4.5 Technology assisted school counselor and principal collaboration  (Page 4/16)

Electronic collaboration activities

Collaborating electronically can take many different forms. Koufman-Frederick et al. (1999) proposed several types of activities which includes discussion groups, data collection and organization, sharing documents, synchronous communication, and participating in online courses or workshops. Rivka Stein, a counselor at Hebrew Academy Community School in Florida writes about how she and her principal are able to use technology to diminish barriers of space, pace, and time:

"At our school, I have developed a strong collaborative relationship with the principals. Technology has definitely become a cornerstone of our information sharing. In between regularly scheduled meetings, it is easy for us to "touch base" using email when timely issues surface. On our internal network, there is a secure, shared file called "counselor" that only the principals&I can access. In that file, I store all sensitive documents that are important for both the principals and myself to access. We have accommodation plans for students with special needs. I maintain a list of referral sources for counseling, psychological testing, speech therapists, tutors, etc. I also maintain a file of the agendas that I create for my meetings with the principals. In these agendas are brief notes/comments updating status of many issues. Additionally, in a separate secure area of the network, the principals keep disciplinary logs on students which I can access to support my work with students."

"We have recently set up a new system of tracking documents, which teachers can access, in which there is a place for brief highlights (&"low-lights") on student academic performance, standardized testing, internal&external services offered/received (e.g., Title 1, Private School Services for ESE through the public Schools, evaluation on file, Educational enhancement groups, etc.) There is also a section for behavioral&academic strategies that have been successful." (personal communication, July 16, 2009).

Dr. Mary O'Reilly, College Counselor at Josephinum Academy in Chicago captures how she uses technology to help her, the principal, and students understand and make data-driven decisions regarding college admission:

Administrators frequently ask for data on our students relative to college admission decisions; I enter all data on PrepHQ&can produce summary data, plus (my favorite) scatter grams on our students' success based on GPA&ACT. Granted there are certainly other factors involved in college admission decisions, however, the scatter grams are useful to students so they can determine if they are "in the ballpark" or near the ballpark and need to make sure they have an excellent essay, personal statement, activity record, etc. to be competitive.

PrepHQ ( http://www.prephq.com/ ) is similar to Naviance except it is free. It reports numbers/percentages for students applying to public/private colleges, in-state/out-of-state schools, 4 yr/2 yr institutions, competitive/non-competitive, religious affiliation, HBCU, monthly traffic, scholarship winner totals, test score history, etc. As yet, we don't use all the features PrepHQ has available, but the ones mentioned are valuable&time saving. If an administrator needs some information, I can produce it in say...about 5 minutes! (personal communication, July 13, 2009).