Westminster Hosting "Best Administrative Practices Series" for Educators

Westminster College's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is hosting the second annual "Best Administrative Practices Series" Tuesday, Nov. 7, from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. in the Witherspoon Rooms located at the McKelvey Campus Center.

This session focuses on "optimizing the use of school counseling programs for student academic success: data driven school counseling program development and implementation."

Featured speakers include: Eric Sparks, a former high school counselor and now director of school counseling for the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina; Dr. Heidi Ondek, assistant superintendent at Quaker Valley School District; and Dr. Holly Voelp, secondary counselor at Quaker Valley.

Sparks will provide an overview of how the implementation of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model has had a positive and significant impact on student achievement throughout the elementary and secondary schools in his school district. He will emphasize the role of data assessment processes that inform program development, implementation and accountability. Sparks will outline the steps involved in all phases of program development and identify challenges that may occur.

Ondek and Voelp will offer an overview of the innovative school counseling program model that they operate in their district. One of the key features of this model is school counselors partnering with administrators in leadership and service efforts to close the achievement and opportunity gaps. They will describe how they have used data in decision making at all levels. Having successfully secured funding, they will point to accessible funding resources for program development. They will illuminate novel and practical staff support configurations that have led to a more effective, efficient, and mission-oriented school counseling program.

Contact Dr. William Evans, Westminster College associate professor of education and coordinator of the Counselor Education Graduate Program, at (724) 946-7184 or e-mail evanswj@westminster.edu for more information.

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