In case you missed the paper on Sunday, Parade Magazine ran a story about an innovative program that helps reduce the high school dropout rate.
Chilling facts about the U.S. high school dropout rate
- Only 71% of all American high school students will end up graduating.
- The current generation of teens are less likely to earn a diploma than their parents.
- Each year dropout students cost taxpayers $320 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity.
Innovative program boosts high school completion rates
The state of Georgia has been experimenting with providing what they call “graduation coaches” to at-risk teens. These “coaches”, who function a lot like social workers, keep on top of teens to ensure they complete enough credits to graduate. Early results are very promising. In South Atlanta, the graduation rate has jumped from a shameful 35% graduation rate to an above-average 74%. That’s progress to be proud of!
ADHD Coaching takes “graduation coaching” to the next level: life coaching
The power of someone paying attention and caring that kids are actually in class and passing courses is clearly amazing. Students with ADHD need more than attention to help them be successful. They need life coaching.
Life coaching provides accountability the same way graduation coaching does. But it also helps ADHD students gain self-awareness, self-mastery and self-advocacy. A coach can help students identify their goals, create action plans to accomplish these goals, and practice skills to monitor their progress towards achieving their goal.
In most cases, after just one year of ADHD coaching, most students have internalized these lessons and are able to carry on successfully without a coach.
Just one year of coaching can turn a disorganized student into a successful person who is able to achieve whatever they set out to accomplish. The Edge Foundation is in the final phases of a ADHD coaching pilot study which will demonstrate how coaching helps college students be successful. Look for results being announced later this summer.
Now is the time to find a coach who can help getting ready to head off to college in the fall. For more information visit http://www.edgefoundation.org/students/sign-up.
Edge Foundation partners with Global Scholar | Edge Foundation responded on 23 Jun 2009 at 2:37 pm #
[...] time, staying organized and persisting in completing assignments. Life coaching can actually boost graduation rates for high school students. So we are excited by this partnership which will help more ADHD students find the resources they [...]