IDENTIFYING AND PREVENTING DROPOUTS IN

MORGAN COUNTY SCHOOLS

Credit Alternatives and Recovery Education (CARE)

Morgan County Schools

FACTSOver one million who enter 9th grade each year fail to graduate 4 years later – 5% - 10% are gifted; 63% are passing

About 7,000 students drop out of high school each school day

9th grade is the bottleneck – Up to 40% of students in the highest dropout schools repeat 9th grade and only 10% - 15% of those who fail graduate

The students in the lowest 25% quartile of achievement are seven times less likely to graduate than those in the top 25% quartile

Dropouts from the class of 2008 will cost the nation $319 billion in lost wages over their lifetime

If the dropouts from the class of 2006 had finished high school, the United States would save $17 billion in Medicaid and uninsured health care in their lifetime.

Increasing the graduation rate by only 5% for males would save $8 billion each year by reducing crime related expenses

ON-TRACK STUDENTSA student is consider on-track for graduation if by the end of 9th grade he/she has 5 or more credits and has no more than one F in an academic subject

Off-Track Students A student is consider off-track for

graduation if by the end of 9th grade he/she has less than 5 credits and has at least one F in an academic subject.

Before grade 9 PREVENTION

After Grade 9 RESCUE

Prevention At the end of Kindergarten be able to read the

following: The cat sleeps on the mat.

At the end of 3rd grade be able to write, read and comprehend (decoding, fluency, vocabulary)

Prior to 9th grade, students should at least read on a 6th grade level

Brain research says that 5% of the population have an inability to

read – Currently, only about 52% are literate on a 6th grade level.

RescueGrade Point Average (GPA)

40% of Freshmen finish 9th grade with less than a 2.0 GPA

26% of Freshmen finish 9th grade with a 3.0 or greater GPA

School Absence 40% of 9th graders in a major study missed two weeks

(10% of instruction time) or more in a semester Serious absenteeism indicates Disengagement and

those students have less than a 10% chance to graduate 63% of 9th graders who miss 5-9 days a semester

graduate on time 87% of 9th graders who have less than 5 days graduate

on time

Predictive Ability of Indicators of Freshmen-Year Performance

Indicator Accuracy in Predicting

Graduates___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GPA 85%

On-Track vs. Off-Track 85%

Semester Course 89%Failures

Absences 90%

25% of Dropouts give up in 5th grade

49% of Dropouts give up in 9th grade

What do we do?

SCHOOLS•Do not accept failure•Identify At-Risk Students•Establish Effective Mentor Programs•Maintain Academic Rigor•Connect learning to future success•Academies/Advisory Groups•Parental Contact•Diversified Instruction•Tiered Instruction•Someone MAKES a connection with student

DISTRICT•Alternative Learning Environments •Creative and Flexible Schedules•Credit Recovery•Intense Counseling•Explorations of Career Opportunities

Who?Repeating 9th graders with

2 or less academic credits More than 6 absences last semester GPA < 2.0

Repeating 10th graders with 6 or less academic credits More than 6 absences last semester GPA < 2.0

How?Option #1 – Full time students

Daily attend 4 one-hour classes for credit recovery at the Learning Center (periods 4-7)

AHSGE Remediation/Preparation at Learning Center (elective for 1 credit)

Attend home school for PE or other elective classes; attend Brewer for Career Tech; complete ACCESS or STAR classes for electives

Optional Saturday classes

Option #2 Daily Attend 4 classes of credit recovery

at Learning Center from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

ACCESS or STAR classes on Saturday morning 8:00 – 12:00

Option #3 Attend home school for electives Attend credit recovery classes at Learning

Center from 3:00 – 7:00 each day Optional Saturday classes

Repeating 9th graders with

• Less than 2 academic credits

More than 6 absences last semester

Suspension(s)

• GPA < 2.0

Repeating 10th graders with

• Less than 6 academic credits

More than 6 absences last semester

Suspension(s)

• GPA < 2.0

Option #1 – Full time students

1. Daily attend 4 one-hour classes for credit recovery at the Learning Center (periods 4-7)

2. AHSGE Remediation/Preparation at Learning Center (elective for 1 credit)

3. Attend home school for PE or other elective classes; attend Brewer for Career Tech; complete ACCESS or STAR classes for electives

4. Optional Saturday classes

Option #2 – Students wanting to work during the day

1. Daily Attend 4 classes of credit recovery at Learning Center from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

2 ACCESS or STAR classes on Saturday morning 8:00 – 12:00

Option #3 – Part-time for school day

1. Attend home school for electives

2. Attend credit recovery classes at Learning Center from 3:00 – 7:00 each day

3. Optional Saturday classes

Process Identify Off-Track Students Encourage parents and student to consider

a flexible alternative to dropping out Complete the application – signed by

student and parent Counselor prepares recommendation form

– signed by the counselor and the principal Interview by intervention team Develop Individual Recovery Plan (IRP) and

sign as contract

GOALS 30 students will recover to grade level in

the first year

If those 30 students in 9th and 10th grade recover and graduate on time in 2 years, there would be a 6% increase in the graduation rate for 2014

Conclusion

In a SREB survey of 300,000 high school and middleschool students… 91% say they will graduate from high school 87% say they will attend post-secondary schools 81% say they will get a Bachelor’s degree 45% say they will get an advanced degree Only 1.5% say they will drop out

of school