Student Success Centered around Solutions

Written by: Stephanie Freeman, Communications Director at MCCOY

The declining state of our public education system has recently taken a spotlight nationally and locally through both President Obama’s State of the Union and Governor Mitch Daniels’ State of the State addresses. This should not be a surprise to anyone working or living within the Indianapolis metro area. Educators, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, faith communities, policy-makers, parents and other caring adults have been collaborating around central Indiana to address the high school drop out crisis in Marion County. In fact, we have seen an increase in the graduation rates to just over 80% because of these successful collaborations. Within these discussions it is easy to point blame and list the many problems that exist. However, what is needed to make increasing graduation rates a trend in central Indiana is to share best practices in policies, recognize programs and individuals that make a difference, and continue to implement solutions that are geared to help students succeed in school and in life.

A solution that many schools, organizations and business have been adopting is to utilize resources that already exist in the community – caring adults. These caring adults are the parents, guardians, mentors and teachers that are in our students lives on a consistent basis and have the potential to have a huge positive impact on the way the student perceives school and the goal to graduate and continue on to higher education.

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, there are three key areas that families and caring adults should focus on to help their students succeed in school and go on to enter and graduate from higher educational institutes. These focus areas are: attendance, achievement and attainment.

Parents, guardians, family members and close caring adults should be aware of their student’s attendance records at school. Students may not feel compelled to attend school because of a lack of motivation and low engagement in school activities. However, adults can change these attitudes by motivating students to get involved with school activities such as clubs and sports, participate in after-school programming with their peers, and helping students increase school success by helping with homework and engaging tutors when appropriate. Adults must realize and commit to the idea that attendance counts. No matter if the absence is excused or unexcused, it’s still time that the student is not in class and is therefore missing out and not learning.

Achievement in school has many positive affects on the lives of students. When a student achieves in their classes they are motivated to try even harder, attend school, get involved in extracurricular activities, and go on to further their education after graduation. Caring adults and family members should keep track their students’ progress in school and help them out when need with homework assistance, test prep and tutoring support.

Attainment of a high school and college diploma is only possible when a student has a dream and a goal to reach for. Caring adults have an obligation to talk about graduating from high school and enrollment and success in college. With out planning and guidance from adults, most students will never reach their full potential.

As caring adults, we all can be mentors, advisors, teachers, and good role models for younger generations. Lets all continue to seek solutions to help students succeed in school and in life.