Destination: Graduation Dropout Prevention New York State Style Presentation by Rebecca Gardner at...
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Transcript of Destination: Graduation Dropout Prevention New York State Style Presentation by Rebecca Gardner at...
Destination: GraduationDropout Prevention
New York State Style
Presentation by Rebecca Gardner at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention Division of Adolescent and School Health Annual Conference, Washington, DC - February 2002
Dropout Prevention
Dropout - In New York State, any student who leaves school prior to graduation for any reason except death and does not enter another school or program leading to a high school diploma.
Factors Linked to High Dropout Rates
Student Retention Poverty Ethnicity LEP Pregnancy Tracking
Leading Reasons Why Kids Dropout
Older than other classmates due to being held back in earlier grades Frustrated by failure to achieve satisfactory grades due to lack of learning
in primary grades Alienated from teachers who are dissatisfied with the “big slow kids” Feeling that they will never catch up, never do well Afraid of teasing and abuse from kids and staff Tormented at school for being gay or lesbian (about 30 of 100 annual youth
suicides in NYS are by gay or lesbian students) Pregnant Behind in school because of illness or family crisis Needed at home to care for a sick family member Unhappy at school and wanting to work where they can feel they
accomplish something Angry when discipline policies are unfair, capricious and stacked against
them
Students are:
Characteristics of Best Practices in Relation to Dropout Prevention
They identify vulnerable students
They have a strong career education/workforce readiness component
They utilize out-of-classroom learning
They are intensive in the sense of being small, individualizing instruction, having low student-teacher ratios, and offering more counseling than ordinary schools
They are flexible to accommodate individual situations, such as a pregnant, gay, or alienated honor student
School Practices That Can Reduce The Dropout Rate
End grade retention. Students should progress with their age cohort and receive supplemental instruction to address their weaknesses. Publicity is needed to alter public perception that retention is an appropriate way to address incomplete academic achievement.
Ensure that the weakest students get the best teachers. The greatest single factor in academic success is the skill of the teacher.
Students should be given assignments appropriate to their ability at which they can succeed.
Teaching staff need training in cultural differences, sensitivity to student needs.
Staff should be caring people who want to see all their young people succeed. Staff who do not have this attitude need a different job.
School Practices That Can Reduce The Dropout Rate (continued)
Alternatives to the academic school need to be available.
Research indicates that physiologically teens tend to go to sleep late and need to sleep late in the morning. High school should begin later in the day, perhaps 8:30 or 9:00 am, for improved alertness.
The school must strive to be a place where students want to be, not one where they are required to be. While that may sound silly or whimsical, if students are seen as valued customers or valued people, they will be provided with relevant and interesting learning.
Seven Traits Common to Successful, High Poverty Schools
Samuel Casey Carter Effective principals are
free to decide how to spend their money, whom to hire and what to teach.
Effective principals use measurable goals to establish a culture of achievement
Master teachers bring out the best in a faculty
Rigorous and regular testing leads to continuous student achievement
Discipline is anchored in achievement
Effective principals work with parents to make the home a center of learning
Effective principals require hard work
Factors for Success of Alternative Education Programs
Schools generate and sustain a community within them.
Content differently packaged than conventional school.
Frequently used independent study and experiential learning.
Builds on the strengths of students.
Deals with whole student. Instructional methods
build on prior learning and complement rather than contradict student’s experiences.
Strategies for DropoutsNDPC-Clemson University
Early Interventions
Basic Core Strategies
Improving Instruction
Partnering with the Community
UCLAA Comprehensive Continuum of
Intervention
System of prevention System of early intervention Systems of care
Talent Development Model-Johns Hopkins
Separate Ninth Grade Success Academy with teams of 4-6 teachers who share 120-180 students and have common planning time to work on student problems
Several separate self-contained upper-grade career-academies enrolling 250-350 students with an adult mentor
On-site after-hours alternative program for short-term assignment of small number of students with serious discipline and attendance problems.
NYS’s Dropout Prevention Initiative
Learn more about high school dropouts, who they are and why they drop out.
Build the capacity of the schools and the Department’s regional networks to address the dropout problem effectively.
Address the needs of students, including those with disabilities, with regard to dropout prevention and teenage students who have dropped out.
Establish collaborative partnerships between the schools and the community at large that become part of an institutionalized culture.
Document and share effective practices in dropout prevention that can be replicated in schools across the State.
Evaluate and document the Initiative’s process and outcomes to determine replicability of the dropout prevention initiatives and their longitudinal effect on the dropout rate in the piloted schools.
The goals of the initiative are to:
Dropout Pilot - Destination Graduation
2001-2003 - two year pilot
NDPC (Clemson University)
Big 5 Cities Smaller Cities
Local Partners (12 middle schools)
National Partners
UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools
Johns Hopkins
Each JMT NYC
CHAPS SIT OWPCE VESID
SED Partners District
Superintendents NYCBOE RSSC Network CSH Network
Regional Partners
Rural Native American Nonpublic
List of Participating Schools
New York City
Lower HudsonMid-StateMid-WestWestWestMid-HudsonNorth CountryCapitalMid-South
Long IslandNew York City
New York City
PeekskillSyracuseRochesterBuffaloGowandaNewburghUticaWatervlietElmira
WyandanchNonpublic
Wadleigh HS, Chancellor’s District #85, Grades 6-12Peekskill MSShea MSMonroe MSLincoln AcademyGowanda JHSHSouth JHSDonovan MSWatervliet JHSHBroadway MSErnie Davis MSMilton L. Olive MSSt. Franics Xavier, Brooklyn
JMT District Participating Middle School
Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention
Systemic Renewal Community Collaboration Professional Development Family Involvement Early Childhood Education Reading/Writing Programs Alternative Schooling Individualized Instruction Instructional Technologies
Mentoring/Tutoring Service Learning Learning Styles / Multiple
Intelligences Violence Prevention/Conflict
Resolution Career Education/Workforce
Readiness Out-of-School Experiences
Research-based strategies and solutions Positive impact on the high school graduation rate
Activities
Internal Steering Committee
Acknowledgement of Responsibility Local Action Team Data Gathering LAT Training School Climate Inventory Program Assessment and Review
(PAR) Follow-up Visits Technical Assistance
CHAPS SIT
IRT Nonpublic
NYCRSS Native American
OWPCE VESID
Year 2 Implementation/Technical Assistance
Regional seminars Symposium - Spring 2003 Summer Institute - 2003
Exchange of Learning Evaluation