LPS gets personal with students to raise graduation rates

(AP) — Efforts to raise the Lincoln Public Schools' graduation rate have gotten personal.

The Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/2hmX2Dx ) reports the school's graduation rate dipped the year before — as it did district-wide — and Hahn said administrators had an epiphany of sorts, a call to action.

For a few years, Northeast has had an adopt-a-student program — identifying juniors and seniors at risk but still within reach of graduation and asking teachers to volunteer to help them, to be cheerleaders and mentors and gentle task masters.

The Nebraska Department of Education, which was scheduled to release graduation rates for all Nebraska districts Friday morning, calculates the rate differently than LPS, which means they differ slightly.

Jane Stavem, LPS associate superintendent of instruction, said LPS is moving in the right direction, and noted graduation rates of fifth- and sixth-year seniors are strong.

Three students, they realized, equated to one percentage point in the graduation rate, Hahn said, and that helped make the number real.

Northeast offers extra study time around finals week, and Lincoln High has been working on specific strategies in the classroom: setting daily goals, being specific with students about how close they are to reaching them and getting kids more involved in classes, said Principal Mark Larson.

Lincoln High has created teams to work with families of students who have poor attendance, and the school has partnered with various cultural agencies in the community to help encourage students, Larson said.