The Norwalk School District is renewing its At-Risk Dropout Prevention Plan, a districtwide effort aimed at helping students stay in school and graduate.

Under Iowa law, every district is required to identify and support students who may be struggling academically, socially, or emotionally. Norwalk’s plan utilizes an early warning system that tracks factors such as attendance, behavior, and course performance to identify students who may be falling behind. Teams in every school building meet twice a month to review data, develop personalized interventions, and work with teachers and families to keep students on track. 

Norwalk Superintendent Shawn Holloway tells KNIA News that this is an annual process, which used to be approved by the state, but can now be done locally.

“I’ll say, five to ten years ago, each school district had to submit their at-risk dropout prevention plan to the state. There was some back and forth; it had to be approved. Since then, they’ve, I would say, eased the restrictions on how those funds could be utilized, and we no longer had to send that plan in on an annual basis, but it did still need to be reviewed and approved by the local board of directors annually. And so essentially, that’s what you’re seeing.”

Supports include school-based mental health therapy, daily academic help sessions, and 24/7 tutoring through Varsity Tutors. The plan also calls for annual reviews of data to measure how well these interventions are working and where more support may be needed.

The full interview with Norwalk superintendent Shawn Holloway can be heard below: