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Viewridge Middle School officials outline rising enrollment and chronic-absence problem, say interventions expanding
Summary
Viewridge Middle School leaders told the Ridgefield board that enrollment has grown to roughly 700 students and that chronic absenteeism is a major concern (noting as much as 55.1% chronic absence in the Hispanic/Latinx subgroup); administrators described data-driven interventions, WIN time and professional learning teams to close gaps.
Viewridge Middle School leaders told the Ridgefield School District board that rapid enrollment growth and persistent absenteeism are the building’s top challenges and described a multi-pronged plan to improve attendance and academic outcomes.
Principal Ian Mansfield and Assistant Principal Jen Johnson presented enrollment growth (from about 460 students at opening to roughly 700 in 2024–25), the school’s demographic mix and assessment results. Mansfield said the school has seen about 34% growth since opening and reminded the board that ‘‘a third of our student population is not attending regularly,’’ citing chronic-absence thresholds used by the state.
Johnson and Mansfield disaggregated results by subgroup: low-income students make up about 27% of the student body, students receiving special services about 12.4%, and multilingual learners roughly 3.8%. Presenters flagged subgroup performance gaps on the Washington State Smarter Balanced assessments and noted chronic-absence rates that are concentrated in certain groups: the Hispanic/Latinx subgroup’s chronic-absence rate was cited at 55.1% and students with IEPs at 42.1% for the 2023–24 year.
To address those gaps, Viewridge is expanding its professional learning team model and a daily WIN period for targeted intervention and extension. The WIN model uses teacher-identified data to place students in small, by-student/by-standard sessions; teachers can pull students for focused reteaching, and an RTI scheduler auto-assigns students who have not been placed. Mansfield and Johnson described a three-pronged approach that includes teacher-identified interventions, student/family voice and MTSS/MTSS-team placements.
The school is using I‑ready diagnostics to monitor progress and has set measurable goals for 2024–25: the English language arts goal aims to increase the percentage of students meeting early grade-level expectations from about 41% to at least 60%; the math goal targets an increase from about 31% to at least 45%, according to Johnson. The presenters also emphasized expected improvements driven by a recently adopted math curriculum (Edgems) and described daily operational steps — binder and planner checks, administrator walkthroughs and counseling small groups — intended to reduce missing assignments and chronic absence.
Board members asked about how WIN sessions are populated, how attendance is tracked and whether priority-day rotations will change; administrators said the district will rotate priority days quarterly, auto-schedule unassigned students by Tuesday each week, and pull attendance data (including excused vs. unexcused absences) for interventions. The presenters called for community support and noted that improving attendance will affect assessment outcomes over time.
Next steps: Viewridge will continue to refine PLT goals, publish pacing guides for families, and use RTI scheduling and attendance teams to reduce barriers for chronically absent students.
