Making an Impact with Data at the End of the Year [Episode 123]

Here's What to Expect in This Episode:

Sometimes the things we have to do as high school counselors aren’t glamorous, exciting, or thrilling. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not important or essential for running our counseling programs. One of those things that may fall into this category for you is analyzing data. It’s likely that you’ve collected data throughout the school year, but as the end of the year approaches, you’re probably thinking, “What do I do with this?” In this episode, I’m sharing how analyzing your end-of-the-year data shows the impact you made this year.

I’ve said this many times before, but I’ll say it again because I truly believe it. One way to measure our effectiveness as a high school counselor is by this phrase: “Are students different because of what I’m doing?” It’s such a powerful question, and the best way to visually see our impact is through data. Trust me, I understand that numbers and evaluation of your program can be intimidating which is why I’ve come up with ideas of places you can start to pull your end-of-the-year data and present it in ways that will benefit your program.

Taking the time to analyze your end-of-the-year data not only shows you how to make your counseling program better with more ways to help students, but it also reminds you of the impact you’ve made this school year. Whether you’re looking at your goals from the year, groups you’ve implemented, or whatever personal dreams you have for your program, data shows you the answers you need to keep going or make some changes. Be sure to add end-of-the-year data to your to-do list before summer so you can make the appropriate changes to your program for next year!

Topics Covered in This Episode:

How analyzing end-of-the-year data can strengthen your counseling program which ultimately benefits students and their academic or social emotional needs
Questions to ask yourself as you reflect on your goals from this year
Ideas of places where you can pull numbers that will be impactful when presenting to a group of people
Brief explanation of process data, perception data, and outcome data and what that can look like for your program

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Read the transcript for this episode:

Episode 123 Transcript

Lauren Tingle 0:00
Thank you to those of you who filled out that podcast survey that I put out there. It’s funny that you never know what you’re gonna get when you put something out into the world like that. Some people want longer episodes, some people want shorter episodes, somewhat big picture ideas with topics that are up high in the sky, and somewhat really practical boots on the ground, lots of examples, types of episodes.

Lauren Tingle 0:24
So I try and take all those things you want and mash them together and hit all the different styles and needs for all listeners. So just know that I hear you, I read all of the responses. And that has been super helpful for me. I also keep a giant running list of all of your topic ideas and your guest requests. And that gives me a lot of inspiration for what’s to come.

Lauren Tingle 0:46
I can’t guarantee that I can get a Brene Brown type guest on here. I mean, I guess reach for the moon. But you did give me some quality ideas to add to my list. So thank you for inspiring what comes next on this podcast.

Lauren Tingle 0:59
Also, it genuinely helps keep me moving forward and creating this podcast week after week, I actually really mean that sometimes. So if you feel that out, thank you. If there are things that you ask for that I’ve already done, I’m trying to work my way through that list and connect with you in email, and send you some resources for what you need help with. I truly, truly, truly appreciate every idea, suggestion and kind thought that you shared you all are honestly the best listeners I could ever imagine.

Lauren Tingle 1:28
So let’s talk data. I know it doesn’t always feel like the most glam thing to talk about. But it’s really important, especially at this time of year. Your data is a huge advocacy tool. And honestly, it’s pretty pointless if you just let it go to waste and you don’t do something with it. So let’s be thinking about that as we get into the last few months of the school year.

Lauren Tingle 1:48
I hope this episode is coming to you at the perfect time where you’re thinking, Okay, I only have a few weeks or a few months left, what should I be keeping in mind so that when we get to the point where we’re trying to cruise out the door and turn our keys in and lay by the pool, okay, wait, no, that was wishful thinking. But when you are ready to walk out the door, I want to make sure that you are ready for summer, but that you’ve collected your data, and used it in a way that can help remind you of the impact that you’ve made this school year.

Lauren Tingle 3:00
So that when you are relaxing by the pool, you know that what you have done has been good work. And you are advocating for all of the great things that you’ve done this year. And you are dreaming of all the things that you want to do in the future. And you can only do that with the data that you’ve collected.

Lauren Tingle 3:16
So you may already have in mind that you want your data to move your program somewhere special. Maybe you’re hoping that next year you get another counselor hired on so that your caseload will be lower. And you can have more time with students because that’s what you really want, right? Your data is clutch in making that happen.

Lauren Tingle 3:34
Maybe you’re hoping that next year is the year they assign someone else to testing anyone but you. And your data right now could be the thing that moves the needle for that as job responsibilities are shifting here and there. And as your principal is maybe hiring someone or moving someone into a different position.

Lauren Tingle 3:50
Perhaps you’re just feeling really scattered in general, and you’re wondering if anything you did this year was actually worth it. Putting together your data where you tie a pretty bow on it can be a huge sigh of relief and a really welcome reminder, like, what I’m doing truly actually matters. Students are different because of what I did.

Lauren Tingle 4:08
And I may sound like a broken record, I say that a lot. I say are students different because of what I did? I love measuring our effectiveness of being a high school counselor by this phrase, are students different because of what I’m doing here? Whatever you’re dreaming of for your program, it’s not going to happen on its own, you know that you have to bring something compelling to the table and make it impossible to say no to. if you want big changes, you got to have the data to support it. Data is going to be your best friend and making that happen.

Lauren Tingle 4:38
So there’s a huge piece of all of this that’s advocacy driven. You’ve done the work this school year. So let’s see the results and then let’s tell other people about the results.

Lauren Tingle 4:49
Now, I’ll admit my brain does not naturally think in numbers. It doesn’t even go there. If I’m being honest. I still have trauma from my advanced math classes in high school where I never knew what was is going on. And I found it really annoying that I had to take statistics in undergrad and grad school to find T scores and Z scores and whatever other scores that I literally don’t know what that means right now, that stuff does not matter to me if I can’t figure out what it means or why I collected it, or what implications it has on my program.

Lauren Tingle 5:18
So I’m here to encourage you that it doesn’t have to be complicated, don’t make it complicated. I’m going to link in the show notes, a blog post that really simplifies what you can be looking for and where you can pull numbers from. I’m also going to link to a free resource that is 49 places that you can look for data in your program, just ideas of places to dig in for numbers that are already sitting there waiting for you to peek at them. So you can download that one for yourself by clicking on the link in the show notes or going to counselorclique.com/dataideas.

Lauren Tingle 5:48
I want to give you some ideas of some of those places where you can pull those numbers and see how they may be impactful for your people, you know, all those stakeholders who are taking interest in what you’re doing. But remember, this is totally unique to you, your program, what your goals were for this year, what you’re hoping to change for next year, or just ideas that you hope to implement in the future.

Lauren Tingle 6:10
So I would start first by reflecting on my goals from this year. Did your team are you working with the team? Did you all set goals way back when in the summer on a planning day? Or when the year started? Or did you write out some goals in your administrative agreements? Did you sit down and determine the direction of where your program would go? Or what you’d be doing this year at a team meeting?

Lauren Tingle 6:32
If the answer is no to any or all of those step one for you is thinking about next year. Putting that on the calendar because we can’t go back in time right now and change that for at the end of this year.

Lauren Tingle 6:43
But if you did have those goals, let’s stop and think how did you do? It’s time to pull out all the numbers. I’m hoping this one isn’t too difficult. Like I’m hoping that you can look at the goal and then kind of answer that evaluate it, did you meet it?

Lauren Tingle 6:56
So if you had a goal of doing X amount of classroom lessons, or you were hoping y percent of students were promoted, or Z number of students could identify their number one career cluster after your career fair? Did those things happen? Let’s provide the data answers to all those smart goals that you set.

Lauren Tingle 7:13
So remember, you accomplishing those or not accomplishing those is not a true measure of your value or your success as a high school counselor this year. You may have arbitrarily picked a number to increase by or a percentage to hit just because you needed to pick a number that felt right because you had nothing to else to start from. So now that you’ve got a good starting place, you can pace yourself for years to come. So don’t get down on yourself if you did not meet your goal.

Lauren Tingle 8:32
I’d say that following up on those smart goals with the results of data or closing the gap goal are your key places that you’re going to want to pull data from to highlight. But maybe after looking at the free data ideas guide I mentioned or just contemplating some different types of data like process perception outcome data, you may realize that you want to organize it in a different way.

Lauren Tingle 8:53
I write about this in a blog post that I can link but it’s worth reminding to you if it’s been a hot minute since you learn these things in grad school. So I’ll just kind of chat with you here real quick about process perception outcome data.

Lauren Tingle 9:04
A reminder, process data is like your cold hard facts like how many students attended an event, how many classroom lessons you did, or how many students finished a small group that you ran. The perception data can be things like quotes from students or pictures of events or initiatives that you hosted related to your goals, or even stories from your students or your school counseling team.

Lauren Tingle 9:26
Perception data really can help you answer questions of how students are different because of what you’re doing as a high school counselor. The thing I said before is like a really great measure perception data is kind of the encompassing thing that could help you get there.

Lauren Tingle 9:39
So when students answer questions like I know, or I believe, or I can, like I can do this thing now, you’ve got some insight for your perception data. I like to work these phrases into post test or like post surveys or needs assessments, not the right word, but the surveys that you give or the ways that you’re assessing students, when you’re asking for feedback for something that they’ve done.

Lauren Tingle 10:02
Outcome data is probably the stuff that you’re getting intimidated with around data, the graphs, or charts, the visuals with the numbers that you collected that show the results. Think of outcome data like the before and after to show the effectiveness of your intervention that you put into place.

Lauren Tingle 10:18
A reminder for all of these sorts of data points. Of course, it doesn’t necessarily feel good to be like, Oh, we didn’t hit our goals, or here’s the data to show for it. And it’s not the data I thought it was going to be. But maybe your outcome data reveals that your intervention wasn’t as meaningful of a thing as you hoped it would be.

Lauren Tingle 10:36
But guess what, that is still good news. You can scratch it from your interventions for next year, or trash it completely, so you don’t waste your time anymore. Or you could tweak things with that intervention and now you have education from the data that you collected to change those things up, and really permission to change it up.

Lauren Tingle 10:54
So now, once you’ve kind of thought of where you’re going to pull your data from, what kind of data that’s going to look like, what are you going to do with it? I want you to spread it far and wide. Think of all of your end of the year meetings that you may already have on your calendar or the places that you’re going to show up as you’re wrapping things up and putting a bow on the end of your year, I want you to format your data to be shared out in these places.

Lauren Tingle 11:16
So do you have one more advisory council meeting? Use this space to revisit the goals you’ve been talking about with this crew and then share your results. These people are showing up, they’re interested in it, you’ve got a captive audience. So let’s go ahead and share it with them. This can be on a printable PDF handout like to all of the members of your advisory council, or can be on a slide deck that you present on a TV screen.

Lauren Tingle 11:37
This is a great small group of people to share those more personal perception type data stories with them. You don’t have to use real names, but you can share student quotes or pictures of events or interventions that you ran this year. People love visuals and storytelling, I know that I do.

Lauren Tingle 11:54
I’m sure you’ll have an end of year staff luncheon or one more faculty meeting, ask for a few minutes of their time or you know, get on the principal’s list of the presentations that are happening at that faculty meeting. If you’ve been working on your teachers to have buy in, or this is something that you’ve been trying to get them on your team to care about what you’re doing, it’s important to be transparent with that data you collected, don’t just present it at the beginning of the year, tell them your role, and then never check back in and share what you’re doing.

Lauren Tingle 12:21
I think a lot of respect can come from being transparent with your numbers. So let them see what came out of your data driven program that you’ve told them that you’re running, let them celebrate with you. You can probably use the same sorts of compelling data that you did at your advisory council here with your teachers. Remind them that you got to this point, because of their willingness to partner with you, you genuinely couldn’t do it without their partnership.

Lauren Tingle 12:44
But if you’re listening to this, and you feel like you don’t have them on board with what you’re doing, you know that it feels like running a marathon in the mud, like you’ve got boots on trailing through the mud, and you can’t make any progress without their buy in. So this is all kind of tied together.

Lauren Tingle 12:59
You can send a follow up email after this faculty meeting with those key points that you summarized at the meeting. So whether someone was there, and they need to re emphasize and they get to look at it one more time. Or maybe they miss the meeting, you’re hitting those key things with them here. So maybe you can link to that PDF that you printed out and put on their tables. Maybe you can just hit those bullet points, make it short and sweet in an email and have them be able to visually read that and remember all the good things that you’re doing.

Lauren Tingle 13:27
If you have a district get together that maybe someone higher up than you hosts, don’t be afraid to share out your good things. I know sometimes it can feel awkward to be the one that stands up and says, Yeah, I have something to share. But you being one person to be bold and start that conversation will inspire other high school counselors. So I challenge you, why can’t it be you who stands up and share something awesome?

Lauren Tingle 13:51
Share online in your communities that you’re a part of. If you’re in the Clique Collaborative, go share over in our community, we want to celebrate with you and chat about how you got your results and what you hope to do differently next year. If your school has a social media page, or your school counseling department is active on social media, share out some of those results there. People want to celebrate you and honestly they’re gonna file it in the back of their brain like, hey, what they’re doing matters. And that’s really cool. I didn’t even know they did that.

Lauren Tingle 14:20
I ended up having a lot more to say about end of your data than I originally thought I did. Because like I said, I don’t think it’s particularly sexy or glamorous to talk about data, especially when that’s not my natural inclination to gravitate towards data. It’s not what I want to do for fun. My husband would beg to differ in terms of interest and stuff. He’s the numbers guy.

Lauren Tingle 14:43
But I wanted you to think a little bit differently about the data that you might uncover that is already in front of you that process perception outcome data, and then I want you to brainstorm places that you’re going to share that good news to so use those five different places that I gave you and I’m excited to see and hear how you share out your data and how it inspires other people to take interest in your school counseling program.

Lauren Tingle 15:07
So remember to check out the show notes for that free data guide and then all of the related blog posts and podcast episodes around data and other end of year ideas. If I sparked some questions, always feel free to reach out to me on Instagram DMs. I’m happy to chat and I’ll see you next week.