New programs may help more high school students graduate

In the face of falling graduation rates, the Cape Girardeau School District has increased efforts to help struggling students, including a performance tracking mechanism.

While a number of intervention programs were already in place to help at-risk students, the district is working to create a uniform process of monitoring those programs districtwide, said Carla Fee, director of the Alternative Education Center. Academic watch summaries, which have been in place for about a month, monitor the students' progress and involvement in intervention programs.

Teachers develop the summaries, which include the students' statistics and involvement in intervention programs. Building principals monitor the progress to determine whether the students need more help. As students move to different buildings throughout the district, the summaries stay with the student, she said.

At the high school, statistics are mixed. While Cape Girardeau students test higher than the state average on the ACT college entrance exam, the graduation rate fell by 10 percent in the last four years.

"That's something we recognize, and we're working on taking steps to correct," said Deena Ring, district director of special services.

The district has embraced the Professional Learning Community approach to assisting struggling students. A variety of programs help pupils stay in school and graduate on time.

Ring said Central High principal Mike Cowan developed one of the tools the district believes will soon help to turn the tide of declining graduation rates -- the Preparing for Academic Success program. A daily program aimed at ninth-graders, it will help students adapt to high school life while teaching them how to succeed academically, she said.

Social guidelines

The mandatory class teaches literacy and study skills, relationship building, academic preparation and includes tutoring. Students create a personal four-year graduation plan and get help with college and career planning.

Since social problems can sometimes interfere with learning, the class offers guidelines on dating, safe driving, bullying and ethnic diversity issues.

Students in 10th through 12th grades have the option to continue, but it is recommended for students not on track for on-time graduation.

When high school students do fall behind graduation schedules, they can transfer Alternative Education Center. At least 20 students use the AEC after school to earn class credits.

"Our credit recovery program has helped over 60 students graduate with their class because they are able to complete classes that they might have failed or need for college entrance," Fee said. "A lot of our students are the first to graduate high school in their families, and many have small children already."

Fee said intervention programs are part of the solution, but the district's problems extend further outside the school than the community realizes.

"Family structure is huge," she said. "We have so many families that do not support education and they do not share with their children that education is important."

One challenge facing the district as it works to bridge the gap between excelling and failing students is demographics. More than half of district students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, an indicator of poverty. According to junior high principal Roy Merideth, those students face social obstacles to academic success.

"We know that students from poverty don't always understand the 'hidden rules' of schools or of the middle class," Merideth said. "Schools, however, are primarily operated on a middle-class set of values, standards and cultural expectations. Those two worlds collide for the student here."

Merideth said early intervention at the middle level is critical.

CARE Teams

Cape Girardeau schools help struggling elementary and middle school students through a CARE team, made up of a school counselor, nurse, parent liaison, teachers and principal, who meet weekly to create and execute plans to help at-risk students.

"My hope is that because of these CARE teams, no student is falling through the cracks and not being noticed," said social worker and CARE team member Kayleen Shaw. She said one of the biggest problems she deals with is truancy.

"I spend a lot of time working with students who have chronic attendance problems," said Shaw, who works primarily with students at the middle school and junior high.

School board members were vocal about at-risk students in the past, saying the district is not doing enough to help them. Board member Charles Bertrand proposed a curriculum audit in November to align teaching methods and combat struggling graduation rates. He said responsibility for the district's problems gets misplaced.

"They blame it on everything rather than saying 'Let's teach them something,'" he said.

He said his proposal was more drastic than the current approach but that it could make progress.

"Let's just wait and see," he said.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark St. Cape Girardeau, MO