Jan. 3—SUPERIOR — Superior High School’s graduation rates have jumped in recent years. Administrators say one of the critical links behind the success is creating connections.

Getting a diploma in the hands of a student is a process that starts the day that child walks in the door, as early as 4-year-old kindergarten, said Superior School District Administrator Amy Starzecki.

“Everybody has an impact on whether kids walk across that stage,” she said, from teachers and aides to bus drivers and custodians.

At the high school level, that focus kicks into high gear.

“We have a spreadsheet of every single student in our building and who has a connection with that student,” said Superior High School Principal Aaron Fezzey. “When we see gaps — nobody seems to know this student yet really well — I put it on my list (and) I’m going to reach out to that student. Our dean is going to reach out to that student. We’re going to start checking in with them, you know.

“So we want to make sure that everybody feels safe, has a person, has a connection to our building and what’s going on. There’s a lot of reasons students don’t come to school or struggle in school, and it’s not usually a learning disability or a challenge that way, it’s something within those basic needs of what … students and humans need, that connection.”

The district’s focus on each student’s individual needs has led to a three-year increase in graduation rates, according to numbers provided by Kate Tesch, director of continuous improvement and assessment.

Superior’s graduation rate for all students was 85.5% in 2021, putting it in the lower 15% of Wisconsin school districts. The 2021-22 school year closed with a 94.2% graduation rate, higher than the state average of 90.4%, according to the Wisconsin Department of Instruction. Superior’s 2022-2023 graduation rate was 94.5%.

The official 2023-2024 numbers have not yet been released, but Starzecki told Wisconsin Public Radio in November that about 98% of students are graduating from Superior High School.

The change is even more dramatic for students with disabilities.

“It’s hard to read this because it was so significant, but in 2021 when I gave you the 85.5% that was for all students, if you just look at the subgroup of students with a disability, we had a 48.6% graduation rate,” Tesch said.

That increased to 79% in 2023.

“Gradually, over the last three years, we have reduced the gap each year. We’re closing in where it is definitely less significant. … We are outperforming the state with the gap,” Tesch said.

A podium in the Superior High School commons area served double duty Dec. 14. It was used to announce that Assistant Principal Matt Amerson was named Wisconsin High School Assistant Principal of the Year. Later, it was part of a graduation celebration.

With a handshake and hugs, Melodie Dolsen capped off her high school career a little later than the rest of her classmates. The diploma in her hands, however, was the same.

Tesch said a handful of Superior High School students, less than 10, are recognized each year at these individual graduation ceremonies.

“It’s great to see,” Fezzey said. “That’s why we’re here, is to prepare them and maybe for some it takes another year or two to get there. But I think it’s kind of a nice celebration, a reminder of why we do what we do.”

The ceremonies include a cap and gown, cupcakes and family.

“I think the ceremony to acknowledge and celebrate has really become kind of a special piece,” Tesch said.

Earning a diploma or equivalent puts students on a positive trajectory, school district officials say.

“A high school graduate is more likely to have housing. A high school graduate is more likely to have health care. A high school graduate is more likely to contribute to the local economy,” Starzecki said. “And all of those pieces help make our community a healthier community.”

The pandemic and its aftermath introduced new ways to help students succeed. The district introduced virtual school, a blended model of virtual and in-person classes and used federal pandemic funds to launch a credit recovery program.

“When those funds went away, we understood that credit recovery was still crucial to what we do,” Fezzey said. “While we’re not able to staff it every hour of the day or five hours of the day like we were with those additional teachers, we made it a priority to make it work within our current teaching staff. We have credit recovery two or three hours a day in all of our core content areas.”

Staff go into every school year knowing which students are at risk of not being on track toward graduation, at all grade levels, said Superior High School Assistant Principal Heidi Sigfrids.

“We look at student grades every single week as a leadership team. And if a student is not passing, we’re connecting counselors, deans, principals, teachers, we’re connecting with those students to say here’s where we’re at, here’s what you’re missing, here’s what we need to work toward in trying to address them on the front end,” Fezzey said. “… What’s happened historically and continues to happen is, as soon as you fall behind a little bit, you’re trying to play catchup. … We try to get them to the finish line every semester, but the more removed you are from recovering that credit, completing it, the more difficult it gets.”

Credit recovery and after-the-fact support are parts of the puzzle, he said, but much more of the work is on prevention versus reaction.

The work starts at the elementary level with equitable multi-level systems of support, or EMLSS, interventionists. These teachers intervene so the learning gap doesn’t keep growing. Tesch said their current focus is reading.

“Because if we can keep our kids on track in elementary and middle school, they come into high school with a better chance of staying on track. And so just recognizing that everybody has a really, really important role,” Sigfrids said.

The Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) program was launched for freshmen in 2019. The program components allow teams of educators to look at the needs of each student and set up plans to support them. It’s since been implemented at Superior Middle School and they’re seeing a lot of success, Starzecki said.

Those connections can span years and grade levels, something that can be seen when Spartan athletes pick a teacher or staff member

to honor on senior night

.

“The hope is that any kid that is struggling has someone that they feel connected to and that person might be able to be the bridge,” Sigfrids said. “That person can be the one that can encourage them to hang in there, to not give up, or to not quit, or to come back to school if they’ve been gone.”

Creating programs that appeal to students and connecting them to real-life experiences, like Spartan Manufacturing, and offering the option for students to earn elective credits on the job are additional pieces to the graduation puzzle.

“District-wide and at the high school we have made intentional efforts with a variety of different strategies and techniques to be able to better meet the needs of kids, and that we haven’t lowered our expectations for students,” Starzecki said. “We continue to increase our expectations for students, but as a district we’ve been very, very intentional in making sure every kid walks that stage.”