 |
| 2017 MASSP Star of Innovation Award Winner |
They're all great kids; some just don't know it yet." - Jim Parry
Now in our 9th year, REACH Stewartville is a Tier 2 intervention at Stewartville High School and Middle School. This class is presently available to students in grades 6-12.
Awards/Recognition:
MN Association of Secondary School Principals Star of Innovation Award 2016/2017
Education MN Human Rights Award 2019
2020 Education MN Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist
REACH Stewartville began in September of 2014 and was only available to students in grades 6-8 at Stewartville Middle School. REACH Stewartville replaced another intervention program at the middle school called Success. The primary focus of that program was academic intervention. Our team identified patterns with the students in that program and quickly realized that more was needed to address the root causes of our students who were struggling academically. Although academics were heavily focused on during the early stages of REACH, we realized that relationships and character education were at least equally as important. Thus, character education along with academic support became the focus of REACH every day. Students and others in our community saw the value of teaching the “whole student”.
Because of this, our approach changed and our mission statement became: “Growing up in today’s world is not easy. The mission of the REACH Program is to make meaningful connections with our students who need support. Our aim is to educate the “whole student” and to help them become the best person they can be through Relationships, Education, Accountability, Character, and Hard work. The personal/emotional needs of our students must be met first so they can find the academic success they are looking for. The tools we use are personal connections, individual support, and patience.”
Within weeks others wondered about the possibility of offering the program at the high school level. In addition to educating the “whole student,” there were also financial benefits to offering REACH at the high school level. We had a semester where we lost 30 students who left for other schools. This was a serious concern for us, as student funding was leaving our district with each student! We were losing our students because connections were not being made. We wanted to keep our students in Stewartville, so we toured intervention programs in Delano, Princeton, and REACH in Hutchinson. We were able to learn from them and customize a program to fit our school. 9th grade was initially offered in the spring of 2015. 9th and 10th grades were offered in the fall of 2015. It was decided to go “all in” at the end of that year, so grades 11 and 12 were added in the fall of 2016. We started with about 45 students at the middle school level 4 years ago. We are proud to have grown to serve more than 100 students last year in grades 7-12! REACH is currently offered as an elective for grades 9-12 in four separate 48 minute periods in the morning every school day. REACH is offered twice in the afternoon - one 48 minute period each for grades 7 and 8. REACH support is offered throughout the day for any REACH student needing assistance. We have seen a change in referrals from being entirely academic (coming from teachers and administrators), and now transitioning to mostly counselor and self-referrals for a wide variety of reasons. Students are required to fill out an application identifying their needs, why they want to be in REACH, and what they are willing to do if accepted into the program. Not all students are ready, or accepted, into our program. Once accepted, students can be exited if they fail to live up to the contract that they signed with us at admission.
Who’s in REACH? Students who have/had the following concerns:
● Academic struggles
● Attendance or behavioral concerns
● Mental health concerns
● ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
● Poor social skills
● Personal concerns / “Drama 101”
● “Unmet needs”
What we do:
● Make personal connections
● Character education
● Relationship building
● Advocating for our students and the REACH Stewartville Program
● Academic support
● Goal setting/evaluation
● Grade/missing assignment checks
● Attendance/behavior checks
● Service learning projects
● Backpack Program provides food for students in need for over the weekends
● “The REACH Room” gives basic living necessities for all students in need at SHS/SMS
● REACHout support for grade 3-12 students in local mobile home community
● Saturday School
● Home visits
● Home-bound education
● Credit recovery program support
● ISS in the REACH Room
● Personal improvement activities (such as self-defense)
● Public speaking about REACH and ACEs
● “This Week in REACH” email is sent out to all SHS/SMS staff as well as students and their families. This email is also sent out to other REACH directors throughout the state. (see attachment) ● Social media - all character lessons and resources are shared with students and their families as well as educators and others across the country through www.facebook.com/reachstewartville and Twitter: @REACHStewie
● Encourage other intervention programs to come visit REACH to learn more about what we do and advise about program implementation at their schools
● Model unconditional love, and listen without passing judgment
Demographics in REACH:
● 15% of students have mental health concerns (being addressed by Fernbrook within our school setting)
● 53% are on free/reduced lunch
● 86% with an ACEs score of at least 1 out of 10
● 44% with an ACEs score of at least 4 out of 10
● 34% with an ACEs score of at least 6 out of 10
● 26% with an ACEs score of at least 7 out of 10
● 13% have attendance/truancy concerns
● 42% of high school REACH students report thoughts of dropping out of school
● 2% homeless
● 93% white; 7% non-white
● 54% males; 46% females
Partnerships:
● Partnership with the City of Stewartville
● Partnership with the Stewartville Chamber of Commerce and businesses
● Racine United Methodist Church and the Backpack Program
● Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Sood and the Resilient Living Program http://stressfree.org/
● Fernbrook Family Center (Mental Health Services)
● Stewartville Morning Lions
● Stewartville Noon Lions
● Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center
The REACH Supply Room:
Donations/assistance/volunteers from the public are encouraged and are used directly to support the REACH Room and/or REACH students “The REACH Room:” We have always tried to help our students with any unmet needs or struggles they may have, including personal, social, mental health, and emotional needs. Up until this spring we were also able to assist at times with basic living necessities, but this was limited. The idea of “The REACH Room” came about and the public jumped on board immediately. We take pride in the support we are able to offer our REACH students through Relationships, Education, Accountability, Character, and Hard work, but we wanted to do more for not only them, but for our school as a whole. We currently take in donations of clothing, school supplies, food, personal care items, and funds to cover emergency items and expenses not normally available in most schools. We are glad to support all students at SHS/SMS who have stopped in for anything. We want to show every student in our school that we care. Our intent is to have our REACH students be a part of building a culture of giving and empathy for others through “The REACH Room”. It is especially rewarding to see our REACH students bringing in other students from throughout the school to receive some kind of assistance from the REACH Room.
Impact:
It is extremely difficult to measure impact when it comes to personal growth. REACH Stewartville is about more than just academics. We are “intentional” about trying to touch the heart of every student in REACH. We are seeing positive results in many areas from grades to attendance and behavior because our students are learning to be happy with themselves. This makes them willing to put in more effort, push themselves, takes risks, struggle, and sometimes fail, but to also move on from setbacks more quickly than before because they see their own potential. They have adopted a growth mindset in its truest form. We are very proud of the growth that so many of our students have made during their time with REACH Stewartville. One of the students who we are most proud of has shown a complete reversal from where she was one year ago. Last year this student was exited from REACH, as she was having difficulties with everyone in our school. She failed 6/7 classes, and started out this year already behind her classmates. This year she has had few discipline concerns, she has passed 6/7 classes, and she is pleasant to deal with in the school system. Last year she would’ve blown up and got into a fight or left school. This year she comes down to the REACH Room, and instead of leaving, she actually talks with us. She knows that she is cared for, and that we are proud of her and the changes that she made. That is also very different from last school year. This was a student that we gave a second chance to, (even though it wasn’t deserved), because we believed in her. I share this story only because it shows you how we measure success (impact) on an individual basis. This year no students have been exited from REACH; last year 10 students were. This year 4 students that we gave a second chance to are all showing improvement compared to last year. Three students who had never ever made any kind of honor roll (in their whole academic life) did. We have some A students who have asked and were chosen to be part of REACH, because of the personal connections and character development. We also had seven seniors come to us and ask us to let them join REACH early, even though our initial planning and vision was to include the 12th grade next year. Most importantly, though, we have REACH students referring others to REACH because of how this program is helping them. Overall, REACH has provided a positive impact on these students lives, as our students demonstrate each day.
REACH Stewartville Standards
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1psxQI3CK2Uq41CEUVkuLfh70Uz0fAoNsiW6rSxrnRco/edit?usp=sharing
Media Attention:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TJzdyd8fJQ0waaAL_gkpOPpWwLMJiTDA/view?usp=sharing
http://www.myfox47.com/story/36287617/stewartville-reach-program-looking-for-donations
https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&ArticleID=10592
https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=62&ArticleID=10992 https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=9384&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&S=1 https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=8630&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&S=1 https://issuu.com/rochesterwomenmagazine/docs/rwmagazine_janfeb2018-web p.46
REACH Stewartville began in September of 2014 and was only available to students in grades 6-8 at Stewartville Middle School. REACH Stewartville replaced another intervention program at the middle school called Success. The primary focus of that program was academic intervention. Our team identified patterns with the students in that program and quickly realized that more was needed to address the root causes of our students who were struggling academically. Although academics were heavily focused on during the early stages of REACH, we realized that relationships and character education were at least equally as important. Thus, character education along with academic support became the focus of REACH every day. Students and others in our community saw the value of teaching the “whole student”.
Because of this, our approach changed and our mission statement became: “Growing up in today’s world is not easy. The mission of the REACH Program is to make meaningful connections with our students who need support. Our aim is to educate the “whole student” and to help them become the best person they can be through Relationships, Education, Accountability, Character, and Hard work. The personal/emotional needs of our students must be met first so they can find the academic success they are looking for. The tools we use are personal connections, individual support, and patience.”
Within weeks others wondered about the possibility of offering the program at the high school level. In addition to educating the “whole student,” there were also financial benefits to offering REACH at the high school level. We had a semester where we lost 30 students who left for other schools. This was a serious concern for us, as student funding was leaving our district with each student! We were losing our students because connections were not being made. We wanted to keep our students in Stewartville, so we toured intervention programs in Delano, Princeton, and REACH in Hutchinson. We were able to learn from them and customize a program to fit our school. 9th grade was initially offered in the spring of 2015. 9th and 10th grades were offered in the fall of 2015. It was decided to go “all in” at the end of that year, so grades 11 and 12 were added in the fall of 2016. We started with about 45 students at the middle school level 4 years ago. We are proud to have grown to serve more than 100 students last year in grades 7-12! REACH is currently offered as an elective for grades 9-12 in four separate 48 minute periods in the morning every school day. REACH is offered twice in the afternoon - one 48 minute period each for grades 7 and 8. REACH support is offered throughout the day for any REACH student needing assistance. We have seen a change in referrals from being entirely academic (coming from teachers and administrators), and now transitioning to mostly counselor and self-referrals for a wide variety of reasons. Students are required to fill out an application identifying their needs, why they want to be in REACH, and what they are willing to do if accepted into the program. Not all students are ready, or accepted, into our program. Once accepted, students can be exited if they fail to live up to the contract that they signed with us at admission.
Who’s in REACH? Students who have/had the following concerns:
● Academic struggles
● Attendance or behavioral concerns
● Mental health concerns
● ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
● Poor social skills
● Personal concerns / “Drama 101”
● “Unmet needs”
What we do:
● Make personal connections
● Character education
● Relationship building
● Advocating for our students and the REACH Stewartville Program
● Academic support
● Goal setting/evaluation
● Grade/missing assignment checks
● Attendance/behavior checks
● Service learning projects
● Backpack Program provides food for students in need for over the weekends
● “The REACH Room” gives basic living necessities for all students in need at SHS/SMS
● REACHout support for grade 3-12 students in local mobile home community
● Saturday School
● Home visits
● Home-bound education
● Credit recovery program support
● ISS in the REACH Room
● Personal improvement activities (such as self-defense)
● Public speaking about REACH and ACEs
● “This Week in REACH” email is sent out to all SHS/SMS staff as well as students and their families. This email is also sent out to other REACH directors throughout the state. (see attachment) ● Social media - all character lessons and resources are shared with students and their families as well as educators and others across the country through www.facebook.com/reachstewartville and Twitter: @REACHStewie
● Encourage other intervention programs to come visit REACH to learn more about what we do and advise about program implementation at their schools
● Model unconditional love, and listen without passing judgment
Demographics in REACH:
● 15% of students have mental health concerns (being addressed by Fernbrook within our school setting)
● 53% are on free/reduced lunch
● 86% with an ACEs score of at least 1 out of 10
● 44% with an ACEs score of at least 4 out of 10
● 34% with an ACEs score of at least 6 out of 10
● 26% with an ACEs score of at least 7 out of 10
● 13% have attendance/truancy concerns
● 42% of high school REACH students report thoughts of dropping out of school
● 2% homeless
● 93% white; 7% non-white
● 54% males; 46% females
Partnerships:
● Partnership with the City of Stewartville
● Partnership with the Stewartville Chamber of Commerce and businesses
● Racine United Methodist Church and the Backpack Program
● Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Sood and the Resilient Living Program http://stressfree.org/
● Fernbrook Family Center (Mental Health Services)
● Stewartville Morning Lions
● Stewartville Noon Lions
● Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center
The REACH Supply Room:
Donations/assistance/volunteers from the public are encouraged and are used directly to support the REACH Room and/or REACH students “The REACH Room:” We have always tried to help our students with any unmet needs or struggles they may have, including personal, social, mental health, and emotional needs. Up until this spring we were also able to assist at times with basic living necessities, but this was limited. The idea of “The REACH Room” came about and the public jumped on board immediately. We take pride in the support we are able to offer our REACH students through Relationships, Education, Accountability, Character, and Hard work, but we wanted to do more for not only them, but for our school as a whole. We currently take in donations of clothing, school supplies, food, personal care items, and funds to cover emergency items and expenses not normally available in most schools. We are glad to support all students at SHS/SMS who have stopped in for anything. We want to show every student in our school that we care. Our intent is to have our REACH students be a part of building a culture of giving and empathy for others through “The REACH Room”. It is especially rewarding to see our REACH students bringing in other students from throughout the school to receive some kind of assistance from the REACH Room.
Impact:
It is extremely difficult to measure impact when it comes to personal growth. REACH Stewartville is about more than just academics. We are “intentional” about trying to touch the heart of every student in REACH. We are seeing positive results in many areas from grades to attendance and behavior because our students are learning to be happy with themselves. This makes them willing to put in more effort, push themselves, takes risks, struggle, and sometimes fail, but to also move on from setbacks more quickly than before because they see their own potential. They have adopted a growth mindset in its truest form. We are very proud of the growth that so many of our students have made during their time with REACH Stewartville. One of the students who we are most proud of has shown a complete reversal from where she was one year ago. Last year this student was exited from REACH, as she was having difficulties with everyone in our school. She failed 6/7 classes, and started out this year already behind her classmates. This year she has had few discipline concerns, she has passed 6/7 classes, and she is pleasant to deal with in the school system. Last year she would’ve blown up and got into a fight or left school. This year she comes down to the REACH Room, and instead of leaving, she actually talks with us. She knows that she is cared for, and that we are proud of her and the changes that she made. That is also very different from last school year. This was a student that we gave a second chance to, (even though it wasn’t deserved), because we believed in her. I share this story only because it shows you how we measure success (impact) on an individual basis. This year no students have been exited from REACH; last year 10 students were. This year 4 students that we gave a second chance to are all showing improvement compared to last year. Three students who had never ever made any kind of honor roll (in their whole academic life) did. We have some A students who have asked and were chosen to be part of REACH, because of the personal connections and character development. We also had seven seniors come to us and ask us to let them join REACH early, even though our initial planning and vision was to include the 12th grade next year. Most importantly, though, we have REACH students referring others to REACH because of how this program is helping them. Overall, REACH has provided a positive impact on these students lives, as our students demonstrate each day.
REACH Stewartville Standards
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1psxQI3CK2Uq41CEUVkuLfh70Uz0fAoNsiW6rSxrnRco/edit?usp=sharing
Media Attention:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TJzdyd8fJQ0waaAL_gkpOPpWwLMJiTDA/view?usp=sharing
http://www.myfox47.com/story/36287617/stewartville-reach-program-looking-for-donations
https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&ArticleID=10592
https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=62&ArticleID=10992 https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=9384&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&S=1 https://thinkstewartville.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=8630&SectionID=13&SubSectionID=62&S=1 https://issuu.com/rochesterwomenmagazine/docs/rwmagazine_janfeb2018-web p.46
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