Appendix B-5.
Bonnie Rubenstein: An innovative counselor educator
Maggie Dorgan – Rochester City School District (2023)
Background information
Bonnie Rubenstein is a State University of New York at Brockport graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, CAS in Educational Leadership, a Master’s in Counseling, and an EdD in Counseling and Human Development from the University of Rochester. Bonnie currently works as a Professor and the Chair of the Counseling and Human Development program at the University of Rochester Warner School of Education and is the director of the Urban Teaching and Leadership program. Previously, Bonnie was an active member of the Rochester City School District (RCSD). She wore many hats in both urban and suburban settings as she was a counselor, head of counseling for two decades, assistant principal, and she worked as a substitute administrator later in her career.
Bonnie also has a background in grief and loss, and trauma-informed response research. Through conducting home interviews to analyze themes of parental separation and divorce:
“It became apparent that divorce resulted in not only loss of the non-custodial parent but losses of residence, community, rituals, routines, sense of childhood, and organized social activities. This has led over the years of research and clinical scholarship on the impact of grief and loss and the response of educators to these issues.”
Another research interest involves increasing counselors’ ability to serve English Language Learners and students with interrupted formal education. As stated previously, Bonnie’s focus is on equitable approaches to education.
Key innovations and their value-added
Across the many roles she has played, Bonnie has focused heavily on advocating for and listening to her students and their communities. At RCSD, she implemented college- and career-readiness programs and comprehensive school counseling programs for 34,000 students district-wide and supervised 91 school counselors. Bonnie initiated district-wide SAT and PSAT days where students were able to take these two college readiness exams. Bonnie noticed that there was a lack of attendance due to transportation issues, work conflicts, and other life events happening on the weekends for her students. She was able to start an SAT Day after connecting with College Board and Adam Urbanski. During SAT days, Bonnie proposed that Seniors were taken on college tours to local colleges to help them get a feel for what they would like to do or where they would like to attend in the fall if they were to stay local. Bonnie is also one of the main people who advocated for more school counseling positions and added services within the Rochester City School District.
In her current role as a Professor and Program Chair, she focuses on training the next generation of school counselors, and on instilling passion in her students so that they can become systemic change agents in their schools. Her focus on equity and access in her teachings provides aspiring counselors with tools to reduce the effects of environmental and institutional barriers that impede student academic success. In her courses, students are asked to analyze data elements and explore issues of equity. The systemic barriers that restrict urban school students’ access to and acquisition of educational achievement, especially for traditionally underserved groups is a topic of discussion in almost all her courses today.
In-depth story of an innovation: SAT DAY
How the idea came about and was evaluated/refined
When Bonnie was the director of counseling for Rochester City School District, she partnered with the College Board and was able to form an agreement that all our kids need to take the SAT all juniors and seniors. Bonnie recalled RCSD being the first urban district to not charge scholars for the exam. This was 20 years ago. Bonnie states:
“The kids would not come on Saturday because they had part-time jobs or they slept in, lack of transportation, or it was a cold, rainy October day. I said if we’re gonna use the PSAT for diagnostic purposes that even the SAT, you know, we got to get the kids while they are in school… we have to give them access. It’s not equitable because it’s not there. They don’t have money to sign up for it. So anyways, so we were the first urban district I believe, to offer the PSAT during the week on Wednesday, with at no cost, were the kids.”
Bonnie noticed that not all students were able to attend SAT days set up through the college board. She recognized that not all parents could get their child to the testing site due to their work schedule or their child’s schedule conflict with their own job. As a result, there was less turnout for exams. Another issue was payments and how these students who worked to support their families or themselves might not have had the money to spend on this exam. However, Bonnie understood from her experience in her pursuit of her master’s and EdD, school officials and staff members have an opportunity to reduce the effects of environmental and institutional barriers that impede student academic success, and that is how she initiated this innovation. It was clear to her that the number of students going to college was rising, therefore the amount who want to attend but may not have the resources was also climbing at a similar rate.
Planning and gathering the needed resources
Relationships with people within the district seemed to support this developing initiative. Bonnie claims, “Not only do you have to collect data, but you have to have relationships”. She had a good relationship with the Board of Education and with the College Board. She had served on the New York State Board of the College Board, so she knew a lot of people there. On a local level, Bonnie teamed up with the head of the Rochester Teachers Association, Adam Urbanski, whom she initially partners with to bring more counselors into the district to support students before problems became worse without anyone knowing. It’s all about networking. Outside of this, Bonnie was able to provide data to the board– the attendance taken for PSATs and SATs on Saturdays. Data was also derived from the College Board and SAT test scores.
“We realized the kids were not coming in on a Saturday to take these tests because as I said, they have part-time jobs, or their parents work their jobs on the weekends, or you know, no transportation, no money to sign up for them, to cold, rainy October day. So, we looked at the data, and we said, oh my god, we got to do it during the day. I think it was it was a no-brainer, because who could argue with this, right? We needed to get the College Board to give us a contract where the cost was minimal to the school district.”
Once the school was provided this information, Bonnie was given the go-ahead to connect with the college board and gather information and testing tools for a school SAT day.
Implementation and monitoring the initiative
At the time of implementation, Bonnie was still the director of counseling in the district. Bonnie was able to secure a contract with the College Board and begin SAT testing in schools on a Wednesday during the Fall and again in the Spring. Teachers of these students who were taking the tests were assigned as proctors for the morning periods to support each testing room. Bonnie understood that the school would need to staff these SAT days and that using teachers and staff members to proctor the exam would be the most cost-effective, cost-reducing way to make sure this initiative was profitable for the district. The schools were able to utilize classrooms for testing in a wing of the school where there would be no interruptions, and bells would be turned off to limit distractions as well. Any student in any other grade who would not be participating in SAT or PSAT day would be involved in an alternate activity. While the activity was at the school’s discretion, Bonnie and Central Office must approve of the activity. Seniors who had already participated and were starting to apply for college were able to go on college tours, and those in the lower school were able to do activities in the auditorium, gymnasium, or on field trips.
Ensuring sustainability and/or growth
This initiative began in 2004 and ran for eight years under Bonnie’s supervision. And while Bonnie has been out of the city school district’s central office since 2012, this initiative continues today, allowing any student to take the SAT for free during their time at school in the Rochester City School District. Not only has this increased attendance, but this also allows students to access a college acceptance that they might not have received if this day did not exist.
I asked Bonnie how she feels about her initiative and how it impacts students today.
“Our mission is to transform lives and make the world more just and humane, and so offering these you know, resources to kids who don’t have resources, really does transform lives and make the world more just and humane.”
Bonnie’s goal was to make sure every child had the opportunity to go to college and she knew that this was an opportunity the district wouldn’t turn down as there are already issues of attendance and graduation rates at stake. She was able to pinpoint a vital piece of the puzzle that was missing for RCSD and the students it serves. She was able to make it low-cost for the district, at $13 for each student at the time of the initial implementation.
“I always talk about the cartoon with the little kid. There’s a big ladder. And there’s a big wall. And there’s a kid that has a lot of resources, a lot of family support, and so on. So of course they can get over the wall. And there’s a kid who has the short ladder. So, I’m always for the kid who has a short ladder and giving them the resources to get over the wall.”
Monitoring occurs through attendance on days that the SAT is offered, as well as comparing scores from in-school test dates, versus out-of-school dates. Surveys are also distributed by the district to track how helpful families feel this service is to them. Bonnie made sure that she connected with people she knew within the central office, the board of education, and the college board at all levels to make sure that there were enough people to support and understand the need for this program.
Observations and lessons learned
After working with Bonnie as a professor for two and a half years now, I have come to realize she is one of the most considerate, and driven professionals that I have worked with. She has done nothing but dedicate her time to the greater Rochester community since she started as a school counselor at one of the suburban schools. While I knew that she did great things as a professional during her time at the Rochester City School District, I was unaware that she was the reason why I had to sit with test mods during the SAT school day during my practicum hours. This initiative not only serves thousands of students, but it allows them to apply to college if they choose to do so. It also takes things off their parents’ plates in terms of getting their students to school on a day other than a weekday and keeps money in their pockets. While Bonnie did not talk about how money was secured to pay for each child, or what risks she saw in this program, it helped me to understand that she was confident in what she was doing and that those details from 19 years ago meant nothing in terms of supporting her students. If there is one thing, I will always remember about Bonnie is that she puts others before herself all the time, and she is always prepared to listen to “her students”. She will always find a way to support someone. Bonnie embodies a true entrepreneur who is fearless and is not afraid of risks when it comes to supporting something she believes in. It is true that communication is everything, and that data speaks for itself. It is important to be able to back your hypothesis and resolution with data like Bonnie did with the SAT school day. It is also so important to utilize your resources to minimize cost, and in times to seek support about how effective the initiative is.