Officials said success in the alternative program alone could boost the graduation rate by 10 percent.

Another major strategy to improve the graduation rate is to start an intensive mentoring or casework program called Check and Connect. The program would assign full-time caseworkers to 40 to 50 at-risk students at a time. The caseworker works with the students on a weekly basis, connecting them with people, services and programs and monitoring the students’ progress as they move from grade to grade.

The district proposes to start the program with four monitors to oversee 200 students. The cost is estimated at $102,500 for the first year, but Huff thinks the district can find some alternative funding to pay for the positions. The district has also considered using volunteers rather than full-time staff members as case workers.

‘At-risk’

All of the 15 strategies targeting the graduation rate focus on “at-risk” students.

Criteria for determining whether the student is “at-risk” include whether the student has lower than 90 percent attendance, has an “F” in math or English or two “F”s in one semester, or lives in a single-parent household.

Huff said the district already tracks that information through its Infinite Campus computer system and will create a program to electronically “flag” students who meet that criteria. Staff will then match up those students with the intervention strategies listed in the plan. The district will be able to electronically track those students’ progress through school.

Behavior expectations

School officials also plan to expand a program that establishes clearly defined behavioral expectations for students to create a more consistent school environment. Joplin implemented the Positive Behavior Support (PBS) program at Emerson Elementary last year with the philosophy that uniform behavioral standards would translate into fewer student trips to the principal’s office and free up more time for teachers and administrators who normally deal with behavior issues.

Emerson’s PBS program was one of 133 recognized as “outstanding” by the state last year.

Joplin will expand the PBS program to the rest of the district as part of the strategic plan. The program is estimated to reduce the number of office referrals by 25 percent.

The program would cost about $36,500 for the substitute teachers who cover for Joplin teachers while they undergo PBS training. Supplies for the training are estimated to cost about $500.

Learning centers, School Within a School

Currently, Joplin tutoring usually happens one student at a time with an individual teacher before or after class. The strategic plan calls for each school to create a space within each building where students of all grades can meet with a variety of teachers throughout the school day.

“The most effective tutoring that’s going to happen is going to happen during the school day when kids are still engaged,” Huff said. “Research shows you lose significantly when you do that before or after the school day.”