The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

ELDON, IOWA -- Students in the Cardinal Community School District are continuing to show major improvement since several new programs were put into place to keep students on-track and motivated in the classroom.

Superintendent Joel Pederson told KTVO on Thursday that the high school’s new “ketchup” program is paying off.

Since 2011, grade point averages among students have improved, as the number of students who had received failing grades has fallen dramatically.

“For the G.P.A. improvement from last quarter to this quarter, we improved by 63%; and then from last year’s failing students, we had 138 assigned a failing grade in classes, and this year we had five this quarter,” said Michelle Albert, a teacher at Cardinal High School.

The “ketchup” program forces students to catch-up on late or missing assignments. The innovative program ties in with the district’s zero tolerance on missing homework assignments.

“We have some students that finally have decided that doing their homework is the easiest way to do it. We are going to make them do it, so by doing it, their grades are improving and we are seeing the moral of some students also improving,” said Albert.

Superintendent Pedersen said that he truly did not know what the new program would do for his students, but that the numbers are looking good.

Pedersen gives credit to his teachers, students and parents for the encouraging numbers.