Local groups look for ways to help and encourage youths to stay in school and graduate

Thursday, August 28, 2008 8:13 AM

By James Cowden

For the Salisbury Post

Another school year is under way in Rowan County. Students wait with great anticipation to see old friends, make new friends and get to know their teachers.

Most students will acclimate quickly to the new school year, but some will drop out of school before they graduate.

Why do students drop out of school? There is no single reason why. According to “The Silent Epidemic, Perspectives of High School Dropouts,” the top five reasons dropouts identify for leaving school are:

- Classes were not interesting (47 percent);

- Missed too many days and could not catch up (43 percent);

- Spent time with people who were not interested in school (42 percent);

- Had too much freedom and not enough rules in my life (38 percent);

- Was failing in school (35 percent).

The biggest surprise to most people is the belief that dropouts must be failing school. The “Silent Epidemic” survey found that 88 percent of dropouts had passing grades, with 62 percent having C’s and above.

As complex as individual circumstances may be for young people dropping out of school, it is seldom a sudden act, but a gradual process of disengagement. Youths may refuse to wake up, skip class or have frequent absences from school.

Parents are sometimes at a loss on how to get their kids to attend school. They may rely on the school truant officer to get their child back in school, but ultimately the student becomes further disengaged.

My oldest son was an example of a student who didn’t want to attend school. It was a struggle every morning to get him up and ready to go to school. I am not talking about high school or middle school, but when he was in the first and second grades. As time went on, he had more frequent absences, but eventually graduated through a home school program.

He was a smart kid who didn’t perform well in a formal school setting. He attended one semester at a community college, but didn’t do well there either.

When youths don’t attend school regularly, they begin to fall behind in their classes. They can struggle to make up the work missed but miss the opportunity to hear class interaction with the teacher and to ask questions of the teacher. The high school graduation requirements are stringent for today’s students.

The decision to drop out of school does not begin in the 10th grade or when a student turns 16, the age North Carolina will allow a student to drop out.

According to Linda Harrill, state director of Communities in Schools of North Carolina, too often parents believe that middle school “doesn’t matter because it does not count.” What they fail to realize is that grades 4 through 8 are the most critical in a child’s educational development. The foundations of basic reading and math are important in the primary grades.

Communities throughout Rowan County are actively involved in helping youths graduate. The Rowan Partners for Education, an advocacy group for public school excellence, recently held a round-table discussion in reducing the dropout rate locally. Agencies involved were Adolescent and Family Enrichment Council, Black Achievers, Communities in Schools, Cooperative Extension, Department of Social Services Children Services Division, Girl Scouts, Henderson Independent High School, Lideres Hispanos del Futuro, Project Safe, Rowan County United Way, Youth Services Bureau and YMCA and the Rowan-Salisbury School District’s intervention and prevention programs. Some of these are the 6 Up and 9 Up programs, whereby rising sixth- and ninth-graders are provided skills they will need to feel more competent in their classes. This is provided before the school day begins.

The Rowan-Salisbury School System also received a $6 million federal grant for dropout prevention. During the next four years, the grant will focus on risk factors on youth, such as alcohol and drug abuse, bullying and gang activity. Many programs will be directed toward elementary and middle school age levels.

These are a few of the many new and continuing initiatives that will help students complete their education.

State Superintendent of Public Schools June Atkinson has announced a “Graduation Awareness Week” Sept. 7-13 to build a statewide awareness program to encourage students to stay in school and graduate from high school.

James C. Cowden is Rowan County Cooperative Extension director.

New Study Shows That with Academic Outcomes and Dropout Prevention, It’s Not Just What You Do, It’s How You Do It

ALEXANDRIA, Va, Aug 27, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Communities In Schools Releases Results of Seven-State Study That Shows Improvement in Math, Reading and Graduation Rates is Linked to Integrated Service Provision

Communities In Schools, the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, has released initial results from the midpoint of its five-year longitudinal study. The study, conducted by ICF International, a global consulting and research firm, has produced three major findings. One of the most notable findings is that the Communities In Schools Model of providing integrated student services has a stronger impact on school-level outcomes than providing services for students in an uncoordinated fashion.

“We are thrilled to have this external validation of our work,” says Daniel J. Cardinali, president, Communities In Schools, Inc. “For more than 30 years, we’ve been working inside schools and seeing incredible results among some of the country’s most underserved students. Now, we have scientific evidence that our particular approach to improving student achievement is really making a difference.”

For more than three decades, Communities In Schools has been working in partnership with public schools, integrating the services that students need to stay in school and achieve high academic outcomes. Services such as tutoring, mentoring, after-school programs, career development, financial literacy, community service and life skills development are coordinated through a single point of contact at the school. Resources are then tailored to the school and the student, and also linked to academic outcomes. This coordinated, integrated way of serving the whole child is the hallmark of the Communities In Schools Model, which is now proven to produce better outcomes.

The study is based on a comparative analysis of more than 1,200 schools–half of which implemented the Communities In Schools Model and half of which did not. The states of Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Washington, and Pennsylvania were selected for the study because they comprise the largest concentration of Communities in Schools affiliates in the nation. The findings in this study exceed the U.S. Department of Education standards for showing a substantial impact. Additional findings include:

– Among similar research-based dropout prevention organizations, the Communities In Schools Model is one of the few proven to actually keep students in school. It is also the only program among this small group of organizations that is proven to increase graduation rates. When measured against the comparison group, of every 1,000 students at a Communities In Schools high-implementing school,* 36 more high school students remain in school and 48 more graduate on time with a regular diploma.

– When implemented with fidelity, the Communities In Schools Model produces a higher percentage of students reaching proficiency in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math. At high implementing* Communities In Schools schools, of every 1,000 elementary students, 53 more attain proficiency in math and 20 more attain proficiency in reading. For every 1,000 middle school students, 60 more achieve proficiency in math and 49 more achieve proficiency in reading.

– When the Communities In Schools Model* of integrated student services is effectively implemented, there is a strong correlation with positive school-level outcomes like dropout and graduation rates. This correlation is much stronger than when services are provided in an uncoordinated fashion. The study confirms that when combined, the elements of the CIS Model, including the presence of a school-based site coordinator, enhance the effectiveness of prevention and intervention services.

About Communities In Schools — Communities In Schools is the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, working in more than 3,200 K-12 public schools. Founded in 1977, Communities In Schools is headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Today, nearly 1.2 million young people every year receive direct services through nearly 200 Communities In Schools local affiliates in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 80 to 90 percent of our tracked students show improvement in academic achievement, attendance, behavior and promotion to the next grade level.

About ICF International — The evaluation contractor for this project is ICF International. ICF International brings nearly 40 years of experience in evaluating social, environmental, security, defense, energy and transportation programs, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. ICF is an established and respected partner of the U.S. Department of Education, and has a portfolio of clients that include state and federal government agencies, and domestic and international for-profit and nonprofit organizations. ICF is known for their high standards of rigor, comprehensive research designs and outstanding evaluation.

*High-implementing schools, as defined in this study, refer to Communities In Schools (CIS) schools that implement every aspect of the CIS Model. The CIS Model of integrated student services includes the following core elements: (1) the presence of a CIS school-based, on-site coordinator; (2) a comprehensive school- and student-level needs assessment; (3) a community asset assessment and identification of potential partners; (4) annual plans for school-level prevention and individual intervention strategies; (5) the delivery of appropriate combinations of widely accessible prevention services and resources for the entire school population, coupled with coordinated, targeted and sustained intervention services and resources for individual students with significant risk factors; and (6) data collection and evaluation over time, with monitoring and modifications of services offered to individual students and/or the entire school population.

SOURCE Communities In Schools

 http://www.cisnet.org

CIS of Charlotte -Youth giving focus of statewide network

Youth giving focus of statewide network

Philanthropy Journal
Todd Cohen | August 20, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Communities in Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg received $400 to support Walk in My Shoes, a mentoring project created by students at Phillip O’Berry Academy High School to help lower-classmen learn from upper-classmen about navigating the school and its social networks.
And Youth Homes Inc. received $2,500 for Right Start Parent for Life, a program to provide parenting training for pregnant teens in foster care.

Each grant was made by a separate team of high school students who are part of the North Carolina Youth Giving Network, a statewide initiative that this fall will grow to local funds in 16 communities that aim to help young people learn to be philanthropists by teaching them to make grants to programs that serve young people.

“We’re creating a movement of youth giving in North Carolina,” says Eric Rowles, president and CEO of Leading To Change, a Charlotte firm that provides consulting and training to communities involved in the local funds.

The youth-giving network grew out of the Discovery Alliance, a statewide effort funded by the Michigan-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation that focused on identifying and promoting diverse giving in the state.

Based on a conference on youth giving the Discovery Alliance sponsored in 2005 for 12 community foundations from throughout the state, four of those foundations set up youth funds in Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Davie County.

With seed funding from the Discovery Alliance and from each of the four community foundations, the initial four youth-giving funds also received support from NCGIves, a fund the Kellogg Foundation created at the Raleigh-based North Carolina Community Foundation to foster giving by young people, women and communities of color.

Designed to engage young people in community organizing and social-justice work and help them create a legacy for themselves, the youth-giving program in each community is organized by a site coordinator and housed either at the local community foundation or at a local agency that serves youth.

After being recruited by schools, agencies, religious congregations or other groups that work with youth, 20 to 30 participants are selected for a local team each spring through a competitive process that aims for diversity based on race, class and gender, and tries to ensure a broad representation of local high schools.

Then, from the start of the school year through May, each team meets once a month for two to three hours, receiving grantmaking lessons from 15 trainers coordinated by Leading To Change.
Topics include assessing community needs; developing requests for proposals and reviewing grant proposals; selecting grants by consensus; visiting and interviewing grant applicants; providing follow-up support for grant recipients; making community presentations about youth philanthropy; and working with the media to promote the work of the local youth-giving programs.
Ranging from $500 to $5,000, grants in the first three years of the program have totaled just over $110,000.

Communities in Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, for example, provides $3,000 for the youth-giving fund it sponsors, while Foundation for the Carolinas in Charlotte provides $10,000 for its youth-giving fund.

The network sponsors a statewide conference each fall for participating students, who also communicate electronically with one another, and sponsors a roundtable each June for the students’ advisers.

Monthly evaluations their advisers conduct each month find big increases in the students’ awareness of issues facing young people in their communities, while journals they write show they are recognizing their potential and power as givers, as well as the importance of social justice, Rowles says.

The youth-giving effort, he says, is “changing how young people are seen as expert resources in each of these communities.”

CIS of Cape Fear -At Mosley, a fresh start for both students and school

By Tyra M. Vaughn,
Staff Writer – Star News

Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 10:30 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 10:30 p.m.

Dressed in all black Tuesday night, Oates decided to lay to rest the “Can’t brothers” by placing the words “I Can’t” and “You Can’t” into a box and burying them during the school’s orientation.

“We’re dropping these words from our vocabulary and replacing them with the ‘Try Sisters,’ ‘I’ll Try’ and ‘You’ll Try,’ ” Oates said. “Students who drop out often believe ‘I can’t’ or they’ve been told that ‘you can’t,’ so I wanted to have a funeral to give these students a fresh perspective on school.”

The informal ceremony not only represented a fresh start for the nearly 50 students attending Tuesday night’s orientation, but it also symbolized a new beginning for the school that has been plagued with changes for the past two decades.

Mosley, formerly known as Lakeside School, was New Hanover County’s alternative school for more than 20 years and has been restructured several times over the years to meet student needs. The focus of the school has shifted from catering to high school students with discipline problems to helping students not promoted to the ninth grade transition into high school to dropout recovery.

The school is now undergoing another change by becoming New Hanover County Schools’ first performance learning high school. It’s a transition that teachers, administrators and school officials plan to make permanent.

“We have all intentions of making this school work,” said Rick Holliday, assistant superintendent for support services with New Hanover County Schools. “We’re committed to this as part of our high school reform initiative.”

Isaac Bear Early College based at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Wilmington Early College at Cape Fear Community College also are schools based on the reform initiative, Holliday said.

“Mosley just takes us to the next level,” he said.

Non-traditional learning

The performance learning center uses non-traditional learning approaches to offer students who have already dropped out of school or are at risk for doing so greater access to personal support services in a small business model.

Each classroom is equipped with computers and students learn and are tested on course material from a computer program called NovaNet. Students also are given projects and role-playing exercises to assess their knowledge on the subjects, Oates said.

The number of teachers and students in each classroom also are reduced. At Mosley there are seven teachers or learning facilitators and 100 students enrolled at the school.

Students are taught in small classes where they are able to complete courses at their own pace. Students are enrolled in four classes a semester. Once they complete the course material they can sign up for another course, even if it’s in the same semester, Oates said.

Teachers at the school are responsible for supervising classes and helping students with concepts they don’t understand, Oates said.

“It eliminates the one-size-fits-all approach of learning in the traditional classroom,” Oates said. “The performance learning center allows students to learn at their own pace because the cookie-cutter approach doesn’t work for all students.”

A business environment

In addition to changes in instruction, the school day also is structured differently. Classes begin at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., and students are paired with mentors in their chosen field to shadow during the year. Mosley students will complete an internship during their senior years, Oates said.

“Our focus here is not only on academics, but we want to prep students for post-secondary education or their chosen career path,” Oates said. “Our goal is for the students to come in, take their classes and move on.”

Students must apply and interview to be a part of the school, Oates said. He said they also are required to wear uniforms, which consist of white, navy blue or black polo shirts and khaki, navy blue or black pants, to go along with the school’s business environment.

The performance learning center is a national model put together by Communities in Schools, an organization that focuses on student dropout prevention. The first performance learning center was started in Georgia about years ago. According to the Georgia Communities in Schools Web site, there are now 29 sites in the state. The model has been duplicated in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Pennsylvania. Mosley is North Carolina’s fifth performance learning school, Oates said.

Learning a new way

Mosley’s staff, which includes the principal, teachers, counselors and administrative assistant, participated in training at performance learning centers in Georgia and North Carolina to prepare for the school year, said Louise Hicks, executive director of Communities in Schools of Cape Fear.

Hicks said New Hanover schools officials studied several schools before deciding to implement performance learning at Mosley.

Regina Watson, who taught at Mosley when it was Lakeside, said she’s excited the school system decided to make these changes.

“The school system is moving in the right direction by giving these students an alternate learning setting,” said Watson, who’s been teaching at the school for 10 years. “They have the traditional schools and the early college high schools. This is the missing piece of the puzzle.”

Sophomore Crystal Tart will be attending Mosley this year after attending New Hanover High School and Lakeside School. She said this the first time she’s been excited about starting school.

“I really think the teachers are going to care if I do well here and that will make a lot of difference in my grades,” Tart said. “My outlook on school has already changed.”

Tyra Vaughn: 343-2070

tyra.vaughn@starnewsonline.com

CISNC – Rethinking Dropout Prevention

By Linda Harrill

President, CISNC

Recently, there has been a tendency to panic over the dismal high school graduation rates across our country.  Although it is a cause for alarm and a wake up call for our citizens, we must first admit that this isn’t a problem that simply begins in the ninth grade.

In NC we give young people permission to drop out of school at the age of 16, which for many students means either the end of eighth grade or early ninth grade.  But the decision to drop out does not start in high school; it starts much earlier. It starts when students start to fail, do not master the basic skills early, are socially promoted without the necessary mastery of subject matter, stop doing homework, and skip school.  It starts when parents decide that children do not need their daily supervision or believe that encouragement is not important to their child’s success.  It starts when parents allow children to leave homework undone because they are too busy. It starts when parents do not demand that their older elementary and middle school students have the best teachers and do not ask for more accountability.

Too often parents believe that middle school “doesn’t matter because it does not count.”   What they fail to realize is that grades four through eight are the most critical in a child’s educational development. Placement for high school courses is often based on what teachers see in the middle grades and that often determines how they are viewed by teachers and parents for their entire high school careers.

Academically we should all be more focused on laying the foundations of basic reading and math in earlier grades. Our students will never be prepared to succeed unless we teach them the critical thinking skills that are rooted in a firm academic beginning.

I urge policymakers, school leaders, parents and others to pay much more attention to students in the middle grades. These are critical years academically, socially, and emotionally.  Students engage more actively with their peers and begin to become individuals.  These are the years that they make decisions that will impact them for a lifetime.

As we work together to lower the high school dropout rate, let us be sure that we are addressing the problem at its root cause, not just what is the most apparent.   We need to make sure that we are building a network of support and services to help our children succeed.  In North Carolina we have done a good job of providing support and resources to early education and preschool and now high school reform, but we should not forget the children in middle grades.

Communities In Schools of North Carolina (CISNC) is one of the largest community based networks of local organizations focused on dropout prevention that provides services at every grade level.  CISNC has learned that to increase graduation rates we must help students succeed in school at every grade level and ensure that they are prepared for the future.

We must stop thinking of dropping out as a one time event and recognize that it is the result of a steady progression. An investment in the middle grades is essential to raising the graduation rate in our state, and it won’t happen until we all get involved. Invest in your community by becoming a mentor or tutor for a student “in the middle.” Visit www.cisnc.org for more ways to get involved in your community.

Why is Communities In Schools Important to North Carolina?

Please take some time to watch this video……….

Linda Harrill talks to News14 about the Drop Out Crisis in North Carolina

Friday, August 1, 2008

Group calls on public for dropout help
07/31/2008 03:03 PM
By: Tracey Early

RALEIGH – Latest state statistics show that more than 23,000 students dropped out of high school in the 2006-2007 school year.

But the nonprofit group Communities in Schools of North Carolina wants to change that. They’re calling on the public to get more involved in dropout prevention — not only to keep kids in school, but to keep them out of gangs.

To see the video – please click here – News 14 Carolina’s Tracy Early sat down with Linda Harrill, president of Communities in Schools of North Carolina, to talk about the program, its intentions and how the public can help.

CIS of Brunswick County – Communities in Schools holding Benefit Gala for Children on Oct. 16

7/31/2008

The Leland Tribune

SOUTHPORT, N.C .— Communities In Schools of Brunswick County, Inc. (CIS) is holding its 7th Annual Benefit Gala for Children on Thursday, October 16 at Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center. The black tie event will feature live and silent auctions and entertainment by The 360 Degrees. Jon Evans, news anchor for WECT-TV6 and WSFX-TV26 in Wilmington, will serve as master of ceremonies.

The Benefit Gala for Children is the cornerstone fundraiser for CIS, whose mission is to champion the connection of needed community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school and prepare for life. The funds generated by the gala will support children and families of Brunswick County through academic scholarships, afterschool programs, teen and peer courts, the Adopt-A-School and Volunteer Program, Family Resource Centers, the Family Literacy Center and Parenting Education Programs.

A highlight of the evening is “A Taste of Brunswick County,” which will showcase cuisine from the finest restaurants in the area. Among the restaurants stepping up to the plate are Art Catering, Angelo’s Pizzeria, Baked with Love, Bart’s BBQ, The Boundary House, Carmella’s, Charlie Macgrooders, Gaetano’s Fine Italian Dining, The Isles, Magnolia’s Fine Food and Spirits, Plaza Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant, Port City Java, Provision Company, The Purple Onion Café, Sunset Slush Classic Italian Ice, SweeDeePie Cheesecakes, Taylor Cuisine Café & Catering, Turtle Island and Twin Lakes. “It’s rewarding to see how willing people and businesses are to give back to the community by participating in the gala,” says Catherine Saia of Sunset Slush, who is taking part in the gala for the third time and is a current CIS board member.

From 2007 to 2008, CIS provided services for 690 children in afterschool programs, 2,571 students received volunteer tutor/mentor support, 126 at-risk students were served in Teen and Peer Court, 23 families with 31 children participated in the Family Literacy Program, 162 adults and 138 children received parenting support services, and 17 graduating high school students received scholarships for college.

David Gooden, an authorized agent for U.S. Cellular Platinum Certified is spearheading this year’s fundraising effort as honorary chair and presenting sponsor. Other local businesses aid this effort via cash donations, in-kind donations and auction items. A host of community volunteers donate their services each year to organize and support the gala. “We value the support of the community as we strive to provide the services our children need to succeed in school and life,” stated Tart.

For tickets, sponsorship opportunities, donations of auction items, restaurant participation, and general information contact Kimberly Bandera at 457-2916 or kbandera.cis@bizec.rr.com, or visit www.cisbrunswick.org.