Transcript MISSISSIPPI STORY • 2007 – Designed Structure for Reform – Secured Additional Support From Legislature – Disseminated Education Reform Agenda – Contracted with ECS to.

MISSISSIPPI STORY
• 2007
– Designed Structure for Reform
– Secured Additional Support From Legislature
– Disseminated Education Reform Agenda
– Contracted with ECS to Design and
Implement Teen Summit
– Established Youth Advisory Board
• 2008
– 1/15 Teen Summit Destination Graduation
EDUCATION REFORM
• The Mississippi Board of Education and
Education Department identified two
specific measurable outcomes and five
controllable variables that frame education
reform for the next five to seven years.
• There is a strong commitment to engaging
all education stakeholders, including
students, in this reform strategy
CONTROLLABLE VARIABLES
Providing a rigorous high quality curriculum and
assessment program that accelerates student
learning
Ensuring that we recruit and retain quality teachers
in every classroom
Ensuring that we recruit and retain quality
administrators in every school and district
Building and enhancing a positive perception of
public education in Mississippi
Designing an educational system that prepares
students for the 21st century workforce in MS
OUTCOMES
Reduce the dropout rate by 50% in
five to seven years
Mississippi students’ test scores
achieve national average of
NAEP scores in five to seven
years
Categories of Factors
Contributing
To Students Dropping Out
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Individual factors
Family factors
School factors
Community factors
School Factors
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Lack of program for challenged students
No significant, interested adult
Lack of alternatives for learning
Lack of active learning instruction
No individual learning plans
Behavior and discipline issues
Retention policies
State Plan – Timeline & Critical
Components
• Local Dropout Prevention Teams
• Local Action Plans
• Seven Critical Components
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Public Relations Dropout Prevention Awareness
Campaign
Assessment of Current Initiatives
School Attendance Officer (SAO) Staff Refocusing
Study
Dropout Recovery Program
Transition Plans for Dropout Prevention
Federal Programs/Funding Opportunities
Research Partnerships
YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD
• 20 members: four members from each of the four
congressional districts and four at-large representatives
(e.g., private school student, home schooled student
and/or out-of-school youth).
• One of the four representatives from the congressional
districts will be a freshman, another a sophomore,
another a junior and the fourth a senior in a public
school; the at-large representatives will parallel these
age-grade characteristics.
• Each year five representatives will complete their fouryear term and another five will join the State
Superintendent’s Youth Advisory Board
YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD
• Advise the State Superintendent on issues
affecting education in Mississippi
• Inform other youth on education issues
• Solicit input from other youth on education
issues
• Provide the State Superintendent and other
policymakers and education leaders access to
high school youth from across the state to inform
their deliberations
• Provide fresh perspectives and possible
solutions to education challenges in Mississippi
YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD
• Demonstrate to policymakers, education leaders
and the public the positive role youth play to
assist in ensuring quality education opportunities
for all students (reversing the stereotypical views
of students)
• Collect information from other youth groups in
order to inform the State Superintendent
• Conduct periodic seminars for key constituents
responsible for education policy and practice
• Form committees, which will meet as often as
necessary to assist the State Superintendent
TEEN SUMMIT AGENDA, DESIGN
AND DECISIONS
The ECS Team:
1. Identified the information needed from
participants to assist MS DOE efforts
2. Developed a set of questions to secure
appropriate information
3. Selected a set of protocols appropriate for
each set of questions
4. Defined the role of members of the Youth
Advisory Board prior to, during and postSummit
Destination Graduation
AGENDA
Welcome and Introductions
World Café
– Engagement of students with peers, in small groups, to identify
common experiences and insights to reduce dropouts in Mississippi
Wagon Wheel
– Engagement of all students in pairs to deliberate and
determine specific strategies consistent with the five
controllable variables to enhance Mississippi K-12 Public
Education
Lunch
Sessions (with adults as scribes)
– Student facilitated small group discussions on specific
strategies and responsibilities for reducing the dropout rate
in Mississippi
Debrief
Summary and Action Steps
Summit Agreements
Be Fully Present
Speak Your Truth; Listen for
Understanding
Connect with People You Do Not
Know
Own the Day
The World Café
• Who do you know that has
dropped out of school and why do
you think they did?
• Who do you know that has
graduated from school and why
do you think they did?
The World Café
• What do you have to contribute
and learn today?
The World Café
• What is the connection between
the quality of education and the
quality of life in your
community?
Wagon Wheels
• Think of a time that you were
really engaged in learning, in any
setting. What was it about the
learning experience that
motivated you?
Wagon Wheels
• Think of a teacher or coach that
has really motivated you. What
was it about the teacher or coach
that really inspired you?
Wagon Wheels
• What can your school do to
significantly increase the
graduation rate?
Wagon Wheels
• What can you do working with
your school and community to
support students to stay in
school?
Critical Friends
Conversation
• Why are so many students
dropping out of school?
Critical Friends
Conversation
• What can schools and
communities do to motivate
students to graduate?
• What obstacles must be
overcome?
DATA ANALYSIS
• Members of the State Superintendent’s
Youth Advisory Board collected over
18,000 insights, strategies and
suggestions to reduce the dropout rate in
Mississippi during the Youth Summit
• The following photo demonstrates their
efforts to analyze and present these data
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
Think of a time when you were really engaged in learning.
What was it about the learning experience that really
motivated you?
• Caring/relationships/encouraging
• Passionate teachers
• Relevance/real life
• Hands-on/experiential
• Interesting topics
• Interactive and engaging (out of the box)
• Diverse learning styles
• Peer motivation
• Patience (Checking/teaching for understanding)
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
What can you do working with your school an d community
to support students to stay in school?
• Demonstrate leadership and mentor other students who are
struggling
• Encourage more businesses in the community to engage with our
school
• Help my parents feel connected to the school and understand the
importance of education
• Speak up in class and in school when I see inappropriate
behavior
• Offer suggestions to improve teachers
• Ask my principal to develop a student advisory group, like they
have at the state
• I should not drop out
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
Why are so many students dropping out of school? What is the root
cause?
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The three most common responses were related to lack of support, drug use, and
pregnancy. Our group felt that drug use and pregnancy were symptoms, in part, of
the former as well as many of the points below and also showed up frequently
because of their visibility.
The most common response around lack of support was focused on parental support,
followed by school-based supports (teachers, guidance counselors, etc.)
One key and highly repeated response had to do with students falling behind
academically. Students repeated words like “ashamed” or “embarassed” in regard to
how students felt when they were behind. Basically, there seems to be one path to
graduation and even a temporary deviance from that path can cause a student to fall
behind with no safe options to catch up.
Students also repeated lack of motivation, boredom, lack of sense of purpose around
education and a lack of relevance of the curricula.
There were also a considerable number of responses that had poverty at their core.
Students reported needing to support the family financially, working too many hours
after school, supporting siblings, and other issues at home and in the community that
related to these.
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
What can schools and communities do to motivate students
to graduate?
What obstacles must be overcome?
• Provide incentives and rewards to students who stay in school
• Offer peer mentoring and peer counseling
• Focus on the school environment and make classes more
interesting/exciting
• Have teachers who care about students, show an interest in students’
lives and who love to teach
• Offer parent education and parenting classes
• Help students learn about career options, and about options for higher
education and scholarships
• Obstacles most frequently cited: drugs and pregnancy
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
What can your school do to significantly
increase the graduation rate?
• More teacher involvement, teachers who care,
better instruction
• More interesting coursework
• More parental involvement
• More after school activities
• Tutoring and mentoring: both after school with
teachers and peer-to-peer
FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
With over 1,000 responses, less than 1% of
the participants reported no change in
thought, leading to the conclusion that
events such as this lead to highly
significant change in people’s attitudes
toward educational issues. Overall change
from a feeling of hopelessness about
improving education to one of strong
empowerment that people can create
change by working together.
CLARION LEDGER EDITORIAL
January 20, 2008
Dropouts: Students, parents unite
The Clarion-Ledger
The state Department of Education is serious about lowering
Mississippi's dropout rate, as evidenced by the nation's first Teen
Graduation Summit in Jackson last week.
More than 1,000 students and educators from 223 of Mississippi's 247
high schools Tuesday responded to two basic queries: why young
people drop out of school and what can be done.
The students chosen to participate represented all walks of high school
life, from high achievers to at-risk students. Members of the
summit's Youth Advisory Council, made up of 18 students from
across the state, are helping state officials plan how students in
each high school can work on the issue in the future.
"No other state is making this type of commitment," said Hank Bounds,
state education superintendent.
The severity of the problem requires all the state's resources.
Mississippi's dropout rate is more than 26 percent and costs the state
$458 million each year. The goal is to reduce the rate by 50 percent
in five years.
As part of that plan, the department wants the Legislature to approve
The Quality Education Act of 2008 which has nine proposals. It
starts with providing early childhood education, targets at-risk
students and calls for restructuring high schools.
According to The Parents Campaign (www.msparentscampaign.org), a
nonprofit public school advocacy group, Mississippi has one of the
greatest populations of at-risk students (more than 60 percent).
Yet, the state provides one of the lowest levels of funding for services to
bring these students to a successful level of achievement.
Students, parents and legislators are coming to understand that there is
no one, simple solution to addressing the dropout rate, but ensuring
that kids aren't left behind before they start is essential.
"People understand that making sure our children come to kindergarten
with the skills they need to learn is central to helping them succeed
in school and later in life," says Nancy Loome, the Campaign's
executive director.
This issue cannot be allowed to fade.