Miss Code Ann §
37-13-80.
Office of Dropout Prevention created; qualifications and responsibilities of
director; date for implementation of dropout prevention program; procedures for
tracking students who enter and leave detention centers; dropout prevention
plan to address student transition to home school districts; legislative intent
[Repealed effective June 30, 2009].
1.
There is created the Office of Dropout Prevention within the State Department
of Education. The office shall be responsible for the administration of a
statewide dropout prevention program.
2. The State Superintendent of Public
Education shall appoint a director for the Office of Dropout Prevention, who
shall meet all qualifications established by the State Superintendent of Public
Education and the State Personnel Board. The director shall be responsible for
the proper administration of the Office of Dropout Prevention and any other
regulations or policies that may be adopted by the State Board of Education
(Miss. Code Ann.
§
37-13-80).
3. Each school district shall
implement a dropout prevention program approved by the Office of Dropout
Prevention of the State Department of Education by the 2012-2013, and annually
thereafter school year (Miss. Code Ann.
§
37-13-80).
4. Each local school district will
be held responsible for reducing and/or eliminating dropouts in the district.
The local school district will be responsible for the implementation of dropout
plans focusing on issues such as, but not limited to:
a. Dropout Prevention initiatives that focus
on the needs of individual local education agencies;
b. Establishing policies and procedures that
meet the needs of the districts;
c.
Focusing on the student-centered goals and objectives that is
measureable;
d. Strong emphasis on
reducing the retention rates in grades kindergarten, first and
second;
e. Targeting subgroups that
need additional assistance to meet graduation requirements; and
f. Dropout recovery initiatives that focus on
students age seventeen (17) through twenty- one (21), who dropped out of school
(Miss. Code Ann. §
37-13-80).
5. The Office of Dropout
Prevention may provide technical assistance upon written request by the local
school district. The Office of Dropout Prevention will collaborate with program
offices within the Mississippi Department of Education to develop and implement
policies and initiatives to reduce the state's dropout rate (Miss. Code An.
§
37-13-80).
6. Each school district's dropout
prevention plan shall address how students will transition to the home school
district from the juvenile detention centers (Miss. Code Ann. §
37-13-80).
7. In addition, the Mississippi
Department of Education recommends the following:
a. expand educational affiliations to include
head start, parochial, private and community early childhood programs to
develop a systematic approach that will support students in acquiring the child
development skills that are essential for success in a K-12 program. These
skills will include cognitive, social, language, behavioral, gross and fine
motor skills.
b. develop criteria
to identify students, as early as third grade that are potentially at risk of
dropping out.
8. The
Office of Dropout Prevention shall establish graduation rate benchmarks for
each two-year period from the 2008-2009 school year through the 2018-2019
school year, which shall serve as guidelines for increasing the graduation rate
for cohort classes on a systematic basis to eighty-five percent (85%) by the
2018-2019 school year.
|
Graduation Benchmarks
|
School Years
|
Graduation Rates
|
|
Benchmark 1
|
2008-2009
|
63%
|
|
Benchmark 2
|
2010-2011
|
66 %
|
|
Benchmark 3
|
2012-2013
|
71%
|
|
Benchmark 4
|
2014-2015
|
77%
|
|
Benchmark 5
|
2016-2017
|
81%
|
|
Benchmark 6
|
2018-2019
|
85%
|
