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Youth Leadership/Dropout Prevention Pilot Program
| Name | Alta Mae Marvin | | Situation | The dropout rate in Colleton County is 47%, 37% of the adult population does not have a high school diploma and 40% of the workforce leave the county everyday for work. Each year's class of dropouts costs the county $200 billion dollars in lost revenues and taxes, a staggering statistic when added to the fact that 75% of prison inmates are high school dropouts. Colleton County is in need of real economic development, a balanced plan for growth, and improved quality of life. This begins with educating our young people in a way that will also engage them in their
community. | | Response | The Youth Leadership/Dropout Prevention Pilot Program is being conducted in each of the County's middle schools. Based on our research and findings from various studies, we learned that middle school students show
increased school success when participating in these types of programs. The first year the program was conducted in Ruffin Middle School, Forest Circle Middle School and Colleton Middle School. We met with the students one period a week for 14-16 weeks. The meetings were during the school day. We conducted leadership and team building sessions, career research, diversity training and a community-based service learning project. We held a kick-off celebration and year end celebration that involved students, parents, partners and the community. | | Impact | We worked with a total of 106 middle school students. The statistical breakdown is as follows: 38 white students, 68 minority students; 64 male students and 42 female students. We estimate that 15 of the students have some form of learning disability. It will be several years before we can determine the percentage of these students who stay in school. However, we have determined the following: Attendance: 34% showed
improvement, Behavior: 64% showed improvement, Grades: 44% showed improvement. |
Last update5/9/2008
This website is maintained by Amy West.
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