Maximizing Tier 1: Building a School Community Students Want to Be a Part Of 
Stowe Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa, is taking a ground-up approach to student well-being and achievement. Using Wayfinder as their primary toolbox for a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), they’re focusing on the foundational tier—universal support—to build a positive school climate and make school a place students want to show up.
Principal Tiona Madden explains, “Wayfinder is our tier 1 curriculum that we use to work with kids on human skills—so, the skills you need to navigate everything that comes at you in life with resiliency and joy.” Under her leadership, the school is working to accomplish their site-level goals with community-based efforts.
Their reasoning is simple: if students enjoy being at school—if they have a purpose for being there and feel a sense of belonging within the learning community—they are more likely to show up. In an interview with Wayfinder, third grade teacher Monica George captured the philosophy of their tier 1 community-building strategy: “When kids want to come to school, and they’re happy, you can teach. Happy kids learn better and enjoy learning more.”
Watch the interview here:
It might sound obvious, but is it effective? So far, signs point to yes. “I have fun coming to school because of great teachers and lots of friends and learning,” says one student. My favorite [Core Skill] is Collaboration. When we go to group, I help other people out, and they help me out.” Around campus, it’s clear that students don’t just know about the Tier 1 skills they’re learning with Wayfinder; they’re embodying them.
Stowe has done exemplary work to weave Wayfinder into the fabric of their school. Monica refers to it as Stowe’s “schoolwide system.” Across campus, teachers facilitate a Wayfinder lesson every single day. They even hold assemblies at the start of every month that focus on one of Wayfinder’s six Core Skills. For students, the assembly is a celebration of growth and an opportunity to have fun with their peers while building their understanding of the skill. For staff, it’s also an important kickoff of a goal related to that Core Skill. Stowe’s commitment to sharing a common language around student development, reinforcing skills campuswide, and leading with joy is palpable in classrooms, hallways, and playgrounds.
Read more from Wayfinder about MTSS and related frameworks:
The Importance of Belonging to Back-to-School Success and Chronic Absenteeism
Like many schools around the country, Stowe has been struggling with chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10% or more of school days within a given academic year. According to Associate Principal Maggie Dau, “When we adapted Wayfinder within our building, it really played into our Tier 1 systems. We had just had 33% chronic absenteeism and had this big goal of reducing it to 25%.” Facing an ambitious goal, Stowe went a different route than some schools. Instead of building extensive attendance intervention plans, they decided to focus on students' everyday experiences at their school.
The leaders and educators at Stowe have also emphasized the importance of the start of their year. Maggie sees the first thirty days as especially critical for students’ yearlong school experience—a time when they should be understanding and growing accustomed to new routines and structures. She says, “You’re creating your class community, and so you don’t want a student to miss out on that, because that piece of belonging is really, really important to the success that they will have later on in the school year.”
Stowe’s principal also understands that managing absenteeism means more than just coming into the year with a plan for interventions for students struggling with attendance. “Chronic absenteeism is about your circle of control as a building leader,” says Tiona. “Right out of the gate, we can control culture. We can control the joy and the environment that the kids come into. We can control the purpose they feel.”
What’s more, she knows that school has to appeal to the students within it—that, at their developmental stages, they need a reason to come to school rather than just hearing it from the adults around them. Tiona explains how her school does just that: “How do you make attendance really important to seven-, eight-, and nine-year-olds? Ultimately, we have worked to create an environment that kids don’t want to miss out on. They have fun when they come to school.”
And it’s not just Tiona leading the charge. Stowe teachers are on board. As Monica puts it, “[Wayfinder] started to build a community and give that sense of belonging.” From her perspective, community and belonging are driving factors for students to come to school. It offers an incentive to show up and creates a space in which students can be open and excited about learning.
Read more from Wayfinder about chronic absenteeism:
Embedding Purpose into Elementary Learning
Stowe’s efforts don’t begin and end with belonging. They’re also working to embed purpose, a core Wayfinder tenet, into their daily practice. Teaching a complex topic like purpose can seem daunting, but Stowe has found a way to make it part of students’ everyday experiences and tie it into the goals they have for individuals and the school as a whole.
Maggie sees it as just another part of the school experience. “When we have our students setting literacy and math goals, they’re doing that because that is our purpose in coming to school each day,” Maggie says. “And so, you have to know your purpose to reach your goals.” Breaking purpose down for young students into “the reason you come to school every day” seems to be working. Students across the Stowe campus seem to have a clear idea of what drives them to show up every morning—and for many of them, that’s the community the school has worked so hard to build.
The Payoff: Improved Culture, Academics, and Attendance 
When Wayfinder interviewed Stowe teachers and students, it was clear that the results of their efforts weren’t just a back-to-school burst of positive energy. The results are lasting.
One student proudly told us, “I come into school every day because it brings me joy, and it helps me learn. I’ve been absent zero times this year.” Another shared a similar story: “I’m being celebrated for my attendance because I’ve been at school every day.” And Monica confirms these experiences are being seen across campus: “We’re starting to see our attendance is getting better!”
Stowe’s principal also confirms that it’s more than just positive vibes they’re seeing across campus. Academic performance is up, and so is attendance. She reflects on these results, telling us, “When I started at Stowe three years ago, chronic absenteeism was between 33 and 34 percent. We were at the bottom of the pack for reading, math, and attendance. Now, we’re sitting at around the 50th percentile for a lot of our reading data. And chronic absenteeism? This year, right now, we’re hovering around 16 percent, which is a huge celebration.”
Tiona sums up Stowe’s Wayfinder journey concisely, showing that the intentional partnership and the efforts of Stowe’s administrative, teaching, and counseling staff are making the impact that the school was looking for: “Our data is proof—when you are thoughtful about when you incorporate curriculums that address the different pieces that Wayfinder does, it can have an impact on every area of the building.”
