Pathway to Success: Improving School Attendance
When Isabella began receiving support at Cedar Grove Middle School through the Communities In Schools program, she was struggling with school attendance. Isabella was referred to Kaci Carron, the CIS Success Coach at Cedar Grove, by her elementary school due to chronic absenteeism. During Isabella’s elementary school years, life changes, and other challenges presented themselves and it greatly impacted her attendance. During the 2025/2026 year, multiple supports were put into place to help address and remove the barriers that stood in the way of Isabella attending school regularly. Through Communities In Schools, Mrs. Kaci and Isabella were able to develop a personalized incentive program to reward her for attending a full week of school. Through the efforts of a weekly lunch bunch group with her fellow peers and Success Coach, Isabella was able to identify her own reasons that school attendance was important in her life. During the 2024/2025 school year, Isabella had missed 16 days of school. As the 2025/2026 school year ends, Isabella has only had 9 absences all year. That is an increase in attendance of almost 50%!!!! Now Isabella is more confident in how she approaches school and her academics. As a Success Coach, making a difference comes from the determination to help the student, but Isabella made that job better for her Success Coach by committing herself to putting her best foot forward every day that she walked into Mrs. Kaci’s office. Cedar Grove is a better place with Isabella attending school there regularly as she is now an active contributor to her own success and the success of her class!!!!
Just before the end of the school year, Isabella came to Mrs. Kaci and handed her a note of appreciation which read:
“The CIS has helped me since I was in 5th grade Mr, Drew, Miss Woods {school counselor} and Miss Kaci have helped me with educational problems and mental health problems. They helped me find my path to a better future, they helped me with self control, anger issues, and panic attacks. Most importantly they were there for me when I needed someone to talk to or to just calm down too. CIS convinced me to do therapy and express my emotions and that’s one of the best things that have helped me. At the beginning of 5th grade I had so much anger built inside me and I would go off on a lot of people just for talking to me, I was doing horrible things, and my grades were slipping. I was headed in a really bad path and were hanging out with horrible people, that’s when Mr. Drew brought me in and Miss Wood, and helped me with my grades, and they let me know that I wasn’t alone, they let me open up and never once had me think they would tell anybody, by the end of 5th grade I improved alot my grades were good, I had good friends and I had a lot more control over myself. At the beginning of 6th grade my grades started slipping again and I felt alone again, but Miss Kaci brought me in and helped me with my missing work and my panic attacks, she convinced me to do therapy, and she listened when I needed to express my feelings and never once judged me, Miss Kaci and Mr Drew still help me even today. The CIS are so important to me. They treated me like I was their child and I felt like they were my parents.”
This is just one student story of many that illustrates the critical importance of the relationship in affecting change in students. By building a mutually respectful partnership between the student and his or her Success Coach, students can thrive, overcome obstacles, and achieve success!
