Cartersville Middle School

Graduation CoachAlfreda Sullivan

Graduation Coach Priorities

8th Grade CRCT scores: Review 7th grade scores for remediation needs. This is a “gateway” exam to high school!

Attendance: Students missing over 15 days in the previous year or under 80% currently.

Retained Students: Look for repeaters and/or a history of retention. The Dropout risk multiplies with each grade retained.

Failed Core Courses/Poor CRCT scores: Low Math and Reading scores must be remedied EARLY.

Poor behavior: History of poor behavior marks and suspensions increase the dropout risk.

Transitions: These are the fragile years! Focus must be on transition programs into and out of middle school.

Communities In Schools• Communities in Schools is an organization in Georgia that has taken on

a commitment to work with the Georgia Department of Education to provide support to ensure the success of every graduation coach and to help decrease and possibly end the graduation dropout rate and increase the graduation rate.

• At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, there were 29 operational Performance Learning Centers (PLC’s) in Georgia.

A Performance Learning Center is a unique non-traditional learning environment for high school students who are not succeeding in traditional schools.

• Communities in Schools website address is www.cisga.org

Graduation Team

A graduation team consist of administrators, teachers, advisors, counselors, school social workers, etc. The purpose of the graduation team is:

A. To help identify at-risk students.

B. Access school and student needs.

C. Develop and coordinate appropriate interventions.

State CMS CRCT Results 2006-2007 (Current 8th Graders)

Total Number of Ethnicity Failures (Males & Females) & Total Number of Testers in each Ethnicity Group (See next slide for breakdown of numbers).

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Males Females Total #Testers

3-D Column 1CaucasianAfrican AmericanHispanic Multi-RacialAsian/Pacific American Indian

CRCT Test Takers - 2006-2007 School YearTotal Number of Ethnicity Failures (Males & Females) & Total Number of Testers in each

Ethnicity Group

Males Females Total # in Group

of Testers

Caucasian 25 26 208African American 26 15 83Hispanics 11 9 41Multi-Racial 2 0 7Asian/ Pacific/ Island 1 0 4American Indian 0 0 10 0 1

Percentage of CMS CRCT Failures in each Ethnicity Group

(2006-2007 - Current 8th Graders) (See next slide for breakdown of numbers).

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Percentage of CRCT Failures in each Ethnicity Group 2006-2007

• Caucasians 25% • African Americans 49%• Hispanics 49%• Multi-Racial 29%• Asian Pacific 25%• American Indians 0%

Graduation Coach Incentive Program

CMS Star Students of The Month

2007-2008 School Year

September 07- Brandon ColeOctober 07- Christian Brock

November 07- Yanelly Martinez December 07- Darian Lyons

January 08 - Damian Diaz February 08 – David NollMarch 08 – LaTerry Hardy

April 08 – Destinee Farmer

This program was created to award students who excel academically. They are awarded a certificate, T-Shirt with school logo, and his or her photo displayed in The Graduation Coach Star Student of the Month showcase. Each month, the star student’s name and the congratulatory message is read with the morning announcements school-wide.

Field Trip For At-Risk StudentsMrs. Sullivan, Cartersville Middle School Graduation Coach took approximately 25 middle school at-risk students on a field trip to North Metro Technical College on January 24, 2008. The purpose of the field trip was for motivational and educational purposes. The teachers who attended were Ms. Haley Davis, Mr. Blake Dudley, and Mrs. Alfreda Sullivan.

The middle school students have been chosen to visualize how pertinent education is and what it takes to reach a particular milestone in one's life. The students found this field trip very beneficial. Hopefully, visiting the college campus had a positive impact on these youngsters lives and embarked the beginning stages of their career-building paths.

Graduation Coach Website

I created a website for parents, teachers, students, etc., to view. I update my website periodically so viewers are aware of my connectivity with the middle school students. There is also a page with various links including educational and academic links for students and parents to explore.

Check it out and be sure to register by including a contact email address. My website is www.schoolrack.com/asullivan

Tool Kit for Hispanic Families

I have a tool kit specifically for Hispanic families. (Please see me for further information).

This tool kit is beneficial to people who are economically, socially, or educationally disadvantaged.

Graduation Coach Tactics for Decreasing the

Dropout Rate

Besides the Student of the Month Incentive Program:

• My interaction with students one on one or as a group. • CMS after school tutorial program, Boy’s & Girl’s Club tutorial program, Hand’s of Christ

tutorial program, etc. • Mentors and (possibly establishing a mentoring program here at CMS). There are pro’s

and con’s. My thoughts are to work with the PTC and getting parents more involved in mentoring. Of course, background checks will have to be administered. The local Chamber of Commerce is our source for training interested mentors. I obtained some info at our last graduation coach meeting on this subject, and willing to share.

Note: Any ideas from the Graduation Team will be appreciative.