Making positive Impact
Our motto is that we change student lives everyday. By providing attention to those who are having troubles or are at risk of dropping out of school. We reach out to them to help in any way we can and provide support to accomplish their goals.
I agree with Johnny... not only listen but give guidance, advise and a true mentoring attittude. And not jut that but we need to follow up with the student on a regular basis.
Thank you, Julie. You have described what an effective career college must do. It's not the equipment or the location that sets a school apart. It's the people that work there.
Establishing community is one of the most important things a school team can do. Communities form on the backs of positive relationships.
I believe the key to reaching the "potential drops" is being proactive but also having an established relationship. Here at our school, we monitor the attendance and call each student who has been out for several days to find out how we can help them get back into school. This is effective, but what i really think helps is having an established relationship with our students prior to their being absent or having a crisis arise. While we have over 900 students it isnt' possible to know everyone's names (though I am still working on that) or their personal situations. It is possible to establish that we are a caring group of individuals who are consistently here to help them succeed. Even small relationships built by daily hellos, smiles, and an occasional care call make a huge difference when students need advice or a helping hand.
In my role as chair for the school of information technology at a local campus, I watch the instructor's electronic grade books and when I spot missing assignments, or even C's and D's, I contact the student and try to learn what the issues really are. This is much more proactive than the reactive waiting-until-they-fail stategy to find out what happened.
Steve,
What do use as the criteria to identify "potential drops?"
We, too, monitor our students at risk. It is critical that we are able to intervene and engage with these potential drops as soon as possible.
There are so many ways to make a positive impact with our students and I do beleive the best way is just being able to listen
I agree with what you wrote. Even if don’t see the change right away, we change the life of the students when we take the time to care about them.
