Initiatives

Each School in Marion County selected from the nationally researched, best practice initiatives.

INTERNSHIPS

Provide students with the meaningful opportunity to learn about careers, while making the instruction students receive in the classroom more relevant in the real world. Internships may be paid or unpaid, and the length of the internship may vary depending upon the needs of the host employer. Common Goal has partnered with Indiana INTERNnet to provide sixty-five students with meaningful internships for the summer of 2010, with plans to expand in upcoming summers.

 

CREDIT RECOVERY

Credit recovery programs, including NovaNET and PLATO, provide computer-based, flexible, targeted instruction to meet the individual needs of students who may not experience success in traditional classroom settings. Schools use credit recovery programs as comprehensive, standards-based online curriculum to facilitate dropout prevention. These programs are used for remediation and to allow students to recover course credits for classes they have failed at their own pace, with the same academic rigor in place, and graduate on time.

GRADUATION COACH

Full-time Graduation Coaches act as advocates for a targeted cohort of identified students at risk of dropping out, working closely with students, school faculty and staff, parents and guardians, and social service providers. Based on a state-funded Georgia model which demonstrated a dramatic decrease in the number of high school dropouts, Graduation Coaches provide assistance to students by: analyzing data to identify students or subgroups with potential graduation problems; planning, implementing, and tracking individual graduation plans; identifying and resolving barriers to graduation; and facilitating career choices and planning. Graduation Coaches require $50,000 for each year of service (Common Goal is responsible for 100% of costs for initial two years, with support gradually decreasing). Fourteen Graduation Coaches will be in place for the 2010-2011 school year in eight school districts.

 

MENTORS

Volunteer mentors are partnered with high school students, in group settings, to discuss a variety of life skills- from communication and conflict resolution to goal setting and purposeful actions. Training, oversight, and background checks are provided by Chamber staff. Mentors commit to two monthly one-hour meetings with their mentees during school hours, in addition to optional college visits and cultural outings. Currently over 500 students are being mentored in six schools.

 

READ 180

READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program designed to meet the needs of students who are below proficient in reading achievement, currently in use in more than 6,500 classrooms nationwide. The program directly addresses individual needs through adaptive and instructional software, high-interest lexile-leveled literature, and direct instruction in reading and writing skills. Students rotate through three stations (reading, computer and group work stations), with various daily assessments constantly adjusting the instruction students receive in each station. On average, students grow as much as 2.5 grade levels in only one year in reading proficiency and lexile scores.