Posted by priorities?, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Oct 5, 2012 at 11:56 am

The serious issues identified by the surveys were:

Gunn

----

1. I feel anxiety about getting into the colleges that I want to go to

2. I feel tremendous pressure to succeed academically

3. My family expects me to attend a top college

4. I feel anxiety about my workload at school

5. I feel pressured to take a challenging load of Honors and AP courses

6. My classmates and I compete to do well in school

7. I found Freshman Orientation / Link Crew and Titan 101 useful for helping me to transition from middle school to Gunn High School

8. My Guidance Counselor helped me with the transition from middle school to high school

9. If I am struggling with a personal issue, my Guidance Counselor is among the first adults at school that I would go to for help

10. The Junior Manual was a helpful tool for me

11. I feel comfortable going to my Guidance Counselor about personal issues that I might be struggling with

Paly

----

1. I feel anxiety about getting into the colleges that I want to go to

2. I feel tremendous pressure to succeed academically

3. I feel anxiety about my workload at school

4. I feel pressure to take a challenging load of Honors and AP courses

5. My family expects me to attend a top college

6. My classmates and I compete to do well in school

7. I believe that if I do not attend a top college, I will have failed

8. I feel tremendous pressure to succeed at athletics

9. Advisory is a valuable use of my time

10. If a friend is struggling with a serious personal challenge, I would advise her / him to go see their TA

Posted by Gunn parent, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Oct 5, 2012 at 1:26 pm

The data comparing the two schools that started this process in the first place, and shows that teacher advisory is working better than what is happening at Gunn, is here: Web Link (this spreadsheet was put together by a parent group that Ken Dauber used to run, I think).

Posted by priorities?, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Oct 5, 2012 at 3:49 pm

Responses where both are doing very well and where each school should be looking to the other:

Gunn

----

49. I feel physically safe on campus

48. I feel well-informed about the requirements for graduating from high school

47. I understand the difference between requirements for high school graduation and the requirements to enter a four-year college

46. I believe that my Guidance Counselor can be helpful for me in applying to colleges

45. I feel well-prepared to graduate from high school

44. I feel well-informed about the different classes and academic options available to me

43. My Guidance Counselor makes time for me if I need help

42. I find Gunn High School to be a welcoming place

41. My classmates and I collaborate to do well in school

40. My Guidance Counselor was able to help me deal with my personal issue

39. I trust the advice my Guidance Counselor gives me about classes and schedules

38. I am fully able to pursue interests outside of academics

37. My Guidance Counselor has been a valuable resource for me

Paly

----

64. I understand the difference between requirements for high school graduation and the requirements to enter a four-year college

63. I feel well-informed about the requirements for graduating from high school and being eligible to apply to college

62. I have an academic plan that will help me to meet my goals while at Paly

61. I trust the advice my TA gives me about classes and schedules

60. I feel well-prepared to graduate from high school

59. I feel physically safe on campus

58. I trust the advice my Guidance Counselor gives me

57. I feel well-informed about the different classes and academic options available to me

56. My TA makes time for me if I need help

55. I believe that my College and Career Advisor can be helpful for me in applying to colleges

54. I find it easy to talk to my TA

53. My Guidance Counselor makes time for me if I need help

52. My classmates and I collaborate to do well in school

51. I find it easy to talk to my Guidance Counselor

50. I trust my TA to help me if I am struggling academically

49. I find Paly to be a welcoming place

48. My College and Career Advisor provides me with the tools and resources I need to be able to research and make decisions about college

47. I felt well prepared for the transition from middle school to high school

46. I am satisfied with the level of support I get from my TA

45. I am fully able to pursue interests outside of academics

Note: Gunn Students had 49 questions and Paly had 64. The rest of the responses are areas where both are just doing OK.

Posted by local parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 7, 2012 at 12:59 pm

I don't know if this helps, but when I was in high school, we had a 2,000 student population with a few guidance counselors similar to the Gunn model. I liked my counselor personally, but did not benefit in any way from the counseling, there were too many students per counselor to accomplish anything. I remember I and several other students applied for an engineering scholarship that had to be submitted through the guidance office (the organization wouldn't take our applications individually), and the guidance counselor forgot to send them by the deadline. I really felt like I was completely on my own learning about and applying for college.

By contrast, in college, they had a few counselors (who I never saw) and they matched all freshmen up with faculty members who served as mentors and counselors, more similar to the Paly model. I believe the system came out of a period where there were also suicides in the college, followed by a great deal of soul searching about how to prevent stress even while maintaining high academic standards (this was MIT). Or I guess another way to put it is helping kids how to engage in good stress (challenging themselves) in a healthy way and cope with bad stress better. My freshman advisor made all the difference - sometimes I think I couldn't have made it through that first year without that.

The two experiences were so very different, in high school, it was almost like not having any counseling. So, I am very much in favor of what is happening here to try to figure out the best way for Gunn, and to transition to a system more like Paly's if there is good reason to believe it works better (that was my own experience, too).

Change is always hard, but I appreciate as a local parent that the district and parent groups who want better are not just letting it go because there is resistance to change. I hope something even better comes out of this discussion, and that everyone is able to keep their eye on the goal rather than meeting over it to death.