Principal Jason Whitt said Fulton High School staff have been working hard to analyze performance data to come up with a plan for helping students succeed in the classroom, on state assessments and beyond.
During Wednesday night's school board meeting, Whitt presented the results of that work as he talked about the building's goals - and the strategy to meet them - for the school year.
Whitt said the school's 2014-15 building-wide smart goal is: "The percentage of students scoring at 75 percent (on assessments) will be at 80 percent (of the number of students in the class) or higher by the end of the 2014-15 school year, as measured by summative classroom assessment.
He said other goals are to increase the graduation and attendance rates and the number of positive referrals, decreasing the number of disciplinary referrals and "building students who are not only successful in school, but also successful in life in whatever endeavor they choose."
One of the keys to doing that is keeping constant track of student progress - especially for at-risk students.
Whitt said the high school will continue to use the iSucceed program, under which students are placed in one of three tiers. First-tier students have privileges that include using the two 27-minute intervention periods built into each day - one in the morning, one in the afternoon - however they want. Second- and third-tier students are required to use their intervention periods in targeted subjects.
A first-tier student maintains at least a C-minus or higher in all courses, does not have excessive tardies, has no major disciplinary infractions and no more than three missing assignments.
A second-tier student has at least one class where they are earning less than a C, but no more than two Fs, and are still eligible to earn back iSucceed privileges. They are drafted for an On Track Tuesday mentor - an adult within the building with whom they go over their grades and who advises the student on where they need to go for help during intervention time.
A third-tier student is assigned to a certain intervention class and is assigned a graduation coach, who works with the student exclusively and acts as a go-between with the student's teachers.
"These graduation-coach kids are going to graduate," Whitt said.
Whitt also reviewed the school's disciplinary and "F-List" data - which he said were two of the biggest factors affecting student success - for the past four years.
Whitt said that ever since implementing a positive referral program, the school has seen a dramatic drop in discipline referrals.
The high school dropped from 3,308 discipline referrals during 2009-10 to 303 in 2013-14. Positive referrals climbed from 17 in 2009-10 to 976 in 2013-14.
"We've seen a real turnaround," Whitt said.
Whitt said the number of students failing classes has been gradually declining since 2010. He pointed out that the school met or exceeded its smart goals in that area in 2012-13 and 2013-14, with 96 percent of students passing their classes in 2012-13 and 97 percent in 2013-14.
Whitt and other district administrators will continue to update the school board on building goals and progress throughout the year. See Sunday's edition for an update on the improvement strategy for Fulton Middle School.
Katherine Cummins can be reached at (573) 826-2418 or [email protected].