Socorro High School - Socorro Independent School District

through one-on-one interaction with incoming freshmen students and monitors student involvement throughout their duration in high
school. One of the critical factors in in maintaining a strong program is the amount of members that participate.
Community Partnerships/Resources
Giving our kids the maximum opportunity for a successful guidance program entails collaborating with stakeholders outside of the school
arena. Academic, Career, and Personal/Social components can greatly be enhanced with the utilization of these kinds of partnerships. At
SHS we embrace this concept as the forthcoming information will highlight.
Academic: University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), El Paso Community College (EPCC),New Mexico State University, and the National
Hispanic Institute.
UTEP assists our students on Scholarship Night in filling out scholarship applications, while EPCC is of great assistance during our
Financial Aid Night as they help our students fill out the FAFSA.
Career: Western Technical College, De Vry Institute of Technology, United States: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard,
Socorro Volunteer Fire Department.
SHS provides an array of academic academies. Community partners work closely with SHS to meet the needs and goals of each academy.
These partnerships enable our students to embed the knowledge they have acquired in the class room setting and utilize the skills they have
gained with hands on experience through internships in hospitals, educational organizations, and corporations. Based on student feedback
and counselor interaction with university representatives, presentations on specific university programs reach out to SHS students to
provide the opportunity and understanding in career choice.
Personal/Social: Dame La Mano, Aliviane, University Behavioral Hospital (UBH), Project Bravo, and Child Protective Services.
Project Bravo is an organization that has been available to our students to assist the families that need help in paying utilities. UBH has
been a resource for students’ requiring immediate psychological care. SHS and our community partners will continue to strengthen each
school year in quality and effectiveness through teamwork.
Parent Collaboration
We continue as a counseling staff to communicate and collaborate with parents with meaningful information regarding their children as it
pertains to guidance curriculum, responsive services, individual planning, and system support.
Guidance Curriculum Parents were given a parent survey to provide their input in the SHS Guidance and Counseling Program.
Feedback from the parents provided the counseling staff with input towards our Guidance Curriculum to include but not limited to:
academic progress (current and towards graduation), career aptitude assessments, college and career choices. The parental survey provided
the counselors with a greater understanding from a parental perspective of the SHS counseling program.
Responsive Services Student confidentiality is a top priority at SHS in order to gain a working trust throughout a student’s educational
four year duration. Emotional issues requiring ongoing support are referred to our Social Worker, Lizeth Pinon, or our Communities in
School (CIS) coordinator, Sandra Elizondo. They as well as other counseling staff have resources and contact information for ongoing
support to students and parental contact in case of potential student self harm, harm to others, or harm to another child.
Individual Planning As an academy school, parents are given access to information by way of academy showcases and individual
academy nights. These nights allow parents to visit one-on-one with specialty teachers, counselors, and administrators to discuss their
child’s future and current trends in particular career fields.
System Support To ensure pertinent information is received by parents, mass outcalls are made to each student’s home, individual phone
calls and emails are communicated by student’s counselors.
Parent’s continually have the opportunity to view current and forthcoming information throughout the year at our counseling website at
http://www.sisd.net/socorrohs/site/default.asp. Furthermore, guidance materials may be previewed in the Go Center or upon request with a
child’s individual counselor.
Principal’s Comments
Socorro High School (SHS) accomplished substantial academic gains in all core areas to include the state mandated assessments. The SHS
counseling staff provided various academic and elective opportunities to students in order to enrich and strengthen their selected
educational pathway. Each counselor is a crucial component of the Academy philosophy found at SHS, where eight Academy Pathways
opportunities are made available to each student. The counselors address students in various college readiness initiatives such as the
preparation of the SAT and ACT through preparing for success by taking the PSAT and Plan tests. College preparation in the form of
college awareness, scholarships and preparation on placement exams, financial aid are key areas of college readiness provided by the
guidance counseling staff.
The counseling staff has been instrumental in the delivery of the district safety program “Olweus” which targets the safety and bullying.
Our SHS Social Worker and Community in School coordinator both attended sessions on the Olweus program and are official trainers for
the faculty and staff. Students at SHS are involved in various initiatives established by the core comprehensive guidance and counseling
program established by the ASCA national model.
The campus improvement plan includes various components where counselors are the responsible professionals who initiate, coordinate
and implement strategies for college readiness. A few examples of such initiatives are college readiness exams, the Princeton Review
opportunity for preparation of the SAT, state mandated exams that counselors assist in the logistics and administration.
School Counseling Advisory Council (CAC)
The SHS CAC consists of two state certified counselors, an assistant principal in charge of Language Proficiency Assessment Committee
(LPAC)/math department, a parent liaison, and three certified teachers.
Counseling
Using the ASCA model, our CAC strives to uphold the national standards for school Advisory Council
counseling with an emphasis on implementing a comprehensive guidance program that
Members Position
encompasses all students. Our counseling department regularly assists in evaluating all
Assistant
school programs in relationship to our guidance and curriculum programs.
Enrique Herrera Principal
Patrick Pufal Counselor
With customer service as one of our priorities, we are committed to helping our entire
student population and their families in both English and Spanish. The selection process of
the CAC members was processed through the High Schools That Work (HSTW) grant.
Erica Gonzalez
Lynn Cordova
Counselor
Teacher
David Herrera Teacher
The CAC meets twice a month. An example of one the council’s agenda items that was
developed during one of those meetings was of a parental questionnaire with the goal of
parents having knowledge of their child’s guidance and counseling department. The
Eunice Trevizo
Corina Bollain y
Teacher
Goytia Parent Liaison
feedback from the council allowed the counseling team to gain a wider perspective of the needs of children and their families vs. the
confines of the counseling department only.

School Climate and Safety
The ongoing wellbeing of students at SHS continues to be handled with care as the guidance and counseling team gives opportunities that
promote increased self-esteem, positive school climate and safety. When one thinks of school climate one might perceive how active the
students at a campus are. A snapshot of a few of our extracurricular activities is shown in a graph below.
The graph shows there continues to be an increase in the number of students in at least three activities. Through counselor contact and
activity sponsor recruitment, students are offered and encouraged to take a variety of extracurricular activities ranging from sports to band
to debate. Given the low socio economic status of the majority of
Student
Council
Student
Leadership
Navy
NJROTC
2010
2011
our students, the opportunity to be part of an organization that
promotes teamwork, positive socialization skills, and collaboration
towards a common goal, enhances the climate and safety of students
at SHS.
The ongoing academic development of our students also factors into
the climate of the campus. Seniors are at an advantage when they
start college if they know they have challenged themselves.
Advanced Placement (AP) Courses allow seniors to do just this. As
mentioned earlier, the promotion of positive self-esteem is enhanced
when there is a climate of perseverance and drive that are needed to
excel when taking AP courses. Counselors at SHS, via classroom
presentations and one on one visits, promote these courses and
continue to advocate a challenging climate in a safe atmosphere.
The past three years SHS has seen an average increase of 17% of AP
courses being taken by seniors.
Situations that call for multiple resources and personnel being pulled together are coordinated by the District Crisis and Safety Plan. The
Plan is comprehensive and one that is followed as it is detailed in describing what the role of the campus guidance counselor is.
Student Results
A Portrait of Student Involvement
in 3 Extracurricular Activities
0
100
Students
200
The use of data has allowed the Guidance and Counseling Team the
opportunity to view information as a means of seeing outcomes,
positive or negative. In accordance with ASCA standards, data is an
important tool that can effect change. We as a counseling staff, use
this data to analyze achievements and scrutinize where there might be
shortcomings. This is all done in an effort to help our students.
With 64% of our students being At Risk, it has been important to
afford them the opportunity to re-take courses they have failed. With
online instruction they have been able to proceed in a manner that is
self- paced and individualized. The program used the past two years
was the A+ program. Research shows that students do as well or
better with formal online instruction as compared to traditional
classroom methods.
One of our primary goals is to graduate our students and to give them
2009-2010
2010-2011
alternative possibilities to gain or re-gain credit. The A +
Acceleration/Recovery Program are a viable alternative method that
has given great returns as far as graduation rates. Included in the graph above are students who utilized the A+ program as a means of
credit acceleration which yielded time for practicums and internships which shows that the program was not exclusive for credit recovery.
The results shown by the graph below demonstrate there was a 54% increase of students who used this program 2010-2011 as opposed to
the 2009-2010 school year. There was also an increase in the total amount of courses taken. It is important to note that behind each
student’s participation and course taken in the A+ program, there is a student/counselor intervention or interaction.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Success Rate of the Credit Recovery
Program
Number of
Students
Number of
Courses
The Accuplacer is a tool used at SHS to better prepare our students
for postsecondary education it is important they take the essential
steps necessary to provide them an academic diagnostic used by
colleges for placement and will aid counselors in registering for the
many Dual Credit courses offered at SHS.
Another goal of the counseling staff and the school was to continue
to raise college awareness and to give students the opportunity to
earn college credit. Dual Credit allows them the possibility to do just
this. The amount of students who took the test in 2010-2011
increased by 25 % compared to the 2009-2010 school year.
Embedded in this process were counselors who made sure students
were given correct and appropriate information about Dual Credit
courses. Studies show high school seniors demonstrate a decrease in motivation. Dual Credit is a challenging motivator in transitioning
seniors into college. An increase in Accuplacer participation is shown in the graph above.
Major Achievements
While the counseling program contributes to the overall success at SHS, they are instrumental in maintaining the high standards and rigor
the administration has set for the goals of the school.
Major accomplishments are as follows:
Delivery
System
Guidance
Curriculum
Responsive
Services
Individual
Student
Planning
System
Support
Overall
% of
Time
20%
25%
35%
20%
Major Achievement
Senior interviews and senior comprehensive guide manuals were instrumental in accomplishing an increase of
3% of the total number of students going to 2 year and 4 year colleges after graduation in 2009-2010 and
2010-2011. There was also an increase of 3% for students attending post secondary training through
career/technical education.
Counselors presented and implemented the Olweus Safety and Bullying Program as part of the faculty and
staff development training that was achieved. Student awareness was accomplished through activities and
videos in the daily At Risk periods
The Bulldog Mentoring Initiative allows access for presentations regarding college admission, filling out the
applications as well applying for pin numbers for the FAFSA. It also allows for strengthening the students
skills on the TAKS test. Test preparations are provided through Science and Math teachers who work with the
10 th grade students.
Students of grade levels 9 th - 11 th were all logged into the College Career Readiness Program (CCRP)
graduation plan and set up a “Course of Study” for the coming years giving students the ability to look
forward with a plan of action when they graduate and an idea of what to expect for their future job choices.
They were also afforded an opportunity to look into other areas of interest and what coursework would be
required for that career goal.
Acceptance into the High Schools That Work program has provided the opportunity through focus groups to
disseminate information on a parental survey and career aptitude evaluations to faculty and staff that deal with
significant issues that face any high school. Each counselor was assigned to a focus group, sharing their
expertise of issues outside the classroom. In collaboration with mentors of this group, the curriculum
promoted and developed has encouraged, supported and provided essential components of post-secondary
education as a key component to our success.
Counseling staff nominated, recommended, and provided a follow-up for the
student that attained the 2011 Gates Scholarship. This was accomplished through
the behalf of the counseling staff and the diligence of our students.
NJROTC program is part of the Helping Everybody Reach Occupational and
Educational Success (HEROES) Academy. The academy counselor in
partnership with JROTC leadership works toward the promotion and recruitment
800
600
400
200
0
Accuplacer Examinees
480
Students
600
Students
2009 - 2010 2010 - 2011
Other Achievements:
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 CREST Award
2008-2009 Recognized Campus TAKS
2009-2010 Exemplary Campus TAKS
2011 Gates Scholarship winner, two semi-finalists
2011 Nationally recognized NJROTC unit, 3rd in
the world, and 7 time state champs