Though Colorado has one of the lowest rates for high school graduation in the country, there is evidence across the state that administrators are working to change that. A big part of their strategy is something simple: caring.
Take the Monte Vista School District C8 in southern Colorado, where the graduation rate has climbed significantly in last few years.
“Teachers are expected to just greet the students -- all students -- at the door every morning,” said Superintendent Robert Webb. “Did they have a rough night at home last night? Did something happen with their boyfriend or girlfriend on the phone at lunch time?”
The four-year graduation rate in the district rose steadily from 67 percent in 2012 to 77 percent in 2016.
Webb said the special ingredient to programs aimed at keeping at-risk students in school is “heart.”
KUNC found that many schools across the state with programs aimed at helping kids at risk for dropping out had similar strategies.
At risk students face issues such as pregnancy, helping their families pay the bills, homelessness and abuse. Myriad programs address these issues.
Over and over, administrators said a key part of what made such retention programs successful were efforts by teachers and other school employees to connect with the students in more meaningful ways.
GradNation, a coalition of education-minded groups, recommends caring as a strategy to improve graduation rates. The group wants to see 90 percent of students across the country to graduate by 2020. It cites numerous benefits to graduation: High school graduates tend to earn more over the course of their work lives. They’re less likely to need social services during their lives -- and are even less likely to get in trouble with the law.
In Colorado, about 79 percent of high school students graduate in four years.
Beyond caring
In addition to fostering an inclusive and caring climate that’s led by teachers and administrators, GradNation recommends other strategies, like closely tracking progress and creating pathways for a future after graduation, such as college enrollment.
The Mapleton Public Schools district north of Denver has made a conscious and collaborative effort to make schools less institutional.
“I don’t know how much you know about the reinvention but the story kind of has to start there, which is more than a dozen years ago now in Mapleton,” said Deputy Superintendent Mike Crawford. “At that time there was one large comprehensive high school, very traditional, with kids with seven-period schedules with lots of electives and one counselor for a few hundred kids and it wasn’t working.”
The community and the district came up with a strategic plan that had a new vision for the schools. The goal was to make the experience more personalized and engaging for students. At the high school level, that meant a system of smaller schools.
“So all of our schools are small by design,” Crawford said. “They each have their own learning model so kids choose which small high school they want to go to. We have an international baccalaureate school. We have expeditionary learning schools, big picture schools. We have a school for young adults… We think that builds engagement from the beginning, so kids — there’s no default high school where you go and fall through the cracks. You choose on purpose which small learning community you want to be a part of.”
In the past five years, the graduation rate at Mapleton rose consistently from 43 percent in 2012 to 65 percent in 2016.
At Mapleton's North Valley School for Young Adults in Thornton, several students spoke about what’s keeping them in school.
Kevin Bronish had dropped out and went to work at a supermarket. He realized if he wanted to be a manager one day, he’d have to return to school. The school’s focus on young adults helps him feel welcomed back, he said.
Perla Barron almost dropped out because she fell behind in her studies. She felt like giving up because she didn’t think she could catch up.
“I think the reason that I haven’t, like, left the school or dropped out or anything is probably the people here,” she said. “They’re very supportive and that’s really important in not leaving a place or feeling bad about yourself.”
Luis Torres, another student, echoes that sentiment: “The support that I got from all the teachers made me look into what steps I had to take to follow my dreams.”
Other administrators speak
Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver Public Schools (where the graduation rate rose from 59 percent in 2012 to about 67 percent in 2016): “The counselors and social workers know them each by name and kids really feel like they’re known, that they are cared about.”
Andre Spencer, superintendent of the Harrison 2 district in El Paso County, east of Colorado Springs (where the graduation rate in 2016 was 80 percent, up from 74 percent in 2012): “We visited their homes, we sat down in the living rooms and kitchens and we talked to parents about the importance of getting a high school diploma, the importance of staying in school.”
Frank Reeves, superintendent of the East Grand School District in Granby (graduation rate 92 percent in 2016): “We did a climate survey at the end of this year and the survey, it really showed that our kids feel comfortable coming to school. They feel safe physically. They don’t see a ton of bullying. I think every school sees some and we try to address it as everybody does but it’s not a real big issue for us. … We haven’t canceled school in over 12 years up here. So there’s a sense of consistency of having school (on a four-day week schedule).”
John Youngquist, chief academic officer of Aurora Public Schools (Adams-Arapahoe 28J, where the graduation rate rose from 48 percent in 2012 to 65 percent in 2016): The improvement is partly about “being able to just watch how many student, which students, are on track to graduation.”
Julie McCluskie, director of communications and community engagement for Summit School District in Frisco (where the graduation rate rose from 83 percent in 2012 to 90 percent in 2016): “When you engage with a student, it helps them see that they really can be successful and go on to college.”
John Fogarty, assistant superintendent for student achievement in Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 west of Colorado Springs (graduation rate of 93 percent in 2016): “We have 25 new teachers this year in the entire district. I’ve worked in other districts where you’re hiring 125 new faculty every year. It is really hard to maintain that instructional rigor and expertise when you are constantly turning over teachers and we just don’t have teacher turnover here. …. That’s a huge factor in my opinion.”
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Explore Colorado graduation rates: http://www2.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/graduationdatamap.asp
