A K-12 institution was struggling with student retention despite following a robust strategy. So, the team decided to address the factor rigorously. What they observed is that though their teaching and management strategy was well-planned, they never addressed students’ struggles due to various academic, social, and emotional barriers.
So, the team decided to implement Classe365’s comprehensive student information system (SIS) and learning management system (LMS) to address these issues. Let’s see how they used Classe365 to identify the issues, get necessary support, and retain the students effectively.
Identified At-Risk Students
No matter how diverse your learning plan is. Students will face challenges, and their challenges are not necessarily connected with the lesson plans. Therefore, you have to know your students in and out. So did this institution, and they focused on:
- Academic Performance: The analytics team made a list of the students with frequent low grades, incomplete assignments, and declining test scores.
- Attendance Issues: Apart from academic performance, the team focused on the students with chronic absenteeism, frequent tardiness, or sudden attendance drops.
- Behavioral Concerns: Not only admins but the teachers also joined the process and further noticed students with disruptive behavior, disengagement in class, or conflicts with peers.
Though finding and analysing this huge amount of data sounds overwhelming, the team leveraged Classe365’s AI analytics and data-driven insights. They finished the project in two working days for all the grades. Book a demo with our experts to learn how they did it.
But, before that, go through the strategies they made to retain at-risk students:
At-Risk Student Retention Strategies
Personalized Learning Plans
Students thrive when learning is tailored to their needs. For instance, some students understand concepts when they read them, some have to listen to them, some need to watch a video, and some require hands-on demonstration.
Teachers listed students according to their respective learning requirements and interacted with them accordingly. They used Classe365’s LMS module that allows educators to create personalized learning plans accommodating different learning styles, paces, and interests. Adaptive assessments helped monitor students’ progress and make necessary adjustments.
Using Classe365’s special feature to see how much time the students spent in the LMS, they observed a remarkable improvement. Students spend more than the usual hours on LMS. Most engaged with the video content and watched the entire thing.
Early Intervention Programs
The admins and teachers decided to form a strategy that they can use to identify the students facing difficulties in school so that the institution never experiences the dip in the graph that they experienced. Thus, they developed an early intervention strategy with Classe365’s real-time data analytics. They started targeted intervention strategies, such as:
Tutoring Programs: Students facing difficulties in learning concepts in the class were specially facilitated by the teachers after school.
Special Education Services: The teachers walked some extra miles to understand the root cause behind the difficulties students experienced. Thus, they interacted with them and evaluated their mental health score through a mood tracker.
Mentorship and Peer Support Initiatives: Students who learn a concept faster than their peers are identified and encouraged in group projects. Teachers used Classe365 LMS’s collaborative learning feature and assigned group projects. The groups were wisely created, combining students with different learning experiences.
Enhanced Parental Engagement
The team did not take parental engagement of a less-important factor. Rather, besides engaging at-risk students in different ways, they reached out to their parents. Not only parent-teacher meetings. They encouraged parents to use Classe365’s parent portal to understand their children’s progress, attendance records, and communication with teachers. The best part is that parents found the app interface so friendly that they kept coming back to the app and kept a thorough month-long interaction with the teachers. Teachers and admins took an effort to arrange workshops for the parents to foster better support systems at home.
Social-emotional Learning (SEL) Support
Schools are where children learn and thrive, and most importantly, they are where culture is exchanged. Teachers and admins identified the students’ need to know each other and build a culture of companionship. They made programs that brought students together, not only to play but to share experiences through:
- Peer mentoring programs
- Activities that build resilience and self-confidence
Flexible Learning Options
The first observation of the teachers started with students who stayed inactive in the class and did not feel motivated. They researched and reached out to professionals in the same domain and industry experts. Thus, they understood that every student does not fit into the traditional classroom. Not everyone’s brain functions best at the same time.
They took the help of Classe365’s flexible learning options. The LMS portal allowed students to learn from anywhere, anytime. So, the class dropout rate reduced drastically, and that was reflected in their assignments.
Career and College Readiness Programs
“What do you want to become when you grow old?” is a common question we ask children. But, do we prepare them to be one? No, the higher-ed is not the preparation time, but the K-12 is. Also, a future-driven learning approach engages students more than lessons that will land them nowhere. Future-driven learning makes them look forward to their school time, where they do not only attend a class but get industry insights as well.
The teachers and admins of this K-12 institution identified this aspect and worked on it. They took assistance from Classe365’s alumni portal and invited their alumni to have live sessions with the current students. Alumni share their experiences of their respective work fields and what made them land there – the opportunities, preparation, and hard work behind it. Not only that, the alumni helped the current students with college options as well
Student Engagement through Gamification & AI
When the teachers felt that students were back on track and motivated to learn, they used Classe365’s gamification feature. This feature creates a healthy ambiance for everyone, allowing constructive competition with virtual badges, leaderboards, and awards. The feature thrives on an interest in collaborative learning as well. Hence, the young mind stays curious and looks forward to innovation.
Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement
At the end of the academic year, teachers, admins, and other important stakeholders noticed a drastic change in the retention rate. Besides, their institution became so popular via word of mouth of the current students and parents that they noticed a spike in enrollment as well. They took the help of Classe365’s AI analytics and made a report on:
- Dropout Rates
- Student performance trends
- Parental involvement level
- Intervention effectiveness
This K-12 institution has been a living instance that every institution has an ecosystem. Failure in one aspect makes others suffer. Student retention is one of the major factors among them. Keep your ecosystem hygiene checked always and provide your workforce with the right tech-support that they need. Start your free trial today.