180 Degrees program finds success in turning lives around

Fourteen-year-old Keisha’s goals include making straight A’s and becoming a pastry chef. Poor decision-making, however, was leading her down a different path.

Court services ordered Keisha, a Wyandotte County middle school student, to participate in a pilot program started this year in the Kansas City Kansas School District designed to put at-risk students back on track.

Called 180 Degrees, the after-school program was introduced by Jonas Hayes, senior pastor at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church of Overland Park.

Keisha said the sessions are having a positive impact on her life. “I’m learning to have a better attitude and make better decisions,” Keisha said. “I try to think before I act. That helps me at school and at home.”

Keisha is one of 12 students enrolled in the program serving disadvantaged students ages 11 to 17 struggling with truancy and academic issues. Students meet for three hours a day, four days a week to learn personal accountability and ways to achieving their full potential, said Max Mendoza, program coordinator.

Mendoza confirmed Keisha’s improvement. “Both her mother and her probation officer have seen a difference in her,” he said. “I have seen an improvement as well.”

Mendoza said the program fills a need that is not being met at school or at home. “There is a huge need to teach students core values,” he said. “Today’s complicated family structures have changed the dynamics of how kids grow up and they often aren’t learning those lessons at home.”

Core values such as trustworthiness, personal accountability and responsibility can have a dramatic impact on students’ actions, he said.

The program also emphasizes tools students can use to make good decisions rather than be influenced by peer pressure. In a recent session, students weighed in on such topics as whether it’s OK for people to make judgments about them based on their behavior.

“Your actions describe who you are,” Keisha said. “so I think it’s OK.”

Another student agreed, but added that he shouldn’t be judged based on just one incident in his life. Students also discussed how to forgive someone when they feel they have been wronged.

Students spend the first hour of the program working on homework. Those who need assistance receive tutoring from volunteers. The 180 Degrees curriculum is taught for the next hour and then dinner is provided. An interactive, fun activity follows.

“We’re teaching social responsibility, so students are in the process of choosing a volunteer activity to give back to the community,” Mendoza said. “And students who do well in the program will be rewarded with a field trip to a location they select at the end of the year.”

Funded by a $60,000 grant from the state of Kansas, the program is patterned after Delta 180, which Hayes introduced in Mississippi in 2010. That program rapidly grew from serving 25 students to 200 students and influenced the start of new programs in the neighboring states of Arkansas and Louisiana.

“School attendance increased by 50 percent for students enrolled in the program, leading to increased academic success,” Hayes said. Each student’s core grade-point average is obtained prior to the program, midway through the semester and at the end of the semester to measure results. School attendance is also monitored.

Hayes said the program is designed to combat truancy, which is a growing problem in area school districts, including Johnson County. “We’d eventually like expand the program to Johnson County, Jackson County and the entire heartland,” he said. “It’s not just for court-ordered students, which make up about one-third of the program. It’s for all students who are struggling.”

Program partners include the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, court services, the Kansas City Kansas Public School District and the faith-based community, Hayes said. Board members are from both Wyandotte and Johnson counties.

The national 180 Degrees program provides the program’s curriculum, facilitator training, database and evaluation tools and oversight, Hayes said. Based in Salem, Ore., the national program offers research-based curriculum that is being used in programs throughout the United States and internationally.

“This program is for students who need a push in the right direction,” Mendoza said. “Some may be on the verge of being expelled from school or are on the way to juvenile detention. This program provides another option.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 9:24 PM with the headline "180 Degrees program finds success in turning lives around."