A student comes to Owen-Withee and is assessed for reading. She scores very low, the third percentile in the nation. That means she only reads as well as three percent of the students across the nation who take the same assessment. Immediately, the school responds with extra help through reading support and interventions. However, her attendance is low, only 82%. The student does not show much improvement. She finishes the year at the fourth percentile, still significantly below her peers. Through communication with her family and the school, her attendance would steadily improve over the next two years. Fast forward four years, her attendance rate improved to 93.57%. She was again assessed for reading, and this time she scored in the 96th percentile.
ATTENDANCE MATTERS! Plain and simple, in order for students to make academic growth, they need to be in school. This past school year, improving attendance became the goal of Owen-Withee Elementary School. The past few years, there has been a decrease in the attendance rate, which has directly impacted student achievement, which is evident in the school report card and state assessments. There needed to be a culture change, attendance needed to be prioritized. So, the staff at Owen-Withee Elementary School took action.
In August, there was an attendance committee formed: Mrs. Julie Van Ark (principal), Mrs. Kristi Ruggles (Director of Pupil Services), Mrs. Mikel Olynick (Third Grade Teacher), Mrs. Stephanie Ihlenfeld (School Counselor), and Mrs. Katie Hatlestad (Reading Specialist). The committee met twice a month to review the attendance data and plan.
One of the goals of the committee was to improve communication between the school and home regarding the importance of attendance. Letters and emails were sent, phone calls were made, meetings were held, and home visits were made in order to connect with parents and address any barriers to attendance that families may be facing.
In addition, student attendance incentives became a fixture in the school. Students were continually challenged to have excellent (not perfect) attendance through the Bruno Bucks program. Just like adults earn a paycheck through work attendance, the students earned Bruno Bucks. They had paydays, like adults do, and could then use that money to shop in the Hawks Nest store.
There were also special events to help with low attendance times based on data. In November, the data showed Mondays were the lowest attended day, so Manic Mondays was developed. Students who were present and on time on Mondays earned a special Bruno Buck for a sundae bar. March of 2024 had the lowest attendance rate of the entire school year, so in order to combat that, March Madness, Slam Dunk Attendance came into play. Students competed as a school to beat last year's attendance rate to have an extra recess with the basketball teams. Lastly, at the end of the year students were able to earn Bruno Bucks for Mr. Phil’s Ice Cream Truck on the last day of school.
None of these incentives would be possible without support from the community. Master Package, Dairyland Animal Clinic, Badger Precision, Ovyn Trucking, Withee A&W, Marieke Gouda, the O-W Club, and Jerry and Theresa Rakovec generously donated to the cause.
All in all, thanks to the efforts by all stakeholders, the Elementary School was able to make improvements in their attendance rate. May’s attendance rate of 97.57% was very impressive compared to only 92.76% last year. There was also an improvement for the school year going from 93.02% last year to 94.67% this year.
The committee plans on continuing the work next year, growing the attendance rate in order to have students reach their full academic potential. After all, ATTENDANCE MATTERS!