CASE STUDY
District successfully utilizes summer to help students build focus, confidence and self-regulation.
By embedding resilience lessons into summer programming, District 196 reinforces concepts taught during the school year to increase student success.
Situation
With the increase of student mental health needs during the 2021-2022 school year, District 196 (MN) middle school leaders knew they needed an effective way to extend additional student support beyond the traditional classroom setting.
Many of the students struggling with academic engagement, behaviors, and attendance were also needing this additional support. And they were the same students who would be enrolling in the 2022 summer school session.
EmpowerU partnered with District 196 to support student self-regulation and motivation during the summer of 2022 as a way to help them prepare for the upcoming school year with more confidence and focus.
Partnership
In the fall of 2018, district 196 MTSS team brought EmpowerU to Eagan High School as a way to expand the capacity of their student support team to improve student resilience and well being.
After realizing the impact on student outcomes, the district expanded the partnership to bring EmpowerU to all district high schools the following year, and added a middle school pilot in 2020.
By the 2021-2022 school year, District 196 had students at every middle school and high school site enrolled in EmpowerU as it became a trusted resource for school counselors to provide additional support to struggling students. For the 2021-22 school year, over 96% of the district’s students that completed EmpowerU made goal progress and rated EmpowerU as helpful to their wellbeing.
With such transformational impact on students wellbeing – and in turn academics – District 196 partnered with EmpowerU to embed the Tier 2 program into their middle school summer session to provide a group of targeted students the additional student support that was so needed to help them succeed academically. They knew that helping them learn to focus and engage meant teaching them skills combined with personalized support by partnering with EmpowerU.
Results
Summer school teachers and counselors embedded 30-minutes of EmpowerU lessons in between math and reading interventions each morning of summer school. Students were quick to engage in EmpowerU and welcomed the time between academics to focus on their own wellbeing and goals.
School teams found EmpowerU to be a helpful tool in connecting with their students, which can be difficult with so many students at one time in a summer session. Counselors appreciated the updates EmpowerU coaches provided on student progress to use as a touchpoint for connection.
A counselor shared “Often summer school students aren’t excited to participate, but they truly enjoyed and benefited greatly from EmpowerU.”
District 196 middle school students made tremendous progress after completing EmpowerU. Students gained “motivation and encouragement, along with reassurance” (*8th Grade Student), “the courage to make more friends.” (6th Grader), and the ability to “deep breaths and tell myself it’s alright” (6th grade student).
%
of students made progress towards their goal
%
of students rated EmpowerU as helpful
%
rated EmpowerU Daily Coaching as a factor of their progress/success
%
would recommend the course to a friend
TESTIMONIALS FROM DISTRICT 196
EmpowerU’s revolutionary approach to student success helps students increase resilience, persistence, motivation and success. As active participants in their wellness journey, students complete engaging, online lessons supported by daily 1:1 motivational coaching that fuel improved emotional wellbeing, school attendance, and grades. EmpowerU offers site-based licenses to schools and colleges, as well as access to the credit-bearing course through third-party online schools or direct from the company.