MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., August 29 -- In our effort to make sure ‘no child is left behind,’ policy makers are raising graduation requirements. Unfortunately, for far too many this one-sided approach of increasing academic rigor alone has proven counterproductive. Soaring dropout rates plague high schools, with more than 30 percent of entering freshmen failing to graduate four years later.

“Young people who can project into the future and understand the consequences the choices they make today have on the rest of their lives are far less likely to drop out of school (high school or college), become a substance abuser or a teen parent,” says Mindy Bingham, co-author of the award-winning Career Choices curriculum, used in over 3800 high schools (www.academicinnovations.com). “But in our instant-gratification culture, very little time and energy is spent on planning for the future….just take a look at our savings account levels compared to other countries.”

Motivating the unmotivated has always challenged educators and parents. The holy grail of high school reform will be finding the formula to inspire students themselves to become active and demanding consumers of education, rather than passive or nonexistent attendees.

Addressing this need, George Washington University in Washington D.C. has launched their Freshman Transition Initiative to provide awareness and resources for schools and communities. Its new Standards for Freshman Transition Courses, (http://gsehd.gwu.edu/gsehd/FTI) are designed to imbue rigorous high school orientation curricula with the same credibility of traditional academic classes. The semester or year-long course focuses on helping students develop a 10-year educational and career plan.

Rebecca M. Dedmond, Ph.D, LPC, director of school counseling for The George Washington University Alexandria Center and founder of the Freshman Transition Initiative says, “Long-range thinking and planning can be taught, and the best time to do this is during the transitional year into high school, in either the 8th or 9th grade. Helping students visualize a productive adult life and write their plan is key to school retention and academic achievement. Once adolescents understand the impact a good education has on their future life satisfaction, and how their high school decisions affect the rest of their lives, educators find they have willing and enthusiastic learners.”

Case Study

Prompted by a need to transform unfocused, sometimes frightened 13- or 14-year-old freshmen into motivated, goal-setting learners, the Tennessee Department of Education unveiled a Freshman Transition course in the fall of 2002 called Career Management Success (CMS). (www.academicinnovations.com/int21.html) In Clinton, Tennessee, where approximately 300 freshmen would be enrolled in CMS, instructors chose Career Choices, a curriculum meeting the new Freshman Transition standards, as their course materials.

Instructor Jerry Anderson was sure he was on the right track when his students starting coming early to class and getting on task immediately. “The class concept made students so eager to learn that being prepared on a daily basis to meet their needs and expectations was somewhat of a challenge,” Anderson says. “But it was a challenge well worth the effort.”

The success of the class related to how well students dealt with those parts of school that were not their favorites. Anderson describes the thrust of the class not so much as managing career success but as managing the questions, “Why do I have to study this?” and “When am I going to use this?”

Whenever students asked Anderson these questions, he replied, “What do you want to do in 20 years?” He tied everything back to this very important concept—visualizing a successful future and creating a plan to achieve their dreams. While discovering more about their personal ambitions through the variety of activities and exercises, their plans and portfolios came together and they became eager to apply themselves to their studies and to building new skills.

“After almost 30 years in the construction business and 11 years in the teaching arena this is the most rewarding and challenging class I have ever taught….As I look back in an attempt to evaluate my lifetime contributions, our Freshman Transition course will be at the top of my list for making a difference.”