Macon County's Graduation Tracking System: A Pathway for Student Success
by Karen M. Tatum, Graduation Coach
State Superintendent Tommy Bice and the Alabama State Board of Education initiated PLAN 2020 for Alabama's Learners, Support Systems, Professionals and School Systems. The Vision of Plan 2020 is "Every Child a Graduate--Every Child Prepared for College/Work/Adulthood in the 21st Century." A set of objectives, strategies and measures of success--by 2016 are spelled out so that educators understands what effective planning looks like, directions for implementation, and what tools will be used to measure success. In The Macon County Public Schools' "Strategic Plan for Progress, 2013-2014," Dr. Jacqueline A. Brooks, Superintendent of Education, along with the Macon County Board of Education in collaboration with a community of stakeholders (district administration, faculty, and staff, parents, and community representatives) outlines our vision: "All students from the Macon County School System will graduate from high school prepared to pursue a choice for success (military, college, entrepreneurship, job readiness) to further their interests, careers, and reach their goals."
Our vision and mission, which supports Alabama's Plan 2020, wraps around five goals: (1) High Student Achievement; (2) Safe, Secure & Nurturing Learning Environment; (3) Professional Work Force; (4) Partnerships; and (5) Effective Use of Funds. To ensure that all our students are afforded every opportunity to reach their fullest potential, there may be times we must help struggling students. As a part of this effort, an emphasis has been placed on Goal 1: High Student Achievement, Strategy 3: Ensure timely and effective intervention for struggling students. Our instrument--The Graduation Tracking System (GTS).
The Graduation Tracking System (GTS) is a tool used by the Macon County School District to group information by categories from the STI information system software. School personnel utilize STI-INFOCUS technology to capture student information pertaining to attendance, behavior, and course performance data. The information gathered from this technology helps us analyze reports for the purpose of:
- identifying students in Pre-K - 12 who show warning signs of dropping out of school
- designing a process for analyzing patterns of "high yield" indicators as early warnings
- designing a process for aligning interventions/ resources that provide support for off-track students
Each school has identified members of their staff to serve as a member of their Graduation Success Teams. These teams are charged with the responsibility of identifying students at risk at their school based on poor behavior patterns, poor attendance patterns and, poor academic performance.
Once students have been identified, intervention plans are developed to help minimize the risk of dropping out of school. Those high risk factors are:
- attendance (unexcused absences for 4 or more days)
- behavior (1 or more suspensions)
- course performance (grade average below 70)
Please log in to this webpage periodically for updated news, announcements, and information about our intervention and transition programs. You may know a child that needs help or you may know someone who can help. Please feel free to contact me for further information at (334) 727-1600 ext. 12027 or at Booker T. Washington High School (334) 727-0073, ext. 12027.
We need YOU-- our parents and our community to join with us as we work to 
make Graduation a Success in Macon County!
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