Best Practices: Re-Engagement Centers Gail Forbes-Harris, Director, Boston Re-Engagement Center

Re-engagement of dropouts refers to the practice of reaching out to dropouts, getting to know them, reconnecting them with an educational pathway, and providing follow-up support. It is different than recruiting for one program; it is about identifying the landscape of dropouts, reconnecting as many as possible with educational programs, and documenting both the successes and failures to inform local efforts to align programs with these students’ needs. Re-engagement centers

 How it works:  Retrieve district or state data on race & cultural group, age, gender  Organize your data to see the types and sizes of the different groups  Retrieve data on age and academic status (credits accumulated or grade level)  Why it works:  Data will identify the types of cultural capacity you need for your re- engagement staff  Data will identify the types of educational programs you will need for placement Best Practice 1: Use data to drive your model

REC: Students advised and students placed Each school year since REC opening

Size of selected REC services and populations School year only

REC stick rates over four years Among study cohorts, all students placed, & all students placed not at REC

REC graduates by year of graduation

 How it works:  Share your data on student demographic and academic characteristics with local school district and community agencies  Asset map: take a “census” of programs tailored to the needs of your large groups of students  Work with the willing to bring on more capacity where needed  Keep and share data on your customers’ characteristics and their ability to find placements and to persist in those placements  Why it works:  Collaboration will provide the right type of differentiated placements for the young people you will re-engage Best Practice 2: Work with school district or local providers to align local capacity with students’ needs

 How it works:  Reach out to youth providers individually and identify their perceptions of youth needs, re-engagement and how they might want to be involved.  Develop agreement about what services might be exchanged  Communicate regularly  Assess how things are going, periodically and together  Why it works:  Partnerships will help you organize an array of services that your agency cannot provide for your re-engaged youth Best Practice 3: Develop strong partnerships

 How it works:  Start or join a collaborative focused on the dropout issue or a related area  Share your work and your learnings with the collaborative  Why it works:  The collective impact model allows for a variety of perspectives and synergy to help solve problems  This model provides a network of support to advocate for the type of changes needed Best Practice 4: If possible, utilize a cross-sector collective impact process

 How it works:  Begin with a welcoming atmosphere and encourage youth to tell their stories  Make sure to actively listen to the young person  Through interviews and forms, gather information necessary to understand and act on students’ needs, whether personal, social, or academic  Develop a service plan  Why it works:  It helps young people feel comfortable and open up  This environment allows the Center to get to know a young person’s needs, which will inform the service plan  Service plans allow staff to support a student through a process that may take several phases Best Practice 5: Develop and implement an intake and assessment strategy

 How it works:  Using transcript data and information from student interview, help student choose the best school for his or her needs  Assist the student with enrollment paperwork  Introduce the student to the school leader before student starts classes  Why it works:  The right fit and the right entry into a school or program makes a student’s success far more likely Best Practice 6: Develop and implement a clear supported referral process in concert with your receiving schools

 How it works:  Make sure each young person has a staff mentor or counselor paying attention to his or her needs and process during the assessment, referral, and transition period  If possible, provide follow-up support to help students successfully complete the first year or full program  Why it works:  Most of these youth, though strong and resilient, have experienced acute or chronic trauma, and need support and encouragement to succeed in an area where they have previously failed Best Practice 7: Develop a strong culture of support

Boston: Number of dropouts and dropout rate SY to SY

Questions & discussion