A teacher looks down at her list of students and sighs. Her district had just given her a new task: A social-emotional “check in” with every student, every day. “It’s not that I don’t want to do it,” she says. “I believe 100 percent in social emotional support. I try to bake it into everything
Rayschelle was proud when her sister earned a high school diploma, but the experience of seeing a younger sibling graduate reminded her that she needed to address some unfinished business. “I dropped out my senior year after I got pregnant, and I always knew I needed to go back to be a good example for
From the start, it was clear: School counselors were going to be some of the most important people for students struggling to adjust to a dynamically changing social, emotional and academic environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as we come upon the one-year anniversary of massive school closures related to the pandemic, a new report
Across the United States, students are struggling to attend both real and virtual classes. And the result is that more students are falling behind, failing classes, becoming credit deficient, and becoming at-risk of not graduating. Now more than ever, students are in need of engagement support. This is why education leaders have partnered with Graduation
Diego had dreams of becoming a photographer. But in his sophomore year in high school, he was forced to leave school so that he could work to support his mother and younger brother. “My mom always wanted me to finish high school, so it was something I wanted to look after,” he said. “After a
One of the things that many students recognized when they began taking online classes as a result of the global health crisis is that even if they’re working just as hard to master the course content, they suddenly have a lot of time in their day. That makes sense. A lot of a traditional school
There are many reasons why a student might be disengaged or not progressing academically right now — and even those who were previously thriving in their classes before the pandemic may now be struggling. That’s why South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman recently announced a new program that will support students who need
Nobody tried to talk Staci out of leaving school before earning a diploma. And even if they had, she probably would have left anyway. She knew what it felt like to grow up without the support of her parents, and she didn’t want her siblings to have the same experience. “I had to grow up
De’jah didn’t have far to go. But when the COVID-19 pandemic closed her school, she was suddenly missing out on the support she was relying on to keep moving toward her graduation goal. “Honestly, I just wasn’t doing my work,” she said. “As soon as I started to not understand something, I felt discouraged and
Even if school was to return “back to normal” soon, students who have dis-engaged during the current global health crisis are at tremendous risk for failing to graduate. And, of course, it’s possible that our “new normal” will be the status quo for some time to come. So what can you do to re-engage students