ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

There are alternative ways to achieving a high school diploma other than the traditional classroom.


As a retired High School Principal, I have spent considerable time exploring alternative solutions to enable students who have dropped out of school to obtain their high school diploma.  I have also explored ways for students to supplement and enhance their success in the traditional classroom.

When I was actively engaged in the Principalship, I continued to explore strategies for both I and my staff that would encourage student effort to succeed. Fortunatly, for the motivated student, this was a relatively easy process.  Unfortunatly, for the unmotivated student, we did not, like many of our colleagues, always succeed.  Our dropout and non-graduate rate was around  20%.  There are many inner city schools that exceed 50%.  Even for the motivated, but struggling, students we did not, or could not, provide the one to one attention they required.  Alternative programs were necessary but our resources could not provide what was needed.

I am sharing some alternative solutions to being a high school dropout that I have discovered.  I encourage both students and their parents to explore these options.  While a high school diploma earned in a traditional manner from a local school may be preferred, it is not the only option open to students today.  There are many reasons students give for dropping out of school, but there is no excuse for not taking advantage of the alternatives available today.