School and Community Profile

Running head: CASCADE SCHOOL PROFILE 1
Cascade School and Community Profile

Lyndsey G. Hepworth
Seattle University
Fall Quarter 2013

CASCADE SCHOOL PROFILE

2
Table of Contents
I. Demographic Information 3
II. Data Interpretation 14
III. School Counseling Program 18
IV. Strategic Elements 21
V. Key Relationships 23
VI. Being Visible 24
VII. Community Mapping 26
VIII. Conclusion 28
References 31

Appendix 32

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Cascade School and Community Profile
Cascade High School (CHS) is a comprehensive public high school in the Seattle suburb
of Everett, Washington. The schools simplified mission is that every student be college, career,
and citizenship ready. CHS is accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
and by the State of Washington. As of October 2012 there were 1,864 students enrolled at CHS.
This school and community profile will include demographic information of these students,
demographic information of CHS staff, graduation data, advanced placement (AP) data,
discipline reports, information from the Healthy Youth Survey, and information from the
Educational Effectiveness Survey. In addition to the first section on data, there is a section on 2)
data interpretation, 3) a close look at the schools counseling program, 4) strategic elements of
the school, 5) key relationships at CHS, 6) my role in being visible at CHS, 7) community
resources, and 8) conclusions based on all of the information collected.
I. Demographic Information
Demographic Information of Students
Graph 1. Student Gender (OSPI, 2013)

Male
52%
Female
48%
Gender (October 2012)

4
Graph 2. Student Race/Ethnicity (OSPI, 2013)

Table 1. Additional Student Demographics (OSPI, 2013)
Student Demographics (May 2013) Students Percent
Free or Reduced-Price Meals 748 41.7%
Special Education 167 9.3%
Transitional Bilingual 71 4.0%
Migrant 0 0.0%
Section 504 70 3.9%
Foster Care 1 0.1%

Picture 1. 1998-2012 Percent of White Students and Percent of Free/Reduced Lunch (Principal,
2013)

Race/Ethnicity (October 2012)
American Indian/Alaskan
Native 0.4%
Asian 13.0%
Pacific Islander 0.8%
Asian/Pacific Islander 13.8%
Black 4.2%
Hispanic 14.7%
White 62.9%
Two or More Races 4.0%

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Demographic Information of Staff
Table 2. Classroom Teachers by Race 2008-2013 (OSPI, 2013)
Year Total Hispanic
/
Latino
American
Indian/
Alaska
Native
Asian Black/
African
Americ
an
Native
Hawaiian/
Pacific
Islander
White 2+
Races
12-13 84 3 - 2 - - 79 -
11-12 84 3 - 2 - - 79 -
10-11 84 2 - 2 - - 80 -
09-10 85 3 - 2 - - 80 -
08-09 88 3 - 2 - - 83 -

Table 3. Classroom Teacher by Age 2011-2012 (OSPI, 2013)
Year Total Ave.
Age
18-
24
25-
29
30-
34
35-
39
40-
44
45-
49
50-
54
55-
59
60+
11-12 84 46.9 - 6 7 10 11 11 20 7 12


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Graduation Data
Picture 2. Graduation/Drop Out Rates and Graduation Rates by Ethnicity and Program
(Principal, 2013)

Picture 3. Ethnicity/Program and Graduation Rates (Principal, 2013)


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Picture 4. Income and Graduation Rates (Principal, 2013)

Advanced Placement
Picture 5. Fall 2013 Students with 1 or more Advanced Placement Course(s) (EOS
Representative, 2013)


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Discipline Reports
Table 4. Behavior and Discipline Incidents for September 2013 (Counseling Secretary, 2013)
Incident Totals
Bus Stop/Bus Referral 2
Disruptive Behavior 7
Failed to Comply with School Rules 1
Other Harassment 2
Truant 9
Assault/Battery Without Major Injury 1
Fail to Report to Detention 6
Non-Compliant Behavior 1
Sexual Harassment 1
Use or Possession of Illegal Drugs 3
Fight Without Major Injury 4
L/I/O Conduct/Expression 1
Total 38

Table 5. Discipline Actions for September 2013 (Counseling Secretary, 2013)
Discipline Action Totals
Administration Conference 5
Detention After School 14
Friday School 6
In School Suspension 3
Detention During Lunch 1
Emergency Expulsion 4
Long Term Suspension 3
Short Term Suspension 8
Restitution 1
Total 45

Healthy Youth Survey 2008, 2010, & 2012
The Healthy Youth Survey was administered to Cascade students in 2008, 2010, and
2012. The data collected from Cascade is very similar to the data collected statewide. When
looking at the 2008 and 2012 data side by side, the majority of changes in answers were in a
positive direction. For example, cigarette use among Cascade students decreased since 2008 and
feeling safe at school has increased since 2008. The biggest change in a less positive direction

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was excessive television and video game use, as shown in the graphs below. Excessive
television and video game use is defined by three or more hours of watching television, playing
video games or using the computer, for fun on an average school day.
Graph 3. 2008 HYS Excessive Television/Video Game Use (Principal, 2013)

Graph 4. 2012 HYS Excessive Television/Video Game Use (Principal, 2013)

37
34
30
27
29
0
20
40
60
80
100
Grade 6 Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade 12
Local State

50%
50%
52%
48%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Grade 6 Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade 12

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Educational Effectiveness Survey
There is so much data that is collected from the Educational Effectiveness survey. There
is a staff survey, parent survey, and student survey. Each survey is based on the nine
characteristics of high performing schools, which are: 1) collaboration and communication, 2)
clear and shared focus, 3) high standards and expectations, 4) effective leadership, 5) supportive
learning environment, 6) parent and community involvement, 7) curriculum, instruction, and
assessment, 8) monitoring of teaching and learning, and 9) focused professional development.
For each question the taker had to answer with almost always true, often true, sometimes true,
seldom true, almost never true, or missing. For purposes of this assignment I will highlight areas
that stood out to me, as I am working to configure a data-driven advocacy project.
Staff survey. On October 30
th
, 2012 94 staff members at Cascade took the staff
educational effectiveness survey. Of the 94 staff members, 77 are certificated teaching staff and
the rest are considered non-teaching staff. Below is the summary view, which shows that parent
and community involvement is the lowest performing, so I provided more detailed information
on that category.
Picture 6. Staff Survey Summary View (Principal, 2013)

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Picture 7. Staff Survey on Parent and Community Involvement (Principal, 2013)


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Parent survey. On October 15
th
, 2012 173 parents took the parent educational
effectiveness survey. Seventy-seven percent of the parents said that English was their primary
language at home, while the remaining 23% said that English wasnt their primary language.
Monitoring of teaching and learning was the area of greatest concern for parents, with parent and
community involvement as a very close second.
Picture 8. Parent Survey Summary View (Principal, 2013)

Picture 9. Parent Survey on Parent and Community Involvement (Principal, 2013)

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Student survey. On October 30
th
, 2012 1,291 students took the student educational
effectiveness survey. Below is the summary view and the detailed view of parent and
community involvement because it was the area of most concern, again.
Picture 10. Student Survey Summary View (Principal, 2013)


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Picture 11. Student Survey on Parent and Community Involvement (Principal, 2013)

II. Data Interpretation
What the Above Data Suggests
Since 1998, the demographics of Everett, WA have been changing. This has changed the
student demographics, but not the teachers. In 1998, CHS was comprised of 82.3% White
students, and now is 62.9%. Of the 84 staff members, three are Hispanic/Latino, two are Asian,
and 79 are considered to be White. The staff demographics do not match the changing student
demographics. Since 1998, the free and reduced-price meals have increased from 9.1% to
41.7%. CHS offers various fee waivers, free school supplies and backpacks, and even gift cards
to Fred Meyers for clothing. Counselors make it a point to ask every student if they have the

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necessary school supplies, clothing, and food. Asking all students makes it known that there is
help at CHS and also creates a friendly, helping environment free of negative stigma.
The 2011 5 year adjusted cohort graduation rates of all students is 91.8%. The groups
that have the lowest graduation rates are special education students at 71.7%, limited English
students at 78.1%, and Hispanic students at 84.2%. Through data and word of mouth it is clear
that the Hispanic population is not performing at the level of other ethnic/racial groups. In
addition to the lowest graduation rates of ethnic/racial groups at CHS, Hispanic/Latino students
have the lowest advanced placement (AP) participation. The Everett School District is working
to create equity in AP classes through a new program called Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS),
which I will describe further in the strategic elements section. Low-income students are also
graduating at a lower rate (85.3%) compared to middle and high-income students (94.7%). It is
the mission of the Everett School District to have every student be college and career ready and
this begins with graduating from high school. This graduation data has targeted certain groups
that need further support to graduate and in turn be more ready for their post-high school plans.
While I was not able to obtain a lot of data on discipline, the biggest areas students are
getting in trouble for are truancy, disruptive behavior, and failing to report to detention. Since
the data collected is from September 2013, the most common form of punishment was after
school detention. Generally, discipline starts with detention then moves to more serious
punishments such as in school suspensions, out of school suspension, and expulsion. The most
interesting thing I learned from gathering discipline data is that tenth graders are the group with
the most incidents and need for discipline actions.
For both the Healthy Youth Survey and the Educational Effectiveness Survey, I
interpreted much of the data next to the tables, graphs, and pictures in the demographic

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information section. What transpired from the Healthy Youth Survey was that excessive
television and video game use has increased substantially from 2008 to 2012. Tenth grade
students went from 37% to 50% and 12th grade from 34% to 52%. With this, I would think that
physical activity would decrease, but physical activity actually increased. Students are taking
time away from other activities to watch TV and play video games. It seems that TV and video
games are quite important to this generation! As mentioned, the Educational Effectiveness
Survey is filled with important data about the staff, parents, and students. For the staff, parents,
and students, parent and community involvement was an area of huge concern. The data
suggests that there is a definite lack of parent and community involvement at CHS.
Disaggregated Data
Table 6. Behavior and Discipline Incidents by Grade for September 2013 (Counseling Secretary,
2013)

Incident 09 10 11 12 Totals
Bus Stop/Bus Referral 1 1 2
Disruptive Behavior 1 4 1 1 7
Failed to Comply with School Rules 1 1
Other Harassment 1 1 2
Truant 1 4 4 9
Assault/Battery Without Major Injury 1 1
Fail to Report to Detention 3 3 6
Non-Compliant Behavior 1 1
Sexual Harassment 1 1
Use or Possession of Illegal Drugs 2 1 3
Fight Without Major Injury 1 3 4
L/I/O Conduct/Expression 1 1
Total 5 17 11 5 38

Table 7. Discipline Actions by Grade for September 2013 (Counseling Secretary, 2013)
Discipline Action 09 10 11 12 Totals
Admin Conference 2 1 2 5
Detention After School 1 10 2 1 14
Friday School 1 1 4 6
In School Suspension 1 1 1 3
Detention During Lunch 1 1

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Emergency Expulsion 2 1 1 4
Long Term Suspension 2 1 3
Short Term Suspension 2 2 4 8
Restitution 1 1
Total 5 20 13 7 45

Picture 12. Parent and Community Involvement Disaggregated by Type of Staff (Principal,
2013)

Interventions Needed Based on Data
The question is, now what? Now, there is a lot that should and can be done. Fortunately
at my time at CHS I have noticed that the Everett School District is working on improving the
areas I have noticed as deficient or lacking. For example, White students dominate participation
in AP classes, and the Everett School District is working on Equal Opportunity Schools to create
equity in AP class enrollment. The areas where I see the greatest concern without specific plans
in place are for the graduation rates of Hispanic/Latino students and parent and community
involvement. To me, this means a combination of advocacy for Hispanic/Latino students and
their parents, while utilizing community resources. My supervisor and myself wrote a grant to
help fund a Latino Family Night, which would be a starting place for parent and community

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involvement. We were awarded the grant and are planning the Latino Family Night for February
26
th
. While that events focus is on bringing together family and community resources, during
the school day I am working with the students and their academic needs. It is known that
students academic success increases with parent involvement.
It is my focus to bring Hispanic/Latino students and their parents and the community
closer together to help improve the academic success of the Hispanic/Latino population at CHS.
Two ways I have helped do this so far is through being the liaison for the Minority Achiever
Program (MAP) at CHS and my participation in the new parent program called Natural Leaders.
MAP has helped me to build rapport with students, understand their needs through their stories,
not just the data, and to actually help them with some of their specific concerns such as
homework help, admissions essay writing, and goal setting. Natural Leaders is a very new
program to CHS that allows parents to be natural leaders in the school. We have only had a
couple of meetings so far, but have a kick off event scheduled for December 4
th
, to help expand
Natural Leaders at Cascade. At this meeting what a Natural Leader is will be described to
interested parents and there will be discussion about the Latino Family Night. My hope is that
parents can share with me what they need from a night together and what myself and others at
CHS can do. There are several interventions I am working on and am looking forward to tying
everything together.
III. School Counseling Program
Conclusions from SCPIS
I completed the SCPIS survey by myself and then brought the survey to our weekly
counselor meeting to share my opinions and also to hear what the counselors and other
counseling support had to say and add. First off, CHS has many people working together in the

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counseling department; there are five counselors separated by alpha, one career specialist, one
school psychologist, one drug and alcohol counselor, three people that share time between the
positions of academic support, success coordinator, and on-time graduation specialists, and a
counseling secretary. Overall, I believe CHS has a great counseling department that works very
well together. There are areas of improvement that I will share below.
Gaps in Program
The gaps of CHS counseling program include not having a written mission statement,
using data regularly, and utilizing the ASCA framework. The counselors do not have a mission
statement; there is a school mission statement, but not one specific to counseling. I would think
that the two would align, but the counseling statement would include an item on personal/social
counseling. The department is starting to become more accountable by using data, but data isnt
done regularly. For example, for the freshman and senior fall guidance units a pre and post
survey was completed to see if learning happened and to tailor next years lesson. Doing this was
great and the department was able to show the district lead counselor and principal the results.
The counselors at CHS know of the ASCA framework and how much time should be spent doing
each activity, but in reality they dont have the time to track how they are spending their time
and it most likely doesnt align with ASCAs model. I say this because when I asked them if
they thought their job descriptions matched their actual duties (question #11) none of them
agreed. The counselors are asked to do a lot of paperwork, participate in meetings frequently,
plan counseling related school events, SAT prep work, scholarship gathering, and a lot of other
behind the scenes items. Granted, all of these items do benefit students, but it takes time away
from actual face-to-face contact with individual students, groups of students, and classes of
students.

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Program Strengths
The program is incredible at working together and has an effective referral system. In the
department no question is a stupid question and everyone is there to help one another. Everyone
seems to have his or her own strength and area of expertise. For example, one counselor is great
with data, another does everything scholarship related, one attends all the school improvement
meetings, one heads the FAFSA completion project, and so on. The school counseling position
is constantly changing and each counselor has had to learn to work differently, which is not easy.
With the move toward data decision making the counselors are learning how to use excel and run
reports and then use them to create change; it is pretty cool to see this actually happen! Granted
it will take more practice, but it is a great start. Another strength is having the districts lead
counselor support and the district response team (DRT). The DRT is comprised of several
counselors throughout the district and is used when there is a crisis. When a student passed away
earlier this year I was able to see the DRT and CHS counselors come together and help. This
DRT had a plan of action in place and several resources available for students. This was helpful
for CHS counselors, as it was a time of mourning for them as well.
Recommendations
With the push towards data driven interventions I recommend that the counselors set
goals based on the data for academic, social/personal skills, and career development. With set
goals in place and perhaps a mission statement, the activities they are involved in may align
more closely with the ASCA time model and their job description. I would love to see
counselors analyze the data by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic level to identify
interventions that would close achievement gaps. The district does a lot of this data collection,
but it would be better if the counselors got ahold of this information and could come up with

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interventions together. Id also recommend a clearer job description of a success coordinator
versus a counselor. It seems that success coordinators are doing a lot of one-on-one
personal/social work while the counselors are writing the grad plans and following up with
administration and parents. The counselors are doing a lot of legwork while success
coordinators really have the time to sit and talk with students. Sometimes this seems a little
backwards and that there should be a more clear distinction of job duties.
IV. Strategic Elements
Everett School District and Cascade High Schools Mission Statement
The mission of the Everett school district is to inspire, educate, and prepare each student
to achieve to high standards, contribute to our community, and thrive in a global society (ESD
website). The mission of Cascade High School is, Cascade High School is a caring community
committed to fully develop each students academic, creative, emotional, social, physical, and
vocational potential by actively engaging each student in learning (ESD website, CHS
webpage). At assemblies and other school events the principal notes that the mission of the
school is that every CHS student is college, career, and citizenship ready. This is simple and to
the point and is easily engrained into students memories.
Strategic Plan and School Improvement Plans
The Everett School Districts Board of Directors monitors district progress through the
strategic plan with a scorecard tracking student learning and organizational efficiency. Copies of
the strategic plan and scorecard tracking system is available at the Everett School District
website (http://www.everettsd.org/domain/1445). Cascade High School has a School
Improvement Plan that can be accessed through their high school website
(http://docushare.everett.k12.wa.us/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-42352/). I am pleased to

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share that the School Improvement Plan has items related specifically to counseling related
duties, such as writing graduation plans for students in the red, or students who are not on track
to graduate. Below is a model that the district uses.

Innovations Under Development
As mentioned, the school is implementing Equal Opportunities School to help close the
AP achievement gap. This work is being done at the district level and is something I am curious
to see unfold at the high school. I am not aware of any other innovations under development, but
I do know that CHS is continually trying to improve upon existing programs and add other
programs such as MAP and Natural Leaders.
School Improvement and Professional Development Days
Cascade High School has Learning Improvement Fridays, which is 75 minutes for staff to
come together and improve upon whatever is needed. The students are released 75 minutes
early, so this really is just a time for staff to come together. Departments connect and have an

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agenda they follow. At the end they have to report to administration about what was done and
what will be done next time.
Counselors Role in Strategic Elements
The counselors have to follow the districts Strategic Plan and the high schools School
Improvement Plan. The counselors are invited to sit and participate in the School Improvement
Plan committee. One of our counselors regularly attends these meetings and puts the counseling
departments say in. Whenever a counseling duty is written into one of these plans they are
expected to follow it and document their work to achieving that part of the plan.
V. Key Relationships
The relationship between the schools and parents definitely needs to improve. Based on
the Educational Effectiveness Survey this is agreed upon among students, parents, and staff.
When parents do come onto CHS campus I have noticed that they are treated with respect, but
most likely do not feel comfortable. The administration building is so fast paced that parents
questions are quickly answered and then they are sent on their way. Only one staff member in
the administrative building speaks another language, Spanish, so she does a lot of work with
helping Spanish speaking parents and interpreting. Entering any high school is often confusing;
there is a need to get parents more involved.
The counseling department effectively refers students to community resources. Some of
the most commonly used resources are described in the community mapping section. I think
there is a good reputation between the community and CHS. I say this because outside
organizations love to help and generally want to help more! I think CHS should use them to
their advantage and be more inclusive of these community resources.

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The staff is respectful of administration and the administration is respectful of staff. I
wish that administration and the counseling department would work more closely together, but I
think that the reality is that both are so busy. In practicum I was at a middle school and many
decisions and ideas were discussed and shared between the counselors and administration; this is
very different at CHS. Overall, the relationships are professional and respectful. This holds true
between the school counselors and the principal.
The school counselors and teachers, on the whole, work well together. Each is receptive
of hearing one another out. Everyone is human and each person has their own personalities so I
can see certain people automatically clicking while others do not, but generally it is a work
environment where all are respected. I enjoy that CHS has minimal bad mouthing about other
staff. Some buildings I have been in have much more gossiping and bad mouthing, which I think
is not appropriate.
VI. Being Visible
District Counselor Meetings
Once a month we have district counselor meetings. I have been at every district
counselor meeting and have met several of the middle school counselors, high school counselors,
and the lead district counselor, Becky Ballbach. The meetings either last from 7-10am or are an
all day event. I have had the privilege of listening to Dr. Joyce Brown from Chicago Public
Schools come and talk to us about creating a college going culture. In December the counselors
have College 101 planned at Everett Community College where we talk about everything
college related. Attending these meetings has been a great way to network and make myself
known in the district, while learning a lot of valuable information.
Visibility in the Classroom

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I have had the opportunity to be in the classrooms quite frequently. In the 10
th
grade
AVID classroom (Advancement Via Individual Determination) I have helped with scholarship
writing and in the 12
th
grade AVID classroom I have helped with the UW Bothell application
process and admission essay writing. I have gone into classrooms during the beginning of the
year senior surveys and the 10
th
grade fall promotion. I have also done three different guidance
units. The first was the senior guidance lesson about options after high school including college,
work, and military and also in depth information on how to apply to four-year universities,
community colleges, and for scholarships. I also helped deliver the 9
th
grade guidance unit to
both ELL classrooms. This was a great learning experience since we had to tailor the
PowerPoint and discussions to fit the needs of the students. Instead of lecture style we all
grouped around a table and talked school requirements over and what everything meant. There
were a lot of great questions. Most recently I went into 10
th
grade classrooms and helped present
on options tenth graders have their junior and senior years such as college in the high school,
sno-isles, and running start.
Parent Conferences
In the beginning of the year I met with several families who were either concerned about
their students schedule or were new to CHS and needed to get into appropriate classes. Through
creating schedules I learned about prerequisites and what students needed to graduate. Although
my head was in the planning guide I was learning a lot of information that will be especially
helpful when filling open periods in second semester. I was also able to get two consent forms
signed from two parents that I met with. I think because they knew me they felt more
comfortable with me working with their child.
Attendance at Meetings

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Every Monday I participate in the SIT/504 (student intervention team) meeting and every
Thursday I participate in the counseling department meeting. Being a part of these meetings
makes me feel included and also helpful when I can chime in and share what I know or can add
to the conversation.
Visibility Outside of School
Twice weekly I participate in the after school MAP program. This has given me the time
to talk to students for an extended amount of time without feeling guilty about keeping them
away from instructional time. Off of campus, I went to the varsity football game versus
Edmonds-Woodway High School, the high school I went too. I was able to say to administration
and some students that I recognized. It was pretty fun sitting in the middle of the stands and
cheering both teams on!
VII. Community Mapping
Description of Community Agencies
Organization Description Contact Name Number
Cocoon House Cocoon house provides a
continuum of services for
homeless, at-risk, and
disconnected youth and their
families.
Cassie Franklin,
Claudia Cortes
425.259.5802
Catholic Community
Services
CCS has a wide range of
services including child care,
youth tutoring, mental health
services, housing services, and
drug and alcohol treatment.
Bekah Reid 425.258.5270

Compass Health Compass Health services
include chemical dependency,
crisis services, foster parenting
in Snohomish county, Genoa
pharmacy, groups, housing,
inpatient services, Molina
Medical, outpatient counseling
services, psychiatric services,
and residential services.
425.349.6800

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Kids in Transition
Program (KIT)
We have a KIT intern at CHS,
named Skylar Hannah.
Mary Ellen Hardy 425.385.4032
New Hope New Hope Life Coaching
Center specializes in supporting
teens and their families to create
positive change, goals and
overcome challenges.
James Dalton 425.609.7753
Lakeside Milam Addiction treatment. Thomas Blanford 425.267.9573
Providence
Intervention Center
for Assault and Abuse
Offers support groups in
adolescent female survivors of
sexual abuse/assault, young
adult female survivors, and a
group for parents and caregivers
of sexually abused children.
425.297.5771
Everett Planned
Parenthood
Offers many teen services
including birth control,
pregnancy tests, emergency
contraception, STI test and
treatment, and a lot of
information and education.
425.339.3389
The YMCA of Everett The free Minority Achievement
Program (MAP) available at
CHS Mondays and Thursdays
from 2-4pm.
Desiree Boss or
Catherine Rasnack
425.258.9211

Use of Services
The counseling department uses all of the above services when needed. Currently we
have several students who live in Cocoon housing and students who use their teen shelter
services. Cocoon House came to a counselor department meeting and described their services
and answered our questions, which was really helpful. We refer some of our students who use
alcohol or other drugs to Catholic Community Services and Lakeside Milam. We have used the
YMCA this year through the new MAP program at CHS. MAP has helped several students so
far and has been completely free for CHS, which means that it will be sustainable.
Plan for Using Services
Personally I am planning on using Cocoon House and a few other community
organizations to help with the Latino Family Night I am planning. At the event Id like to have a

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resource fair with the above organizations in attendance. Now that I have called and talked to
the people on the other end I feel much more comfortable with talking to students about their
services and referring them to these organizations. Communication will be key.
VIII. Conclusion
School Strengths
The strength of schools lies within the people who comprise the building. CHS strength
lies within all the administrators, counselors, teachers, other staff members, students, alumni,
parents, and the community. I truly believe the greatest strength CHS has is the people who
make up the building. Teachers and counselors are willing to try new things and be 100%
flexible. I have seen teachers change lesson plans because of crisis and counselors completely
change their plan of the day to help a single student. It is amazing how flexible everyone is and
how things continue to go on. The students are also pretty respectful of staff and other students,
especially special education students. There are not many incidents of bullying at CHS and if
there is it goes to administration for discipline and sometimes counseling for some peer
mediation. In addition to staff flexibility there is a huge sense of community and dedication to
CHS. It is the only high school I know of that alumni still know and sing their alma mater.
There are teachers who are alumni and are continuing to pass down the sense of community and
dedication to their students. It is wonderful to be a part of a school with such community.
The sense of community is shown each day through individual interactions, but also at
the district level. Everett School District is in my opinion one of the best school districts in
Washington. District personnel are constantly trying to improve current programs and bring new
programs in that will help students be successful in high school and beyond. It feels that

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everyone is working together to help students, which is how it should always be, but when there
are systems and bureaucracy in place I could see how sometimes this would not be the case.
School Gaps
Based on the data collected and the school counseling survey, there are a couple of gaps
that need further attention. The counseling department needs to continue to make the shift
towards data driven interventions around all three issues of counseling, academic,
personal/social, and career related. The school also needs to use their families and community
resources more. There are people willing to help, but do not know how. As a school we need to
do a better job at including parents and the community.
Areas for Further Advocacy and Exploration
An issue that I believe needs further advocacy is having a greater focus on the
personal/social counseling with students. CHS has multiple success coordinators, academic
interventionists, and on-time graduation support, but no mental health specialist or anyone who
can spend a significant amount of time with students who need personal/social counseling. I
think personal/social counseling should be emphasized in the department. This type of
counseling is done by the counselors when needed, but issues are dealt with quickly. I feel that
there is a huge push for closing academic achievement gaps, increasing graduation rates, and
increasing scores on statewide assessments, that the mental health aspect has really gone
undercover. It is the counselors job to counsel these students and talk to their parents about
community counseling and options that are available. It is devastating to hear students stories
and know they need more help and arent given it. In addition to my advocacy project working
with the Hispanic population, their parents, and community, it is a mission of mine to emphasize
personal/social counseling. I am thinking that the group I will run winter quarter will focus on a

30
mental health issue, not academic or career related concerns, as this is an area that does need
further exploration and advocacy at CHS.


31
References
Cascade High School Website. (2013). Retrieved from:
http://www.everettsd.org/Domain/8.
Educational Effectiveness Survey. (2012). Data in printed form at CHS.
Everett School District Website. (2013). Retrieved from:
http://www.everettsd.org//Domain/4.
Healthy Youth Survey. (2008, 2010, 2012). Portland, OR: RMC Research Corporation.OSPI
Washington State Report Card. (2013). Retrieved from:
http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?groupLevel=District&schoolId=2431&re
portLevel=School&orgLinkId=2431&yrs=&year=2012-13.


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