Cape Girardeau junior high sees improvements since implementing ‘Power of ICU’ program

A program recently implemented at Terry W. Kitchen Central Junior High School in Cape Girardeau has quickly led to improved grades, fewer missing assignments and decreased disciplinary referrals, according to district officials.

The program, called "Power of ICU", was adopted by the school three semesters ago and has already proven to be effective. ICU stands for "intensive care unit" because the students who are placed on the list require "intensive care" to make sure they’re successful.

"It’s really just a system that helps teachers and students prioritize learning. That’s the simple way I explain it to everybody," principal Garett Cook said. "There’s a formula for it that goes, completion plus quality assignments plus healthy grading equals student success. The program is all about adding layers of support and layers of time during the school day, before the school day and after the school day to help your kids be successful on required learning assessments."

Cook said school staff members have completely changed the way they communicate with students, which has helped improve overall morale in the building.

"It’s kind of unified what our priority is at school and how we talk to our kids. ... Our office staff is trained where, if they have a kid in the office, they use what’s called the ICU database, which tracks all the kids’ missing assignments," Cook said. "They have a conversation where they’ll say, ‘Hey, I noticed that you looked a little behind on a couple of assignments. What can I do to help you? Do you need to get with a teacher? Do we need to sign you up for some help after school or do you just want to meet with that teacher during ICU time? ... We’ve just got all these different layers of people that are on the same page."

Since beginning the program, the junior high has had a 75% reduction in the amount of failing grades throughout the school, going from 279 Fs in the fall of 2022 to just 70 in 2023. Additionally, the school’s A and B honor rolls has increased from 248 honor roll students to 376 — a 34% improvement — which is more than half the student population at the school. According to Cook, students have developed a sense of pride for making the list.

"Their name’s in front of the whole school," Cook said. "They’re posted for an entire semester by the nurse’s office, right in the main hallway of the school building where kids are walking up, pointing at that and saying, ‘I made it.'"

Students are also turning in their assignments at a higher rate, having completed 99.4% in the fall 2023 semester because of the emphasis on and encouragement of completing assignments. In addition to improved performance, the school has seen a 45% reduction in negative behavior referrals, dropping from 1,006 to 659.

The program isn’t just improving students’ lives, however, as there are ICU periods set aside for teachers to help students who need it while giving them extra time to grade assignments so they can enjoy a better work-life balance, Cook said.

"One of our core values as a building is ‘humans, not heroes’, and it means a lot of things to us," Cook said. "We’ve defined it as a building together, and my leadership team actually came up with and coined that terminology. But the core value just means we all need to recognize we’re all humans just like our kids and our families. We make mistakes, we say things we shouldn’t and we don’t always give our best. But, also, teachers are called heroes all the time, right? We’re not heroes. We’re humans, too, and we need to give grace to others and ourselves. We need to have a work-life balance, we need to appreciate ourselves and we need to appreciate that our families, our community and our kids go home and have other responsibilities outside of school."

Jackson School District

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Kitchen Junior High follows in the footsteps of the Jackson School District, which began utilizing the program at Jackson Middle, Junior High and High schools more than a decade ago. After researching grading practices and philosophies in 2009 and 2010, the district implemented the program for the 2010-11 school year at all three schools at the same time.

"It looked a bit different in each building, and, in fact, still does," Jackson associate superintendent Janelle Pope said. "However, at the heart of the program is the notion that all students can learn and mastery of the standards is essential for student success."

Pope said the Jackson School District uses an "all-hands-on-deck approach" when a student is struggling to meet proficiency.

"As educators, it is our mission and our obligation to ensure students learn, and this is the approach we use to carry out that mission at the secondary level," Pope said.

Pope admitted the ICU program may not be the right fit for every school district, but believes every school can benefit from "discussions and research about current grading practices." While critics of the program have expressed concerns about not teaching kids what things are like in the "real world", Pope disagrees.

"People do get multiple chances to take very important, life-impacting assessments," Pope said. "Think of the driver’s test, the bar exam and the MCAT. If you don’t pass the first time, you can take it again. In addition, in most jobs, if a task is not accomplished in the manner in which the supervisor requires, they are told to re-do it and make it better. In that way, I believe we are preparing students for the ‘real world.'"