C. R. E. S. T.
Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas
A continuous improvement document sponsored by the Texas School Counselor Association
2006-2007
Bob Beard Elementary a TEA Designated Exemplary Campus
8725 Sonoma Parkway
Helotes, Texas 78023
Office (210) 397-6614 Fax (210) 695-3849 email
District: Northside ISD
Grade Levels: K-5 School: Traditional Enrollment: 1.093
Principal: Mark Rustan
Counselors: Patsy Guerra, Donna Van Allen, Mindi Acord
Bob Beard Elementary School garnered the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) highest accountability rating in its third year of existence. As an “Exemplary” school, we continually look ahead to the multitude of challenges before us and devise an on-going, fluid plan of action to successfully meet those demands. At Beard Elementary our ultimate goal is to develop productive members of society via a nurturing, safe environment that encourages academic risk-taking in socially appropriate settings. The Peer Assistance Team (PAT) is the primary vehicles in ensuring students’ needs are being met both proactively and reactively. As leaders of the PAT and in conjunction with the Team, the school counselors work in unison with the National Standards for School Counseling Programs to champion student efforts acquiring the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span, employing strategies to achieve future career success and satisfaction in making decisions, setting goals and taking appropriate action to achieve goals. The mission of the PAT is to ensure success by making child-specific decisions that positively impact the student community through appropriate interventions, peer modeling and providing an academically and socially rich setting in which adults and children interact effortlessly. In addition, the Advisory program at Beard Elementary is used as the district model for the remaining 56 elementary campuses and has become an integral part of our School Improvement Plan that focuses on providing students the necessary goal setting, academic and social skills to experience lifelong success.
Beard counselors and support staff are motivated to help develop a well-rounded student that is successful in their academic, personal and social competencies along with their emotional wellbeing. The counselors and support staff believe that we should provide the necessary services to the Beard population in a way that: ensures student success, supports teachers’ needs, follows the campus vision and provides a safe, caring and encouraging parent partnership, so that our Beard family will achieve and reach its fullest potential. Some of the programs implemented to meet this belief statement are:
The school counselors coordinate the Consultative Help for Individual Learning Decisions (CHILD) and are part of the Peer Assistance Team (PAT). This program and team began with one full-time counselor, one part-time counselor, an administrator, the school psychologist and three members of the special education department. It has now grown to two full-time counselors, a part-time counselor, an additional speech pathologist, a reading specialist and the vice principal. The following information specifies some of the team members, their education, years of experience and professional memberships.
Member / Education / Experience / Professional MembershipsAdministrator / BA in Elementary Education, MA in Educational Leadership, Superintendent Certificate
Ed.D. in Educational Leadership (currently enrolled) / 10 years / Association for Curriculum and Development, National Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, Northside Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, Phi Delta Kappa, Texas PTA, Texas Association for School Administrators
School Counselor / BA in Education, MS in Education, Certified School Counselor / 14 years / Texas Counseling Association, Texas School Counseling Association, South Texas School Counseling Association, Northside Counseling Association
Member / Education / Experience / Professional Memberships
School Counselor / BA in Psychology, MA in Counseling, Certified School Counselor / 9 years / Texas Counseling Association, Texas School Counseling Association, South Texas School Counseling Association, Northside Counseling Association, Association of Texas Professional Educators
School Counselor / BA in Education, MA in Counseling
Certified School Counselor / 21 years / Texas Counseling Association, Texas School Counseling Association, South Texas School Counseling Association, Northside Counseling Association
Nurse / BS Nursing, Registered Nurse / 13 years / Texas Nurses Association
Reading Specialist / BA Elementary Education, MA Curriculum and Instruction, Reading Specialist Certification, Master Reading Teacher Certification / 32 years / International Reading Association
Speech Pathologist / BFA in Speech Pathology and Deaf Education, M.A. in Speech Language Pathology / 17 years / American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, International Dyslexic Association, Children with Attention Deficit Disorder, Texas Speech-Language and Hearing Association
Licensed Specialist in School Psychology / Psychology, BA; School Psychology, MA; Educational Leadership, M.ED. / 11 years / National Association of School Psychologists (National Certification)
Additional team members include a second speech pathologist, a special education disseminator, a content mastery teacher, a behavior mastery teacher and the vice principal. These staff members have a total of 77 years of experience.
School climate and safety are directly impacted by the counseling team. Our campus sponsors family-friendly events which promote our school/family partnership such as: Mother’s Breakfast, Father’s Breakfast, Grandparents’ Breakfast, Student-Led Conferences and Barn Dance. Campus-wide participation in the Red Ribbon Week Program promotes a safe and drug free school climate by encouraging healthy choices. Our Advisory Program, Buckaroo Bucks and Gold Mine, all encourage positive behavior among our students. Our monthly school-wide town meetings increase student ownership and connectedness within our campus. These programs also help to increase the number of developmental assets for our students. Student safety is ensured by having all adults sign in at the front office and obtain a badge before they are allowed in the main building. All adults are required to pass a criminal background check before they are able to work with our students or volunteer at school. In addition our counseling team and administrators serve as members of our campus crisis management team. Each member has a specified role in times of crisis or emergencies. The counseling team also supports neighboring elementary, middle and high schools in times of emergencies or crisis.
Classroom guidance provides the foundation for our District’s Six Pillars of Character Program. Each lesson incorporates the Pillars of Character, Student-Skill Goals and the Search Institute’s 40 Development Assets. The use of the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets in both guidance and parent education workshops has resulted in the heightened awareness of what children need to succeed.
Beard Elementary is a relatively new school and is in its fourth year of operation. As such, the major focus has been in building a unified community of students, parents and staff and helping our students succeed academically. The PAT committee reviews and analyzes student achievements annually. As a result, the following programs have been implemented to help meet these needs.
Parental Involvement Two grants were sought and awarded to one of the school counselors to help support and educate the parents of Beard students. The first grant was obtained after a needs assessment was sent to parents to discover their areas of concern. After the assessments were evaluated, materials were purchased to meet the parents’ needs. The second grant was awarded to purchase materials to help educate parents on internet safety for their children. In addition to the grants, the counselors offer parent education sessions.
Social, Emotional and Academic Achievements Advisory class, Buddy class, Student-led Conference, Town Meetings, Kelso Conflict Resolution Program, Career Day, Spelling Bee, Student Council, Red Ribbon Week, TAKS Pep-rally, Guidance class, Individual Counseling, Group Counseling, Gold Mine, Food Drive for the San Antonio Food Bank, Dazzler Program, Fifth grade Transition classes and Character Recognition Program.
Recognition Awards One of the school counselors on the PAT committee was awarded Northside’s Elementary School Counselor of the Year and Beard Elementary is a TEA Designated Exemplary School.
Beard utilizes numerous measurements to track the students’ progress in various areas. These measurements are used to help the total student as a person. The results of these measurements are then analyzed to help identify the students’ strengths and weaknesses. The instruments of measurement are as follows:
Academic These measurements are used to help the student reach academic success:
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), TAKS test , Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Inclusive (TAKS-I), State-Developed Alternative Assessment II (SDAA), Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), Special Education Assessment, Speech Assessment, Accelerated Reader Test and Curriculum Diagnostic Benchmark (CDB)
Career The following measurement is used to help students identify their strengths and interest in the career world: The Career Interest Inventory.
Personal, Health and Social These measurements are used to help develop a well-rounded student: Vision Screening, Auditory Screening, Acanthuses Nigerians Screening, Scoliosis Screening, Office Referrals, and Group Assessments by teachers, parents, administrators or counselors.
Beard is very fortunate to have a variety of community partnerships. These partnerships provide valuable talent and resources to our students and are formed to support Beard’s belief statement: We believe all children flourish and are enabled… in a nurturing, safe environment, when they are respected, when they grow in a community of learners.
Academic University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) tutors, Book Fair, Book Exchange Partners in Writing and Parent Tutorials
Career Career Day Presentations, San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fire Department and Sea World of Texas
Safety/Personal/Social Parent and Teacher Association (PTA), Red Ribbon, Fire Safety, Barn Dance, Bike Rodeo, Field day, End of the Year Award Programs, School Advisory Team (SAT), Parent Assisted Learning (PAL), Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA Reflections Art Contest and SAPD Blue Santa.
The volunteers provide Beard Elementary with a valuable service. Without the volunteers we would not be able to implement the numerous programs that we do. We encourage parents to join us as partners in education. For more information please contact Patsy Guerra at (210) 397-6614 or at .
Volunteer Groups Parent and Teacher Association, Parent Assisted Learning (PAL), Toyota Translator and SAT
Volunteer Activities Career Day, Teacher Luncheon, Book Fair, Book Exchange, Field Day, Barn Dance, Chaperones for Field trips, Bike Rodeo and fifth grade Breakfast
The PAT committee is committed to providing programs that meet the goals of our school improvement plan. Based on attendance at previous parent education workshops, parent feedback and surveys, the areas of growth are: parent education and communication. To meet our first goal, we are currently developing a program where six schools and their school counselors are collaborating, planning and hosting regularly scheduled parent education programs. Parents are asked to give the counselors feedback on topics of interest. Our second goal is to keep parents informed. A counselor website was developed to give parents an opportunity to learn more about the guidance department and how the programs support the campus vision. The website is updated each year to meet the needs of the parents.
Beard Elementary is dedicated to being a family friendly school. The best way we feel to obtain this goal is to keep parents informed. To meet this goal the following forms of communication are implemented.
Personal Contact Parent/Counselor Conferences, Parent/Teacher Conferences, PTA meetings, Student-led Conferences, Career Day, Information Nights, Meet the Teacher Meetings, Parent Education, Town Meetings, Kindergarten Round-up, Award Ceremonies, Toyota Translator, Admission Review and Dismissal Meetings and SAT meetings
Print Teacher weekly Newsletters, Administrator/Counselor monthly Newsletters, School Marquee, Flyers, Progress Reports, Daily Citizenship Folders, Weekly Parent Packets, Campus Report Card, Posters and Brochures
Electronic Phone Conferences, Morning Announcements, School Loop, Email, School Website, Teacher Website and Counselor Website
Counselors can be reached by phone or email: Patsy Guerra (210) 397-6614, , Donna Van Allen (210) 397-6613, , Mindi Acord (210) 397-6624, . Parents can reach us during school hours and leave voice messages or emails 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
We welcome you to visit the counselors’ website at http://www.nisd.net/beard/tchrpages/Counselors/index.htm