001Welcome to this webinar about TEA supports for the school counseling 8020 policy. Thank you for being here. Let's get started. This is a QR code to the presentation slides in PDF form. It is best to open the QR code now so that you can click on the PDF link to follow along with this presentation since I will be sharing lots of linked resources. Consider pausing this webinar for a moment here so that you can access the presentation PDF in the QR code. Let's begin with a brief introduction. My name is Stephanie Lerner and my role at TEA includes serving as the primary point of contact for Texas school counselors. I develop resources for school counselors and I conduct trainings to support the effective implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs. Before joining TEA in 2020, I
002was an elementary and secondary school counselor for 12 years in central Texas. You can reach me at Stephanie. at tea.ex.gov which is listed on this slide at the second bullet. The objectives for this presentation are to explore the value of counselor spending work time on statutory counseling duties and to identify counseling resources to support the implementation of school counseling statutory requirements with a focus on the 8020 policy. The 8020 policy refers to the Texas Education Code 33.006D 006D which requires school counselors to spend at least 80% of their time on appropriate counseling duties. We will discuss all of this throughout the webinar today. Now let's turn our attention to the first objective which is to explore the value of counselor spending work time on statutory counseling duties. So, why are we talking about school counselors
003being able to spend at least 80% of their work time on counseling duties? Why does this matter? And what's the value in it? Well, the value falls into three major buckets. Improved student outcomes, optimal student support, and statutory compliance. While you may know all of this value, does the rest of your school staff and community know this? If not, consider sharing the following information with them. The third bullet of statutory compliance is where we'll actually dive into the rule itself, what it says, and why the rule matters. Now, let's explore each bullet in a little bit more detail. Counseling programs can positively impact K through2 student outcomes in the areas of academic achievement, college and career readiness, and personal development. We know that students with greater access to comprehensive school counseling programs have an increased
004likelihood of academic and behavior success in school. In addition, research shows that comprehensive datadriven school counseling programs increase student learning outcomes. If you would like more information on these student outcomes, you can review the research document that is titled empirical research studies supporting the value of school counseling, which is listed in the references slide. Students have an increased need for responsive services post pandemic. This increased need amplifies the importance of school counselors spending at least 80% of their time on counseling duties. At risk behaviors are increasing for nearly all groups of youth. According to the Texas statewide plan for student mental health, TEA reviewed data and interviewed multiple education and mental health stakeholders, identifying learning loss and mental health challenges as the two biggest issues facing students and schools as a result of the pandemic.
005When school counselors provide counseling services during at least 80% of their work time, students can receive optimal support during this challenging time. Another value of school counselors spending time on counseling duties is that when they do, districts are in compliance with the law. Texas Education Code 33.005 005 is called comprehensive school counseling programs and it states that a school counselor shall work with school faculty and staff, students, parents, and the community to implement, plan, and evaluate a comprehensive school counseling program that conforms to the most recent edition of the Texas model for comprehensive school counseling programs, also known as the Texas model. The school counselor shall design the program to include four main components. A guidance curriculum to help students develop their full educational potential including the students objectives and career interests. A system a
006responsive services component to inter intervene on behalf of any student whose immediate personal concerns or problems put the student and their um educational, career, personal or social development at risk. An individual planning system to guide a student as the student plans, monitors and manages the students own educational, career, personal and social development. And then finally the fourth component a system support component which is divided into two types of tasks. Foundational activities to establish manage and evaluate the counseling program and indirect student services to collaborate with staff, families and community on behalf of the student and their development. Now, let's take a look at where the 8020 policy is actually listed in the law. Texas Education Code 33.006 states that the primary responsibility of a school counselor is to counsel students to fully develop each students
007academic, career, personal, and social abilities. The 8020 policy is addressed in subsection D of this statute and states, except as provided by subsection E, the board of trustees of each school district shall adopt a policy that requires a school counselor to spend at least 80% of the school counselor's total work time on duties that are components of a counseling program as developed by section 33.005. Let's take a look at two other 8020 subsections. Subsection E specifies that districts must have a policy no matter the percentage. If they choose a non80% policy, then they must include the additional information listed here in E 1 through 3 in their district policy. Subsection H states that each school counselor shall annually assess the district's compliance with the policy adopted under subsection D and on request by the commissioner
008provide a written copy of the assessment to the agency on or before the date specified by the commissioner. The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this subsection. Let's take a look at these rules next. The commissioner's rules concerning counseling public school students annual assessment of school district compliance is linked in the blue subheading of this slide. These rules implement the statutory requirement for school districts to annually assess compliance with the district policy requiring a school counselor to spend at least 80% of their total work time on duties that are components of a counseling program. The rules require each district school counselor to track and document using a district standard standardized tracking tool the time spent on work duties performed by the school counselor throughout the school year. The rules also identify the elements that district
009assessments must include and the documentation to be included in annual requests by TEA for district assessments. So what is the reason for this rule? Well, first it is already um it is required per statute and we've already talked about that. Second, worktime analysis is a crucial professional practice because school counselors need to know how their time is being spent in order to best determine ways to improve program delivery and also identify possible program delivery impediments. Um, how their time is spent needs to be analyzed and shared with important stakeholders. Tracking time and effort is a practice that is used in many fields and it can be done efficiently. Um we will address how to track time efficiently in the next section of this presentation. Keep in mind that a comprehensive counseling program described in Texas
010Education Code 33.005 includes the component of system support under which worktime analysis falls. worktime analysis is a necessary and appropriate counseling duty. So, consider taking a moment here to pause the webinar. Um, reflect a bit on these three questions on the slide here. Um, or if you're watching this webinar with a colleague or with multiple colleagues, take a minute to talk with them about these three questions. Let's turn now to the second objective of this presentation, which is identifying counseling resources to support the implementation of school counseling statutory requirements. Of course, with our focus on the 8020 policy. This slide here provides an overview of all the resources that we'll be covering um in this section of the presentation. And so let me start off with the first bullet and let's take a look at
011the Texas model resource. So our most valuable and extensive resource in following school counseling statutory requirements is actually our Texas model. You can find the Texas model um as a free downloadable in the blue link on the slide. Um and the model describes best practices for implementing a school counseling program in Texas. It is based on the statutory description of Texas school counseling programs and school counselor duties. The guide begins with an introduction that gives both historical and statutory context. Next, section one provides the school counseling responsibilities. Section two explains the program implementation cycle. Section three gives step-by-step instructions and workbook boxes. Section four has the school counseling role and duties. And it also provides step-by-step instruction and workbook boxes for creating the program design in addition to the foundation that was created in section
0123. And finally, section five is our guidance curriculum scope and sequence. You can find Texas model trainings and materials on the school council resources slide that's located at the end of this presentation. Another resource that we have related to the 8020 policy is the counselor program tracking and data analysis report. This resource supports school counselors in developing, monitoring, and organizing the counseling program. School counselors may use this template to monitor how they are allocating time and in which component they are providing services to students. More information and details on this particular resource can be found on page 107 of the Texas model. You can download a free electronic version of this tracking and data analysis tool by clicking on option two in the last bullet on the slide. Option two is actually one of the
013best tools available. This is because it is based on the Texas model and it aligns with all the aspects of the commissioner's rules. In addition, it includes formulas that run the data numbers for you. As mentioned, districts can choose to use another tool. However, they must carefully align their tool with all parts of the rule. We like to say your tool must match the rule. Another important point to be very cautious with is snapshots or documentation that only reflects certain work days. The reason for this is that the rule is very clear in defining school counselor work time as the total amount of contracted work time that the school counselor works throughout a school year. Another helpful resource we have is are the steps for reassignment of non-counseling duties. They are listed on page 117
014of the Texas model. Basically, in addition to using the tools in the last slide to determine non-counseling duties and estimate the number of hours spent on duties, administrators and counselors can work together to follow these four bulleted steps on the slide, which would be um consider if those tasks need to be completed and how they might be accomplished. Determine the counseling duties to replace the non-counseling duties and its impact on students. Engage in the planning of reassigning non-counseling tasks. And finally, recognize that this process takes time. We also have compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions related to the 8020 policy. Um the responses to these questions, there's about 15 um 15 16 questions and the responses often include a corresponding linked resource to provide further information in detail. You can find them
015at the blue link on the slide and also on our counselor worktime support hub which I'm going to talk about in just a moment. So, as I mentioned, we have a supports for counselor worktime hub on our school counseling web page, which you can access at the first blue link on this screen or by following the screenshots to navigate our web page itself. The support hub includes various resources such as the various Texas worktime analysis tools, um, district submission examples, an administrator training video, a recorded school counselor leader panel discussion, and more. There are also many helpful counselor worktime resources provided by other organizations. So, I wanted to mention some of them here. They aren't hyperl since they are not TEA resources, but you can put the title um of any of these bullets in
016a search engine and the resource will pop right up. In terms of templates, the American School Counselor Association, also known as ASA, has a use of time 5-day calculator, and we at TEA even have a slightly modified version of it for Texas. just email the CAST team in the first bullet for it. If that's something you're interested in taking a look at or using, you can watch a demonstration of how to use ASA's calculator in the track your time and share your data webinar at the third bullet. Google Sheets offers a great tool for time tracking. Look for the Smart Sheet version if you search for it. All three of the books that are listed in the second half of the slide are ASKA publications and have great information details and tools related to counselor
017work time and appropriate duties. The school counselor national um model implementation guide even has an entire use of time section on pages 108 to 127. So, at this point, consider taking a moment here to again pause the webinar and reflect on these two questions. Or if you're watching this webinar with a colleague, take a minute to talk with them about an 8020 counselor worktime action that you could take at your own campus or in your district. So let's review the main topics that we've covered today. We explored the value of counselor spending work time on statutory counseling requirements and we also identified various resources that are available to support the implementation of school counseling statutory requirements. This slide has our main school counseling trainings and materials that we offer from TEA. The first three bolded
018bullets have various Texas model support tools. The fourth bullet from the bottom has our TEA school counselor webpage link where you can find some additional information on the guidance curriculum in section five of the Texas model. And the last bolded bullet links to the Texas School Mental Health website where you can find both free and lowcost instructional materials for your guidance curriculum. These instructional materials are located in the school mental health best practices tab of that school mental health website. And that brings us to the end of this webinar. Thank you so so much for attending. Please reach out at the to the email on the slide if you have any questions. Thanks so much and have a great day.