Destination Graduation and Small Learning Communites

Back in January, high school students from across the state gathered for the Destination Graduation: Teen Summit to help Hank Bounds, Mississippi's State Superintendent of Schools, learn new ways to help lower Mississippi's shocking 26% drop-out rate.

Today, the Meridian and Lauderdale County school superintendents, students from city and county high schools, and local educators, businesspeople, and others, met at Peavey auditorium for a local version of the event. There, students, some of whom were potential drop-outs, told adults what they thought was needed to lower the drop out rate in Meridian and Lauderdale County.

Some of their ideas were not surprising: they thought that school should be made more interesting and be tailored to students' individual goals, that students should have more one on one time with teachers, and that parents and the community should be more involved.

Some of these ideas will take a lot of time and money to implement, if they can be implemented at all, but one is already in the works. At Meridian High School, officials are preparing to change the curriculum so that students can take classes that are more relevant to their talents, interests, and goals.

These "small learning communities", as they're called, have the potential to really improve education in Meridian. If implemented properly, giving students the ability to tailor their classes to their own interests could be a priceless weapon in the battle against the drop-out rate. Small learning communities could provide an answer to the perpetual question of high school students, "Why do I have to take this class? What does it have to do with me?", by putting students in classes that really do have something to do with them. In theory, students who are academically ambitious could take academically challenging classes instead of being forced to sit through lessons that they've already learned multiple times; students who want to go into the health field could learn how to draw blood or read an x-ray in their science classes, or have a medicinal history curriculum added to their required history classes. In theory, anyway.

What's yet to be seen is how well Meridian High School will implement the small learning communities. Will both the faculty and staff truly work to make school more interesting and relevant to their students, or will they only make the minimum effort required to use the title "small learning communities"? As a former Meridian High School student, I can easily visualize the latter. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that with the help of the community, experts from outside the school system, student input, and the momentum created by the Destination Graduation effort, the former will come into actualization.

Check tomorrow's Meridian Star for the full story on Destination Graduation: Lauderdale County.

Jennifer Jacob
Staff Writer
jjacob@themeridianstar.com