Sequoia counselors report measurable gains from tiered Tier‑2 pilot, urge more resources to scale

District counselors and their external partners told the Sequoia Union High School District Board on May 8 that a multi‑school pilot using tiered, data‑driven counseling interventions produced measurable improvements for targeted students.

At a presentation led by district counselors and consultants from Hatching Results, presenters described five core lessons from the pilot year: treat supports as tiered (not students as 'Tier 2' or 'Tier 3'), use proactive data‑identification rather than waiting for teacher referrals, include missed‑opportunity metrics in addition to deficiency metrics, design interventions that match identified root causes, and follow Plan‑Do‑Study‑Act cycles to preserve implementation fidelity. Dr Shakon (district presenter) and Whitney Triplet (Hatching Results) framed the work as an effort to make counseling interventions systematic and measurable.

Site counselors walked the board through local pilots. Sylvia Tores Gara, Menlo Atherton's head counselor, said the school identified 106 ninth‑grade course‑grade Fs in a targeted cohort and implemented a library‑based 'Bear‑to‑Bear' flex‑time intervention that connected students with tutors and scheduled supports. "We dropped from 106 Fs to 74 by January — about a 30% decrease — and we met our site goal," Sylvia said, noting that 35 of the identified students completed the root‑cause survey and participated in interventions.

Eli Thorton, Woodside High School counselor, described two brief pilots — a four‑week attendance intervention and a three‑week executive‑functioning curriculum. Thorton said the attendance pilot had particularly strong results among the small group that engaged: "For the three students we targeted, missed periods went from about 40 across the prior weeks to about six after the intervention — roughly an 87% decrease," he said. Woodside also reported an 11% drop in assignment zeros and reduced its pilot cohort of students with two or more Fs from 22 to 11 (a 50% reduction).

A Sequoia site counselor said their team targeted 38 ninth graders and offered a sequence of four interventions (check‑in, academic workshop, wellness workshop, parent evening). "We saw a 42% improvement from quarter 1 to semester 1 for our measured indicators," the counselor said, adding that community liaisons and mental‑health specialists were essential to follow‑up and home visits for chronically absent students.

Trustees thanked presenters and raised implementation questions. Trustee Rich and others pressed presenters on whether behavior should be tracked separately from social‑emotional measures, how external community partners’ effectiveness will be assessed, and how to ensure students with attendance barriers still receive supports. Presenters acknowledged those limits: many students with attendance problems simply do not show up for interventions, and counselors are stretched thin.

Superintendent Crystal Le and district leaders said they are pursuing system‑level changes to free counselor time (time studies and process changes), expand the district’s menu of Tier‑2 interventions and improve coordination so counselors can act as on‑site coordinators of services. Board members emphasized that while pilots show promise, scaling will require more staffing and clearer metrics for partner programs.

Next steps: presenters asked the board to continue the partnership and professional development, refine districtwide Tier‑2 menus, and return with more district‑level tracking as PDSA cycles continue. Trustees requested more detail on partner evaluation and staffing plans before broad expansion.