Community effort helps bring kids back to class

Staff and volunteers from the Spring and Klein school districts recently made a push to get at-risk students to come back to school and complete their journey toward graduation.

Spring ISD hosted the second annual Reaching for Excellence Graduation Walk last month. Equipped with information about school attendance and options for completing high school graduation requirements, more than 400 volunteers hit the streets to encourage those students who had not returned to school this year to come back to class.

“We want to let our students know that they are important to us and that we are here to help them return to school and graduate,” said Spring ISD Superintendent Rodney Watson. “We are knocking on doors, calling homes and talking to students and their families — our families — offering them choices on how they can come back to school.”

Small teams of district administrators, teachers and community volunteers from Spring ISD canvassed area neighborhoods and contacted nearly 600 families to share the importance of good school attendance, while elementary and middle school teams spent the day sharing similar information with families by phone.

Last year, 250 volunteers knocked on more than 800 doors and made contact with more than 500 students or former students. This year, volunteers cataloged more than 1,000 home visit attempts, and made actual contact with nearly 600 families.

Families that were not reached were left a door hanger notifying them of the district’s visit.

While some of those students return to their campus, others are able to enroll in the Spring ISD ASAP virtual school program.

“This program provides students with a nontraditional option; to choose a morning session, afternoon session, or evening session, to come back to this type of program and earn their diploma,” said program director Rebecca Long. “This is for those students who have a job, who may have a family, or just may just need another type of environment to help them learn. The (graduation walk) is important to help recover those students who need another way to learn.”

Since Sept. 9, about 90 at-risk students have signed up for the program, and more are still being registered.

Also in September, Klein ISD staff and volunteers participated in the 10th annual Reach Out to Dropouts walk with 17 other Houston area school districts.

An estimated 70 volunteers visited 102 homes to provide students and parents with information regarding options available through Klein ISD, as well as encouragement and resources needed to complete high school.

Of the more than 100 home visits, personal contact was made with nearly 50 students or parents.

“It’s always a valuable experience to see the areas where our students live,” said Stephanie Hodgins, Klein Oak High School assistant principal. “Some may live in challenging circumstances, which makes it even more important to reach as many students during the school day as possible.”

Last year, Klein ISD staff also targeted 100 homes and made contact with 45 former students and their families. Of those contacts, 35 students returned to earn their high school diploma in 2014.

Many of those students were invited to participate in one of several dropout intervention programs available to Klein ISD students

One of those programs is known as the 2nd Chance program, which is offered to those who may not have graduated with their class because they need credits, or have not passed the exit-level State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness testing.

The 2nd Chance program, which is in its sixth year, is regarded as a highly successful program that has helped more than 700 dropouts return to school to earn their high school diploma.

Last year, on-time graduation rates for the class of 2014 rose to 93.5 percent, which represents a 1.6 percent gain over the class of 2013.