Community and business leaders give input to Marion City Schools’ Diploma Plus program to help shape education to fit the community’s needs.
The Ohio Department of Education notified Marion City Schools recently that it will recommend funding an innovative program dedicated to preparing students for success after graduation.
The Straight A Governing Board recommended funding 20 grants representing 86 schools in the latest round of Straight A Funds. Its recommendations include a $518,957 Straight A Innovation Fund Grant for Marion City Schools’ Diploma Plus Acceptance for Every Marion Secondary Student program.
The initiative will benefit students while they attend Harding High School and up to a year after they graduate.
“Our concern is what happens if our students encounter difficulties after they graduate and get accepted into college, a career or the military,” Marion City Schools Director of Educational Programs and Grants Amy Wood said. “Where do they go? Who do they turn to? We want them to be able to continue to have our support.”
Money from the grant must specifically go to the program and cannot be used for other expenses. It will allow the district to extend its reach beyond what’s currently being done and help students succeed after graduation without taking away from operating money already being used.
Diploma Plus Acceptance creates pathways or career clusters that align with the demands of regional businesses and industries. The idea is to make sure they leave high school with either college credit or credentials that will help them get a job. The goal is to make sure every student leaves high school with not only their diploma but acceptance into a college or university, a training program or apprenticeship, the military, or a high-earning, high-demand job.
The Straight A grant will let the district stay connected with graduates for a year after they graduate from high school. Students will receive career counseling during and after high school. The high school’s guidance counselors will collaborate with two success coaches shared with Marion Technical College, The Ohio State University at Marion and GEAR UP at Harding to monitor student success.
Wood, who wrote the grant application, said she considered things that could go wrong like if a student loses a job or drops out of college. She said building these relationships while students are still in high school is part of “building social capital for students so that, if they stumble, they have a person to call.”
Superintendent Gary Barber said it will let the district work closer with The Ohio State University at Marion and Marion Technical College to address student success after students graduate from Harding.
“We know persistence in college and adult education is an issue,” Barber said. “Seven out of 10 kids that attend college nationwide don’t persist. This grant will give us the access and a system to make improvements in that.”
Part of the grant will fund Marion City Schools’ collaboration with EDWorks, known for its work designing innovative schools to empower first-generation college students and traditionally underserved students to graduate better prepared for college. EDWorks will provide professional development to teachers who will teach classes in specific career clusters.
Representatives from EDWorks will also expand their work with a design team made up of educators and community members. Part of what makes Diploma Plus unique is its inclusion of community members who share insight into how the district needs to change its schools to provide the skills that the community needs. The design team meets monthly as its involvement helps the district establish a rigorous set of pathways for high school reform that are relevant to those needs.
Debbie Howard, EDWorks’ chief executive officer, congratulated the district on its success and said recent grants like the Straight A Fund grant are “a vote of confidence” for the hard work the district is doing to benefit students and the community.
“The district leadership is on a mission to connect Marion students and teachers with the community and to help students understand how the knowledge and skills they learn today will translate to a better life and a rewarding job in the future,” Howard said. “That energy is contagious!”
The Straight A Fund Governing Board recommended $14.6 million in funding statewide. The recommendations will go to the Ohio Controlling Board for final approval on Feb. 22.
“The Straight A Fund has unleashed a wave of creativity as educators look to bring innovation into their classrooms and to modernize their schools,” said Lonny J. Rivera, the state’s interim superintendent of public instruction. “These grants will finance bold, new learning and cost-saving projects that will help teachers and administrators better equip their students for today’s global workplace.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich created the Straight A Fund in 2013, and the state budget in 2015 included $30 million to continue it for two years. Applications went through review by independent scorers to see if they were fiscally sustainable, innovative, of substantial value and had a lasting impact.
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