WHS: Keeping education rewarding

WALLACE — Keeping high school students focused and motivated can be a challenge, but for Wallace Jr./Sr. High School it was a challenge it embraced, and may have found the perfect way of handling.

Each quarter WHS holds a reward day for those students who are hitting various milestones in achievement, and idea that was thought up by WHS’s Response to Intervention team.

The RTI is comprised of WHS teachers.

“Our Response to Intervention Team was wanting to reward the students who are consistently doing well,” WHS Principal Chris Lund said. “It was also an incentive for students who want to improve their grades.”

Making sure that kids don’t get complacent and the idea doesn’t grow stagnant, Lund and RTI have made sure that the criteria for participation varies as well.

“The requirements have changed every quarter,” Lund said. “For our Silver Mountain trip, the requirements are students with As, Bs and Cs will be able to attend. We notified parents and students a month before the grade check date to give them time to prepare.”

Student engagement is always challenging, even with a reward-style system in place, but WHS has seen their Reward Days lead to fewer D and F grade progress reports being mailed to parents.

“We have seen a big impact with all of our students, especially our junior high students,” Lund said. “At midterm of this quarter, we saw a significant drop in progress reports going home because students were achieving the Reward Day requirement.”

The March 15 Silver Mountain trip will be the first off-campus Reward Day event and will be primarily funded through monies designated from the state of Idaho for Career and College Readiness.