CHAPTER 4

The Tennessee State Department of Education (n.d.) has drafted some guidelines designed to assist the members of the SST in performing their responsibilities. Some of the roles and responsibilities of the SST are to

• be skilled and knowledgeable in serving all students.
• allocate budget for materials and resources purchased.
• develop a computer network to enter data and obtain information about all students.
• learn the content of specific areas in order to help students with vocabulary, math, science, machine operation, computer hardware and software, and others.
• use career evaluation/assessment results to
  • plan instruction.
  • design support services.
  • provide close follow-up in lab to ensure student success.
  • assist vocational and academic teachers in integrating their curriculum and instructional programs.
• assist students and/or teachers in
  • identifying instructional need on content and laboratory activities.
  • developing work behaviors/attitudes.
  • reviewing interest inventories.
  • making career decisions and selecting programs.
  • modifying materials to meet students' needs.
• provide orientation to the faculty on learning styles surveys and how to modify instruction to complement students' learning styles.
• conduct sharing sessions for teachers to present instructional techniques and methods that have been proven effective in responding to the needs of diverse groups of learners.
• encourage student participation in different cocurricular activities.

Ideally, student services are centrally located or found in areas with good access. A director should coordinate all segments of the program. In addition, commitment and collaboration from among the different student services professionals are essential to organizing and implementing a comprehensive student services system. To effectively implement a systemwide program, the director or coordinator with the help of the rest of the team will have to work out a plan of action. According to Gysbers and Henderson (1994), the different components of a plan of action include (1) the identification of the tasks to be done, (2) the order in which they must be done, (3) the identification of individual(s) responsible for each of the tasks, (4) the time line for accomplishing tasks, (5) the listing of resources needed, and (6) the identification of the expected output or end product. The team should also devise a contingency or an alternative plan that can be used if and when the original plan of activities fail.

While a successful student services system requires team members to work as a cohesive unit, this is not an easy task. Buchholz and Roth (1987) (cited in Sarkees-Wircenski & Scott, 1995) describe the three essential phases of team development:

Phase 1: Collection of Individuals - At this stage, members tend to be more individual-oriented than team-oriented. It is important that members start defining the purpose of the team, recognizing the skills of other members, and addressing ways in which members can work together as a team.

Phase 2: Groups - During this phase, members begin to form into a group, and a leader usually emerges.

Phase 3: Team - At this point, the team becomes purpose-oriented with members understanding and committing to the goal of the group. All actions and decisions are based on this goal.

In 1996, the Office of Student Services staff plans to identify barriers and facilitators to implement an effective delivery of a comprehensive student services system. Results from this project will be highlighted in future Office of Student Services' publications.