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District leaders report 267 students in new lunch‑time support courses, outline revamped professional development
Summary
Assistant principals told the board about intervention courses held during lunch across core departments (267 enrolled districtwide) and described a three‑tier PD model; early data show exits from support lead to passing rates for many students.
Warren Township High School District 121 assistant principals described new lunchtime support courses and changes to professional development during the Nov. 19 board meeting, presenting early outcomes and plans for ongoing teacher training.
"There were 267 students in a support class somewhere in the district — so that's like 7 percent of the children," Peter Kupfer said as he reviewed the intervention program, which places students identified by teachers into subject‑specific support sections during lunch. Kupfer said the district rotates students in and out of the program every six weeks and tracks progress in Panorama.
Kupfer reported that of students who have exited support this year, 76 percent went on to be passing the class they had been receiving help in; students currently in support had a 54 percent passing rate. He cautioned that the data can be misleading because many students enter the program already failing and staff aim to stabilize and improve grades before moving them back to regular schedules.
Kupfer described staffing for the program as roughly 8.4 full‑time equivalents directly assigned to support sections and about 10 FTE when including lead‑teacher responsibilities. He said the district initially expanded support in math and has since added the model to the four core departments.
Matthew Jones, the other assistant principal presenting, outlined a distributed, three‑tier professional development approach — district, building and department — and said the district moved mandated online trainings out of in‑person sessions to free up time for relevant instructional PD. Jones said staff feedback improved, with in‑district PD ratings rising to about 3.7–3.8 on a four‑point scale.
Board members asked for demographic breakdowns for students in support courses and for analysis of whether students enter the district at lower baselines. Administration said it would provide further demographic and trend analysis and bring additional data to future meetings.
