CDH Recognized by the American School Counselors Association
Greta Cunningham ‘23, Communications Intern
August 18, 2023
This year, the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) awarded the Cretin-Derham Hall counseling department with the RAMP designation (Recognized ASCA Model Program). CDH is the only private high school in Minnesota currently recognized.
“Achieving RAMP status is a way that school counselors can challenge themselves to produce evidence that they are providing an effective, comprehensive system of support for their students,” said Sue Arvidson, the lead elementary counselor for St. Paul Public Schools, a member of the ASCA Board of Directors, and past CDH parent. “School counselors who go through the application process, and ultimately score high enough to achieve RAMP status, set data informed goals, gather multiple data points to ensure those goals are met, and reflect deeply on how they could improve their program in the future. This is an ever evolving process with the goal of continuous improvement.”
While CDH was notified of the accomplishment in February, the award ceremony was held this July in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the annual ASCA conference. CDH Lead Counselor Katie Shead and 5,000 other school counselors had the opportunity to attend various breakout sessions for professional development and hear from guest speakers like Henry Winkler, most famous for his role as “The Fonz” in Happy Days, and Dr. Bernice King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter. On the last night of the conference, counselors from around the country gathered to celebrate the 101 schools that qualified for RAMP status this year.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Shead. “Four days of nonstop opportunities to connect with other school counselors and learn.”
It’s a two year process to apply for RAMP status, bookended with advisory meetings that include student, parent, administration, staff, and community representatives for goal setting and progress reviews. The CDH counseling department submitted data, meeting agendas and minutes, lesson plans, a mission statement, and even tracked how they used their time every 15 minutes for two weeks to demonstrate their dedication to meeting a spectrum of student needs.
“We're the backbone of support for students: academic, social, emotional, and post secondary,” said Shead. “We make sure to provide equitable programs so different students get different things from our department. Some may only need the grade level programming all our students receive, while some may be a part of our small groups or individual counseling.”
In addition to traditional mental health resources, CDH counselors bring in college representatives and guide students through the post-secondary application process, help them plan their academic schedules, and provide professional development for teachers.
“Our focus is to be advocates for students,” said Shead.
CDH’s new RAMP status is an incredible demonstration of that.
“The Cretin-Derham Hall community can be assured that they have a school counseling department that is truly invested in the needs of students and families. CDH school counselors are data informed, reflective, and focused on providing positive support for the entire student body, as well as for individuals who may need additional services,” said Arvidson.
To achieve RAMP status, CDH’s submissions were ranked by a panel of ASCA’s reviewers and determined to have resulted in improved student achievement, attendance, and discipline, making CDH one of 22 schools to be currently recognized in Minnesota.
“Our RAMP status shows that we have highly qualified professional school counselors who care a lot about their students and run the best type of data informed programming that a counseling department can offer,” said Shead. “And beyond our counseling department, it says that CDH as a whole is dedicated to providing top school counseling services and takes their students’ social and emotional health, post secondary success, and academic excellence really seriously.”
The CDH Counseling department is made up of Mike Brewer, LSC, Katie Carroll (Registrar), Laura Esping, LADC (Chemical Health Counselor), Peggy Mansur (Admin), Laura Nelson, Brother Michael Phipps, LSC, Mitchell Reynolds, Katie Shead, LSC, Thay Thao, LSC, Kenny Udoibok (Student Advocate) and Jane Young, LSC.
