“Every one of you has the potential to achieve anything you want in life, but it’s your responsibility to take that potential and make something positive out of it,” Pepperell senior Stephanie Boyd told incoming freshmen at a Handprint ceremony at Pepperell High last week.
Stephanie is one of four seniors who spoke to the class of 2011 before the 250 students took a pledge to graduate.
The ceremony, a part of the Freshman Academy that Floyd County Schools piloted at Pepperell High, is a small step in the direction school leaders are taking to raise the high school graduation rate.
According to the state Department of Education’s annual report card, the system’s graduation rate has hovered at about 73 percent during the past three years, just above the state average.
To improve that, Floyd high schools have initiated a stronger focus transition into more responsibility for freshmen students.
“I have been working with the principals at the high and middle schools to formulate a plan for a particular school,” said Lynn Plunkett, interim superintendent of Floyd County Schools. “We want a transition program … that suits the needs of the students at that school, to that community, so each program is different.”
When talking with principals, counselors, graduation coaches as well as Plunkett, the general consensus is the freshman year is the time to try to get students on the right track — to keep them from dropping out later because of missing credits or frustration at not keeping up with their academics.
“The transition from eighth to ninth is tough, and we lose a lot, so we are focusing on getting as many as possible through freshman year,” said Smith Lucas, graduation coach at Model High School, adding that the school is still implementing programs but already has High School 101, horizontal teaming for freshman teachers where they work as a closer team through planning and discussion as well as incentives for students. “If they get behind, turn 16, they’re generally the ones that quit. If more get through freshman year to sophomore, there’s a better chance.”
Armuchee High, like Model High, doesn’t have the right space for a full freshman academy. When the new high school was built, it had a separate wing off to the side for freshman classes. Now that Pepperell has fully instituted its program, other school leaders are visiting and planning a version that fits their school, with programs at Armuchee, Model and Coosa expected to be at least partially, if not fully, implemented by the 2008 school year.
“We started by trying to do a better job with orientation … (by) adding a day in the summer for eighth graders to come in, get their schedules, talk to teachers, see their rooms, then had the parents in (later),” said James Burris, principal at Armuchee High.
Burris also had a freshman open house the same night as the seniors. He learned parents wanted the same college information so he set another date to bring freshmen and their parents in for a college night. Armuchee is also a testing ground for a math skills support class.
All the schools have High School 101, a required freshman course that teaches study skills, communication and other skills necessary to succeed in high school.
“Pepperell High School, though, is the first full-blown academy where the students are in a separate wing of the school, all the classes are only freshman and the ninth grade teachers have a common planning period,” said Plunkett. “It makes it more cohesive, easing them into responsibility and the challenges — the things they face as high school students that they might not be ready for.”
During the ceremony, Coosa High School counselor Gilda Day watched with interest because Coosa is beginning to implement strategies focused on freshmen. Day said she liked the ceremony because it is a bonding experience.
“I also liked the peer-to-peer with the seniors telling them what they found to be true and important,” she said.
She said she has done some research and is trying to take what works to create Coosa’s own program, saying they need to realign the building to create a freshman academy wing as well as the HS 101 class. With some tweaking, she hopes to have an academy for the 2008 school year. After the ceremony, she was talking with Phil Ray, principal at Pepperell High School, about his school’s program.
Ray said his school was a testing ground, but noted in the 2002-2003 school year, 31 percent repeated their freshman year, but in the 2006-2007 school year, which had a full freshman academy, the repeat rate was eight percent.
He said the visual commitment to graduation reminds students in a concrete way of their goal, adding he spent a lot of time modeling a “High Schools that Work” program from the Southern Regional Education Board, as well as visiting other schools and doing research before implementing, with the handprints a key part of it.
During the ceremony, several seniors spoke to the students about how to get through high school, encouraging them to stay focused and get involved. Sarah Whitley also spoke to them before they took the pledge.
“High school is not a destination — it’s a step in your life’s journey,” she said. “We’re glad you are here but I want you to understand the goal in front of you is a stepping stone goal.
“There is no excuse for you not moving to the 10th grade and eventually graduating in 2011. We expect that — but we expect a lot more and I want you to expect a lot more of yourselves.”
