Diploma Completion

A natural convergence of Graduation Alliance’s Alternative Education and Exploration & Planning solutions, the Workforce Diploma Initiative is delivered in partnership with public-sector economic development agencies, private-sector corporate leadership and participating institutions of higher education and training. In a time of vast political partisanship, it’s a civically viable educational and economic initiative upon which both sides of the aisle can agree.

That’s because the program is designed to lift up only those participants who fully engage in their education and training. And a unique pay-for-performance model ensures public investment directly serves those individuals who are most likely to complete the program and go on to benefit the greater community.

The average expense of program participation for one year? Less than half the current per public student average of $13,000. Program costs include:

• Identification and re-engagement of participant cohorts. Graduation Alliance works with partner agencies to prioritize target populations, typically starting with outreach to working-age citizens who left school with less than one year’s worth of academic credits remaining.
• Enrollment in Graduation Alliance’s fully accredited online high school, The American Academy
• Transcript support specialists dedicated to recovering records and assessing academic gaps to assure education and career preparation in line with contemporary standards
• Access to more than 200 courses, including elective options designed in cooperation with employers nationwide to ensure the immediate workforce readiness of participants
• Supplemental non-cognitive skill development units to gauge and address the development of professional soft skills
• 24 x 7 x 365 academic support from highly qualified teachers, personal academic coaches, and tutors
• Career transition counselors who stay with students through their education, training and job placements and focus on the identification of post-diploma opportunities and the development of personalized career readiness plans.
• Stringent academic progress benchmarks — two classes per month with no exceptions —  to eliminate any ambiguity about expectations and objectives.

Despite the tremendous system of support, the Workforce Diploma is not an easy path to graduation. Participants in the program will be expected to embrace their renewed opportunity to complete a high school diploma as a gift from their community — an investment that comes with an expectation of a lifelong return. Once accepted into the program, participants must remain fully engaged in order to remain enrolled; those who do not will be quickly replaced with participants eager to take advantage of the opportunity.