Reducing Drop-outs

By Janet L Ryan

Keeping kids in school and engaged is the key to success.

In the "good old days" kids who dropped out of school could get good-paying jobs in many industries. Most drop-outs today are left to accept low-paying jobs with few opportunities for advancement.

Our goal is that all students will stay in school on target to graduate. Some of our targeted improvement actions include:

1. A program giving additional help to students likely to have difficulty transitioning from 6th grade to middle school.
2. Ninth grade learning academies that help students adjust to high school and provide smaller class sizes in core subjects.
3. In-house suspensions that keep kids with problems in school instead of being sent home to get more behind or in trouble.
4. Phoenix Academy, a place for kids who are expelled from grades 1-6, is achieving great success in providing children with better skills for learning and coping in the difficult environments in which some of them live. We expect to provide a successful school similar to Phoenix for grades 7-12.
5. Kids with a 3.0 GPA or above seldom drop out of school. Kids with less than a 2.0 often do. "Project 980" is targeting and engaging 980 students who are testing proficient but recording grades less than a "C" - kids who can do the work but are failing and are potential drop-outs.
6. "Top 15" is another program at high schools that will target and engage students who are most likely to have or cause problems.
7. We've hired campus culture directors who are working to get all students engaged in sports, arts or other school activities that will help keep them connected to school.
8. We've opened many new maagnet programs such as engineering, law, environmental and micro society offering a better variety of choices.
9. We will build newer academic and athletic facilities and continue to look for ways to encourage all students to stay in school and stay in Fresno Unified.
10. We are forming a Commissison of district and community experts to develop a broad-based plan to rebuild our Vocational/Career Technical program to better fit the community's employment needs and provide students with pathways to fruitful employment.