Collaborative Pupil Services Initiatives

Professional Development for Pupil Services Professionals

A New Pupil Services Institute Format

The Wisconsin Alliance of Pupil Services Organizations (WAPSO) is pleased to offer a valuable professional development opportunity designed especially for pupil services teams and professionals. Trainers will come to your community to present on topics chosen by you at a time convenient to you. There is no cost for the trainers or the presentation materials. Training modules are designed to provide professional development connecting to different pupil services and administrator standards delineated in PI 34, as well as content standards in the four pupil services areas.

WAPSO is a reorganization of the former Wisconsin Federation of Pupil Services and is modeled after the National Alliance of Pupil Services Organizations (NAPSO). Current membership of WAPSO is the Student Services/Prevention & Wellness Team at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the Wisconsin Association of School Nurses (WASN), the Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services (WCASS), the Wisconsin School Counselor Association (WSCA), Wisconsin School Social Workers Association (WSSWA), and the Wisconsin School Psychologists Association (WSPA).

What Training Modules Are Available?

Some training modules are designed specifically for working pupil services teams and are best provided in a sequence that helps schools improve their pupil services delivery system. Which combination of training modules are selected for your training is dependent upon your needs and goals. The pupil services delivery system modules include:

Team-Building: Working Together Better
What Are We Doing & Who’s Doing It? Assessing Your Pupil Services Delivery System
Improving Educational Outcomes Through Building Consultation Teams
Where’s the Beef? Using Data to Document the Impact of Pupil Services
Action Planning: Setting Goals & Making Changes

Other training modules deal with information that is important to all pupil services professionals but do not need to be delivered in a team setting and are not sequential.

Student Records: How to Handle Them Without Getting Burned
What’s the Law Got to Do With It? Legal & Ethical Issues for Pupil Services Professionals
Navigating the Minefield: Sharing Confidential Information Across Systems

Descriptions of the eight training modules, including estimated length, follow.

How do you arrange the training?

1. Complete the Pupil Services Training Request form available at Pupil Services Training Request. The website will allow you to send the form electronically or you can submit it to:

Jackie Brashi
jackie.brashi@dpi.wi.gov
(FAX) (608) 266-3643
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841

2. A trainer will contact you to clarify your training needs, determine which training module(s) is/are most appropriate, and schedule the training.

3. You make the arrangements for recruiting the attendance of participants, reservations, training site, refreshments, and provision of any needed audio-visual and other presentation equipment. Other materials, e.g., handouts, are provided by the trainers.

You are encouraged to submit your requests early, because trainer availability is limited. This professional development opportunity is limited to groups of 20 or more people. Small school districts may wish to collaborate with other neighboring school districts or ask their respective CESA to host the training.

Who does the training?

The trainers are consultants from the Student Services/Prevention and Wellness Team at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and experienced pupil services professionals recommended by WAPSO member professional associations. Trainers are assigned to your training consistent with their expertise and availability.

Training Module Topics

Team-Building: Working Together Better
Time Frame: 1.5-3 hours

The experience of working in a team is not new to pupil services staff. Pupil services professionals are especially familiar with small group and interpersonal dynamics. Yet, it is sometimes difficult to "shift gears" and apply what we do so well with clients to ourselves or each other in group work. The workshop will provide pupil services teams with simple strategies to evaluate and intervene in non-productive meeting dynamics. It will also provide an opportunity for attendees to experience fun team-building exercises designed to stimulate group creativity.

What Are We Doing and Who's Doing It? Assessing Your Pupil Services Delivery System

Instruments and exercises are available to help pupil services teams assess their pupil services delivery system. The instruments/exercises described below are intended to be used as tools in planning changes and improvements in local pupil services delivery.

Pupil Services Delivery Systems
Time Frame: 1 hour

This self-assessment instrument is designed to help identify different perceived aspects of the pupil services (PS) delivery systems utilized within schools, based upon the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Pupil Services Resource and Planning Guide and the Enabling Component Model from the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools. It is a brief, self-assessment instrument designed to help determine how segregated vs. integrated your pupil services delivery system is within the areas of coordination of school resources, service delivery, and school-community collaboration. Participants are asked to complete and submit the self-assessment instrument prior to the training, in order for an analysis of the responses to be shared at the training. This instrument can be used to 1) stimulate discussion among pupil services staff members and other school staff regarding perceived areas of agreement and disagreement, and 2) plan changes in your pupil services delivery system in one or more specific areas.

Addressing Barriers to Learning
Time Frame: 2 hours

This unique exercise is designed to help teams:

1. create a visual assessment of their pupil services delivery system, using the Enabling Component Model from the UCLA School Mental Health Project as a context or frame of reference; and 2. begin some dialogue within the team about gaps and overlaps in services and how these roles complement and are coordinated with each other.

Improving Educational Outcomes Through Building Consultation Teams
Time Frame: 3-5 hours

The Building Consultation Team (BCT) model has been around for many years and, in many districts, serves as a clearinghouse for teachers when students encounter barriers to learning. Successful BCTs are a collaborative effort between pupil services, regular education, special education, administration, and parents. The goal of the successful BCT is to ensure that all students learn, even when standard classroom interventions are not effective. This training module introduces participants to the BCT model, provides a historical context, data on effectiveness, and basic formats for the process. The presentation uses PowerPoint slides, and large and small group discussion around three case studies. Pre-workshop surveys are also available to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current BCT system, if one is in place.

Where’s the Beef? Using Data to Document the Impact of Your Pupil Services
Time Frame: approximately 2 hours

Accountability has become critical in schools, both student outcomes and how the work of school staff, including pupil services, impacts (or doesn’t) the student outcomes. Outcome evaluation does not have to be the daunting task we were taught it was in graduate school. School districts collect a tremendous amount of data, some of which can be used to document the impact of pupil services. The key is to select data sets that are of interest and importance to the decision-makers in your school district and reflect the impact of your services delivery. This training module is designed to teach pupil services professionals to design a simple, valid outcome evaluation system that addresses the priorities of your school district while not consuming unrealistic amounts of time and resources.

Action Planning: Setting Goals and Making Changes
Time Frame: approximately 2 hours

The Action Planning Training Module is designed to help develop the skills needed for transforming a group's ideas and intentions into specific action steps toward named goals. This training module is excellent for helping teams and committees put together concrete plans that are clear, concise and that name the persons responsible.

What's the Law Got to Do with It? Legal & Ethical Issues for Pupil Services Professionals
Time Frame: 3-5 hours

Because codes, laws, policies and procedures are not always precise and ethical codes tend to reflect what most professionals can agree on rather than ideal pupil services practices, professionals need to learn to engage in ethical decision-making and become knowledgeable of relevant laws and statutes. The intent of this module is to help pupil service professionals both gain the content knowledge and demonstrate performance in the area of legal and ethical issues in their field, while learning about the ethical codes of conduct of the other pupil services professions. This module provides a mixture of both information as well as practice with "case studies."

Student Records: How to Handle Them Without Getting Burned
Time Frame: 2-3 hours

A variety of state and federal laws govern how schools manage student records and information, making compliance challenging. Topics covered will include definitions of different kinds of student records, access to and disclosure of student records, maintenance of student records, parents' and students' rights, and transfer of records. The DPI publication Student Records and Confidentiality is used as the primary reference in this training module.

Navigating the Minefield: Sharing Confidential Information Across Systems
Time Frame: 1.5 - 2 hours

The law provides for three circumstances under which confidential information can be shared with someone outside the school system: 1) informed consent, 2) court order, and 3) as provided for in the law. The publication Sharing Information Across Systems identifies the circumstances provided for in the law where schools and other systems, i.e., law enforcement, human services, etc., may (or must) share information with another system. In each case, the circumstances are explained, conditions for disclosure are addressed, an example is given, and the statutory citation(s) are listed. This training module highlights the parts of this publication that are typically of most interest to pupil services staff, especially those areas where state and federal law conflict.

Other Questions? Contact:

Rachel Gallagher, Consultant, School Nursing & Health Services, at rachel.gallagher@dpi.wi.gov or (608) 266-8857

Nic Dibble, Consultant, School Social Work Services, at nic.dibble@dpi.wi.gov or (608) 266-0963

John Humphries, Consultant, School Psychology Services, at john.humphries@dpi.wi.gov or (608) 266-7189

Judith Kuse, Consultant, School Counseling Services, at judith.kuse@dpi.wi.gov or (608) 266-2820

For questions about this information, contact Nic T. Dibble (608) 266-0963

Last updated on 10/2/2009 1:15:20 PM