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The ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors identify the skillsets that students must learn in order to experience academic success, prepare for college and career focused opportunities, and to develop appropriate personal and social skills.  Through the Worry Less Wednesday small group, students will leave having mastered the following self-management skills:
M 4. Self-confidence in ability to succeed;
M 5. Belief in using abilities to their fullest to achieve high-quality results and outcomes;
B-SMS 2. Self-discipline and self-control;
B-SMS 6. Ability to identify and overcome barriers; and
B-SMS 7. Effective coping skills.
Additionally, students will master the following learning skills:
B-LS 3. Time-management, organizational and study skills;
B-LS 4. Self-motivation and self- direction for learning; and
B-LS 8. Engagement in challenging coursework.
As students communicate with each other through the Worry Less Wednesday small group, they will develop the following social skills which are necessary for life long success:
B-SS 8. Advocacy skills for self and others and ability to assert self, when necessary;
B-SS 9. Social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment; and
B-SS 10. Cultural awareness, sensitivity and responsiveness (American School Counselor Association, 2021).

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Worry Less Wednesday is a small group of 14-15-year-old 8th grade students who have not passed the 5th and 7th-grade reading STAAR assessments and have indicated that they feel anxious during testing.  In the small group, students will learn what anxiety is and what causes it, anxiety coping strategies, and role play testing scenarios in which they may practice their newly acquired coping skills.

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Initially, the group will be selected by the counselor to keep the focus on students who have not passed the 5th or 7th grade Reading STAAR tests and have indicated that they struggle with anxiety during standardized testing. After completing the 6 week small group, all 8th grade students will take the online test anxiety questionnaire; the counselor will rank the questionnaires as 5-severe test anxiety, 3-significant test anxiety, or 1-little or no test anxiety and create a new small group that includes students who indicate they experience severe test anxiety. These students will then be sent an information flyer and an invitation to join the next 6 week small group.

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The first six week small group will be identified by the counselor.  5th and 7th grade Reading STAAR test scores will be reviewed to identify students who did not make approaches on both assessments.  Students will then be surveyed using the Nist & Diehl Test Anxiety Questionnaire (Nist and Diehl, 1990).  Students indicating that they experience severe anxiety during assessments will visit with the counselor to gauge interest in the small group.  Finally, invitations will be sent to those who qualified and showed interest in the Worry Less Wednesday small group.

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In accordance with Texas Education Code § 33.004, Parental Involvement, our campus collects parental consent at the beginning of the school year for counseling programs (2 TEC § 33.004). Additional consent is not required unless the counselor is making outside referrals.
If a parent/guardian did not complete the Parental Consent form at the beginning of the school year, the counselor will obtain consent using the attached Informed Consent form specifically for the Worry Less Wednesday sessions (Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program: Responsive Services, 2015).

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The non-negotiable will be: All members of the group will understand and respect confidentiality.  Further group norms for the Worry Less Wednesday small group will be determined by using the  Missouri Comprehensive Guidance And Counseling Program: Responsive Services guide.  As the counselor leads the small group through the looks like and sounds like for each rule, group members will have the opportunity  to voice their opinion or concern about the rule (Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program: Responsive Services (2015).  The rule will be established with the majority vote of the members.

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Stage 1:  As a getting to know you activity, we will pass around a toy microphone.  When a students receives the microphone, they will introduce themselves and select a topic from a bag to tell about themselves.  Topics will be based on favorites, favorite color, song, movie, food, etc.  The student in possession of the microphone is the only student with permission to talk at that time.
Once introductions have been made, students will work together to establish group norms using the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program—Responsive Services Small Group Counseling Guide.  I will introduce and define my rule, "All members of the group will understand and respect confidentiality." Students will continue viewing the rules and describing what they look like and sound like, offering their opinions or concerns about the rule, and ultimately determining its role in our small group.

Stage 2: Once introductions and norms are established in session 1, the group will begin setting goals related to test anxiety.  First, the group will work together to identify the needs; next, the group will prioritize the needs; and finally, the group will create a goal based on need priorities.  These goals will be recorded and available reflection throughout the sessions.

Stage 3: In the final session, group members will reflect on the goals and determine if we met all goals.  Group members will complete a reflection survey identifying what they felt was successful, beneficial, and areas of improvement or change (Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program: Responsive Services (2015).  The final session will also be a time to celebrate successes and modify goals that were not met.

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The Worry Less Wednesday small group is being developed to teach coping skills for when students experience extreme test anxiety during district and state assessments.  I would aim for my leadership style to be transformative, as I want to energetically encourage students to learn, utilize, and teach each other useful coping skills for testing.  However, I believe that as we move into sessions 3 and 4 where I begin explaining the coping skills, I may have a tendency to become a Democratic leader, leading the direction of the group based on the opinions of the group members (Cherry, 2022).

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In the small group Worry Less Wednesday, I believe that many of Yalom's Therapeutic Factors are represented.
1. Instillation of hope as students begin to have hope that the coping skills will be beneficial.
2. Universality because students realize that they are not alone as they learn to cope with test anxiety together.
3. Altruism, as peers learn to cope, they have the opportunity to teach others what works for them.
4. Students may offer direct advice as they learn what coping skills work for them (Yalom, 1995).

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Texas Education Code § 33.004 states "The school counselor shall design the program to include (2)  a responsive services component to intervene on behalf of any student whose immediate personal concerns or problems put the student's continued educational, career, personal, or social development at risk" (2 TEC § 33.004).  It is mandatory that I develop responsive programs for students who struggle to achieve academically due to anxiety.  Without services, the student is potentially set to fail as they may not know coping strategies that can lead to future success.

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When working with students it is imperative that confidentiality be understood and respected.  According to the American School Counselor Association (2022), counselors are ethically obligated to "inform students of the purposes, goals, techniques, rules and procedures under which they may receive counseling. Disclosure includes informed consent and clarification of the limits of confidentiality."  Because confidentiality is so critical, it is a non-negotiable rule in my small groups and is reviewed before each small group session.

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American School Counselor Association. (2022). ASCA ethical standards for school counselors. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/f041cbd0-7004-47a5-ba01-3a5d657c6743/Ethical-Standards.pdf

American School Counselor Association (2021). ASCA student standards: Mindsets and behaviors for student success. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf

Cherry, K. (2022). Leadership styles and frameworks you should know. https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-styles-2795312

Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program: Responsive Services (2015). Professional school counselor small group counseling guide.  https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/guid-respon-serv-small-group-counseling-guide-2015.pdf

Nist, P. & Diehl, M. (1990). PHCC test anxiety questionnaire. http://phcc.edu/ods/questionnaire.html

School Counselors and Counseling Programs, 2 Tex. Edu. Code § 33.002-33.007

Yalom, I.D. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). New York: Basic Books.