NICHOLAS
Drop-out prevention project progress
March 2013
NDPC SD and WVDE
NICHOLAS COUNTY
• Rural
• enrollment 4052
• 99% white, 0.51% are black and
0.46% are other.
• 62% free and/or reduced meals
• 18% SWD
Our Team
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Gene Collins Attendance Director/Social Director *
Nancy Losh-Teacher/Recorder
Bill Dobbins-HS Principal /Coach
Tom Bayless-Special Ed Coordinator/Behavior/Discipline
Erin Hickman-MS Counselor
Bethany King-MS Principal Team Leader
*
Christina Bailey-Elem. Principal/Data
Kathy Sibbett-Special Ed. Director/Administrator
Kandy Rapp-HS counselor
Kristina Dotson- HS teacher
Beverly Kingery- Superintendent
Starting points(before the project)
Grad
rate
Year
SWD
All
08-09
09-10
42.5%
54%
72%
70%
Drop out
Year
07-08
08-09
09-10
numbers
All
87
77
52
NDPC-SD Technical Assistance
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Research
Areas of focus
Reduce failure rate English and math
classes
Increase achievement scores WESTEST
reading and math
Improve social/emotional well being
Things we shared------** stood out to the team
achievement rates
**achievement gap all vs.
SWD rates RLA/Math
dropout rates
** improvements made in last few
years
class failure rates
** in Math biological sciences
Other data sources:
Culture survey both high schools
Drop out survey data (dislike of school #1
reason for drop out)
Dropout Factors
• Attendance
and Truancy
Prevention
• Behavior
• Course
PerformanceAcademic
Content and
Instruction
• Student
Engagement
• Parent
Engagement
• School
Climate
Students indicated they did not like
school because they were not involved
in sports or extra curricular areas.
They were disengaged with school
leading to the perception they were
unpopular or not cared for by others.
Academically, students (especially
SWD ) indicated the work in RLA and
math classes was too difficult and they
did not receive enough assistance in
subjects in which they struggled.
Interventions
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Expanded learning opportunities
Saturday attendance
Alternative school in two locations
Virtual courses
Homebound instruction/support
Community work based learning
After school programs
At risk interventionists all secondary
Key Data
 Superintendent/BOE staff information
 NCLB private site grad rate and drop out
rate
 NCLB achievement data from private site
for individual schools
 WVEIS queries on course failure rate- both
high schools
When comparing data, we compared to state data
in all areas in which it was available to us.
Initial Plan
• Initial focus covered broad areas of improvement
in achievement scores and improvement needed
in the areas of social emotional wellbeing for
students. We had some drop out prevention
programs in place (court/options pathways) .
Team had strong consensus that academic
improvement was the big area that needed
assistance.
Plan Revisions
• Narrowed our focus
• Added more steps/strategies that were doable
at secondary school level.
• Separated strategies and tailored them for
schools.
• Improved evaluation component of plan by
addition of more concrete data collection in
order to evaluate strategy effectiveness.
Final Plan
• Eliminated one step/program; too
overwhelming for schools at moment
• Added extra alternative school programs
(Saturday school, virtual, alternative sites,
afterschool programs, combinations of all)
• Continued at risk interventionists at all middle
and high school
• Increased intensive SPL and behavior/strategy
training at all schools/principals.
Plan Evaluation and Adjustments
• Phase I: Initial Plan
Graduation rate increased 4% for all, including SWD
Implementation of RLA program not implemented
• Phase II: Revised PlanDid not meet WESTEST goal in Math/Eng
Co-teaching Math/English,
100% both HS
Student mentor program developing in both HS
Decreased Drop out rate slightly
• Phase III: Final Plan Clubs established at both HS- attendance good
SWD projected Grad rate high at NCHS; d/o SWD low
County Developed Resources/Tools
WVDE: Cohort Document and Data
• Reviewed lists for reasons for dropout.
Cumbersome
. does not mark students as SWD, or Low SES etc.
Improvement suggestions
• Give verbage instead of number codes for ease of
use.
• Mark students in columns provided
WVDE: Early Warning System Tool
Some Principals trained- usage is not high
among these
EWS Principal training scheduled
Schools use self assessment, lists and SAT/SPL
process to indicate at risk students in need of
assistance in any area.
Use of Funds
2011- Used for PD for book study with all
Principals and
stipends/subs
2012- Speaker for all personnel/ stipends/subs
2013- Plans to use for PD
SPL training / co-teaching training
Data Trends-Dropout
2008
80
2009
74
2010
50
2011
39
academic difficulty and
dislike of school
consistently top two
2012
19
Projected Graduation/Dropout Results
80
Drop Out Data
2009
74
2010 2011
50
39
2012
19
2013 so
far!
13
70
60
50
40
30
Drop Out/Graduation Trends
20
10
# drop outs
% graduation rate
0
Moving Forward and Next Steps
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Nicholas Co. continues to:
Require drop out conference with superintendent before drop out status is
approved
Work with court system and DHHR to target students in trouble and at risk
for drop out/failure
Provide academic/at risk interventionists at all grade levels all schools
Provide alternate learning environments for students who do not do well
in ‘traditional’ school programming
Provide support in every HS math and English class with Special ed Collab
teacher
Nicholas Needs to:
Inform all principals of current graduation rate statistics/trends
Brainstorm other ideas to increase grad rates- principals’ meeting, 5 yr
plan focus requirement
Strengthen mentorship of middle and high school students
More frequent grade and credit checks
Key Components of Plan Development
Drop out conferences with administration.
1:1
face to face
Provide academic support to struggling readers
at middle and high school level
Increase reading and math support at early
elementary level (SPL that really works!)
Key Components for Maintenance
Continue
Alternatives to ‘traditional’ programming
And refine EWS usage
To involve all staff at all schools
To provide consistent early intervention
to struggling students at early age and
throughout all grade levels
Lessons Learned
• Schedule regular meetings or gatherings
before the year starts and publish these
dates
• Reduce the number of committee
members
• Establish committees at each school with
a county liaison identified
• Stick with a good solid plan
Contact Information
Beverly Kingery- Superintendent
bkingery@access.k12.wv.us
Kathy Sibbett- Special Ed Director
ksibbett@access.k12.wv.us
304-872-3611
Thank you !