TEA Dropout Recovery Pilot Program

1. TEA Dropout Recovery Pilot Program Program Orientation Julie Wayman, TEA

2. TEA awarded grants to school districts, charter schools, non-profits, institutions of higher education and county departments of education to create or support programs that: • Identify and recruit students who have dropped out of Texas public secondary schools, • Provide those students the social services they need in order to come back to school, • Provide the academic components and educational delivery methods most appropriate for the students to be successful, and that • Enable the student to complete a high school diploma path or alternative path to college

3. Overview of Presentation • About the Dropout Recovery Pilot Program • Funding and Reporting Requirements • Recent Findings • Tools and information

4. Key Features • Provides maximum flexibility to meet individual student needs • Focuses on student outcomes • Rewards performance based upon progress and performance of individual students • Expands the state’s capacity to provide dropout recovery resources to students who have dropped out of school

5. Student Eligibility A student must be 25 or younger and: • Must have dropped out of a Texas public school district and have been reported as a dropout in PEIMS, or • Not been in attendance for 30 consecutive school days, or • Have a notarized affidavit declaring that the student has dropped out of a Texas public secondary school

6. Alternative Path to College Completion of the Program • Earn a GED • Pass all sections of a TSI testing instrument • Earn college credit in a core course or advanced technical credit • Develop a plan for postsecondary success (new)edit. High School Diploma Path to College Pass all courses Pass all sections of TAKS Develop a plan for postsecondary success (new)

7. Plan for postsecondary success • Recent assessment scores and strategies to improve these scores if they fall below the student's appropriate grade level; • Educational goals of the student; • Any diagnostic information, appropriate monitoring and intervention and other evaluation strategies; • A description of participation of the student's parent(s) or guardian, including consideration of their educational expectations for the student; and • A description of innovative methods to be used to promote the student's advancement and preparation to enter higher education prepared to succeed in entry-level courses. • A plan that lists the course and sequence needed to earn a postsecondary certificate

8. What are these programs/campuses doing differently? • Recruiting • Offering Flexible Schedules • Connecting Students with or Providing Social Supports • Offering Accelerated Academics • Proving Bridge Programming & First-Year Supports

9. Flexible scheduling • School board request for taking role at additional periods (evenings) • Optional Flexible School Day Program • Open-entry and open-exit structures • High School Equivalency Program (HSEP)

10. Recruitment Efforts • Advertise/recruit for these programs • Door-to-door visits to recover dropouts • Fliers in businesses where potential participants may be employed or that are frequented by potential participants • Fliers at community and social service locations including local workforce service sites • Mail campaign • Peer-to-peer social networking sites • Promotions with popular local radio stations, television stations, and newspapers, particularly those serving demographics likely to include students who have dropped out • Text messaging campaigns, to encourage students to contact the program by cell phone • A campaign-specific web site that taps into students‘ sense of personal responsibility

12. Funding and Reporting Requirements

13. Current Funding • Pay for Performance Funds • Up to $2,000 per student through “pay for performance” rewards based upon progress and performance of individual students • Each grantee has an allotment held in reserve • Performance funds – No deadline for spending performance funds • * Cycle 3 is the only cycle that still has base funding remaining.

14. Current Funding • Pay for Performance Funds – NOGAs all open through February 28, 2013 • Cycle 3 Base Funds – NOGAs open through June 10, 2012

15. Reporting Due Dates • January 20, 2012 – Student Data Report: Excel Workbook with all student data current through December 31, 2011 • January 20, 2012 – Progress Report/Narrative • June 30, 2012 – Student Data Report: Excel Workbook with all student data current through June 10, 2011 • June 30, 2012 – Progress Report/Narrative • June 30, 2012 – Final Base Expenditure Report for Cycle 3 Extensions

16. Reporting Due Dates • January 20, 2013 – Student Data Report: Excel Workbook with all student data current through December 31, 2012 • January 20, 2013– Progress Report/Narrative • March 20, 2013 – FINAL Student Data Report: Excel Workbook with all student data current through February 28, 2013 • March 20, 2013 – FINAL Progress Report/Narrative Program Evaluation

17. Performance Payment Requests • Submit the Student Data Upload (Excel Workbook) as your Payment Report • IMPORTANT: Send it to Julie by Secure Email Only • Submit the Payment Report Whenever You Want a Performance Payment • Review Instructions on Tab 2 • Complete all required student enrollment and progress/benchmark achievement • Save a copy of each “billing” with PPUNs recorded • Scan your signature page and email to Julie, or tell me in the email you are using electronic signature.

18. Findings

19. TDRPP Cycles 1 & 2 • 4,141 students enrolled in Cycles 1 and 2 • The funded target was 2, 042 • 1,286 (31%) had completed the goal of high school graduation or college readiness • 1,485 (36%) dropped out of the program • 1,370 (33%) continuing the program (THSCS Final Report of HB 2237 Programs, December 2010)

20. Dropout Recovery Tools and Information

22. To Access the Moodle Resources • http://training.jff.org/moodle/course • If you do not have or do not remember your Moodle enrollment password, send email request to: Carol Duong, cduong@jff.org

24. House Bill 3, 81st Texas Legislature • Beginning with the annual dropout rate for 2010–2011, and completion rates for the Class of 2011 (calculated in 2011-2012), state statute requires that six groups of students be removed from the dropout definition used for state accountability: a) previous dropouts; b) students who are not in membership for purposes of average daily attendance; c) students who have been ordered by courts to attend GED programs but have not earned GED certificates; d) students who are incarcerated in state jails and federal penitentiaries as adults and as persons certified to stand trial as adults; e) students whose initial enrollment in a school in the United States in grades 7–12 was as unschooled refugees or asylees; and f) students detained in county detention facilities that are located outside the students' home districts.

26. Dropout Resources • Dropout Information: How Texas Identifies, Prevents and Recovers Dropouts • http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3505 • links to: dropout policies, grants, strategies, maps, success stories, completion rates, resources, dropout FAQ and campus summaries. • TEA Dropout Recovery Program/Network • http://backontracktx.org • Customized for Dropout Recovery Grantees

28. Summary

29. Texas is Making Progress • Fewer students are dropping out • More students are graduating • Recognized as a leader in tackling the dropout problem • Implementing proven research-based strategies and innovative models • Targeting millions of state and federal dollars to reduce the number of dropouts

30. TEA Program Contact Dropout Recovery Program Julie Wayman julie.wayman@tea.state.tx.us (512) 936-6403