The Georgia Department of Education recently released preliminary graduation figures for 2016. The jump from 78.8 percent in 2015 to 79.2 percent in 2016 reflects an increase for the fifth straight year.
That’s great news, and it reflects a commitment among Georgia’s state school officials, Governor Nathan Deal, and State Legislators, as well as local school officials to work with educational stakeholders to make sure students succeed in school and graduate.
But even as we celebrate this success, we also need to remember that we still have a lot of work to do. Georgia’s high school dropout rate remains above the national average, according to new data released from the National Center for Education Statistics.
There are many reasons a child drops out of school, and painting a picture of a typical dropout is difficult. For some, it’s the result of something that happens outside school — they make bad choices or have to work to support members of their family. Others decide to leave because of poor academic performance, a disconnect between school academics and work, lack of family engagement, or not enough individualized attention.
Identifying these causes and providing early intervention for children at risk of school failure is critical, as well as concentrating on the whole child. We believe that each child, in each school, in each community, deserves to be supported, healthy, safe, engaged and challenged while reaching their full potential.
The Communities In Schools (CIS) of Georgia network, through its 30 affiliates across the state, works one student at a time to help students who are at-risk of dropping out of school to overcome their barriers, and succeed in the classroom.
In the 2015-16 school year, the CIS of Georgia network helped 124,000 students face their barriers through our proven model of assessing the students’ needs, and connecting at-risk students and their families to basic and critical educational and community-based resources. Of those students, 97 percent were promoted to the next grade, and 89 percent of the seniors realized their dream and graduated.
Together, we can change the picture of education in Georgia.