Rodney Johnson, Ed.D.

Dropout Reduction

March 7, 2010

The dropout rate is highest for Blacks, Hispanics, and low-income students. Researchers agree that Texas’ statewide dropout rate hovers around 33 percent, which is about 20 points higher than official statistics compiled by TEA. After surveying many students, it has been determined that the barriers to high school graduation are diverse as the participating students. Thirty-three percent indicate a lack of course credits to graduate. 33% of those surveyed contribute their poor performance in lower grades as a contributing factor that prevented their graduation. These factors were by far the leading causes which students identified as barriers to graduation. A lack of time, a lack of self-confidence, and a lack of family support were identified as additional barriers that led to negative graduation rates.

There are several dominant factors impacting our dropout rate— failures related to high-stakes assessment, working students, working parents who are students, credit deficiencies, and disenfranchised students. A comprehensive program for over age students in grades 9-12, should be designed to help students return to school and ultimately to obtain their diploma. There is a tremendous gap between the high aspirations of high school students and low inequitable high school graduation and college completion rates in the United States. Two-thirds of ninth graders graduate from high school within four years. Additionally, less than 18% of ninth graders finish high school within four years, go on to college right after high school, and complete an associate’s degree within three years or a bachelor’s within six years. Flexible scheduling is key to any program design for at-risk students specifically to accommodate work schedules and other factors which might otherwise prevent students from attending a traditional campus.

Research shows that there are specific steps to reducing the dropout rate in the United States. Make sure students receive individual attention in safe schools, in smaller learning communities within large schools, in small, and in programs during the summer, weekends, and before and after school that provide tutoring and build on what students learn during the school day. Act early so students do not drop out with high-quality, universal preschool and full-day kindergarten; strong elementary programs that ensure students are doing grade-level work when they enter middle school; and middle school programs that address causes of dropping out that appear in these grades and ensure that students have access to algebra, science, and other courses that serve as the foundation for success in high school and beyond. Additionally, monitor, accurately report, and work to reduce dropout rates by gathering accurate data for key student groups (such as racial, ethnic, and economic), establishing benchmarks in each state for eliminating dropouts, and adopting the standardized reporting method developed by the National Governors Association.

The benefits of being a productive member of society are directly proportional to the level of education achieved. High school graduates earn over $200,000 more in life time earnings. Those achieving an associate’s degree earns over $600,000 more in life time earnings, and Bachelor’s degree recipients earns over $2.5 million more in life time earnings. 2.5 million students have dropped out in the past 20 years. The long-term cost to Society is $730 billion in lost revenue and cost for the state of Texas. If students are not encouraged to stay in school, state demographers predict that average household incomes in Texas will decline. Prevention cost at least $1.7 billion to keep dropouts in four years of school. And through the High School Allotment of $275 per high school student, that is money well spent for dropout-prevention and college readiness.

Association of 23 Private Colleges and Universities Joins with Grade Results to Support Students who Want to Attend College and Those Already Attending their ACI schools.

Chicago, IL, March 4th, 2010—The ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF ILLINOIS (ACI) (www.acifund.org) has partnered with Grade Results, LLC (www.graderesults.com) to offer the best of breed online educational services to the 23 private colleges and universities that belong to its consortium. Thousands of underserved high school students around the state will have the opportunity to benefit from distance-learning opportunities that are based on the state standards of Illinois. ACI helps solve some of the nation’s most challenging educational problems through scalable and sustainable programs that extend new learning opportunities to low-income, minority, and first generation students.

“Grade Results will provide our colleges and universities with the high quality online instruction, tutoring, writing lab and online content they need to ensure success,” said Jerry Fuller, Executive Director of the ACI. “We think Grade Results can make a difference and help thousands of students in Illinois succeed. By enhancing teaching and learning for students that need help, we can raise graduation and college entrance rates, while improving the chances of college success for first-generation entrants.”

“We are very excited to partner with a leading organization like ACI and their outstanding group of colleges and universities,” said Aisha Mallory, Vice President of Grade Results, LLC. “We want to help students close the achievement gap by offering an affordable learning opportunity.”

About the ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF ILLINOIS

The ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF ILLINOIS (ACI) is a group of 23 private colleges and universities, rooted in the liberal arts tradition, which leverages the expertise of our statewide network to provide underserved students with new educational opportunities. ACI’s goals are to enhance teaching and learning in K-12 schools serving our neediest students, raise graduation and college entrance rates among at-risk high school students, and improve the chances of college success for first-generation, low-income, and minority students.

 For more information, go to www.acifund.org or call 312-263-2391.

About GRADE RESULTS:
GRADE RESULTS, based in Carrollton, Texas, is a leader in providing online tutoring, academic support, and test preparation to students around the country. School districts, colleges, universities, and textbook publishers and companies partner with GRADE RESULTS to improve learning outcomes, one student at a time. GRADE RESULTS connects students and tutors for assistance in math, science, language arts, reading, and English language learning anytime, anywhere they have a computer and an internet connection. GRADE RESULTS currently works with students from 2^nd grade to adult education throughout the country. For more information, visit Grade Results’ Online Tutoring, or call 800-928-5570.

Press Contact

Aisha Mallory

Vice President

Grade Results, Inc.

800-928-5570

Interview with Grade Results Founder Craig Ullman

I just wanted to let you know that I just spent 2 1/2 hrs on Grade Results getting some assistance with my statistics homework and they are GREAT! They’re polite, helpful, and take their time to make sure you understand everything!

Students at Perry Walker High School in New Orleans Succeed with Grade Results’ Online Tutoring

Carrollton, Texas – June 30, 2009 — Over ninety percent of students at the O. Perry Walker charter school in New Orleans who received Grade Results’ one-to-one online tutoring passed the Louisiana state tests in Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies.

O. Perry Walker College and Career Preparatory High School had long suffered from stagnant test results and low school performance scores. Walker educates a traditionally underserved population that is ninety-seven percent African-American. Previously, less than a third of their students were deemed proficient in English, and only forty-three percent were proficient in math.

In 2009, Walker contracted with Grade Results for its curriculum that is aligned with Louisiana state standards, and to do online instruction for students during a part of the school day designed for preparing the Graduate Exit Exam (GEE). The GEE is a statewide test administered to 10th-12th grade high school students that they must pass to graduate. The ninety-seven students received one-to-one, live online instruction in Math, Language Arts, Science and/or Social Studies for four days per week for approximately three months leading up to the GEE.

The students then took the GEE, and nearly all the students who received the Grade Results live, online instruction passed the GEE.

The Assistant Principal of O. Perry Walker, Mark Bailey, said, “Our students have benefitted from our relationship with Grade Results. The responsiveness of the organization, the effectiveness of the online tutors, and their commitment to student achievement played an integral part in our academic success. Grade Results remains a critical element of our instructional strategy as we look to build on this year’s improvement.”

“We’re delighted with the results of the statewide tests,” said Suzanne McElyea, CEO of Grade Results, Inc. “The school administration, their teachers, and their students did a remarkable job, and we’re happy to have played a role in their success.”

The results of students receiving the Grade Results’ tutoring helped drive the overall results of the school. Last year, less than a third of students were deemed proficient in English. This year, nearly half of students who took the test were. But the biggest changes came about in math, where 85 percent of students scored at proficient levels, compared with only 43 percent last year.

According an article in The Times-Picayune, “… the bounce at Walker stood out, both for its sheer size and the fact it occurred among high school students, whose test scores are usually considered harder to improve than those of students in younger grades.”

For more information, download the complete press release at http://www.graderesults.com/pdf/Louisianastatetests.pdf 

Every home-work help session in on-line tutoring is like a soccer game, where tutors are goal keepers. The soccer ball could come from anywhere and at any moment. The goal keeper should be ready to react to different situations. Similarly, a tutor may not know anything in advance about the question that’s going to be posed in a session, nor the nature or knowledge of the student. He/she may have to start tutoring from the scratch for a high school student. Here’s one such chemistry session that I did a while ago:

It was a high-school student so I had to teach some high-school topic to that student. I started the session by pushing a picture of the periodic table on the white board. After that, I asked, “What do you see on the board?”. “ crossword puzzle table.. lol I don’t know. but similar stuff is over there in my science lab,” said the student. Fortunately, the student was aware of some terms like elements and compounds, which I found out later on during the session. I used a house as an example and explained how different things are arranged in different rooms of the house like the entrance hall, kitchen, bed room, etc. I correlated the things of in a house with elements and rooms with periods and groups, and the student finally understood the periodic table. The satisfaction that I got at the end of the session was enormous. This is why I like tutoring and strive to improve my tutoring skills- Wilson, Grade Results, Inc

I am a tutor, working at Grade Results. It is a great experience tutoring students from all over the world. We concentrate on only one student at a time and it helps us to identify the weak areas of the students exactly and provide our help accordingly. The animations and the static images used to explain the concepts make both learning and teaching interesting. This is not possible in the case of classroom teaching. The students feel free to ask any question about the topic and get support. The students are benefiting from our service. I really enjoy tutoring!

We all know the value of education. As Martin Luther King Jr. said “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.  Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”  Grade Results  provides true education. The aim of GR is to improve the student’s performance by one to one tutoring. Grade Results provides online tutoring, writing services, and homework help that help students to succeed in their exams. Most of the students are interested in online tutoring after experiencing our services. I’ve had many fine students while tutoring. I am very proud to be an instructor - Janet from Grade Results, Inc.

Leading Online Instructional Service Launches New Program for Students in Grades 3 - 12

Carrollton, TX, December 8, 2008 - GRADE RESULTS, Inc.(www.graderesults.com) a market leader in providing online instruction and academic support to students, has announced the launch of an innovative new program for the Recovery School District of New Orleans, Louisiana.  Students in grades 3 through 12 will be able to access a special, live, online instructional service in school and at home for math, science and language arts. The goal of the project is to lower the dropout rate, improve student scores on the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, known as LEAP, and raise overall student achievement.

It will offer a small group environment for students who will work with a live, online instructor in a rich, interactive environment, viewing animations, asking questions, and taking assessments.  Alternatively, students can also email their questions to the online instructors, who will answer their questions and provide additional learning materials.

“We are always looking for innovative programs to help all of our students, not just a select few,” said Paul Vallas, Superintendent of the Recovery District.  “Grade Results enables us to extend the learning experience beyond the classroom, and using small group instruction online means we can do it in a very cost effective manner.”

Approximately 4,000 RSD students will be able to access the program at school or from home.

“Our instructors will work with small groups of students online, reviewing the material they were presented earlier that day in class,” said Suzanne McElyea, President of Grade Results, Inc.  “By integrating our instruction with the district’s, and by providing immediate reinforcement of that day’s lesson, we can help students get ahead of the curve.”

School administrators, teachers, and parents will have the ability to monitor and assess each tutoring session. Grade Results will offer the program during the school day and at home, Monday through Thursday.  The service is supported by the company’s instructors, all of whom have graduate degrees in their subject area and years of experience teaching.

Additional program details can be found at www.graderesults.com.

For more information, visit www.graderesults.com, or call 800-928-5570.

About GRADE RESULTS: GRADE RESULTS, based in Carrollton, Texas, is a leader in providing online instruction, tutoring, academic support, and test preparation to students around the country. School districts, colleges, universities, and textbook publishers and companies partner with GRADE RESULTS to improve learning outcomes, one student at a time. GRADE RESULTS connects students and instructors for assistance in math, science, language arts, reading, and English language learning any time, anywhere they have a computer and an Internet connection. GRADE RESULTS currently works with students throughout the country.  For more information, visit www.graderesults.com.

Hi!
I’m Ross working at Grade Results www.graderesults.com . I love online teaching since it enables me to share my knowledge with students.

I would like to share my experience with a spectacular student, Donald. He was my regular student. He liked the way I explained the concepts with real life examples. He said “Hey man. you are the best tutor, can I get you every session?”. Next time he connected with other tutor and asked  “Where is Ross?”. I was surprised and helped him. He enjoyed tutoring and learned very well. I really want to thank Grade Results for giving me the satisfaction of teaching. Thank you!