‘Put Me in Coach:’ Why Student Connection is the Secret to Success at Shell Knob

As the RSC team opened the front doors at Shell Knob School, a K-8 school in rural southern Missouri, two students extended their hands in greeting and welcomed the party to the school they call home. Jonas and Nolan led the way through the building, bringing the visitors to a corner of the building where an in-school coffee shop overlooked a new basketball court. There, the rest of the student leadership team at Shell Knob prepared espressos and smoothies, with the skill and ease of expert baristas. At Shell Knob, student leadership, agency, and responsibility are the cornerstones of what makes this school special.

Shell Knob is one of ten rural Missouri schools participating in the GRAD Partnership, and the only one that isn’t a secondary school. The GRAD Partnership is a national effort to foster student success systems– a way of organizing a school community to better support the academic progress, college and career transitions, and well-being of all students– in schools across the country. Rural Schools Collaborative facilitates the rural cohort of the GRAD Partnership, with RSC Hub Partners such as Missouri State University (MSU) serving as intermediaries supporting rural schools in their service area. In Missouri, this work is led by Drs. Rhonda Bishop and Denise Cunningham, co-directors of the MSU Center for Rural Education.

After the jolt of energy provided by caffeine and smoothies, the RSC team split into groups for student-led tours of the school and grounds. As Addison and Zayla led one group through the halls, they proudly pointed out all of the many paintings and artwork adorning the walls that were theirs. Popping outside, Zayla and Addison noted a wooded trail leading from the back of the playground, where teachers take them for brain-breaks and experiences in nature. Admiring the basketball court, the students spoke proudly of their efforts to revitalize it, and the rest of their work around the school.

The school day at Shell Knob begins with Impact Time, where students work collaboratively on projects that better the school. Focus areas include areas like yearbook club, school beautification, reading buddies, maintenance, and Shell Knob News. The program is a big hit with the students, and placing it at the start of the day helps encourage attendance. Dr. Chris Conyac, Shell Knob superintendent, shares the proud connection between school culture, impact time, and attendance: “When we look at our middle school attendance, our middle school attendance is awesome. Our students are here. They're engaged, and that's why we have impact time first thing in the morning, because that gets them, because they belong and are connected.”

Students, too, are a big proponent of Impact Time, seeing the value of building life skills while giving back to the school community. “I think each impact time, it teaches you something about real life. Like the coffee shop, it really teaches us this responsibility, about money and all that. And Ms. Parker's reading buddies is very [good for our] social skills,” shared Addison. Audrey, also on the leadership team, describes that it provides a vital connection for all students: “Not everybody does a sport. So with impact time, you have to do it. So everybody gets to be included. . . they all contribute to the school.”

As Audrey alludes to, Shell Knob’s students recognize that the smaller size of their student body (about 150 students, K-8) provides major benefits to both the social and academic atmosphere of the school. The students regularly bring ideas to school leadership, including Dr. Conyac, ideas which often come to fruition. Addison recalls that the student body recently wanted to do a middle school-focused evening event series, giving each grade their own special night. “We composed that idea, and we made it happen. So, if you want to do something, we just propose it, and then they try their best to make it happen the best way, shape or form they can."

Principal Ethan Farr, in his fifth year in that role, recognizes that paving the way for more student agency is linked with the positive culture of accountability that the students have taken ownership for. “It's really easy to do things like that when you have a student body who is willing to, one, propose new ideas, and two, just have the demeanor to be willing to try new things. But also, we don't have to worry about a ton of issues. From a behavioral standpoint, we just have a good, good group of kids willing to try things out.” Like Impact club, encouraging the students to make suggestions and carry them out is also part of a wider strategy to begin preparing them for life beyond school.

Principal Farr and his team prioritize career exploration, even at the middle school level, to forge the link between learning, participating, and the workforce. Serving students who live rurally and may not venture far beyond their community, they view this as an essential component of their education. Principal Farr notes that bringing in career-focused speakers and arranging field trips is “something that we've been very intentional about because of the demographic of some of our students, [they are] not having the exposure to not just businesses that are local but truly career pathways that could take them anywhere.” Dr. Conyac adds that “We're a small community, but we work really hard to get them exposure to outside of the community.”

The manifestation of the work that Dr. Conyac, Principal Farr, and the many talented teachers at Shell Knob does not always show up in forward facing ways, such as student tours or coffee shops, but behind the scenes as well. Grace Idleburg, who teaches music and band at Shell Knob, describes that as a rural music teacher, resources are limited and student-help becomes essential. 8th graders join in the 5th grade class sessions, serving as de facto teaching assistants to make the class run smoothly. “Our students, when they see a problem in a program that they care about, like our music program, they just jump right in. They're like, ‘I'll help you solve it. Mrs. Idleburg! Put me in coach!’”

Within student success systems, there is a strong focus on building student agency, belonging, and connectedness. This is accomplished through strong, supportive relationships, student-centered mindsets, real-time, actionable data, and strategic improvement actions. While ideas like these can sound theoretical, a school like Shell Knob embodies an actualized example of what strong systems and caring adults can foster at a rural school. Nolan, one of the first faces to greet the RSC team, puts it more simply: “If you need tutoring, if you just ask a teacher to tutor, they'll say yes, because they want to help you as much as they can.”

Rural Schools Collaborative would like to thank Drs. Rhonda Bishop and Denise Cunningham of Missouri State University for their leadership as a GRAD Partnership Intermediary, and for facilitating RSC’s visit to Shell Knob. RSC would also like to thank Beth Hughes and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for their support of the GRAD Partnership in Missouri.