Your Data Does Not Define Your Worth as a School Counselor

[00:00:00] Hey, y'all! Welcome back to another episode of the School for School Counselors podcast! 

[00:00:05] Today, I want to talk about your data. Data- driven school counseling programs are a huge buzzword right now, and rightfully so. It's something that we all need to have our eyes toward, but there's something really important that is often neglected in the conversation. And so I'm here to kind of give you a new perspective on data-driven school counseling and why, although it's important, it's also important to take the information with a grain of salt. 

[00:00:39] So if you've been in the school counseling world any time at all, you know we're always talking about data, right? We're always talking about being data-driven, using data to inform our decisions, and using data to measure the impact that we're making on students. And many of you may be collecting data in your day-to-day work already, which is super cool. 

[00:01:03] The problem comes in when we start to really make that data say more than it should. Let me give you an example. When I first started collecting data in school counseling, I jumped right in with both feet and it was collecting it through a program called SCUTA. If you've never used SCUTA, it's, it's a pretty phenomenal piece of software and it tracks your use of time data through every day, gives you your stats, where your time is being spent, et cetera, et cetera. 

[00:01:34] So I started out just tracking my use of time data because I wanted to know, you know, where my time was going and if I was being effective. When I first started, and was really working on just developing the habit of logging that data religiously. Right. And making sure that I got it all in there, I really kind of gamified it in my mind. I would make a game out of, you know, what were my percentages last week? What are they going to be this week? How can I make them better? What are some things that I can do to improve? And really tried to game-ify all of those percentages, because I wanted to do the best that I could do. And it was super fun until about January, February hit- that springtime craziness just peaks and it's really hard to get anything extra done in the spring, just for handling all this stuff that seems to pop up. 

[00:02:27] So in the spring of this data collecting inaugural year, I started feeling really discouraged. I found myself really resisting going in and entering my stats and had to stop and really kind of reflect on what was going on. I had loved tracking my use of time data before. Then as the spring hit, I was just not feeling it, no matter what I did. And I came to realize that even though I was gamifying the situation, you know, I was trying to find the fun and improving my percentages- there's a certain wall that you hit when you do that, where you want to improve and you know what needs to change to make your program better for students, but you also know you're up against some resistance that you're not going to easily be able to overcome. 

[00:03:19] Things are out of your hands. Maybe the schedule that you've been given, the time that you've been given, the resources -or lack of resources- in your program, really tie both hands behind your back with respect to getting the things done that you want to do. And that's where I was. I was just kind of feeling down about it. Not that it wasn't a great campus, but I just knew there was potential for so much more, you know, if I hadn't been coordinating testing or facilitating 504s or all the other things that I was being called to do. I think that's a really dangerous place to be in. So my perspective and thoughts and advice on that after sort of crawling out of that hole and having collected data many more years after that... 

[00:04:06] here's the one resounding thought that I keep repeating to all of my school counseling colleagues, as often as I possibly can: your data does not define YOU. 

[00:04:22] Let me say that again. Your data does NOT define YOU. 

[00:04:29] Your data defines your campus' priorities. And just, as we said in an earlier episode, it has no reflection whatsoever of how great of a school counselor you are, or have the potential to be. 

[00:04:46] Your data simply reflects back the priorities that your campus has set. It reflects back to you how heavily invested they are in school counseling and mental health supports for students. And this is not to shame anybody, right? I mean, there are tons of other constraints at play on a campus: personnel numbers, and maybe you don't have enough people to do all the things; maybe your district doesn't have the budget to bring a bunch more school counselors onboard; maybe there are other factors at play. Maybe there's community resistance. There are all kinds of things going on. 

[00:05:23] So, this is not a right versus wrong conversation. It's not a good versus bad conversation. It is simply a statement that your data reflects what you've been asked to do. And as long as you're not one of those school counselors sitting in their office, painting their toenails, eating bon bons all day, which, , I think we'd be hard pressed to find anybody like that, 'cause I know we work our tails off every single day... But if you're one of those people who is hustling every day, you're working, you're giving it all you have, your data should NOT make you feel bad, inferior, or like you're not doing enough. 

[00:06:03] Actually, if your data is not aligning the way you would like to see it, I think that's cause for celebration! Because that means there is a huge window of opportunity to step into with those numbers and start advocating for your role. Now for that thought with a grain of salt: the way that school counselor advocacy is portrayed in social media, in particular for school counselors, I will go on the record as saying: I think it's flat out wrong. Straight- up, a thousand percent wrong. So sorry if I've offended anybody with that. I told you though, I was going to be real with you about this stuff. And I don't think that the way that school counselors have been told to advocate, which is hand your principal, a list of approved school counseling appropriate duties, and then hand them a printout with all of your percentages, and expect them to make a change... Y'all, it doesn't work that way. And if you've worked in schools as long as I have- we're going on 25 years now- you know that change is at a glacial pace, right? It goes so slowly and there are so many other factors involved than just handing somebody a sheet of information or sheet of numbers. 

[00:07:17] That's a topic for a whole other podcast, but the point of this is, as you look to this data and how it's not aligning the way you want to see it, it's a tremendous opportunity. It's a wonderful window of opportunity for your students. Because you can walk through it, armed with your advocacy tools- and we're going to get you there, I promise- to be able to make some real, lasting and systemic change. It's so exciting when you think about it. So until then, until the next time that we talk about this, I just want to encourage you: go ahead and have the mindset now. 

[00:07:54] Your data does not define you. It does not reflect your worth as a school counselor. It does not reflect anything but your campus' or your district's priorities. And we're going to help you get where you want to go. If you haven't joined our School for School Counselors Facebook group, we talk a lot about advocacy there. We would love to add your voice to the conversation. Come submit your join requests at our School for School Counselors Facebook group, add "podcast" somewhere in the join request, we'll make sure to get your approved quickly. And if you haven't signed up for "Best Year Ever!" y'all- you need to get in on this. This is an epic, week long summit event inside of our School for School Counselors Facebook group, that I'm telling you- folks start asking about months before it even is announced, because it is so dynamic, it's so empowering, and it just helps set your tone for the whole rest of the school year. We're going to provide information. We're going to provide resources. We're going to provide lots of inspiration for the beginning of your school year so you feel like you are rocking and ready to go- and it's all at no charge, y'all. No obligation, no expectations, just out of the goodness of our hearts, because we want to see your school year start as best as it possibly can. 

[00:09:11] So join us: schoolforschoolcounselors.com/bestyearever. Get in on that. You're going to have to give us your email address, just so we can send you some reminders and things like that, but we promise you we are not going to misuse it. We're not going to give it to anybody else . We just want to help as best we can. 

[00:09:28] So, thank you for joining me today... Remember, your data does not define you! I'll see you again soon so until then, have the BEST day!