first semester of the 2004-2006 school year to the first semester of the 2006-2007 school year.

Keeping You Informed

Good communication is a key to our team’s success. The services we offer will only be effective if our school community is well informed. Here are some examples of how we get the message out:

Personal contact: classroom visits, department meetings, back-to- school night, open house, staff meetings, parent/teacher meetings, Individual Education Plans (IEP), Student Support Team (SST) and 504 interventions, evening counseling, open-door policy.

Electronic: Ed-line, phone/dialer, email, fax, school marquee, television

– we use our campus studio to film announcements and broadcast it to the school, video – one of our counselors makes promotional videos to take to our feeder middle schools to promote our programs.

Print: Guidance notes – sent home every other month in Spanish and English and disseminated on campus for students and staff, bulletin boards (general, college and scholarship information), letters, flyers, posters, brochures, report cards, booklets.