Jackson Junior High Raising State Assessments with ICU

From Jackson Junior High School in Jackson, Missouri:

Last year, we recovered 7,304 assignments that would have been zeros in the gradebook if not for the ICU Database.  Not only, is that impressive in itself, we also had some of the highest state assessment scores in the area.  Our Math MAP scores were 34.2% above the state average, LA MAP scores were 11.2% above the state average, and our Science MAP scores were 9.8% above the state average.  Our EOC results were similar.  Our Algebra I EOC scores were 31.5% above the state average and our LA I EOCs were 18.2% above the state average.  These scores are due, in part, by making sure all students complete all assignments!  They have to practice the material to learn the material!

ICU is more than just putting students on a list.  It gets the parents involved, it gets coaches involved.  Everyone in the building becomes a stakeholder to help that student get their practice done to get them to learn the standards.  Besides the list, our building has incorporated several interventions to help students get the help they need.  We have tutoring available before school and afterschool, as well as during the school day in their advisory class!  We have a lifeguard that talks to each student on the list each day and makes a plan with them to get help and to get their work done and off the list.  We have a focus group that meets once a month to reevaluate our interventions and strategies to make them as efficient as possible.  And my favorite part is our Blitz days; on these days students who need help can get help and students who have all A’s and B’s get to go to reward areas (movie room, game room, sports zone, etc).

Implementing ICU has not only made our students better learners and more responsible citizens, but it has made our teachers be the best they can be!  It is so refreshing to hear teachers talk about those students that needed help, got the help they needed, and seeing that “lightbulb”!  Sometimes junior high students are hesitant to ask for help, but with ICU it shows them the strategies and interventions available to them.  Just this week, I was helping a student in our afterschool academic tutoring and heard a student say, “I’m so glad Mr. Moss made me come to academic lab to get help.  I totally understand this better.  I wish I would’ve understood how it worked earlier!”

Jackson Junior High continues to build a culture for student learning and success where every adult pulls for every student everyday…and every student knows it!