Korinna is a social worker and educational administrator. She is currently the Senior Director of Multiple Pathways to Graduation at Portland Public Schools. She received both her Masters in Social Work (1994) and Educational Administrative credential (2011) from Portland State University.
As a social worker at The Casey Family Program from 1993-2003 she worked with children and families as well as collaborating for systems change at the local, state and national level. Wolfe brought to light American Indian over-representation both as students enrolled in foster care systems and unenrolled from school systems prior to graduation in Portland. Acknowledging the absence of culturally-specific programming for Native American youth in foster care, Wolfe leveraged national non-profit dollars to create a partnership which launched the NAYA Foster Care Program specific to the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native youth in foster care in Portland, Oregon in 2002. She subsequently directed six programs for native youth at the NAYA Family Center. In 2004-06 she successful led her community to create a culturally-specific school model and attain funding. In 2007 the NAYA Early College Academy opened with a focus on serving both the education and cultural needs of students braided to post secondary readiness and completion.
From 2008-2012 Wolfe lead service delivery for parenting students within the Portland Public Schools, again with a focus on holistically serving students needing re-engagement in school, drop-out prevention and academic acceleration. Since 2012, Wolfe has directed the Multiple Pathways to Graduation Department at Portland Public Schools providing alternative education settings that re-engage, empower, and promote the individual well-being of specific student populations as they prepare for college, work and global membership. Offerings range from alternative, day or residential treatment, and charter schools, as well as services for parenting students, and credit recovery programs which support Reconnection Services programming for Opportunity Youth.
Addressing the need for academic accountability within Portland Public Schools, Wolfe directed the use of the Multiple Pathways to Graduation Alternative Accountability Report Card as the metric by which student growth at alternative schools would be measured within Portland Public Schools. Korinna will be co-presenting the session “The Intersectionality of Early Warning and Alternative Accountability Systems.” With her family, Korinna enjoys the beautiful outdoors of Oregon. Together, she and her husband most enjoy spending time with and watching their two school-aged children play and play sports, and watching their two grown children enjoy adulthood.
Early Warning Systems and Alternative Accountability An Early Warning System in a school district provides opportunities to look at key indicators or ‘signals’ to identify students who are at risk of dropping out. Once students are identified, the EWS uses multi-tiered student supports and interventions to interrupt the progression of dropping out. In an ideal system only 5% of students require a different setting or an individualized approach as a part of the intervention options to drop-out prevention. That 5% (and in some cases 55%) of students need their own set of multi-tiered supports and accompanying accountability metrics to ensure they are on a path to a successful future. This session will address the intersection of an Early Warning System and dropout prevention/recovery accountability metrics. Participants will leave with a systemic understanding of how dropout prevention and recovery efforts should be a part of an overall Early Warning System rather than an isolated set of strategies removed from the traditional school system.
