Overview

The mission of DeKalb Graduates is to assist schools in promoting the academic, social, and psychological success of students within a climate of high expectations. An essential goal is to ensure that students will complete their high school education within four years. DeKalb Graduates will monitor the effective use of existing resources and initiatives designed to increase the graduation rate at all schools as schools engage in the following practices:

  • maintain an accurate account of all students that enter and graduate in four years
  • implement research-based strategies that facilitate the graduation of students in four years
  • ensure that all students who graduate from high school are prepared for post-secondary or are work-force ready
  • foster collaboration with parents to remain connected to their child’s academic career
  • provide mentors, and become advocates for each student
  • encourage the local business community to create internships, service-learning opportunities, and/or summer jobs for students who meet the age requirement
  • encourage dropouts to return to an educational program through continuous discussions about the value of education and the problems inherent in dropping out of school

Communities in Schools (CIS)

CIS connects community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. CIS helps schools focus community support on five important goals that are critical to students’ success in school:

  1. improving student attendance
  2. improving student behavior
  3. increasing parent involvement
  4. promoting career and academic achievement
  5. community volunteers, service, and resources

Vertical Articulation

School Improvement and Curriculum & Instruction have joined forces to ensure successful distribution of core, vocational, and technological content over the K–12 career of a student. Vertical articulation allows an educator to examine and record the content of K–12 instructional levels while making a comparison to the content that comes before and after each grade level. The Division of Teaching and Learning, through vertical articulation, will ultimately inform and guide the development on instructional practices so that students develop the content and skills needed at each level to prepare for success at the next level. The expected result is increased student learning and achievement, ultimately resulting in the increase of the graduation rate.

Ninth Grade Redesign

The mission of the ninth grade redesign is to improve student achievement, and to improve student readiness for college, career and the work force. Ultimately, DeKalb County Schools will achieve a major goal: to increase the graduation rate.

DeKalb County Schools—through its partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)—is committed to connecting high school students to their future goals by providing meaningful experiences to engage students in high school success. SREB clearly established twin goals of the ninth grade redesign effort to decrease failure rates to less than five percent and increase the number of students graduating on time to ninety percent. Administrators will proactively contribute to the redesign process by identifying at-risk seventh and eighth grade students who are not yet academically prepared for high school. Such collaborative efforts will result in more students entering the ninth grade prepared to succeed academically.

DeKalb Graduates will assist school graduation teams in identifying the areas for improvement of 9th grade students in the areas of academics, attendance, and discipline by providing up-to-date data quarterly to assist each of the high schools.

Support Programs

In an effort to enhance the academic achievement of students who need an alternate setting and in support of the primary goal of DeKalb Graduates, to graduate within four years, the following schools offer various support programs:

Community Programs

Frequently, personal situations interfere with the academic progress of students. In support of the primary mission of the DeKalb graduates initiatives, the agencies listed below offer critical services that address concerns beyond the academic needs of students and parents. For additional information, please contact the individual agencies.

The DeKalb CSB is a public, not-for-profit organization that helps children, adolescents, adults, and seniors who suffer from mental health, developmental disabilities, and addiction challenges to live more full and productive lives.

 

Michelle Potter
445 Winn Way
Decatur, GA 30030
404.508.7875

DFCS provides food stamps, Medicaid, Tang, subsidized childcare, child protection services, and foster care services to citizens of DeKalb County. Additionally, DFCS has limited funds to assist families with rent and utilities.

 

Walker E. Solomon II
178 Sams Street
Decatur, GA 30030
404.370.5000

The mission of DeKalb workforce development youth unit is to improve educational and occupational skill competency, provide career development opportunities and training through focused programs provided through the E3 – education, employment and economic development resources for youth ages 14 – 21. The program’s focus is on education, career development, career planning and job placement, and offers resume assistance and access to computers/Internet, fax machines, and printers.

 

Melfred Garrison
320 Church Street
Decatur, GA 30012
404.687.3715

The Georgia Department of Labor brings individuals who are seeking employment together with employers who are seeking workers. The re-employment services are designed to assist individuals receiving Georgia unemployment benefits with a rapid return to employment.

 

Robert Gordon
3879 Covington Highway
Decatur, GA 30032
404.298.3970