Since
the 2003-2004 school year and the implementation of Pre-Kindergarten to
schools, enrollment has steadily increased with only a drop in 2007-2008 (To see timeline of Cabell County total enrollment trend click here). The state of West
Virginia funds Cabell County schools per student based on these figures.
Assistant
Superintendent Gerry Sawrey said they are more concerned with keeping
enrollment stable. For the administration, enrollment affects staffing which
means having so many teachers per students. The BOE has to find other funding
other than from the state to pay for schools if enrollment decreases, so it’s
better to be stable and increase their numbers if possible. Sawrey said there is some competition
with private schools such as St. Joe.
"I
guess we have a little bit of competition, but really I think in our area it's
healthy competition,” Sawrey said.
“I personally believe in parents having choices for their children.”
Sawrey
also said that people in public schools believe everyone in an area belongs in
public school and can be critical but overall choices are a good thing. The BOE
works together with those entities to ensure the best education for the
community possible. Sawrey said
they try to keep all the schools updated so parents can see they’re children
are receiving the best quality education.
“To
get people to see the quality of what we have we’ve also tried to update our
schools with more technology and places to get things done,” Sawrey said.
While
enrollment is defined as a student who is “in the books,” the trouble the BOE
has are the students who chose not to attend school on a regular basis. In the
last five years the administration followed an entire initiative on high school
restructuring. In order to keep students in school the BOE has to make what and
how the students are learning relevant and interesting. Sawrey said the 21st century high
school looks a lot like it did years and years ago.
"If
Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in an American high school and woke up 100 years
later in 2013, he'd still be comfortable because it looks a lot similar.”
Sawrey said.
Life has changed and so has the way
students learn, therefore to be relevant to the kids and their future as well
as the future of society, the BOE has to make sure the high schools are up to
date. Sherri Woods is the attendance director and works with principals,
teachers, parents and sometimes even the court system to keep students in
school.
One
of the branches of the restructuring that's only three years old includes
graduation coaches that are counselors who identify kids in high school who are
at risk for not graduating.
"We
have an early warning system, it's at the state level now, but before Cabell
County was the only county with a system to target children who have problems
with attendance and course completion," Woods said.
The
coaches start in middle school and find the target group of kids who have had
trouble. Then the coaches team up with the students once they reach high school
and work together towards graduation. The BOE works with community agencies
such as United Way's Education Matters Dropout Prevention Center, the school
principals and teachers, attendance officers, parents and the court system,
when necessary, to make sure students keep attending school and keep their work
up. Sawrey compared the connection of schoolwork and attendance to the chicken
and egg theory.
"We
don't know if attendance drops and then school work goes down or if schoolwork
goes down then attendance drops, but when kids get discouraged they are likely
to stop attending school.” Sawrey said.
The
focus of the graduation coaches is to make sure the students are keeping up
with their peers and let students know there’s an adult that cares about them
and their future.
"The goal is to paint a
picture for students of what their future could be like if they don't have
their own support elsewhere,” Sawyer said.
Another
newer option for students is doing recovery work. Instead of repeating a grade
in middle school or repeating a course in high school, students can do a
cumulative package of coursework online and once they've mastered a sufficient
amount of material, the teacher will change their grade to pass the class.
Sawrey said offering the recovery work is another way for students to keep up
with their peers and lessen the feeling of discouragement if they are close to
failing.
“Research shows that if kids get
behind their peers in terms of courses and credits, it's a red flag for
dropping out, so trying to help them keep up with those credits is really
important,” Sawrey said.
Another
program implemented about four years ago has a multitude of branches and are
called Career Academies. They are offered at the high schools and instead of
having a student be on a pathway for college or a two-year school, they can
take advantage of their interests to help their education become more relevant.
The students take courses that are geared toward their interests. Teachers of
other subjects know which students are in the academy and try to weave those
interests into their courses. By
the end of their senior year the student will earn some type of certificate, depending on what field
they’re in, that will allow them to be able to say “I’ve got this skill.”
Next
year Huntington High School is implementing a health and fitness academy. So instead of just taking normal
physical education courses, kids can take courses on nutrition and more
relevant physical education courses such as spinning. Mountwest Technical and Community College works with the BOE
to teach the students in the academies so in the end the students be certified
to teach spinning at their local recreation center. Sawrey said using outside sources are beneficial to the
schools and help students in the long run.
“It’s important to not only focus
on restructuring in the high school but to work with agencies to partner with
us to push the students,” Sawrey said. The credits will count not only for
graduation but also for Mountwest.
Mountwest also partners with the high schools Junior Reserves Officers’
Training Corps (JROTC) to earn credit and experience in the military.
Huntington High has an engineering and
innovation academy, a business academy, the newly planned health and fitness
academy and soon to come journalism academy. Cabell Midland has a childcare academy, arts academy, law
and legal academy and a soon to be medical academy. Sawrey said the academies let students focus on what
interests them the most.
“It helps kids who have an interest
in a particular thing delve into that interest and find other opportunities
they wouldn’t have otherwise known about,” Sawyer.
A
rare program is the ELO program.
Leo’s are Extended Learning Opportunities. Each course a student takes has content objectives and
standards they have to master to pass. Now a student who has a passion or
interest in something but hates sitting in class for long amounts of time can
do outside work with people in the community or on their own in order to
demonstrate they know the content objectives and standards to receive the
credit. 135 hours of class time equals one credit and teachers oversee the
student’s progress. Sawrey said Leo’s are better for students who need a
hands-on learning environment.
“Students can learn so much more
doing what they want to be doing and something they’re passionate about rather
than sitting in class,” Sawrey said. For example, students who have taken piano
lessons all their lives can demonstrate their skills with a small concert for
teachers of music and earn credit for music courses.
These
are just a few of the programs implemented in the past few years to keep
students interested in school and help them graduate. The board is also trying
to change the traditional school calendar to a balanced calendar so that
students can retain more of the material and not have to review so much after
the summer months (See Charts B and C). The state has yet to decide whether to
change the academic calendar.
Chart B&C: Traditional versus
Balanced Calendar
There
are still students who slip through the cracks and never participate in any of
the programs and are still at risk for failing or dropping out. In order to
stop this the dropout age for students has changed from 17 to 18. Students cannot drop out of school in
Cabell County until they’re 18 years old and up until then, they have to deal
with attending school.
Mentors
are also hired and funded by the state to check on at-risk kids at least once a
week to make sure they’re keeping up with their schoolwork and giving them
support.
It’s important to keep students in
school so they can graduate and have a career instead of being supported by
society. Woods also said nearly
80% of drop out students end up in the court system.
“We
don’t want our kids to have to go through that so we want to keep them in
school,” Woods said. “It’s not just the knowledge you take away from a course
but it’s the skills as well.”
The BOE asks
businesses regularly what skills they’re looking for when hiring employees, and
the surprise was that the most wanted skills seemed basic, such as the ability
to work with others, being on time and especially being drug free. By teaming
students with mentors, coaches and people in the community they hope to teach
them the skills they need for future careers and overall success.
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