Virgin Islands DOE, REL-NEI Raise Profile on Dropout Problem

U.S. Virgin Islands Education Commissioner La Verne Terry (left), Board of Education Chair Winona Hendricks, and Senate President Louis Patrick Hill discuss policymakers’ perspectives on dropout prevention at a Policy Challenges Conference in St. Thomas on February 9th.

On February 9th,U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) policymakers, school principals, law enforcement officers, community leaders, and high-school students came together at the University of the Virgin Islands to discuss research-based approaches to reducing the territory’s high-school dropout rate.

The daylong Policy Challenges Conference, titled “Dropout Prevention: Keeping Our Kids in School,” was hosted by USVI Education Commissioner La Verne Terry, and co-sponsored by the Virgin Islands Department of Education (VIDE) and REL-NEI, with the collaboration of the Region II Equity Assistance Center (EAC). Leaders from the Board of Education, Legislature, the St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix school districts, and VIDE, as well as Gov. John deJongh, Jr., participated through panel presentations, strategy work groups, and group discussion.

“The economic and social consequences of leaving school without a high-school diploma have a profound impact on students, their community, and the whole society,” said Commissioner Terry. “Our efforts to ensure that students graduate from high school prepared to move on to college, trade school, or to the workforce is being challenged by social ills that we recognize can only be corrected by a unified and solid lineup of families, schools, and community.”

Gov. deJongh provided his reflections on the social and economic-development impact of students not completing high school, and spoke to the urgency of solving the problem in the territory. “Any percentage of dropouts is too high and unacceptable when it comes to our children,” he said.

According to VIDE, 6 percent of USVI students in grades 7–12 drop out of school each year.

Dr. Russell Rumberger, UC-Santa Barbara

Research Shows Collaborative Approach Is Needed

Keynote speaker Dr. Russell Rumberger from the University of California, Santa Barbara, presented evidence-based recommendations published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Practice Guide on Dropout Prevention. Rumberger served on the six-person panel that developed the Guide, and he and his co-authors reviewed research on school and district programs that have at least one of the following outcome goals: 1) keeping students in school, 2) helping students to progress in school, and 3) getting students to complete school.

Rumberger described each of six recommendations, offered strategies for implementation, and explained the evidence supporting each recommendation. The recommendations include student-oriented support as well as strategies for schoolwide change. (To learn more about IES Practice Guides, see related story.)

“We don’t see that any one of these strategies is going to be effective by itself,” Rumberger said. “Generally the idea is that the more you do, the more impact you are going to have.” He also suggested that every school do a needs-assessment, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses, to help choose the dropout-prevention programs that would work best.

Cira Burke, Director of Intervention Services for the St. Thomas-St. John District, commented that her district is already employing many of the recommendations, including analyzing data to inform instruction, assigning adults to mentor youth at risk of dropping out, and offering a credit-recovery program. However, she emphasized that no single program will keep students in school and that communitywide efforts, including law enforcement, churches, and afterschool programs, are needed.

“The Virgin Islands are doing a lot of these things, but they’re disparate. We need better collaboration,” she said.

A practitioner panel at the conference includes U.S. Virgin Islands Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan, Jr. (left); Cira Burke, Director of Intervention Services,
St. Thomas–St. John District; and Victor Somme III, Director of Alternative Education Programs, St. Croix District.

Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan, Jr. encouraged those present to get “beyond politics to get to the goal of graduating literate and knowledgeable adults.” He added that high-school education should be more aligned to the labor market in the Virgin Islands.

About 10 high-school students attended the conference and were invited to share their perspectives. Their message to teachers and administrators was this: Don't label students; give second chances; and show empathy to students’ problems and concerns.

At the end of the day, staff from REL-NEI and the EAC facilitated small-group discussions to help participants develop next-step strategies and action plans to improve the USVI’s high-school graduation rate. Commissioner Terry and the territory’s two district superintendents requested that similar conferences be held at the district level. REL-NEI and VIDE currently are planning these events, which will bring the Practice Guide recommendations and additional research on dropout prevention to principals, teachers, and other school-based personnel.

To learn more about this event or other REL services in the USVI, e-mail REL-NEI’s Virgin Islands Liaison Sandra Espada-Santos.