Forging a Relationship Between School Counseling Students and Inner-City Schools: Part 2 | By: Committee for Children by Kathleen Marie Barrett, Associate Professor of Counselor Education, University of Saint Joseph, CT Over the years, we’ve used the Second Step program in a variety of ways within the inner-city school we’ve been collaborating with. We began with small groups and transitioned to classroom delivery of the weekly lessons by graduate students. Soon, virtually every classroom in this wonderful little elementary school was receiving weekly Second Step lessons. We’ve continued to evolve and have found what I believe is a model that represents the best possible use of our respective resources. Since the start of our work together, school administrators have recognized the benefits of using the Second Step program and have worked in partnership to deliver the program as effectively as possible. Each year, we’ve tweaked our model and expanded our services. Our collaboration continues to evolve. We are fortunate to have a wonderfully collaborative relationship with the school’s administrators, who have readily engaged in planning to support a positive school climate. Toward this end, we shifted classroom delivery of the Second Step lessons to the teachers and our graduate students have taken on a new role; they now offer small-group “booster” discussions for those children who could benefit from additional support. As a critical element of a broader focus on enhancing school climate, we arranged for all classrooms to receive their Second Step lessons at the same time. This created a sense of both community and accountability for teachers, whose extraordinarily full plates sometimes lose room for what might otherwise be considered valuable but expendable. Immediately following the classroom lesson, graduate students work with small groups of students; they talk about the day’s lesson, relating it to their own lives, and ensure that lessons were heard and learned. Used in this way, the Second Step program functions as both a Tier One and a Tier Two intervention. As our society has become increasingly aware of the importance of school climate and the reality that a sense of safety is essential for children to be able to learn, an evidence-based tool like the Second Step program gives children just what they need, just when they need it, and it fosters the kind of school environment where children can best succeed. As a school counseling professor and social justice advocate, I am painfully attuned to the inequities in our nation’s educational landscape. I see again and again that for poor children, a lack of resources perpetuates the pervasive negative effects of poverty. I also see the great potential that exists for schools across the country to partner with higher education to develop the same kind of mutually beneficial relationships I have found in these last years. The expense is minimal and the potential benefits are enormous on so many levels. I was always grateful to have Second Step lessons in my counselor’s toolkit when I was a professional school counselor. Today, as I watch my own graduate students benefit from using the program, I am more grateful still. I would encourage others in higher education to consider forging similar relationships with inner-city schools; I can’t imagine a better vehicle to support development on both ends of the continuum than the Second Step program. Read Part 1 of this post.