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Lincoln Elementary and French Prairie Middle outline attendance and belonging strategies; early data show improvements
Summary
Principals from Lincoln Elementary and French Prairie Middle described plans to strengthen student belonging, daily advisory and reading interventions; presenters reported a rise in regular attendance and a drop in disciplinary referrals.
Administrators from Lincoln Elementary and French Prairie Middle presented school improvement plans to the Woodburn SD 103 board on Nov. 14, outlining strategies aimed at increasing a sense of belonging, improving attendance and boosting academic outcomes.
Lincoln Elementary Principal Teresa alaro described a three‑part goal—reading, attendance and belonging—and said the school will use a data‑informed 'quadrant' of strategies that include weekly affirmations, uniform classroom 'calming corners' with staff PD, and monthly student surveys to monitor progress instead of relying only on the annual YouThru survey.
At French Prairie Middle School, leadership presenters explained a structural change that places a 30‑minute advisory first each morning to build relationships and a sense of belonging. They said regular attendance (students present 90%+ of days) rose from 56% to 68% when comparing July–Nov of last year to the same period this school year. They also reported referrals dropped roughly 51% for September–October compared with the prior year.
French Prairie described tiered academic and behavioral interventions that feed into a site intervention team, use of targeted reading programs (including a phonics‑based intervention and DreamBox for math), and advisory‑driven small groups for progress‑monitoring. A representative described an attendance intervention where families were engaged and incentives (on‑site Nintendo Switch at lunch) were used as part of a negotiated plan that succeeded in getting a previously truant student to attend regularly.
Why it matters: The schools tied social‑emotional and attendance strategies to academic goals and showed early, measurable gains in attendance and discipline reductions. The approaches — routine monitoring, advisory time and small‑group interventions — are actionable tactics the district can adopt and evaluate across sites.
What the board asked for: Members asked about parent engagement, volunteer counts, frequency of interim surveys, how interventions connect to tier‑2/3 behavior supports and when data would be made available to the public; presenters said the survey will be conducted every other month for real‑time monitoring and that summary data are available through site councils.
Next steps: The schools will continue progress monitoring; the board will visit Lincoln and French Prairie during scheduled school visits in December.
