SOUTH ST PAUL, Minn. — At South St. Paul High School, Waya Roth looks forward to Wednesdays. It's a day he can go in to get extra help from his teachers.
"It feels like you're able to hold the reins a little bit on what you need to get done that day," said Roth, a junior.
On Wednesdays, those with a C- or lower need to come in to school while students with a C or higher can choose to do their work from home.
"It has changed the dynamics of our building," Principal Chuck Ochocki said.
The Packer Plus: What I Need Wednesday program had a trial run at the end of the last school year. Staff then developed a plan for the 2021-2022 school year that would incentivize students to get good grades, help students struggling in a timely fashion and give staff time to meet and collaborate on ways to help their students.
"Not everyone is happy with it because it changes the idea of education. I think we all think more is better and I don't know if more is actually better but maybe concentrating where that effort is going is better for our students," Ochocki said.
Roth said prior to the program, he was getting Ds and Fs. He now has all As and Bs. Even though he could work from home on Wednesdays, he still chooses to come in to get extra help.
"It's a huge change and I'm glad that it's implemented because it really significantly helps," Roth said.
New statistics from Trimester 1 show that from week one of WIN Wednesday to the last week of the semester, the number of failing grades dropped by 50%. The number of students who needed to come to school decreased by 26%. The number of students who failed one or more class in the first trimester of the year is lower than pre-pandemic numbers. In 2019, 26% of students failed one or more class in Trimester 1 compared to 22% in 2021.
Ochocki said students started to look at a C- as the new F.
"It definitely helps me," said Aaliyah Mulcahy, a junior, who gets grades above a C- but still takes advantage of the program. "I had a C+ in math and now I have an A. Even if I don't have below a C- and I have good grades, I still come in."
"It was one of those crazy things, the numbers of kids who are supposed to come in dropped while the number of kids actually coming in went up," Ochocki said.
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Class starts later on Wednesdays and gives teachers time to collaborate on ways to help their students.
"Let's help them learn time management like they're going to have when they go off to college but do it in a safe environment where if you fall behind we're going to catch you right away," Ochocki said.
Feedback led to some minor changes to the program. For example, juniors and seniors will now only be required to come for the class they need help in but freshman and sophomores will continue coming in for the entire school day.
Ochocki said he hopes they can continue the program into the next school year while looking closer at how to help those kids who are still failing.