Keeping Promises to Our Youth Learning, Working and Living: Keeping Promises to Our Youth Virginia Department of Education May 7, 2008

VDOE Timeline  school year, VDOE relied on the local school divisions to count the number of students who dropped out of school each year  school year, VDOE began collecting records for all students enrolled in Virginia public schools through its Education Information Management System (EIMS) that requires school divisions to report the status of all students enrolled in the public schools three times per year.  Summer 2003 Project Graduation – designed to help rising seniors who had already earned required standard credits in English to obtain their English verified credits towards graduation

 VDOE implemented the use of a state testing identifier, which allows the Department to track students over time  Code of Virginia established responsibility for Re- enrollment Regulations of Students Committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)  September 2005 – Regional Truancy Institutes and publication of Improving School Attendance – A Resource Guide for Virginia Schools  SPP/APR Secondary Indicators focused on transition, dropout, graduation and post school outcomes

 school year, the EIMS provided 36 different exit options that can be used to describe why students exited a particular school. The codes provide consistent definitions that school divisions use to document why students exited school.  June 2006, The Study of Truancy Intervention Practices in Virginia for VDOE by Policy Works, Ltd.  November 2007 VDOE recipient, National Governors Association Honors States Grant to improve high school graduation and college-ready rates

 2006, the Board of Education approved the implementation of a new calculation for graduation rates beginning in the fall of This rate reflects the percent of students who were first ninth graders in school year and graduated in the school year.  October 2006, VDOE Student Services staff attended the National Dropout Prevention Network Conference in San Antonia, TX  November Statewide training on Re-enrollment Regulations (DJJ, DCE, DOE and school division staff)

 Virginia Team for Youth - Nine meetings across the state, hitting every Superintendent’s region. Brought together people from local and regional Education Agencies, Correctional Education, Social Services-foster care, Juvenile Justice, WIA Youth Coordinators, GED coordinators, truancy/attendance coordinators, Department of Rehabilitative Services counselors, to create a collaborative approach to prepare youth for success in a global, demand-driven economy. Focus on: coordination, collaboration, job placement, partnerships, joint services, integrated approach, better access, information sharing and level of commitment among the primary stakeholders.  Presentations to the VA Board of Education Graduation and Dropout Prevention Committee

 Spring 2007 Attended Secondary Indicators and Transition meeting in Baltimore with Student Services, Special Education and Federal Program Monitoring team  August 2007, the Virginia General Assembly required the Virginia Board of Education (BOE) to study high school dropout and graduation rates in the state; the Board required VDOE to conduct the study  August 2007, the BOE and VDOE defined a dropout  October 2007, The Report on the Study of High School Dropout and Graduation Rates in the Commonwealth was submitted to Board of Education

 Eighty-five percent of the 132 school divisions responded to the survey.  Fall 2007 – Virginia Commission on Youth Legislative Studies and Initiatives recommended that VDOE establish guidelines for statewide implementation of Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) and a budget amendment for VDOE to construct a database to capture the utilization of Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) in the state  January 2008 Applied for America’s Promise Alliance Dropout Prevention Grant  February Received grant from America’s Promise Alliance for Dropout Prevention Summit

 January – April 2008 VDOE held five regional Student Assistance Programming (SAP) 2 day training  March rd Annual Virginia Transition Forum preconference on Dropout for Students with IEPs – Dr. Bost presented- Participants included general, special education and career and technical staff  March 2008 – Dr. Bost met with key DOE staff across divisions to discuss dropout prevention issues and collaborative efforts  April 2008 – Virginia Commission on Youth asked to study the compliance with the compulsory school attendance law – school truancy

 2008 Superintendent’s Cabinet holding ongoing meetings and planning regarding dropout prevention and school completion  May 2008 Attendance at National Secondary State Planning Institute, Charlotte, NC  June 2008 – Regional Dropout Prevention Meetings  September 2008 – Statewide Dropout Prevention Summit

 Descriptions of Areas Included in a Systemic Approach to Student Graduation Studies of the reasons why students leave school include failure to keep pace with academic standards. Studies of dropout recovery efforts have also lead to observations that adequate instruction is not the only impediment to learning, but also social, economic, and health and mental health factors. A systemic approach to student graduation needs to embrace the entire student with effective practices in both the academic and the student supports area. In addition, a systemic approach must include organizational structure that promotes implementation of effective practices and policies that ensure that they are sustained. The academic aspects of keeping students in schools focuses on matching instructional strategies to what students need on a class and on an individual basis. Skills and knowledge development of instructors is a key element. Understanding how to change instruction so that a student will learn, how to measure student progress, and providing opportunities for a student to demonstrate successful learning are elements of the academic subsystem. The development of standards and model curriculum to teach those standards, the establishment of tutoring systems, the programming of time for additional instruction and remediation for failing students are also elements of the academic subsystem.

One individual with the philosophy that a teacher must find ways to reach a student and help him or her to learn will not thrive in an environment that does not recognize individual student needs as a catalyst for changed instructional approaches. The culture of a school system, expectations and investment in staff learning, use of staff knowledge and strengths, formal and informal organizational relationships, must be aligned to promote and to support changes in the academic approach. Without an organizational management subsystem that expects, supports, and reinforces practices such as use of data for monitoring, assessment, and intervention, school-wide reform and improvement for students who “fall through” the cracks cannot occur. What the school board and the superintendent reinforce through formal, written, policies will be a statement of what is important to that school system, will be given attention, and paid attention and will be expected to be followed. Without formal action to specify expectations and practices of a school system, permanent change cannot be sustained. The formal documents of a school board present what is important to families and to school personnel. These policies ensure that academic and student supports reform is not individual dependent.

Even with the building of academic approaches, policies, and supportive organizational structure and management, a student who is not succeeding may need intervention for reasons that are not related to his or her ability to learn. Help with a family situation, diagnosis and intervention with a drug problem, planning for individual student assistance to overcome distressing situations, are all part of the student supports subsystem that provides the foundation for learning to take place. A student must be engaged to learn. The student support subsystem identifies and addresses the reasons why the student is not engaged. All of the subsystems must operate in concert to an aligned overall system that addresses student school graduation.

Vivian G. Stith-Williams, Ph.D. Student Services Specialist Office of Student Services Virginia Department of Education