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District-wide efforts to reduce student absenteeism and raise overall attendance are paying off, according to Hollister High School and San Benito High School District who spoke at the district’s Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 26.
The San Benito High School District staff shared positive results from the Haybaler Support Time attendance, general student attendance and the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) programs.
In his report to the Board of Directors on Sept. 26, Hollister High School Principal Kevin Medeiros said that with the new Response to Intervention software they were able to create 1,870 support time sessions for students to attend in the first grading quarter.
The school website states that the Haybaler Support Time is a school-wide initiative “designed to provide timely and specific support to students who are working towards mastery of essential learning or are ready to be challenged with learning beyond essential standard expectations.”
Students attend support time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Students can opt to select their own support time using the new Response to Intervention software (RTI), or teachers can “flag” students who might be struggling with a concept or need extra support. Students must schedule their support times every Friday.
The new Response to Intervention system can also be accessed by teachers and parents, and Medeiros and district Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum both pointed out that it has led to a decrease in the number of students who wander during the period.
“And what makes it easier is if a student says, ‘we don’t have a session,’ we can confidently say yes you do,” Medeiros added. “Because now with the smart assign feature we can get everyone in a session. So we know that you have a session and the campus supervisors can find it on their iPads, search the kids up and find out where they need to be.”
Director of Information Technology and Accountability Bret Painter and Director of Student Support Services Emmanuel Nelson also presented findings on attendance for September and compared it to attendance in the last two years.
“Last year student satisfactory attendance for monthly attendance jumped from 76% to 79% this year,” Painter said.
He also pointed out that this data excludes Sept. 15, the day after a High school lockdown. According to Painter, the overall attendance in the first month of school in 2021-22 was 94.8%; in 2022-23 it was 94.9%; and 2023-24, it rose to 95%.
According to San Benito High School District Public Information Officer Adam Breen, Hollister High School attendance overall in the 2018-2019 school year was 96.03%. But attendance dropped in the 2019-2020 school year and 2021-2022 school year, with overall attendance in the 2019-2020 school year being 90.9%, 2021-2022 91.9% and 2022-2023 being 93.5%.
AVID Co-Coordinators Charlene Hernandez and Christine Dukes, along with Assistant Superintendent Elaine Klauer reported results from the previous year along with student testimonials from seniors Jade Hosaka and Nevaeh Velasco.
AVID is a college access and readiness program with over 8,000 participating schools across the U.S. The goals of the program are to:
- Accelerate underachieving students who have potential into more rigorous courses. Teach academic and social skills not targeted in other classes.
- Provide intensive support with in-class tutors and a strong student–teacher relationship.
- Create a positive peer group for students.
- Develop a sense of hope and personal achievement through hard work and determination.
Hernandez and Dukes discussed their efforts to prepare students for success in higher education by encouraging them to enroll in AP classes, complete community service hours and go on college field trips. Currently, they have 149 sophomores, 179 juniors, and 131 seniors enrolled in the program.
The program also has 248 currently enrolled freshmen. Tennenbaum pointed out that in a class of 816, 25 percent of freshmen are AVID students.
Dukes said, “One thing that we are really happy about is increasing the percent of males in the programs, especially young Latino males. And as you can see from the graphs our gender distribution is approaching 50/50, we are really excited about that.”
Hernandez and Dukes said their goal is for Hollister High to become an AVID demonstration school, and to have a showcase in the fall.
There are currently 66 AVID demonstration schools in California, the program’s birthplace. The AVID website states that demonstration schools undergo a rigorous validation process and are required to be revalidated every few years to ensure high levels of implementation, with quality and fidelity to AVID strategies schoolwide.”
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