Welcome back to another episode of School Counseling Simplified! I hope your school year is off to a wonderful start. Today I'm excited to bring you a very special guest, Joyce Harduvel.

Joyce is a passionate advocate for youth and the school counselors and social workers that support them. She worked in Chicago Public Schools for seven years where she specialized in evidence-based and trauma-informed behavior intervention for students with chronic challenging behaviors. Joyce is an advocate for proactive professional self care that allows school-based professionals to build that sustainable careers of their dreams so that they can do what is really important: support their students! She now works with school counselors and social workers as a coach and clinical supervisor while pursuing a law degree to further her skills in championing youth.

In this episode, Joyce shares her expertise on how to create positive change for students by using data. She breaks down practical steps you can take to make data meaningful and actionable in your counseling practice.

Here's what you'll learn in this episode:

1. Assessing the Situation

• Avoid going in with predetermined views.

• Begin with a holistic assessment that provides a well-rounded perspective of where a student is at.

• Gather information from multiple sources: families, teachers, and the students themselves.

• Use observations, records, and assessments to inform your starting point.

2. Developing Goals and Tracking Data

• Identify a lagging social-emotional skill and create a targeted goal.

• Explore resources like CASEL, which breaks SEL skills into five domains and offers free research and tools.

• Start small—choose one specific area to focus on.

• Establish a baseline using student records (assignments, attendance, GPA, behavior data).

• Incorporate tracking methods such as antecedent-behavior forms, duration or interval data, mood tracking, or SEL pre/post tests.

• Refine your goal to ensure it is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound).

• Break goals into smaller benchmarks for clarity and progress monitoring.

3. Using Data to Drive Interventions

• Collect ongoing data through screeners, classroom input, or case notes.

• Remember—the point of collecting data is to actually use it.

• If progress isn't happening, adjust your goals and strategies.

• Use data to guide your interventions, advocate for student needs, and identify trends that may inform Tier 1 or Tier 2 supports.

• Most importantly, use data to celebrate student growth and successes along the way.

This episode is packed with practical strategies to help you see data not as a burden, but as a powerful tool to create meaningful, positive change for your students.

 

Resources Mentioned:

• Join IMPACT

• CASEL 

• Woodcock-Johnson Testing

 

Connect with Rachel:

• TpT Store

• Blog

• Instagram

• Facebook Page

• Facebook Group

• Pinterest

• Youtube

Connect with Joyce:

• www.joyce-lcsw.com

• Instagram 

More About School Counseling Simplified:

School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!