COLUMBIA, S.C. — This month is National Dropout Prevention Month and school districts here in the Midlands are working to prevent students from leaving the classroom.
According to state guidelines, if a student is not enrolled before October 1, they are considered a dropout from grades 7-12.
For example, districts in Lexington and Richland have recovery programs that offer alternatives to getting a high school diploma. That includes things like evening high school, the EXCEL Academy, virtual academy or adult education. School leaders said this topic is so important because it significantly impacts the trajectory of these students' lives.
"They don’t qualify for certain jobs, they don’t qualify for healthcare, so they can’t take care of themselves. And if they don’t have the education, can’t get a job, sometimes they turn to crime, unfortunately," said Kerry Abel, Richland One coordinator of dropout prevention and mentoring services.
Abel said if students stay in school, they often stay engaged, become successful and graduate. He explains that national data shows that high school dropouts only qualify for about 10% of jobs in U.S., they make about $1M less than high school graduates, makeup about 59% of the Federal Department of Corrections and 75% of the State Department of Corrections. Finally, he explains that data shares high school dropouts live about 6-9 years less than graduates.
"What we try to do is to find out why kids drop out and what we need to do to keep them in," Abel said. "Sometimes it's a family issue. They have to go to work to help their family issue, so that's one reason why we created the Richland One evening high school, so if you can't go to school during the day, you can go to school in our evening high school program that operates from 4 to about 8:30 in the evening,"
Richland One said mentoring is a strategy that's helped retain a lot of their students.
"Mentoring has been so successful. It’s one of the 15 strategies of the National Dropout Prevention Center. So mentoring works. We know that a kid who’s mentored most likely will not leave school. A kid who’s mentored most likely will grow up and become a mentor," Abel said.
Abel said at Richland One, there are about 5-7 people on each dropout prevention team for the eight high schools and nine middle schools.
Abel explains one of the keys to dropout prevention is building better relationships to have strong support and mentoring at school.
He said last year 216 students in the 2022-2023 school year dropped out out of 22,000 enrolled in the Richland One School District.
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