HUNTINGTON — Local school districts are getting another boost in student support personnel as they push for a continued decline in dropout rates.
The United Way of the River Cities, The Education Alliance and local school boards in Cabell, Wayne and Mason counties have a long-standing partnership through the Education Matters program, which aims to reduce the dropout rates in the school system.
Several positions will open in those three counties for the coming school year, allowing AmeriCorps members to work directly with at-risk youth within targeted schools to focus on their attendance, behavior and course performance issues.
Both Cabell (.70%) and Mason (.50%) counties had a dropout rate of less than 1% for the 2019-20 school year, while graduation rates also were at or above the state average for the year, according to the most recent data from the West Virginia Department of Education.
That same data showed that Wayne County had a 1.40% student dropout rate across the district, while the graduation rate also dipped slightly below 85%.
Todd Alexander, superintendent of Wayne County Schools, said that the district has recently been able to create a system of student support to help improve those numbers, but they won’t know if the measures taken have been effective for another couple of years.
“We’ve been able to build a comprehensive system of support that we hope, down the road, allows those graduation numbers to really increase, and we see the benefits of it,” Alexander said.
Wayne has had AmeriCorps positions in their schools before, placing them at pre-kindergarten through eighth grade schools in Crum and Fort Gay, where Alexander said they can identify certain trends and behaviors earlier in order to get students back on the right path.
“It’s important that we have those mentors in place — that way, we can address things at the earlier grade levels and try and get them corrected sooner rather than later so that way a student isn’t falling behind, and they go on the path toward graduating,” Alexander said.
In West Virginia, students must attend school through age 17, though the state follows federal requirements by reporting dropout rates from students in grades 7-12.
Members who fill the AmeriCorps positions will be required to make an eight-month commitment to the program. A portion of the member’s time is spent in training and in service projects. Members are required to attend personal and professional development trainings through the year.
The application deadline for an AmeriCorps position is June 4, 2021. For those interested in an application or more information, contact Lena Burdette at 304-523-8929, ext. 102 or lena.burdette@unitedwayrivercities.org.
Funding for AmeriCorps positions is made possible through the Alcon Foundation and local school systems.
