Retention
It is very hard to retain students when they arrive with alot of personal issues. Like no money, homeless, criminal backgrounds, no job, no food to eat. What practices are there for students who arrive with these situations and think they can also handle school and studying on top of these personal issues?
I too find this problem growing in the last few years as more of my students lose jobs or their family member lose jobs. But at our school we have been putting together a food bank. it shows that we as a school care. I try to tell my students that when they walk threw the door to my class that they should try to leave the world and the problems they have out side the door. i tell them that if they try to focus on the task at hand they will have a better day and a better grade. its not easy but they tend to understand when i let them know i too have hard times and hard life and i walk in the door thinking only of them and focus on the moment of right here and now. then i tell them that they can pick up the world and put it back on their mind as they walk out the door for the day. then they usually laff.
Not easy is correct. I try to take each student at face value. If they are not trying to "pull ther wool over my eyes" I usually try to make things helpful by giving them choices. It all depends on them.
I like the way you put that..."rocks in the road". They are not obstacles that have to be dealt with every day all day long. I try to keep my students traveling as fast as possible. That way when they fly down that gravel road of life they can bounce over the rocks and not get bogged down.
Brian,
We reference these challenges as "rocks in the road." Our challenge is to help them look past the rocks so that they can keep their eyes on the goals,
Everyone has challenges, if you ask the other people that you work with, they will probably have a whole list of challenges that they face on a daily basis. I feel that it is normal for students to have challenges in their life. The important part is to build a strong foundation in their educational lives which in turn will help them gain the confidence to tackle their other challenges or burdens. If the student puts the educational process on top of all of the other challenges then this can be a recipe for failure.
We do teach these things throughout our curriculum and have reached out to other schools and the community for assistance.
Over the years we have been able to help many but many also drop. It's really hard to help students who have no place to live, no money and no job in today's economy. Georgia rates very high in umemployment and when students have criminal backgrounds it is even more challenging.
We have struggled with this issue for the past 6 years and our drop numbers are extremely high. We've had dozens of staff members working on this same issue with no real great results.
I was justing seeking to see if anyone had a great idea that we've missed.
Todd,
There is not a single strategy to address these types of situations. Ideally, Enrollment would find ways to identify these types of issues and would encourage students to only start when they are ready. Unfortunately, students do not always share this type of information during the recruitment process and we are limited in what we can ask. One thing I have seen is a form that students receive that informs them of careers that will be adversely impacted by a criminal record. That way students know the limits before they start classes.
The best things schools can do is to work together to identify strategies that they will employ to assist students who face any number of these difficult challenges. There may be a need to involve other school employees or perhaps community resources.
We need to help student develop life and study skills to help them find a way to meet all of their life and academic obligations. The most effective schools teach these things throughout the curriculum.
