Making Graduation Possible

A Task Committee will take these recommendations and develop a workable City-Wide Action Plan

Work Group Recommendations

Policies that Impact Kids:

Involve students in the leadership and governance of the school to enhance engagement and foster peer-to -peer relationships.
Examine existing community organizations and mobilization efforts that
promote/support early childhood learning
Bring together community/school entities to align policies that support learning from birth to graduation

Telling the Story through Data:

Broader framework (uniform system) for reviewing factors that affect educational success (Ready by 21)
Ongoing conversations re data across disciplines – 5 yr plan
Identify data need linked to best practices that are shown to work in settings like ours in order to intervene early before 3rd grade based on data

School Practices for Prevention:

Early academic emphasis
Pre-school initiative and early childhood
Revisit third-grade reading guarantee
Elementary intervention
Adapt standards to support and encourage individualized student-centered holistic approach
Utilizing different learning styles
Identify students with specific needs
Identify goals of students to help motivation and relevancy for schoolwork
Professional development and trainings for teachers and student support staff
Relevant professional development tied to outcomes
Identify action to combat boredom
Trained for individualized, student-centered holistic classrooms

Student Support In School & After School:

Funding:
Make application and submission process easier
Look at grant cycles in terms of length and timing-fiscal vs. calendar year-one-year grants vs. extended year grants
Make after school funding a priority
Funding agencies to provide assistance with grant writing
Helping agencies understand why a grant is denied
Communication and collaboration with collective agreement on what we can support; agreeing on a common vision among nonprofits and corporations.
Youth serving agencies to have better access to data and information within the schools.

Engaging Parents in the Dropout Conversation:

Start early asking parents what kind of support they need through focus group and parent summit conversations.
Engage religious institutions, community leaders, and media to foster parental engagement.
Every teacher reach out every day to eliminate fear and facilitate comfort in welcoming parents and students.

Partnering with the Community:

Promote “Principal Alliance” Model, moving towards educational commission. Sector: Non-Profits and Social Services
Assemble/Disseminate Best Practices and identify factors that contribute to dropouts. Talk to public affairs officials at businesses.
Sector: Non-Profits/Social Services
Mechanisms to meet and collaborate among organizations. Sectors: Public Policy/Legislation, Faith-Based Community, Non-Profits/Social Services, Business/Industry