The Bentonville and Fayetteville school districts’ graduation rates usually beat the state average, but both districts struggle when it comes to graduating students from disadvantaged groups.
Certain students are classified under what’s called the targeted achievement gap group, also known as TAGG. The group includes students who are economically disadvantaged, who are English language learners or who have some kind of disability.
Bentonville and Fayetteville have fallen short of the state average graduation rate among students in that group the past four years, according to state data. Last year, both districts missed last year’s state average of 81.9 percent by more than 7 percentage points.
Rogers and Springdale have had far more success. They beat the state average last year with rates of 90.2 percent and 84.6 percent, respectively, among disadvantaged students.
“If you look at Fayetteville and Bentonville, those are probably the two schools that have the biggest disparities between the kids who have a lot and the kids who have very little,” said Grant Lightle, a Bentonville School Board member. “We’re both doing a lousy job. This is a massive failure. There’s no other way to frame it.”
Lightle’s comments came during a board meeting last month when Bentonville High School Principal Jack Loyd presented the data and several methods his school is using to improve graduation rates.
One method applies to special-education students.
The school is moving toward a co-teaching model, where a special-services teacher will be in the classroom teaching alongside a general education teacher to better meet the needs of certain students.
Both teachers will be responsible for the curriculum and both will be responsible for modifications for the special-education students, Loyd said.
“We’re going to give [the teachers] support not only before school starts, but all throughout the school year,” Loyd said. “We have that staff development planned out for them and making that co-teaching situation work.”
Students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals at school — those who are economically disadvantaged — may be placed with a team of teachers who see them all the way through high school in core subject areas. They’ll also be grouped with a career and technical education teacher to help show them the relevance of school to a career, Loyd said.
Bentonville High School is also increasing efforts to ensure students don’t fall behind in credits.
“So, the easiest thing to look at is, where do we have our highest failure rates,” Loyd said. “We have high failure rates in English I and algebra I.”
The school is rotating new teachers into those classes. Three teachers who teach English at the junior level and one who teaches at the sophomore level attended a conference earlier this year and came back with a plan for English I, Loyd said.
Board president Travis Riggs questioned the wisdom of moving talented teachers from the upper grades to the lower ones.
“We still have juniors and seniors at risk,” Riggs said.
Loyd said he understands it is a tough issue, but added older students are more established and not so much at risk of losing ground academically.
To further increase familiarity between staff and students, Bentonville High is changing the assignments of counselors so they no longer will be responsible for a grade level, but instead will oversee the same students throughout their high school years.
Loyd also mentioned the possibility of instituting an after-school intervention program for at-risk students.
FAYETTEVILLE’S RESPONSE
The state’s data show Fayetteville’s overall graduation rate plummeted from 90.4 percent in 2013-14 to 79.9 percent in 2014-15. The district disputes that data.
“We don’t feel our graduation rate is correct,” said Kim Garrett, Fayetteville’s associate superintendent for secondary education. “We are still working with the state to get the raw data from them.”
Garrett insisted, however, the district takes seriously the education of disadvantaged students, which requires involvement in the community.
“When you don’t have food on your plate, or don’t have electricity or don’t know where you’re sleeping, studying for your math test doesn’t rise to the top of your list,” Garrett said. “That’s why it’s important to develop partnerships. It is a priority and we’re going to continue to do everything we can.”
Fayetteville does a lot through its alternative learning environment, known as the Agee Lierly Life Preparation Services program, which serves more than 200 high school students, Garrett said.
The program is targeted at high school students with some of the greatest educational needs. Students are considered for the program if they meet criteria that includes disruptive behavior, dropping out of school, frequent changes in residency and a history of poor performance on standardized tests.
It provides a traditional program of classes, options for students to make up credits, a virtual learning program and a GED preparation program.
Garrett credited improvements to the program in both facility and scheduling to a rise in the attendance rate from 70 percent last year to 93 percent this year.
Fayetteville also has tried to increase the number of counselors at the high school and redesigned its social-worker program to better support students throughout the district, Garrett said.
THE ROGERS WAY
Loyd, Bentonville High’s principal, said he has spoken with Rogers district officials about their approach.
“We’ve learned a lot from Rogers. Because when you look at their numbers, they’re doing a lot right,” Loyd said.
Rogers has led Northwest Arkansas’ big four districts in graduation rate the past three years. It has exceeded 90 percent the past two years, not only in its overall rate, but also with respect to those students in the targeted achievement gap group.
That’s for a district where about 62 percent of students qualify as low-income and 33 percent are still learning English.
It’s not one thing the district does, but numerous things, said Mark Sparks, Rogers’ deputy superintendent.
“We monitor our kids all the time and make sure no one gets too far off track,” Sparks said. “It’s really an attitude making sure kids are supported and we know where they’re at. We have a saying that when you get to be a large school, you make every effort to make sure it feels small. We try to personalize it as much as we can.”
The schools keep an eye on the numbers of D’s and F’s students receive and look for ways students can recover lost credit.
“What we really try to do is get it to the point where no kid feels hopeless,” Sparks said. “There’s always a plan. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Teachers, even those at the elementary level, have access to a continually updated digital system that informs them of each student’s risk factors that may be a stumbling block on the path to graduation. It acts as an “early warning system,” Sparks said.
The district understands that it takes the entire school system, starting in elementary school, to get a student through to graduation, Sparks said.
“We’d like to have 100 percent of the kids graduate. We’re happy with some of the results we’re seeing and we have the expectation we’ll stay in the [90-percent range] and perhaps move that graduation rate higher,” he said.