Destination: Graduation Dropout Prevention New York State Style

1. Destination: Graduation Dropout 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

2. 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.

3. Factors Linked to High Dropout Rates • Student Retention • Poverty • Ethnicity • LEP • Pregnancy • Tracking

4. Leading Reasons Why Kids Dropout Students are: • 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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 Seven Traits Common to Successful, High Poverty SchoolsSamuel Casey Carter

9. 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. Factors for Success of Alternative Education Programs

10. Strategies for DropoutsNDPC-Clemson University • Early Interventions • Basic Core Strategies • Improving Instruction • Partnering with the Community

11. UCLAA Comprehensive Continuum of Intervention • System of prevention • System of early intervention • Systems of care

12. 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.

13. NYS’s Dropout Prevention Initiative The goals of the initiative are to: • 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.

14. Dropout Pilot - Destination Graduation • 2001-2003 - two year pilot • SED Partners • National Partners • Regional Partners • NDPC (Clemson University) • CHAPS • SIT • OWPCE • VESID • District Superintendents • NYCBOE • RSSC Network • CSH Network • UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools • Johns Hopkins • Local Partners (12 middle schools) • Each JMT • NYC • Rural • Native American • Nonpublic • Big 5 Cities • Smaller Cities

15. District Participating Middle School JMT Wadleigh HS, Chancellor’s District #85, Grades 6-12 Peekskill MS Shea MS Monroe MS Lincoln Academy Gowanda JHSH South JHS Donovan MS Watervliet JHSH Broadway MS Ernie Davis MS Milton L. Olive MS St. Franics Xavier, Brooklyn New York City Peekskill Syracuse Rochester Buffalo Gowanda Newburgh Utica Watervliet Elmira Wyandanch Nonpublic New York City Lower Hudson Mid-State Mid-West West West Mid-Hudson North Country Capital Mid-South Long Island New York City List of Participating Schools

16. Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention • Research-based strategies and solutions • Positive impact on the high school graduation rate • Mentoring/Tutoring • Service Learning • Learning Styles / Multiple Intelligences • Violence Prevention/Conflict Resolution • Career Education/Workforce Readiness • Out-of-School Experiences • Systemic Renewal • Community Collaboration • Professional Development • Family Involvement • Early Childhood Education • Reading/Writing Programs • Alternative Schooling • Individualized Instruction • Instructional Technologies

17. Activities • Internal Steering Committee • OWPCE • VESID • CHAPS • SIT • IRT • Nonpublic • NYCRSS • Native American • Acknowledgement of Responsibility • Local Action Team • Data Gathering • LAT Training • School Climate Inventory • Program Assessment and Review (PAR) • Follow-up Visits • Technical Assistance • Year 2 Implementation/Technical Assistance • Regional seminars • Symposium - Spring 2003 • Summer Institute - 2003 • Exchange of Learning • Evaluation