GRADUATE STUDENT PERSPECTIVE ON PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH AS A METHOD OF EVALUATING SCHOOL COUNSELOR OUTCOMES

Eric Witherell

HOW I GOT HERE

High school experience College Community College UC Switched majors Always needed something more

HUGHES STEM

Elective credit- Schooling and Teaching in America

Field experience component Hughes STEM Dr. Doug Stevens First encounter

THE BEGINNING

Advanced English group Structure emphasized reading and critical

conversations Narrative workshops Goal Students as collaborators Solution: publication entitled A Writer’s

Passion

A WRITER’S PASSION

“I want to be published.” “I don’t even have books in my house.” Permanent change One and done or continued? Funds? How to we involve the school? How can we connect this with the

community?

FALL 2013-SUMMER 2014: BEHIND THE SCENES

Learned our work was Action Research JEM Formal Supervision Presented at the International Congress of

Qualitative Inquiry 2012-14 4 total issues of A Writer’s Passion Published work from over 100 students Intersession Week After school group ongoing since Fall 2012

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Action Research- any type of research that shifts the control for the study from the academic or professional researcher to the people who have traditionally been considered the subjects of inquiry

Researching with, rather than on Aligns with counseling (Guiffrida, Douthit, Lynch, & Mackie, 2011) Participatory AR- Vivencia Collaborative relationship creates knowledge

PAR CONTINUED…

Action→Research→Reflection→Action Cyclical

Hughes STEM PAR Action- starting the advanced English group Research- data collected in the form of narrative

assignments and informal assessments Reflection- student led conversations about the

next step for permanent change Action- producing AWP Vivencia- college student facilitators shared

student experience, students shared community experience

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM

Applied for admission in the Fall of 2013 Curriculum Mental health focus versus school focus School counseling track courses

ASCA model Modern school counselors Evidence based, data driven interventions

CULTURE SHIFT IN THE PROFESSION

Education at UC Counselor skills Old model vs. new model Focus on research

Modern School Counselors Research component crucial Measuring student outcomes to drive change

in practice Why PAR?

CURRENT MODEL OF RESEARCH AND PAR

Traditional Research Participatory Action Research

Time frame of when the research will take place

Continual process

Hierarchal in nature Collaborative in process

Researcher role Researcher acts as facilitator

Knowledge generalizable to the public

Knowledge contextual

Researching on participants Researching with participants

In vitro Real situation

Limited intervention Provides intervention

FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT INTERVENTION

WHAT IS A FIRST-GEN STUDENT?

Informal definition given by site supervisors A student whose “parents have not

completed a college degree” (Petty 2014) “While no one tracks nationally how

many first-generation students enter college each year, there's evidence their ranks are surging” (Coleman Tucker 2014)

FIRST- GEN STUDENT CHALLENGES

“43% of first-generation students enrolled in post-secondary institutions left college without obtaining a degree” (Petty 2014)

Challenges Multiple roles, lack of information, lack of access

to relevant information, Low SES requiring work for other responsibilities, psychological unpreparedness (Petty 2014)

Lack of family support, lack of support from high school personnel and families in terms of readiness and funds (Kosmo 2014)

STUDENTS AND POST HIGH SCHOOL PLANS

74% of the total population had not met with a counselor to discuss post high school plans

60% of the senior class had not yet taken the ACT

Almost 50% had not started the common app 40% free or reduced lunch rate

PHS FIRST-GEN POPULATION

21% of the total senior class OGTs, past grades, attendance, transcripts,

and current grades 38% of students felt unprepared when

discussing the future 80% felt the future looked good

PAST PLAN

A lot of evidence based practices Nothing new Exactly what a student would expect New interns wanted to do something

different Group Experience Giving back

FIRST-GEN STUDENT GROUP 8-10 weeks First semester Senior first gen students Open to anyone that wants to join in Focuses on self-advocacy and self-concept Students build a self-concept of themselves now and as

a student in college Topics covered are academic skills, time management,

goal focus, self-advocacy, family factors, career influences, financial concerns, college preparation, self-concept, college system, irrelevant information (Byrd & MacDonald 2005)

Self-advocacy and self-concept are the main focus “the ability to self-advocate was critical for an ability to

navigate the college system” (Byrd & MacDonald 2005)

EVALUATION

Surveys before and after intervention Measure the change in response

Measuring change in participants’ GPA Where are they in the admissions process? Using Action Research as a method of

measuring outcomes Reflections provided data Interviews provided data Experiential

ACTION RESEARCH

Power Shift With rather than on Action > Research > Reflection > Action Was our group planning stage action

research? Understood how the group was run- this is the

action Researched newer ways to accomplish our goals-

Research Action plan creation- reflection New group model is the new action

ACTION RESEARCH

Leaders run the group with rather than on 3 Levels- Reflections, Student Self Concept

Project, Mentor Reflections Student Self-Concept Project

Folder Written exercise Measure of change

Lasting intervention Senior Mentors

6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE USE OF PAR TO MEASURE OUTCOMES

PAR empowers students PAR produces better students on both sides

of the desk PAR acts fast PAR matches with counseling skills PAR requires the same amount of work as

traditional research PAR is fun!

WORK CITED Petty, T. (2014). MOTIVATING FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS TO

ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND COLLEGE COMPLETION. College Student Journal, 48(2), 257- 264.

Korsmo, J. (2014). When Schooling Doesn’t Matter at Home. Educational Leadership,71(9), 46-50.

Byrd, K.l., & MacDonald, G. (2005). Defining College Readiness from the Inside Out: First-Generation Student Perspectives. Community College Review, 33(1), 22-37.

DiMARIA, F. (2013). The Early College High School Initiative. Education Digest, 79(1), 64-68.

Cushman, K. (2007). Facing the Culture Shock of College. Educational Leadership, 64(7), 44-47.

Michael, G., & Gizem, E. (2014). Participatory Action Research and Its Meanings: Vivencia, Praxis, Conscientization. Adult Education Quarterly, 64(3), 206-221.

Guiffrida, D., Douthit, K., Lynch, M., & Mackie, K. (2011). Publishing Action Research in Counseling Journals. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89, 282-87.