Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano Community High School has a number of at-risk programs in place to keep students from dropping out, and the Shawano School Board learned this week how well they were working.
Gereon Methner, Shawano School District at-risk coordinator, gave an annual report on the programs and explained how they kept students on track to graduate on time.
While many of the students in at-risk programs were identified when they were in eighth grade, there are some students who run into problems after entering high school, Methner said.
Students are identified as at-risk if they are deficient in the number of credits to graduate, score below proficiency, are delinquent, are truant, are students who become teen parents or lack basic skills, Methner said.
“When I think about at-risk programs, they really don’t have a defined start or end,” Methner said. “They may enter a particular program at different points in time, depending on when they’re identified as at-risk.”
SCHS has a virtual program called KidTalk that allows teachers to corroborate in a virtual setting. From there, the school’s intervention team, which includes Methner, school counselors, social workers and other officials, look at the individual issues and see which intervention will help students get back on track.
One intervention, called the Life Applications Alternative Program, puts students in an alternative setting for four core courses, but it also helps students develop character and leadership skills and encourages service projects. Methner said several students in LAAP helped organize a Toys for Tots campaign that took place during a high school basketball game.
“In the LAAP program, there’s a more individualized approach,” Methner said.
There is also a program where an instructional aide works one-on-one with students at random times to assist them with work completion, organization and academic intervention. Methner said about 40 students worked with the aide in the last year.
The Plato program, which allows students to recover credits through online work, has been a part of the SCHS interventions for several years. In the 2013-14 school year, 17 seniors used Plato, and 13 of them graduated with their class. So far this school year, 18 students have earned credits through the Plato system.
Also, a number of students have taken summer school classes to recover credits. Eighty-five students took summer school courses in 2014. The district is already looking at students who failed in the first semester this year for possible remediation.
“It’s ramping up for this summer. I fall asleep mumbling things about summer school,” Methner told the board.
Methner did not have specific numbers on how many SCHS students are in at-risk programs, but said there are some students involved in more than one program.
“The teachers who are currently doing this are doing a wonderful job,” Methner said. “The students see that the idea is to get them up to speed, not punish them for having subpar abilities in math or reading.”
School Board member Derek Johnson said he wanted to see more done to identify students early so they didn’t find themselves at risk of not graduating midway through high school.
“Obviously, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so we can prevent some of that by heading it off early,” Johnson said.