Recognizing students for outstanding academic achievement
We send each student that makes the honor list for academic achievement a personalized note each quarter. The student gets a letter from the campus president and the admissions advisor. The response has been very positive and sends a motivating message to the student.
Huseina,
In principal I agree with having a strong recognition program. However, the concept of making sure EVERY student is recognized for something sounds like what happens in their youth with sports programs. Everyone gets a trophy for showing up. Well, this does not happen in real life. My concern is this might set up a false expectation for the student when he goes out into the workplace.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
It is very important to recognize students for outstanding academic achievement. But it is equally important to recognize other achievements as well - improvement over a period of time, contributions to the school community, an exemplary attendance record.... In my previous school we gave out merit awards each month and made sure that over the course of the year every student got at least one.
pamela,
Great idea. You will find that retention improves if you share student success stories.
Dr. Larry Banks
We have started a program where we pick one student from each program every term that has demonstrated "success". It is not solely based on GPA, or even attendance, but by the student's overall effort and committment. We have been working with contacts in their chosen field to give them a day to shadow, send them to a seminar, etc. We work to give them a special, unique reward that will help them start their networking.
The students really respond to recognition for outstanding achievements. At the college I work for we have a monitor that displays the names of students with 3.5 GPAs and higher. We also exhibit the projects of the students that went above and beyond the assignment.
Catherine,
I love the fact that you are sending personal notes. Way to go.
Dr. Larry Banks
