School district reaches out to students to prevent dropouts
Date: 11/28/2012
By Carley Dangona
carley@thereminder.comWEST SPRINGFIELD — The public school district continues to reduce the rate of high school dropouts with options that accommodate students' personal needs.
"We realized that we needed to come up with a program that better suited our students' needs," Dr. Russell Johnston, superintendent, said. "We needed to reshape how we conducted learning. We needed more individualized options for students."
The district surveyed the students, to better understand their needs. "We tailored the programs to at-risk [of dropping out] students based upon their feedback," Johnston stated.
"We will go to them. We want to identify the barriers what's going on at home that is causing frustration so that we can define a plan to help the students succeed," Johnston added.
He noted the improvements include a dropout prevention grant; an increase in outreach services, such as a summer cookout for the senior class; staff members visiting homes to work with students and their families to define a course of action; and a two-week summer learning program.
Johnston described one activity of the summer course. "The students defined who they were as learners in order to advocate for themselves and get the best education possible," he said.
Another option for seniors is the Lower Pioneer Valley Career and Technical Education Center (LPVCTEC) school. "Students who attend LPVCTEC spend half the day on academics and the other half working [in a vocational setting where skills are taught]," Johnston explained.
On its website, www.lpvctec.org, it states that students have the option to gain job skills "through cooperative education, internships and job mentoring programs," and upon graduation they will earn a Certificate of Occupational Competency on their diploma.
"We are constantly troubleshooting — it's an ongoing process. We want to identify the hurdle [for a student] and then solve it," Johnston told
Reminder Publications.
In its 2011 to 2014 improvement plan, the district outlines the goal for improving the rate of graduation — "Increase the percentage of students who graduate from high school within four years to 70 percent by 2014."
The report continued, citing that in 2009, 66.4 percent of students graduated, and in 2010 that number increased to 71.7 percent.
"Our goal is to increase by 10, the number of students that don't drop out," Mayor Gregory Neffinger stated. "If a student earns his or her GED diploma within one year [of their original graduating date], it counts towards our graduation rate."
According to Johnston, the data for 2011 won't be released until late December or early January 2013. Preliminary data does indicate a higher graduation rate, as illustrated by early figures. The number of dropouts decreased by 28 students from the 2010 to 2011 school year to the 2011 to 2012 school year.
"I am pleased by the early statistics," Johnston said.
He commented on the importance of at-risk students that deal with "monumental life stuff" graduating. "Society's going to gain a lot from these students who have so much to offer," Johnston said.
