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Identify the part(s) of your plan you were able to implement (given the nature of leadership work, your project may actually continue beyond submission of your capstone portfolio). The implementation of the action plan to be incredibly difficult and a quite frustrating as a result of COVID-19 and school shutdowns. Elements of this project were implemented, certain aspects could not be implemented, and finally there is a vast majority of the action plan that was intended for implementation next year in the first month of the 2020-2021 scholastic calendar year. In the second semester of last year we had two meetings for the formation and development of the behavioral team called the school counseling advisory committee (Artifacts # 20, 21, & 22). During these meetings minutes were taken and recorded. The first meeting took place on February 19, 2020. The second meetings had to be modified and done over a Zoom Meeting because the schools had already shut down. As a modification resulting from the shutdown, I enrolled and completed a course from Hatching Results entitled "Intentional Guidance/ Tier 2 interventions (Artifacts #26). Some of the coursework completed for this class included Intentional Guidance Action Plan (Artifact # 27), Menu of Counseling Services (Artifact #28), MTSS Planning Worksheet (Artifact #29), Ponderosa Counseling Referral (Artifact #30), and School Counseling Program Follow-up (Artifact #31). This entire course was completed with the focus and mindfulness of its applicability to this specific capstone project. Unfortunately there were elements of the action plan that could not be implemented. After multiple consultations and planning meetings with behavioral specialist Robin Cormier, I intended to visit Sandstone Elementary with our principal, Clay Herron, in order to observe some of their systems. They have implemented and are farther along in a very similar system of behavioral intervention as what we are attempting to create at Ponderosa. Clay had already contacted them and set a date to go and observe. Another impossible component was piloting the Second Step program in one class this Spring to assess and experience it with a class. It also impeded much of the data collection that I was engaged in throughout the year. For example our student mentorship program designed to support and impact students with attendance issues, became impossible to assess. We can examine data up to the closures in March, but after that all the data is skewed. I also kept data nearly every day at lunch recess of behavior interventions up to March and the closures.

How successful was your plan of action at addressing the challenge? Which stakeholders and practice or program were impacted? How do you know (site evidence)? COVID-19 made it very difficult to assess or even predict the success of this intervention. The action plan called for a pilot run of the Second Step program with one or perhaps 2 or 3 classes to determine the viability and develop indicators of the potential impact of the curriculum on student behavior. Unfortunately this could not be attempted. We also were tracking data of various smaller behavior interventions that would be components of the capstone project to be implemented next fall. Many of these data sets are now either incomplete or even skewed as a result of COVID-19 closures. As an adaptation of the Plan of Action I had to get creative using data from other sources to try to compile systems and programs with proven viability and success. For this I did a lot of research and read multiple books. I read multiple books by Brené Brown including "Rising Strong" (Artifact #17 ), "Daring Greatly" (Artifact # 16),, "Braving the Wilderness", and especially pertinent to our approach was "Dare to Lead" (Artifact # 15),. I also read three books by Dr. Ross Greene "Lost in School" (Artifact # 18), "Treating the Explosive Child", and "Lost and Found" (Artifact #13 ). I also read two books by a group of authors entitled "Crucial Conversations" and "The Influencer" (Artifacts #14 & 19). All of these books are based on numerous studies and research that provided extensive empirical evidence and data. I then summarized, shared, or created handouts to the behavior team summarizing the findings of these books and how those findings provided a predictive model for our intervention.

How were your four chosen competencies used in the implementation of your project? The four competencies that I chose for this capstone project Reflective Practice, Personal Effectiveness, Coaching and Mentoring, and Collaborate Purposefully were great guide posts for the cultivation of this project. Reflective Practice took many of the behaviors and habits that I have brought to the school counseling role and helped me to become intentional. It helped me to develop the school counseling advisory committee, guide our meetings, and seek input and reflection of professionals to gain a comprehensive view of the issue facing our school. This competency was critical at the beginning of the year to help me to plan out the collection and development of meaningful data. This is what gave me the idea to conduct a disruptive behavior survey, suggest and implement the quiet room this year, and inspired me to find a way to record the behavioral interventions that were occurring every day during my lunch recess supervision. The Personal Effectiveness Competency has helped me to be cognizant of my leadership role and even potential at the school among staff, students, and families. This year I began to intentionally visit teachers and check in regularly if I knew they were struggling. I did many little things to help encourage them like bringing them coffee from Star Bucks, writing notes, talking and encouraging them, helping work with students, I even took over for different teachers on several occasions and taught their classes for periods of time to give them a chance to decompress. My goal in these activities was to help promote a sense that these teachers weren't alone. This also tied directly with the Instructional Leadership Competency of Coaching and Mentoring. I have been working with Robin Cormier and Tanya Kirschman to determine the scope and impact of this issue, not only at Ponderosa, but also across the district and state. I have also worked with my principal to pair teachers with mentors, supports, and equip them to respond to specific student challenges. This is why this summer my principal is pairing each primary teacher with a support staff member and class. Finally, the Foundational Competency to Collaborate Purposefully was immensely beneficial to the development of this project. I worked in tandem with Jyton Birdfaraway to figure out ways to reach our Native American populations, and use her expertise even to strategize about how to reach other minority students and their families. The different cultural backgrounds that these students and their families represent requires different technique, approaches, and considerations. I believe, which Robin Cormier and others would corroborate, is that if we can't connect with these families and students, then our efforts will be ineffective. I also worked this year as part of our Indian Education For All student mentoring program and helped recruit other staff members to participate and impact our students with attendance issues.

What obstacles, if any, did you encounter? How did you address them? The most obvious and unsolvable obstacle that I faced was the COVID-19 shutdown. In retrospect, I am so thankful that I didn't procrastinate and was able to get as much done as I did before the shutdown, or I very well may not have had anything to work with for this final capstone analysis. In order to address this, I had to creatively find other ways to prepare, research, and find information to help flesh out what the intervention might look like. That is why I enrolled in the course, read books, met multiple times with Robin Cormier, and interacted with teachers and staff to plan for the intervention next year. The hope was that I could pilot the program in one or more classes so that we might identify obstacles and prepare for those before next year.

Given the outcomes, describe any changes you might make to the Capstone project plan of action. One anticipated obstacle that I have discussed with many staff members is getting parent permission and participation. We are going to conduct small groups to reinforce the curriculum for students that are struggling. This will facilitate relationships with these students, but also provide better student to staff ratios to give more individualized instruction and feedback. In order to have students participate in groups, I have to have permission slips. So we have been planning out how to get permission slips so that all students, not just in primary, but in the school to sign small group permission slips. I have also discussed with Jyton, Robin, and Clay to strategize ways to more effectively connect with families.