New program helps Sikeston Junior High School students track missing assignments

SIKESTON — A new tool implemented at Sikeston Junior High School is helping students, teachers and parents better track missing assignments and complete them this school year.

The program, ICU Database (from the Power of ICU), is web-based so teachers can create, monitor, and manage missing assignments online anytime from any computer with internet access.

Using the data, the school is able to identify students who are missing assignments and provide time and assistance for them to complete the assignments before the end of the current quarter, according to Sikeston Junior High School Principal Frank Staple.

“Every teacher has access to this database, and we can make sure we’re meeting the needs of all the students,” Staple said.

There are three components of the ICU program: focused intervention, stakeholder notification and academic lifeguards, Staple said.

“The big premise of this program is a lot of times when kids have missing assignments, they need two things: they need some extra time or some extra help so we want to provide as much time as we can in our day to support that,” said.

When a teacher puts a student’s missing assignment on the ICU list, parents are automatically texted and emailed a notification of the missing assignment. The email includes any specified comments or attachments from the teacher.

Staple said the program is built on the following equation: completion plus quality assignments and healthy grading equals student success.

For example, on March 16, there were 11,092 assignments that had been completed at the Junior High to date. The current number of missing assignments was 349 and number of students missing assignments was 168, according to the ICU Database Dashboard. It also noted 96.9% of missing assignments had been completed.

“It’s been successful,” said Kerrah J. McDermott, ICU coordinator for Sikeston Junior High, of ICU. “These are missing assignments that would have went by the wayside.”

The ICU program really give the students some grace, McDermott said. It’s easy for a student to get overwhelmed when they have many missing assignments, especially this school year with COVID-19 and quarantines, she said.

“When you’re out of class for so long and have all these assignments, it can get so overwhelming,” McDermott said. “This program helps us to see where students are falling behind and where they’re at in their assignments.”

McDermott also noted junior high students have a lot going on at their age.

“They’re kids. They’re going to need grace and a little extra help,” McDermott said. “They’re still learning and how to figure out what’s going on and especially those 7th graders who are in their first year at junior high.”

They have 40-minute classes eight times a day, and have to keep track of all those assignments, too, she noted.

“For them to keep up with what they’re missing, along with new assignments every single day, that would be hard for anyone,” she said.

As the ICU coordinator, McDermott, who is also certified master in curriculum instruction and school counseling, identifies 50 students a week/10 per day who have five or more missing assignments. Each day, the advisory teachers print out a list of what assignments they’re missing. Using that data, she makes a list of students to call down to her classroom to work on their assignments.

“I contact teachers in the morning to let them know I’ll be pulling students out of class to come to my classroom and work. I tell the teachers that if the students can’t miss that day’s lesson to let me know and I will send them back to class,” she said.

Most students appreciate the time they’re given to come in and work on their missing assignments, McDermott said. She noted the goal is for students to complete quality assignments.

“I don’t want to take just anything,” McDermott said of the completed assignments. “We want quality work – so if it’s not quality work, teachers will put a note in the comments section, stating what was wrong.”

Once students are finished, the assignments are check-marked off until their assignments are complete, she said.

“I look to see that they have turned in their assignments. The next day I come in, I start looking at the ICU list and if they haven’t come in to work on their assignments, I’ll let them know,” McDermott said.

The junior high is also offer after school tutoring which is facilitated by Brenda Medlin.

“We pick 20 students with six or more missing assignments to stay after school on Thursdays for tutoring in order to help them get their assignments turned in,” McDermott said. “We usually have two to three teachers from differing classes stay with the students to help them with work they may need help completing.”

McDermott and Staple said the intent is to expand the program.

“We have an actual menu where the students can pick different items they’re interested in us offering to help with their missing assignments,” McDermott said. “We’re even discussing a blitz day where students on the ICU list would stay in and get their assignments completed, and once they get them completed in that time, they could join the other students in the free fun time.”

Most of the time, these missing assignments would only take five minutes to complete, McDermott said.

Teachers and parents are happy because students are completing their assignments, and the students are happy because they are able to get caught up on their work, she said.

“The ultimate goal is quantity and quality,” McDermott said. “You want them to get the assignments done, but you want them to get them turned in correctly, too.”