Fifteen Starkville School District students earned their GEDs this year. Sounds average, until you consider that just five had earned their GEDs in the previous five years combined.
Overstreet School Principal Julie Kennedy and Starkville School District Assistant Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin are the people behind the turnaround. Last year the two administrators put their heads together to discuss flaws within the district”s GED program, which was obviously failing students, and searching for ways to improve the system. The solutions they devised addressed a number of needs in addition to steering at-risk students toward a high school diploma.
The first change involved moving the student GED program, teachers and all, from Emerson Family Center, where an adult GED program remains, to Overstreet. Just this year the district began housing its alternative program at Overstreet and the student GED program seemed a natural fit to include at the former elementary school.
Now, students between the age of 16-19 who are at least one full year behind their peer group can be evaluated to determine if a GED is a better fit than a traditional diploma.
But the biggest difference between housing the student program at Emerson versus Overstreet is status. Because the 16-19 program at Emerson was established as an adult GED program, students who wished to enroll at Emerson were forced to drop out before enrolling, costing the district money as well as a strike against its graduation rate.
The state accountability system deducts points from a district for each dropout. School districts earn 300 points for each graduate, lose 300 points for each dropout and earn 125 points for each GED awarded.
Then there”s the money. School districts get thousands of dollars per year for each enrolled student, and moving the GED program to Overstreet would allow those GED students to remain in district.
When the combination of lost money, increased dropout rates and the availability of space at Overstreet was brought to Gonsoulin”s attention last year, he was eager to move the program, even though he was on a trip to Washington D.C. at the time all of this came up.
“I wanted to do it last year. I said switch them now. Do it now,” he recalls. But his fellow administrators convinced him to help craft a plan rather than make a hasty move.
So Gonsoulin and Kennedy went to the counselors at the high school and asked for help tracking down every dropout who met the criteria to enroll in the student GED program. They talked to each of those students and convinced six to sign up for the GED program. Another six who were already in the GED program at Emerson were moved with the program. And 24 students who met the criteria were transferred from Starkville High School.
Of those 36 students, 15 received their GEDs, two were suspended from the program and the rest remain in the program as district students, provided they still meet the age requirement.
“Some of these people haven”t been in school for two years. They”re grown men and women, and now they have to sit in a classroom, so they”re not perfect,” said Gonsoulin. “But somebody made an effort to knock on their doors and relate to the person.”
As district students, GED students are entitled to transportation to and from school as well as breakfast and lunch. Plus they receive access to a computer lab and education and career counseling. And the entire program remains budget neutral due to the money received from the state for those students who, in the past, would have been lost.
“Now you”ve generated your own funding for that program by getting those kids back in,” said Gonsoulin.
Kennedy said the GED program at Overstreet was constructed with students” needs in mind. The program runs from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day with a teacher and a teacher”s assistant offering instruction. GED testing is done three times a year, in October, January and April. If a student passes the October test, he or she receives a GED and exits the program and the district receives partial credit for a graduate.
If a student passes all but one section of the GED test, they don”t have to retake the sections they passed, instead focusing their instruction on the section they lack until testing comes back around.
The ultimate goal, she said, is not to receive money or credit for the district through having these students enrolled. It”s to see that they”re equipped to move on to the next level of education.
“A few of the students went straight on to college,” said Kennedy of the GED graduates. “Another one filled out forms for the ACT test (which is necessary before going to college) and missed the test, but we set them up for the next test.”
She said assistance doesn”t stop when students pass the GED. If they come back for help with testing, applying for college or a job or searching for scholarships or grants, they won”t be turned away because their education is an investment in the future of this community.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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