Educational Initiative Improves Educational Opportunities for High School Students
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High school dropout rates are a problem every state faces‚ and North Carolina is no exception. But with the help of the North Carolina New Schools Project‚ Asheville and Buncombe County are working to improve educational opportunities for high school students.
Backed by an $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation‚ the NCNSP is awarding grants to school districts statewide in order to reform and improve public high schools and assist districts in inventing and implementing more effective means of serving students.
“It’s part of a national initiative to change the way high schools work‚ because they aren’t working for many kids anymore. The goal is to reach out to kids who haven’t been successful‚” says Charlie Glazener‚ executive director of communications and community relations for Asheville City Schools.
Both Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools have received NCNSP grants‚ and each is taking measures to reduce the number of high school dropouts‚ increase graduation rates and alleviate problems with attendance and discipline.
In April 2005‚ Asheville City Schools created the Asheville High School Innovation Task Force‚ a group of more than 100 educators‚ community members and businesspeople who met monthly for one year to develop recommendations for the Asheville City Schools Board of Education on how to improve education for all students.
“Asheville High School already has a great reputation – last year the SAT scores were way above the national average‚” Glazener says. “But there are some students we’re not reaching.”
Because most dropouts occur in the ninth grade‚ one of the Task Force’s recommendations was a cohesive freshman transition program‚ which was implemented during the 2006-07 academic year.
“It’s called FX‚ or The Freshman eXperience‚ and it begins with a freshman orientation a couple days before school starts‚ where freshmen can come and meet their teachers‚ find their classes‚ eat pizza and enter to win a door prize for a new laptop computer‚” Glazener says.
The Task Force’s recommendations also included expansion of AHS’s Academic Literacy Program; expansion of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program‚ an academic support program that prepares B‚ C and D-average students who are willing to work hard for four-year college eligibility; development of an advisory program for 10th- through 12th-graders; and enhancement of AHS’s current service learning and work-based learning programs.
“The three new R’s in North Carolina are rigor‚ relevance and relationships‚” Glazener says.
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Antony Boshier
