Region One expanding dropout recovery program

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — Education Service Center Region One is expanding its Dropout Recovery Program.

Region One reported about twenty-five thousand individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 who don’t have a high school diploma in Hidalgo County alone. It started last year as a pilot program and is looking to get students back in the classroom.

The realization of this initiative has been a long and winding road in the state legislature. Several laws were proposed or passed to explore the idea of setting up this program. In 2007, House Bill 2237 added dropout prevention to the Texas Education Agency ‘s Best Practices Clearinghouse as one of the main topic areas.

“A House bill and a Senate bill that was passed to really solidify this work. To allow school districts to get full funding when they’re providing services to students between the ages of 18 and 26”, said Darcia Cuellar, Senior Director for the College Career Technology Program at Region One.

The program was spearheaded by former PSJA Superintendent Daniel King. King retired in 2019 after 42 years of working in public education. Officials from across the valley recognize him as the driving force behind the initiative.

“Dropout recovery efforts were started by Dr. King a few years ago”, said Rosa Rakay, Principal at PSJA’s College Career Technology Acadamy, “We now have Dr. Elias as our Superintendent, and he has been phenomenal in continuing those efforts”, Rakay added.

Cuellar said King pushed for the funding legislation to pass and established a school within the PSJA district that graduated almost 3,000 students in 12 years.

The law opens the program up to those who are between the ages of 18 and 26. But, educators explained to be eligible, prospective students have to turn 26 before September, 1.

There are still education opportunities available beyond that age cutoff, but anyone interested would have to go through a different program.

“The age is not an issue. It’s the wanting”, Rakay said, “The determination. To motivate these kids. And I think that’s where we came in as a program, in trying to get these kids to fulfill some of their goals.”

As of now, the three districts in Region One that are participating in the recovery program are Edcouch-Elsa , PSJA and Weslaco ISD .

Cuellar said Region One has had conversations with other districts about also joining. She said the process for partnering varies from district to district.

Each individual district has to follow the policies they have in place. She said there are an additional three or four districts, “On-deck, ready to come in.”

Cuellar continued, “We can do it quick. I’ve told them, I’ve said we can get this done in two weeks. Sometimes districts want to take their time and take a whole planning year, through our experience. In fact, PSJA was done in two weeks, even partnerships. Dr. King did that. So we know that it can be done. We’re practitioners of work. So we’re just here to help. We’re here to support and answer any questions that they might have.”

Districts across the valley say they saw a spike in students not finishing school during the pandemic, and attendance numbers haven’t rebounded since then.

Cuellar said the dropout rate in the Region One area almost tripled during that time.

Carlos Robledo, Executive Director for Weslaco ISD Communications, said district records showed about 175 students had dropped out over the past five years. “We saw that the need was there, so we got involved with this program with Region One. We said, it’s a need for our community. We want to try to get students back on the right track and try to get them their diploma.”

Students who participate will also have the chance to further their education. A partnership with South Texas College gives returning students the chance to earn professional certificates through the college.

There are about a dozen areas of study former dropouts can pursue to further their careers.

“Education is the great equalizer”, Robledo said, “No matter what your background. No matter what your circumstances. No matter where you came from. With an education, you can accomplish anything you want. We want those same opportunities for those individuals who dropped out.”

The recovery program offers a different kind of learning experience for each participant because each student is different. Lessons are based on where the individual left off in their academic journey.

“Once they start testing, once we start benchmarking them, seeing where they’re at, a lot of times it’s not that these kids were struggling. It’s just, they stopped coming to school”, Rakay said, “So once they see that the classroom is just like a regular classroom, the way it used to be at the high school…the kids get prepared to come in and take a class.”

Rakay said one key difference is that class sizes are much smaller. That allows teachers to give more hands-on, personalized instruction. Rakay said they made an effort to get staff members cross-trained in dropout recovery.

Different districts are promoting their involvement in the program in different ways. But everyone agreed the best way they’ve found to spread the message is word of mouth.

The recovery initiative is open enrollment, so anyone who’s interested can sign up with a participating district that works best for them and doesn’t have to go back to the district where they started.

Districts are enrolling now for the Fall semester and can be contacted directly about the program.

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