Albert Lea school board discusses student achievement

Showing at-risk students their graduation rate might be a good wakeup call to work toward graduation, student school board member Gabe Minear said.

The Albert Lea school board discussed the graduation rate and other district student success goals during its meeting Monday.

Mary Williams, director of teaching and learning, gave a presentation on these student success goals to the board.

These student success goals are part of Pathways to Success, which is Albert Lea Area Schools’ World’s Best Workforce plan.

The World’s Best Workforce bill was passed in 2013 and is the Minnesota Department of Education’s plan to increase student performance.

One goal that has gotten a lot of attention recently is increasing the graduation rate. The district hopes to get a four-year graduation rate of 90 percent.

In the high school, the district saw an 83.7 percent graduation rate in 2013, an 82.5 percent graduation rate in 2012 and an 80.2 graduation rate in 2011.

By demographic group, Hispanic students had a graduation rate of 51.2 percent, special education students had a graduation rate of 35.7 percent and free or reduced lunch students had a graduation rate of 53.3 percent.

Minear said that there are nine Hispanic students besides himself in 12th grade. He said, based on the statistics, only five of those students will graduate. Four of those students are in honors programs, Minear said.

School board member Jill Marin asked if Minear thought showing the graduation rate to all students, not just at-risk students, would help.

Minear agreed and when asked what the best way to spread that information was, he said a school assembly would probably be the most effective.

School board chairwoman Linda Laurie asked if an internal or external motivational speaker about graduation would be a good idea.

Minear responded by saying that an internal speaker has a reputation and other students may wonder why that person is being picked, while students may not listen as much to an external speaker.

Superintendent Mike Funk suggested there be a couple of staff members per grade in each school that reach out to kids who are in danger of failing or dropping out.

Minear said that would be a big deal, because many students look up to teachers as role models. He said some students wouldn’t care, but for others it would be a wakeup call.

Other aspects of the Pathways to Success and the World’s Best Workforce were discussed at the meeting.

The Minnesota Department of Education requires that all students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade are given reading and math tests three times a year to look at growth and identify at-risk students.

A similar process screens incoming kindergarten students for readiness.

There is also a system to evaluate the effectiveness of classroom instruction. New this year, principals will make informal classroom visits and provide feedback to the teachers afterward. Principals also give formal evaluations to teachers.

The school board meets next at 5 p.m. Nov. 17 at Brookside Education Center, where the board members will vote on whether to approve the proposed calendar to send to the Minnesota Department of Education.