The document summarizes an article about an anti-dropout program called Diplomas Now that is being implemented at three Columbus high schools: Linden-McKinley STEM Academy, South High, and Mifflin High. The program involves partnerships between the schools and organizations like City Year and Communities in Schools. Early results show the program is helping more freshmen earn credits to advance to 10th grade, with the number of students at risk of dropping out decreasing at each school. At a promotion ceremony for freshmen at Linden-McKinley, 130 students received shirts to recognize completing their first year and taking an important step toward graduating.

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HOLLINGSWORTH, HOLLY
Subject: Seeing the Impact!!
From: Todd Tuney [mailto:infocolumbus@cityyear.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 2:08 PM
To:
Subject: Seeing the Impact!!
City Year Columbus
Seeing the Impact!!
Dear Friends,
City Year's work continues to find it's way into the local media. Yesterday,
the article below was posted on the front page of the dispatch. The article
highlights the impact that City Year, and our 'Diplomas Now' partners have
made at three local high schools this year.
Media mentions like this show the importance of our work in the
community, which could not be accomplished without your support.
Help us continue to make an impact so that every student can experience
walking across the stage at their graduation by donating here to City Year
Columbus.
Yours in Service,
Todd Tuney

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Anti-dropout program offers graduation-like ceremonies
At 3 schools, 'Diplomas Now' betters the odds that at-risk kids will
finish high school
Linden-McKinley students shake hands with representatives from AT&T,
the schools and City Year during a ceremony recognizing 130 youths for
having enough credit to move up to the 10th
grade. The groups are
supporting the anti-dropout program Diplomas Now.
By Jennifer Smith Richards
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday May 29, 2013
It looked like a graduation ceremony. It felt like one, too, with the stage filled
with dignitaries, a keynote speaker and "Class of 2016" T-shirts rolled and tied
just like diplomas. But these were high-school freshmen. Linden-McKinley
STEM Academy celebrated yesterday because 130 freshmen earned enough
credits to move on to 10th grade. That means they are far more likely to actually
walk across that stage with a real diploma in 2016.

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The school is one of three Columbus City Schools that adopted Diplomas Now,
an anti-dropout program, this school year. Early results show, and the students
say, that it's working. So all three - Linden-McKinley, South High and Mifflin
High - scheduled ninth-grade promotion ceremonies to cheer the teens on.
Only 23 Linden-McKinley freshmen didn't earn enough credits to move on,
Principal Tiffany Chavers said, and they're headed to summer school. Many
more freshmen made it through than in previous years, said Superintendent
Gene Harris, who spoke to the students from her Alma mater.
"You live in a community where not everybody is valuing education. It's
sometimes not OK to be smart," she told them, but she encouraged them to
press on and stay focused. "I am extremely proud of you. This is the first leg of
the journey."
The three schools are part of a federally funded study of the effectiveness of
Diplomas Now, which brings together the social-service groups City Year and
Communities in Schools and the high-school reform group Talent Development
Secondary, which is associated with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
Md. Teaching has been overhauled and school staff members have tracked each
student's success in attendance, behavior and coursework.
Mifflin has made the biggest gains. Robert Balfanz, co-director of the Everyone
Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins, said 55 percent of Mifflin's freshmen last
school year were at risk of dropping out because of poor attendance, behavioral
problems, falling behind in class or a combination of those. That was before
Diplomas Now came. Now, 27 percent of Mifflin freshmen are considered "at
risk," he said.
At South, the at-risk group dropped from 59 percent to 33 percent this year.
Fifty-one percent of Linden-McKinley's freshmen were at risk of dropping out
last year; it's 43 percent now.
"They helped me play sports this year. All of these years, I had never played
sports" because of poor grades, said Nelson Vargas, who wore a suit and invited
his family to yesterday's promotion ceremony. At his previous school, "I just ran
the halls. I regret all that."
Vargas said he's focused now, and Diplomas Now helped.
This school year, there's "better, more effective and engaging instruction going
on," Balfanz said. There have been weekly or biweekly meetings among staff

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members to talk about students' needs.
"The other big success this year is the report-card conferences. On a quite-
regular basis ... students get a 10- to 15-minute conference with an adult who is
not their teacher about their report card. By ninth grade, many kids aren't
sharing their report card with anyone," Balfanz said.
Also, Communities in Schools linked students with social services. City Year
workers mentored and supported the teens.
(Yesterday at the ceremony, AT&T announced a $1.2 million donation that City
Year Columbus will share with schools in two other cities that also work with
Diplomas Now.)
Each of the freshmen walked across the stage to get a T-shirt. Some family
members cheered from the audience as they held graduation balloons. In three
years, Principal Chavers told the freshmen, they'll be expected to walk across the
stage again, this time for real.
Help invest in the future of our youth by donating today!!
No matter the amount, every dollar counts.
Invest in Impact
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