Focused Help: Wingfield, Blue Mountain Improve Graduation Rates

Brock Turnipseed

Although Jackson Public Schools’ (JPS’) Wingfield High School (WHS) and South Tippah School District’s Blue Mountain School (BMS) differ greatly in their student populations, they recently shared a common issue: a need to boost slumping graduation rates.

Both were among schools identified for the Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) designation by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) in 2018 — through an Every Student Succeeds Act requirement — for having graduation rates that were less than or equal to 67%.

Although the schools’ graduation numbers are vastly different — WHS averages 150 to 170 graduates per year, while BMS averages 18 to 20 students — the commitment of their principals and support from MDE’s Office of School Improvement (OSI) helped both campuses improve graduation rates and exit their respective CSI designations.

“As leaders, BMS Principal Kelly Gates and WHS Principal Roderick Smith have demonstrated an openness to learning that creates and fosters the conditions for improved student outcomes,” said Dr. Sonja Robertson, the OSI's executive director. “They have worked to stay focused on their goals and ensure they align to the support that has been provided on the evidence-based drivers — organizing adults, teaching and learning, students at the center and postsecondary pathways — that are central to the work of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).”

WHS Increases Student Engagement

Smith recognized improvements in student engagement and focus were key to meeting areas of deficiency — attendance struggles, a lack of needed Carnegie Units and the inability to pass state assessment tests, for example — that contributed to the school's CSI designation.

The support and guidance provided through CSI helped the fourth-year principal realize he could not spark improvement alone. He needed a strong support system in place.

Dr. Curt Green, an OSI school improvement coach who worked with WHS, said the Transformation Academy, a professional learning program designed to help CSI principals jump-start instructional transformation, was an eye-opening experience for Smith that showed the principal he needed to examine the school’s leadership team.

“After the Transformation Academy, he put people on it who were going to be open, honest and truly share with him what needed to be done,” Green said. “He had employees from every facet of the school as part of the leadership team and had more individuals engaged and directly involved in the school-improvement process. Everyone played a part, everyone knew what the school was going to do in terms of the plan and everyone was empowered to be part of the process.”

Plants grow in Wingfield High School's aquaponics lab. The school uses its agricultural science department to engage students and encourage them to graduate.

The Transformation Academy and additional CSI convenings also helped Smith and his team realize they were not alone in the process. They communicated with others and implemented external ideas into their own improvement plan.

“When you're conversing with people at schools where proficiency is up and attendance is up — all of the things that we are really struggling with — you're able to actually be able to have a lot of good conversations,” he said. “It's been good collaborating with the other schools. You notice you aren’t alone in this fight, and it helps a lot.”

CSI helped WHS administrators think outside the box when creating their improvement plan, Smith said. The school increased the amount of dual-credit classes available for students, developed a partnership with Hinds Community College to assist students struggling with state assessments and transitioned from an A-B block schedule to a traditional, eight-period day to increase the frequency of classroom instruction with teachers.

Instructors also focused on students’ interests, such as the school’s agriculture science department and partnerships with Jackson’s Foot Print Farms and Alcorn State University, to keep them engaged and expose them to postsecondary options.

“They found a niche that the students had an interest in, and they expanded more to keep that student interest and attract even more interest,” said Dr. Deowarski McDonald, JPS’ manager of school support. “I think that is an area we can possibly attribute to keeping the students in school, keeping them engaged, helping them graduate and providing a postsecondary career path for them.”

The district placed a focus on exploring those postsecondary opportunities with students when they transition to the ninth grade, he added.

“They have early conversations with incoming ninth graders around what it will take for them to graduate in four years,” McDonald said. “They talk to them about the different supports and resources the school offers and also about exploring postsecondary opportunities.”

As it did with all schools, the onset of COVID-19 presented challenges for educators with keeping students engaged virtually when, as McDonald said, “the needs at home tended to outweigh their education.”

Having a 1-to-1 device initiative in the school’s improvement plan prior to the coronavirus outbreak and offering flexible learning schedules for students helped during the pandemic, but Smith noted what WHS administrators learned through CSI will be critical for the school as it works to regain its pre-COVID-19 momentum and upward trajectory that saw the school’s graduation rate increase to 72.3% following the 2019-2020 school year.

“We couldn't do it without the help of everyone,” Smith said. “This is not something that I was able to do. This is something that Wingfield was able to do. I have a great set of teachers and staff members here who all share the same vision of making sure that every student is successful.”

BMS Targets At-Risk Students Early

Blue Mountain School (BMS) teacher Jessica Paseur watches as students dissect a frog in the school's science lab.

With a smaller student population, BMS can direct more 1-to-1 support to students; however, losing one or two students can significantly affect the graduation rate, which happened in 2018 when the graduation rate dipped to 57.8% and the school was identified for CSI.

Gates, who joined the K-12 school two years ago as its assistant principal, said although the CSI designation was disheartening, it allowed leadership to conduct self-examination and planning. It also provided the funds to execute those plans.

Green worked with BMS this year and commended Gates for “picking up the ball and running with it, continuing the momentum that previous administrators started.”

School officials recognized a need to identify at-risk students early, which is made easier by having K-12 located on the same campus.

“We feel like by the fifth and sixth grades that some kids have made up their mind either they are going to graduate or drop out,” Gates said. “It is really important at that early or upper elementary level for us to determine who's at risk.”

The school implemented an early warning system to identify those at-risk students. A plan is developed for those students that includes access to mentors provided through the school improvement funds.

Guidance Counselor Cheryl Bass said the mentor program, which stemmed from participation in MDE-hosted convenings and JHU’s Cross States High School Collaborative, provides students access to tutoring, social and emotional support and any additional guidance needed stay on track for graduation.

Having mentors allowed a campus the size of BMS the ability to provide personalized attention that larger schools might not be able to provide. That benefited Ben Knight, the school’s first-year assistant principal and graduation coach, as he tried to get seniors to the finish line during the pandemic when it became difficult to keep them engaged virtually.

“We started reaching out to parents saying, ‘Hey, we’re noticing these issues, and we’re giving them until the end of the term to turn this around.’ Some did, but a lot had to return to school,” Knight said. “That constant communication with the parents and the students is how we’ve combated that.”

BMS teacher Beatrice Mitchell assists sixth graders with My Mississippi, a project-based learning assignment.

Bass noted how important communication with parents was during the school’s CSI designation.

“We’ve had to be more of a team with the parents and be on the same page. That has been lacking in the past because there were times parents didn’t know what needed to be done and didn’t know what their students were doing. They got behind and fell between the cracks,” she said.

The BMS plan worked. The school jumped from an F to a B in the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System, and its graduation rate eclipsed 86% and is projected to surpass 90%.

As BMS continues implementing its improvement plan, Gates said he envisions creating a possibilities lab that exposes students to STEM and the area’s five industry clusters. It is one of the areas where Gates said he feels the school can grow, and it might not have been possible without the supports provided through CSI.

“Whether that’s revamping our master schedule to offer more electives or looking at how we’re going to meet graduation requirements for all our students, CSI has been really good,” he said.

Green said Gates wears many hats at BMS, but CSI helped administrators realize it takes a community effort to impact students.

“Students know we're going to check on them. They know we're going to call parents, and if we can't get parents, we're going to the house,” Gates said.

As WHS’ and BMS’ CSI journeys come to an end, Robertson said she is eager to watch Smith and Gates continue growing their schools.

“It has been both exciting and encouraging to interact with the leaders our team has supported in our CSI high schools,” she said. “It has been a great experience sharing in this journey with their teams, and I look forward to the continued progress that will take place in their schools.”