DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 132
July 6, 2007
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K.
Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Survey on Initiatives
and Counseling for Students at Risk of Dropping out of School |
The purpose
of this memorandum is to inform you of an upcoming request for data required by
Senate Joint Resolution 329. The resolution requests the Board of Education to
study high school dropout and graduation rates in the Commonwealth. A copy of
the Senate resolution may be found at: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+ful+SJ329ER+pdf.
Part of the
resolution stated that in conducting its study the Board of Education shall:
Ascertain
whether, by whom, and the manner in which students at risk of dropping out are
counseled to remain in school; and
Identify
local school division initiatives and efforts to retain and retrieve students
at risk of dropping out, particularly student populations with low high school
graduation rates.
To meet these
requirements, the Virginia Department of Education is preparing a survey for
completion by local school divisions. The
survey will be conducted in August 2007, using the Virginia Department of
Educations Single Sign-On for Web Systems (SSWS) secure data collection tool. In
the survey, you will be asked to report the following information:
Strategies
used by your school division to identify students at risk of dropping out of
school;
The programs
and services that are provided to students who are at risk of dropping out, and
to those who have dropped out and returned to school after dropping out;
The methods
of counseling that are provided to students who are at risk of dropping out and
to those who have returned to school after dropping out;
The
qualifications of staff members who are responsible for counseling students at
risk of dropping out, and those who have dropped out and returned to school;
Unique
services provided to student populations in your school division who have high
dropout rates; and
The activities
your school division conducts to retrieve students who have dropped out in
order to bring them back to school.
To facilitate
our ability to collect data, please send the name of your school divisions
primary point of contact for this survey to:
dropoutsurvey@doe.virginia.gov
by July 27, 2007. A Superintendents
Memorandum will be posted in early August that will announce the opening of the
collection window in SSWS.
Questions
regarding this report may be directed to Ms. Tabitha Grossman, high school
initiatives specialist, at 804-786-1993 or Dr. Deborah Jonas, executive director for
research and strategic planning,
at 804-225-2067, or via e-mail at dropoutsurvey@doe.virginia.gov.
BKCJr/TEG/ce