Are children excited about graduation anymore? I remember the excitement at each transition period during school.
My 5th grade and 8th grade promotion ceremonies were instrumental milestones of my educational journey. These moments helped build my interest in achieving graduation from high school.
Since I have returned to the classroom to teach, my goal is to create this same excitement in my students.
Receiving a diploma is a milestone no child should miss!
Graduation is a special time in the life of a student and their family. Yet so many children are struggling in schools daily. Most becoming high school dropouts.
At the end of the day the reality of many students not walking across the stage to receive their high school diploma is because we failed them.
School Districts listening to students, empowering parents, supporting teachers and ensuring school leaders are leading schools, faculty and students to success.
Preparation is Key
Preparing our students for the next stage in their academic career begins in Pre K.
Creating college & career readiness success plans for all students that tracks yearly progress, 9th – 12th, as well as indicates what classes are required and by when as students enter 9th grade.
Support Teachers
We know that teachers are being pulled in too many directions and overwhelmed with paperwork. Let teachers teach!
Everything that we do in schools is to provide children an above average educational experience every day.
Connecting staff that work in the support areas i.e. registration, attendance, counseling, family engagement, behavior and graduation specialist to support teachers educating children.
Graduating High School Should Be Apart of Your Civic Duty
We should make graduating high school a legal requirement. There’s no reason why we should allow students to drop out of school.
Creating innovative pathways that allow students to graduate in their own timing based on their ability would make this initiative successful.
Beginning in Pre K students should have a success plan that has goals. Every student in my opinion should have an individualized education plan. A part of should also include flexibility when grade levels. If a student isn’t ready to move on, they shouldn’t. We must stop pushing students along when they aren’t ready only to cause them to not graduate at all. That’s a huge disservice to our children and society.
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Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.