How do you measure success? In Madison County Schools, we use something called Grade 13 to measure our success. Grade 13 can be a lot of things. Grade 13 might be moving on to a college, university or technical school. It might be a career in the military. It might be starting a business or working for a family business. Whatever Grade 13 is, all of our students will have a Grade 13.
Our district has worked hard to implement programs that create opportunities for success in reaching Grade 13. The district has focused on giving students the opportunity to advance their learning through partnerships with Eastern Kentucky University. EKUNow exists to offer students the opportunity to earn college and high school credit at the same time. This dual-credit program allows students to take courses at EKU via distance learning technology. They stay on our campus and are supervised by our staff while receiving instruction from EKU professors and earning college credits. Students who are eligible can take courses in English, math, music and social studies.
A new partnership between EKU and Madison County Schools offers high school students who miss the ACT benchmark for math as juniors the opportunity to catch up before entering their freshman year of college. Those identified students have the opportunity to take courses that are equivalent to the 090, 095 and 098 freshman level, non-credit bearing math classes. Upon completion of this course, the student becomes eligible for credit-bearing courses when they enter their freshman year. This program enables students to be on course for full credit load that first year of college and eliminates the issue of paying for courses that do not count toward graduation.
Not all of the programs implemented have been strictly academic. Some of the programs allow students to utilize their existing leadership talents. The Superintendent Teen Task Force and Student Voice groups are such examples. The STTF gives student leaders an opportunity to learn more about leadership and then apply those principles to a peer leadership summit this spring. The task force will help the district focus on some of the issues facing our middle and high school students. Student Voice hopes to accomplish the same goal, but in a different way. Student Voice groups exist in both high schools and in all four middle schools. These groups differ in that they can be utilized by the principals, as well to gain feedback about issues facing their individual school.
Another new program, Project Succeed, began this school year to provide support for teen parents in our district. The purpose of Project Succeed is to provide a student advocate who helps identify and coordinate existing services for teen parents. The issue of teen parenthood is staring us in the face. The unfortunate reality is that for most teen parents the barrier of having a child to care for can lead to dropping out of school. To help get those students to their Grade 13 successfully, we are offering help in removing barriers such as child care or social services that already exist. This program is working to keep teen parents in school so that their futures can be brighter and so can the futures of their children.
The district also has invested in developing an African American Mentoring Program, which is a partnership with the Madison County community. The program exists to target minority youth who need a network of support and mentorship. The program has begun training and coordinating community leaders and volunteers through the leadership of Superintendent Intern Wade Stanfield. In the near future, our students will benefit from an additional layer of support toward their grade 13.
As we have now completed three school months, we are excited about the smooth opening of B. Michael Caudill Middle School and the progress of construction at Madison Southern High School. We look to both of those construction projects as ways to open doors for many students in our district. We also are excited about beginning the process of building a new middle school in Berea that will feed Madison Southern High. That project will also open doors and provide opportunities for students in the Berea area.
In measuring our real success then, we must continue to ensure that every Madison County student can enter the next phase of his or her life successfully. We are not there yet, but we are indeed committed.
As we continue to grow as a district, we will continue to examine how we can work to improve the lives of our students and ultimately the lives of all those in our community. Keeping true to our district motto is a daily challenge for all of us. Every Student Counts.
Until next time …
Viewpoints
Helping students reach Grade 13
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