SOAR Academy Students Help Monarch School Improve Attendance

Students at San Diego SOAR Academy, which serves incarcerated youth, developed an incentivized attendance program to help Monarch School combat chronic absenteeism as part of their participation in the Aspen Challenge.

In the Aspen Challenge, high school students use their imagination, enthusiasm, competitive spirit, and sense of global citizenship to solve some of society’s toughest problems. Homelessness was one of the problems they could choose to address.

“All of our students have experience with either being homeless themselves, or knowing someone who has. They all recognized the importance of attending school, especially now in this stage of their lives.” said Mimi Seney, JCCS instructional coach. Seney, teachers Isaiah Giddings and Ray Mallard, and Probation Officer Rashad Johnson, facilitated the process for students.

Students worked together for 10 weeks to develop their plan and presentation. During the process, they decided on a team captain and created a team charter, which included their method of how decisions would be made and division of responsibilities and tasks.

The solution for Monarch School was a program called Champion Scholars. It involved awarding students raffle tickets for perfect attendance, which could then be used to enter a drawing for four gift cards or a Nintendo Switch bundle. All students who improved their attendance participated in an ice cream party.

The program was in place for four weeks and 203 students had at least one perfect week of attendance, while 54 students had four weeks of perfect attendance. In total, the school saw increases in attendance of 8.6% at the lower grades and 38.3% in grades 9 through 12. 

SOAR students expressed interest in seeing the model continue at Monarch School or be replicated in other schools that experience similar attendance issues. 

Giddings shared the students felt this opportunity gave them a chance to prove they could do anything if they worked together. 

“They were proud of what they accomplished, especially considering all of the limitations they had,” Giddings shared. “They also felt proud that they were able to be responsible and demonstrate their character, given the circumstances and their past choices.” 

SOAR Academy was one of 20 high schools to participate alongside schools in the San Diego Unified School District.

The challenge is put on every year by the Aspen Institute and the Bezos Family Foundation, which partner with a new city each year.