17 September 2007
An increased likelihood of system change and improvement is due to at least three factors for our partnership. First, the three partnering LEAs are in great need of change and improvement in serving families and their students at-risk of academic failure. Second, a plan based on years of research for decreasing dropout rates will be set in motion with
Studio
School. Third the small schools research base and practice has been widely replicated across the country. The research-bases coupled with the extreme needs in the three districts will enhance the likelihood of system change and improvement.
District NeedOf the 100 students in Oktibbeha County who enrolled in ninth grade in 2000, only 57 went on to graduate from high school, and of the 334 students in Starkville who enrolled in ninth grade in 2000, 198 went on to graduate from high school.
Okitbbeha
County
School District and
Starkville
School District had respective graduation rates of 57% and 59% in 2004 (CREATE Foundation, 2006). A similar story rings true for
West Point. In school year ’03-04, 270 10
th graders enrolled in school. In ’04-’05, 226 11
th graders enrolled, and in ’05-06, 222 12
th graders enrolled. A state sponsored drop our prevention study estimated the projected drop out rates. Table 4 contains dropout rate projections for our three districts over the next four years.
Starkville and
West Point have two of the worst five drop out rates in the state.
|
|
West Point |
Oktibbeha
County |
Starkville |
| Estimated Dropout Rate |
36.1
|
32.7
|
41.8
|
| Estimated 4 Year Graduation Rate |
58.2
|
43.3
|
47.2
|
Estimates of 4-Year Dropout, Completion, and Graduation Rates for the Full Cohort of Students Beginning with Ninth Graders in 2001/2002* at http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/compulsory_school/dropout%20overview/State%20Dropout%20Prevention%20Plan%20-%20021407.pdf In
Mississippi, the 2005-2006 graduation rate was 64% (Mississippi Department of Education, 2006). The Mississippi Department of Education has determined to reduce the drop out rate by 50% within the next five years. State Superintendent Hank Bounds argues that solving drop out problems are “complicated because the reasons for dropping out of school are varied and broad, cutting across every ethnicity. Addressing just one [drop out issue] would be a task. Addressing all of them seems an almost impossible task.” He calls for the help of educators, parents, business, and community leaders to focus on helping to prevent students from “giving up on school, giving up on their future and, ultimately, giving up on themselves”(Bounds, 2006). The extreme needs of our partnering districts and their willingness to lead the dynamic partnership of
Studio
School increases the likelihood of system change and improvement.
Research-Based Plan Increases Likelihood of ImprovementThe National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (NDPC/N) has outlined fifteen strategies that school districts should embrace as they begin to specifically address the needs of potential drop out learners.
Studio
School: A
Mississippi
LEA-Community-IHL
School Choice Partnership will use these ideas to bring improvement, change and choice to our local public school students and families. These strategies are credited with having the most positive impact on high school graduation rate. Based on over thirty years of study on all levels of public school education (k-12) in rural, suburban, and urban settings, the NDPC/N recommends fifteen strategies to prevent school drop out. While the network supports the adoption of each of these strategies separately in stand alone programs (like after school tutoring or service learning programs), they suggest that the most “positive outcomes will result when school districts develop a program improvement plan that encompasses most or all of the fifteen strategies.” Since
Studio
School will be built on the NDPC/N research based strategies, the capacity to improve and expand is more likely. The table below provides a listing of the eleven strategies
Studio
School will directly incorporate. Download
These eleven strategies will ensure that our
Studio
School project will assist our community in reaching the state goal of reducing the dropout rate. We believe these strategies to be embedded in SBL, and therefore, will widely address, across all diversities, the variety of factors contributing to our local drop out problems.
No Comments currently posted.
Post a comment on this entry:
