Catch-Up Day

Catch-Up Day

A dozen 6th grade students do not complete a math assignment.  Eight 7th grade students do not finish a science project.  Three 8th grade students do not complete an art project.  CMS, like many other schools, has students who do not complete all assignments that are assigned.  The aforementioned scenarios can affect many things such as student learning and impact students’ overall grades.  

CMS has experienced implementing a process called Catch-Up Day during the 1st quarter of the school year to help provide more support for those students who do not complete their assignments.   

At this time, Catch-Up Day has replaced the late-work study halls that occurred on Mondays-Thursdays from 3:30-4:15 which also was a time for students to complete missing work although we do reserve the right to keep students after school to complete missing work on an as-needed basis.    

A big change with Catch-Up Day as compared to our previous process is to catch these students during the school day rather than having the students stay after school.  Many times keeping students after school causes conflicts such as transportation, parents’ work schedules, and students’ after-school activities.

Catch-Up Day looks different from grade level to grade level:

Our 7th/8th grade Catch-Up Day has been implemented on three Fridays since school started, running from 8:30-11:20.  Students who qualify for Catch-Up Day attend a classroom, supervised with staff members who provide assistance, with a list of missing assignments.  Students do not attend their regularly assigned classes until the missing work is completed or as much as possible is completed within the time frame provided.  

Sixth grade students run Catch-Up Day using the 6-day cycle.  Every day 6 of the cycle students who have missing work attend an assigned classroom during a period of the day that is designated as a grade level wide study hall in which they have the opportunity to get caught up on missing work.

Fifth grade students run a Catch-Up Day in the classroom when they find it necessary.  Since the 5th grade teachers have their students all day, they have more opportunity to pull students during free time/ study hall to get caught up.

We are attempting to find a better way to meet our students’ needs by using a Catch-Up Day.  We will look at the data after the first quarter and the upcoming 2nd quarter to evaluate the impact it is having on the students’ learning and their grades.  We hope the Catch-Up Day builds a culture of sending the message to students that the work assigned is important and needs to be completed.    

Please check with your child to see if s/he has needed to attend Catch-Up Day.  We appreciate your support as we continue to better meet our students’ needs.

If you have any concerns, questions or comments, please contact me by email at cheiman@carrolltigers.org or by phone at 712-792-8020.