Student Achievement - 1
Marion County
Families and Communities Together
Core Result: Children succeeding in school
Benchmark: Student achievement on MAP test
February 2002
Objective
Increase attendance in Hannibal schools from 95 percent in 2001 to 98 percent by 2005.
Decrease discipline referrals in the Palmyra Middle School from a total of 570 in 2001 to 484 by 2005.
Strategies
Ambassadors
Four Ambassadors serve as advocates for students referred to the program, acting as liaisons between the student and the schools, the student and their family and the families and the schools.
An Ambassador works to connect a students and/or their family to needed services, he or she also works with key figures in the child’s life to address whatever problem caused the referral to the program. An Ambassador also spends a lot of time teaching parenting and social skills.
Academic performance is expected to improve with increased attendance and fewer discipline referrals.
The Ambassadors strategy is in its third year It’s a program that is funded jointly by DFS, Hannibal Public Schools, Palmyra Public Schools and FACT of Marion County.
An advisory group made up of representatives from FACT of Marion County, the local Division of Family Services director, Hannibal School assistant superintendent and the Palmyra Middle School principal, meets monthly to address systems reform, and assessment of the effort.
Observations/Actions
Because of the severity and complexity of the referrals to Ambassadors the program has expanded from a 90-day intervention to something that lasts four to six months.
Challenges
A key challenge has been for all partners to look at the Ambassadors project as a systems change as opposed to service delivery, and the idea that Ambassadors are there to “fix everything. Another challenge has been for the partners to learn to work as a team as opposed to independently taking steps to address the problems of these at risk children.
Results
As noted, one of the issues that led to an Ambassador referral involved attendance, namely if a child had five or more unexcused absences from school. Over the last year, an Ambassador provided through the Juvenile Office and the schools, working with the Division of Family Service and Prosecuting Attorney, was able to improve the attendance of 123 of 128 students. Of the other five, two families moved away and the parents of three others were prosecuted.
In addition to overall improved attendance figures, there has been an improvement in discipline-related measures as well. For instance, between the 1999-2000 school year and the 2000-01 school year, office referrals for the Palmyra Middle School dropped by 16 percent. In building suspensions saw a small decrease and out of building suspensions dropped by 59, or 71 percent.
Funding/Return on Investment
Financing for Fiscal Year 2002 for the Ambassador program will be about $144,789. All but $50,000 comes from sources other than Caring Communities Flexible Funding, including $40,000 from the Hannibal and Palmyra School Districts as local investment dollars, and more than $36,000 from state and federal funds through school-based social worker funds.
While the figures are not yet available, an increase in attendance should mean an increase in funds for both school districts.
Barriers / Road Blocks
FACT of Marion County will, over the course of the next few months, evaluate and tweak its system of data gathering and comparison. While not a complete barrier, there is a concern that the current system may not measure results as fully as FACT of Marion County or the Trust would like.
Noteworthy
The Ambassadors program has proven to be a change agent on many levels. Through the actions of these liaisons, the school has approached at-risk children and the families in a different manner. Likewise, the families and children perceive the school as a interested partner in assisting them.
