News Release announcing Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem book (PDF format)
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Gregory B. Hutchins says “[Franklin] may be the most persuasive and persistent voice in quality education.”
Gregory B. Hutchins, P.E., was the chair of the American Society for Quality Control’s (ASQC) Education Division. Click here for the text of the interview on the Quality Digest website or if you want to read the article here… [Read more…] about Gregory B. Hutchins says “[Franklin] may be the most persuasive and persistent voice in quality education.”
The Most Important Year in High School
The National High School Center has released the following information.
The First Year of High School
Students”˜ experiences in their first year of high school often determine their success throughout high school and beyond. Nevertheless, more students fail ninth grade than any other grade (Education Week, 2007).
Students who make it to tenth grade but who are ?off track to graduate from high school””as indicated by failed grades, a lack of course credits, or poor attendance during their ninth grade gateway year””may have already missed the opportunity to get on track for high school graduation (Allensworth & Easton, 2005).
The following statistics highlight a noticeable trend in the lack of progress of many students through freshman year. Many students are held back in ninth grade””creating what is known as the ninth grade bulge””and drop out by tenth grade””contributing to the tenth grade dip.
U.S. Student Enrollment by Grade and Percentage of Total Enrollment, 2009″“10 school year shows enrollment numbers for tenth grade at around 3.8 million””a decrease of 7.8% (Snyder & Dillow, 2011). The dip in the number of students in tenth grade reflects the large number of students who either do not advance to tenth grade or drop out after their ninth grade year.
? Twenty-one out of 50 states and the District of Columbia experience the greatest decrease in enrollment between the ninth and tenth grades. In some states, this decrease is as high as 25% (Snyder & Dillow, 2011).
? There are pronounced racial disparities in the ninth grade bulge and tenth grade dip, as illustrated by data from the 2009″“10 school year:
? For white students, during the 2009″“10 school year, ninth grade enrollment was 8% higher than eighth grade enrollment, while attrition between ninth and tenth grades was stable at approximately 3% (NCES, n.d.-a).
? For African-American students, ninth grade enrollment was 23% higher than eighth grade enrollment, and attrition between ninth and tenth grades was approximately 11% (NCES, n.d.-b).
? For Hispanic students, ninth grade enrollment was 11% higher than eighth grade enrollment, and attrition between ninth and tenth grades was approximately 7% (NCES, n.d.-c).
? Common predictors of ninth grade student dropout include:
? Repeating the ninth grade: Up to 40% of ninth grade students in cities with the highest dropout rates repeat the ninth grade. Only 10″“15% of those repeaters graduate from high school (Balfanz, 2006).
? Low credit accrual: During the 2000″“01 school year, students who dropped out in the tenth grade accrued only 59% of the credits accrued by on-time graduates (Hampden-Thompson, Warkentien, & Daniel, 2009).
? Grade point average (GPA): In one Chicago study, student GPA was found to be an accurate predictor of student graduation for 80% of all students in the sample (Allensworth & Easton, 2007). Quick Stats Fact Shee
? Low attendance rate: The same Chicago study found that fall semester attendance was an accurate predictor of student graduation for 74% of all students in the sample (Allensworth & Easton, 2007).
? A failing score on the state English language arts or mathematics examination: A Texas study found that 82% of high school dropouts had failed the state exam in either reading or mathematics (Brunner, 2010).
? For English Language Learners (ELLs), research shows ninth grade course performance to be a stronger predictor of high school graduation than language proficiency (Gwynne, Pareja, Ehrlich, & Allensworth, 2012).
? Similarly, among students with disabilities and those who entered high school two or more years below grade level, students who were on track at the end of the ninth grade were three to six times more likely to graduate than students who were off track (Gwynne, Lesnick, Hart, & Allensworth, 2009). ?Ninth Grade Transition Strategies ?School systems must support first-year high school students to help prevent the decline in grades and attendance that often characterize the ninth grade year (Barone, Aguirre-Deandreis, & Trickett, 1991). Strategies include:
? The creation of ninth grade academies that are separate from the rest of the high school, or the creation of separate stand-alone schools (Reents, 2002). During the 2009″“10 school year, 190 ninth grade-only schools were operating (NCES, n.d.-d).1
? A 2002 study showed that for schools in which transition programs are fully operational, the average dropout rate was 8%. Schools without transition programs averaged 24% (Reents, 2002).
? Career academies group students into smaller, themed-learning academies for two to four years, depending on the program. Students learn and take classes with the same group of students and are taught by a team of academically diverse teachers. In 2004, there were 4,800 high schools across the country that had at least one career academy (Brand, 2009).
Philadelphia Decides to Feed All of Its Students
I remember when I taught in high school and distributed to students paper applications to determine eligibility for free and reduced lunch. Many of the applications never reached the parents. I found them on the floor of the room. Students were ashamed of their family situation which made them eligible for free and reduced breakfast and lunch. The School District of Philadelphia has come up with a simple solution by supplying all of their students with free can receive school breakfast and lunch free of charge starting this fall without having to submit a paper application. Anticipated benefits include better access to school meals by easing the strain on household budgets, reducing the paperwork burden on families and eliminating the stigma associated with the free lunch program.
Removing the meal application and the need for cash payments will reduce internal administrative costs and reallocate some existing Food Services personnel. The increased efficiencies will help the Food Services division financially as it works towards the goal of increasing the number of full-service kitchens in District schools. The District has offered breakfast at no cost to all schools for the past four years. Since 1991, approximately 175 schools have participated in a universal lunch program where all students were able to receive free lunch without completing paperwork. Under the new program, an estimated 85 schools will join their ranks. Approximately 80 percent of Philadelphia public and charter school students meet income guidelines for school meals. More than 143,000 students in Philadelphia are served annually. During the 2013-14 school year, more than 27 million meals were served, including dinner as part of afterschool programs at approximately 100 school meal sites.
Nationwide, more than 13 million children are served school breakfast and more than 32 million receive school lunch annually. Research has shown links between school meals and improved attendance, nutrition and academic performance.
My hat goes off to the superintendent of the District for putting children first.
Teacher Shortage Impacts the United Kingdom
Daily Mail,September 11 Teacher shortage reaching crisis levels
Almost three out of four local education authorities in England is experiencing a teacher shortage, a survey showed taken on September 11 shows. 18 per cent of those polled said the problem had reached crisis levels.
The Government is adamant the problem is mainly confined to London and the south east of England but the survey reports difficulties outside of the capital city.
The poll for PA News also found some signs of a shortage in Scotland and Wales while Northern Ireland said there was no problem.
Of the 73 per cent of English LEAs that said their schools were struggling to find suitably qualified staff, half said the shortage was either moderate or severe, while the rest stressed it was slight.
Math and modern languages teachers were hardest to find – a fact ministers have attempted to address by introducing £4,000 ‘golden hellos’ for graduates in those subjects who enter training.
Asked what the Government should do to remedy the situation, the response was that society needed to value teachers more highly. Just under two thirds believed a rise in basic pay, along the lines of the 21 per cent increase over three years recently offered by the Scottish Executive, would help, although one council said it would not make much difference.
Union leaders said the survey findings proved they were right to say the teacher shortage had become acute.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Employment said the Government had taken ‘decisive steps’ to make teaching more attractive. It had introduced performance-related pay, giving good teachers an immediate £2,000 increase. All postgraduate trainees got a salary of £150 a week, while those training to teach shortage subjects got another £4,000.
Meanwhile, applications to train were up and there were 7,500 more teachers in classrooms in England and Wales than there were two years ago, the spokesman continued.
‘There is more to do but at a time of a strong economy and a buoyant graduate recruitment market, the incentives we have introduced are bucking an eight year long decline in teacher recruitment,’ said the spokesman.
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Feedback from National Dropout Prevention Forum in Myrtle Beach.
I presented three workshops in Myrtle Beach -a 3 hour presentation on bullying and cyberbullying, a presentation on the 15 Effective Strategies and a presentation on Leadership and School Culture. Here is some of the feedback.
Helping Students Graduate:
The Preventable Tragedy of Youth Suicide
https://www.edcircuit.com/preventable-tragedy-youth-suicide-part-1/
I am being quoted in an article from Gambia dealing with school bullying
School bullying should be looked into
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
“Bullying brings about violence and where violence exists it results to anarchy, which directly or indirectly will affect the lives of the young children of our society,” said a senior education officer in Region One.
So many children feel very discomfort in schools as a result of school bullying. Authorities need to do lot to dent this menace because it has and still serving as obstacle for so many children.
Bullying exists in schools and in communities and therefore a more collaborative effort is needed to make a stop. This would require both parents and teachers to work hand-in-glove by putting in mechanisms that would arrest the situation.
In the United States, according to the FBI, “Bullying remains one of the largest problems in schools, with the percentage of students reportedly bullied at least once per week steadily increasing since 1999.”
In today’s world, bullying goes beyond school. It goes on the internet which is becoming even more common in Western world. According to Franklin Schargel, cyberbullying has become more rampant and has contributed many committing suicides especially among children. The Internet has unleashed meanness to a degree unseen before. Thanks to the accessibility to the Internet and the affordability of new technology, bullies now have multiple ways to harass their victims. The current generation has the added ability to use technology to expand their reach and the extent of their attacks exponentially.
To address the issues in advanced world, Schargel suggest a need to assess the awareness and the scope of the bullying problems at school through student and staff surveys.
Also in The Gambia, to address the issue of bullying and other violence, matters concerning them should not be hidden. They should come to the fore for relevant authorities to take all necessary steps in solving them or minimizing them to certain level.
Our school authorities should also be vigilant as we are in a technological world in which many students go to school with electronic material including mobile phones and tablets and other gargets. These materials can be used as tools for students to bully their fellow students making them very discomfort in their learning.
Parents should also be checking on their children to monitor their performances and their relationship with their colleagues so as to help them to be comfortable to learn.
“Bullying is never fun, it’s a cruel and terrible thing to do to someone. If you are being bullied, it is not your fault. No one deserves to be bullied, ever. “