Does the Support Personnel

Accountability Report Card (SPARC) Make a

Difference?

California Association of

School Counselors (CASC)

PresentationMarch 30, 2007

Presenters

This research was sponsored by California Counselor Leadership Academy (CCLA) and

Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE)

Dr. Kathryn C. Reillyand

Dr. Randy V. Campbell

California State University, Los Angeles

SPARC - Eleven ComponentsFirst Step SPARC - Six Components*

Principal's Comments*

Student Support Personnel Team*

School Climate/ Safety*

Student Results* Major

Achievements

Measurements Community

Partnerships/Resources Volunteer Involvement Focus for Improvement Keeping You Informed* Overall Clarity and

Congruency*

The Evaluation Questions

1. How useful is the Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC) in achieving its goals?

2. What is the effect of the SPARC on the behaviors and attitudes towards student support personnel in California?

3. Have the roles and responsibilities school counselors changed as a result of the SPARC?

The Design of the Evaluation To determine changes in attitudes

and behaviors Initial focus groups in three regions of

the state with SPARC raters Preliminary survey after refining

questions Final 10 focus groups to validate the

survey questions Pilot survey tested with 6 key individuals Survey administered through zoomerang

Method

Email sent out to 144 support personnel

This represented 12 counties which contain 367 school districts

122 surveys returned with 119 useable (82.6% response rate)

Results

Summary of responses to the survey

Survey Respondents

Counselor 95 80%

Classified personnel 6 5%

Other school administrator 4 3%

VP of guidance/counseling 4 3%

Principal 3 3%

Teacher 2 2%

Career center staff 2 2%

District personnel 1 1%

Parent 1 1%

School Psychologist 1 1%

Total answers: 119 100%

Type of Schools

23%

8%

66%

3%

High school

Middle school

Adult/Continuationschool

Elementary school

Who wrote the SPARC?

Counselor 105 98%

Principal 72 67%

Classified staff 54 50%

Career center technician 40 37%

Vice Principal 34 32%

Graduate student or intern 33 31%

School Psychologist 33 31%

Data technician 31 29%

Nurse 30 28%

Teacher - special programs 24 22%

Parent 22 21%

Other 16 15%

Dean 14 13%

Usefulness of SPARC in achieving its goals

Very Useful Useful Not Useful Don't know

Self-evaluation 69 58% 38 32% 9 8% 4 3%

Promoting program 56 47% 48 41% 12 10% 2 2%

Preparing reports 55 47% 33 28% 18 15% 11 9%

Implementing standards 54 47% 42 36% 13 11% 7 6%

Total 234 50% 161 34% 52 11% 24 5%

Goal of Self-Evaluation

Yes NoDon’t Know

N/A Total

Focus for Improvement 103 93% 4 4% 3 3% 1 1% 111

Student Results 101 91% 7 6% 3 3% 0 0% 111

School Climate and Safety 97 87% 8 7% 6 5% 0 0% 111

Major Achievement 96 87% 7 6% 6 5% 1 1% 110

Student Support Personnel Team 89 82% 13 12% 5 5% 1 1% 108

Measurement 89 82% 13 12% 5 5% 2 2% 109

Keeping you Informed 86 78% 18 16% 5 5% 1 1% 110

Community Partnerships/Resources 81 76% 16 15% 8 7% 2 2% 107

Volunteer Involvement 66 60% 29 26% 13 12% 2 2% 110

Principal’s Comments 54 50% 32 30% 8 7% 13 12% 107

Goal of Promoting the Program

Yes NoDon’t

KnowN/A Total

Student Results 97 91% 7 7% 3 3% 0 0% 107

Major Achievement 94 88% 9 8% 3 3% 1 1% 107

Focus for Improvement 88 82% 16 15% 2 2% 1 1% 107

School Climate and Safety 86 80% 17 16% 4 4% 0 0% 107

Keeping you Informed 80 78% 17 17% 4 4% 1 1% 102

Student Support Personnel Team 80 76% 21 20% 4 4% 0 0% 105

Community Partnerships/Resources 78 74% 21 20% 6 6% 0 0% 105

Measurement 71 72% 19 19% 8 8% 0 0% 98

Volunteer Involvement 63 63% 31 31% 6 6% 0 0% 100

Principal’s Comments 60 61% 29 29% 4 4% 6 6% 99

Goal of Preparing Reports

Yes NoDon’t

KnowN/A Total

Student Results 79 72% 12 11% 11 10% 7 6% 109

Major Achievement 73 70% 13 13% 11 11% 7 7% 104

School Climate and Safety 73 68% 18 17% 10 9% 7 6% 108

Measurement 65 64% 17 17% 12 12% 8 8% 102

Community Partnerships/Resources 64 62% 19 18% 11 11% 9 9% 103

Student Support Personnel Team 63 62% 20 20% 11 11% 8 8% 102

Focus for Improvement 59 60% 17 17% 14 14% 9 9% 99

Keeping you Informed 55 54% 22 22% 13 13% 12 12% 102

Volunteer Involvement 48 48% 26 26% 14 14% 11 11% 99

Principal’s Comments 39 40% 34 35% 11 11% 13 13% 97

Goal of Implementing ASCA Standards

Yes NoDon’t

Know N/A Total

Student Results 84 80% 11 10% 7 7% 3 3% 105

School Climate and Safety 79 75% 14 13% 9 9% 3 3% 105

Measurement 74 73% 15 15% 9 9% 4 4% 102

Focus for Improvement 70 71% 13 13% 9 9% 6 6% 98

Major Achievement 73 71% 16 16% 10 10% 4 4% 103

Community Partnerships/Resources 60 61% 21 21% 12 12% 5 5% 98

Student Support Personnel Team 60 61% 28 28% 6 6% 5 5% 99

Keeping you Informed 52 54% 26 27% 13 13% 6 6% 97

Volunteer Involvement 41 42% 35 36% 15 15% 6 6% 97

Principal’s Comments 34 35% 39 40% 14 14% 10 10% 97

Ways of Sharing SPARC within the School

Placed in counseling office 93 89%

Discussed at faculty/staff meeting 77 73%

Distributed to every faculty/staff member 66 63%

Posted on school website 62 59%

Other school events (special parent meetings) 38 36%

Distributed at PTA Meeting 32 30%

Mailed to each family 26 25%

Distributed at new student orientation 22 21%

Sent in summer mailing/registration packet 22 21%

Posted on parent listserv 19 18%

Other school events 19 18%

Published in newspaper or newsletter (school/PTA) 18 17%

Presented at feeder schools’/articulation meetings 15 14%

Placed in school library 15 14%

Ways of Sharing the SPARC Outside of the School

Given to all district administration 60 62%

Discussed with Superintendent 57 59%

Presented at school board meetings 53 55%

Posted or linked to district websites 32 33%

Sent to state legislators 28 29%

Shared with universities 18 19%

Shared with community liaison translators 17 18%

Don't know 15 15%

Shared with city council 11 11%

Distributed to local real estate offices 9 9%

Published in community newspaper/newsletter 8 8%

Posted or linked to county websites 5 5%

Behaviors/Attitudes changed within School (all respondents)

Yes44%

No23%

Don’t Know28%

Not Applicable

5%

How Behaviors/Attitudes changed within School (all respondents)

Increased awareness and/or appreciation of student support services

34 74%

Helped others better understand the counselors’ roles 34 74%

Increased cohesiveness among student support personnel 26 57%

Provided greater accountability 24 52%

Other 1 2%

Behaviors/Attitudes changed within School (Best in West/Diamond)

Total Yes NoDon't Know

Certificate of Commendation 16 4 25% 4 25% 8 50%

Academy Award 38 21 55% 8 21% 9 24%

Best in the West 26 11 42% 9 35% 6 23%

Diamond 14 10 71% 2 14% 2 14%

Best in the West + Diamond 40 21 53% 11 28% 8 20%

Academy Award + Certificate of Comm. 54 25 46% 12 22% 17 31%

Behaviors/Attitudes changed Outside School (all respondents)

Yes37%

No15%

Don’t Know48%

How Behaviors/Attitudes changed Outside School (all respondents)

Provided more information/awareness about the school counseling program

35 95%

Increased recognition by School Board 29 78%

Increased involvement by parents 11 30%

Used to recruit university interns 10 27%

Increased media attention about the school counseling program

9 24%

Increased recognition by other members of the community (City Council, Rotary clubs, state legislature)

9 24%

Influenced student enrollment trends 7 19%

Increased involvement by City Council 6 16%

Other 1 3%

Ways of Sharing the SPARC Outside of the School (Best in the West/Diamond)

Total Yes NoDon't Know

Certificate of Commendation 15 5 33% 2 13% 8 53%

Academy Award 38 14 37% 6 16% 18 47%

Best in the West 26 10 38% 6 23% 10 38%

Diamond 14 6 43% 1 7% 7 50%

Best in the West + Diamond 40 16 40% 7 18% 17 43%

Academy Award + Certificate of Comm. 53 19 36% 8 15% 26 49%

Changes in Role and Responsibilities of School Counselors (All Respondents)

Yes42%

No45%

Don’t Know13%

How Roles and Responsibilities of School Counselors Changed (All Respondents)

Increased focus on accountability data (e.g. completing the SPARC)

39 93%

Focused counselors on achieving national standards 31 74%

Improved cohesiveness among the student support personnel team

30 71%

Improved collaboration with administration and district personnel

27 64%

Improved knowledge of data collection techniques and resources

27 64%

Improved collaboration with teachers 22 52%

Improved collaboration with parents 17 40%

Increased advocacy activities 13 31%

Increased roles and duties of counselors 4 10%

Other 1 2%

Changes in Roles and Responsibilities of School Counselors (Best in the West/Diamond)

Total Yes NoDon't

Know

Certificate of Commendation 15 5 33% 8 53% 2 13%

Academy Award 37 19 51% 14 38% 4 11%

Best in the West 26 11 42% 14 54% 1 4%

Diamond 14 5 36% 9 64% 0 0%

Best in the West + Diamond 40 16 40% 23 58% 1 3%

Academy Award + Certificate of Comm. 52 24 46% 22 42% 6 12%

Availability of Financial Resources

Yes23%

No67%

Don't Know10%

39 Additional Comments

Positive = 49% Suggestion = 36% Negative = 15%

Discussion Stakeholders bought into evaluation

process All sections of the SPARC were useful in

achieving its goals Student Results section was most useful

in meeting all four goals Trend is that Behaviors/Attitudes toward

Support Personnel changed over time within but not outside school

Discussion (continued)

Not clear if the Roles/Responsibilities of School Counselor changed due to SPARC

Counselors wrote the SPARC without financial resources

SPARC shared extensively within schools but not outside of schools

Recommendations Establish communication loops for

SPARC feedback within and outside of schools

Highlight Student Results section of the SPARC

Use the SPARC to continue the transformation of the roles and responsibilities of school counselors

Plan a future study with larger samples to assess impact of SPARC

Additional Comments?

Contact Information

Dr. Kathryn C. Reillykreilly@calstatela.edu

Dr. Randy V. Campbellrcampbe@calstatela.edu

SPARC Resources

To obtain more information about the SPARC, please go to LACOE’s website at:

www.sparconline.net