Temple ISD redefines education with Project Diploma

By Regina Corley

Faced with an Academically Unacceptable rating due to the high school completion rate, Temple ISD administrators went back to the drawing board this past summer to find new solutions to what has become a statewide crisis. Coming out of a mandate from the Texas Education Agency, school districts across Texas have been working to close the gaps through which so many students seem to fall.

"TEA gave us the criteria by which we would be rated but left the specific solutions up to us." Temple ISD Superintendent Robin Battershell says. "Temple ISD has non-traditional learners who we tried to fit into the traditional system and they weren't successful. How we approached their education had to change or we would continue to lose them."

In response, Temple ISD created Project Diploma, which identifies non-traditional students and seeks to create paths to academic success and graduation. A student’s non-traditional status could stem from living conditions, generational poverty, economics, teen parenthood, responsibility as primary earner in household or a variety of other factors.

Says Battershell, "We are no longer operating separate programs and trying to fit a student into one of them; we are creating individualized graduation options from a broad spectrum of programs that are based on the cumulative needs of the student."

Through Project Diploma, Temple ISD sets out to find as many non-traditional students as possible, including those who are in their fourth year of high school, but, for a variety of reasons, do not have the credits to be classified as a senior. This population also includes students who have not graduated from high school and are not enrolled. Prior to the beginning of this school year, Temple ISD administrators went door to door in the community, seeking out these students. The initial target group consisted of school year 2008-2009 non-completers, but students from as far back as 2006 also were encouraged to participate.

Program director Carl Pleasant explains how this new approach to education takes into consideration the need for flexibility in delivering instruction. Students are given the opportunity to attend class around their work and child-care demands.

"So many of our students are already living adult roles; the traditional teacher-student and adult-child interactions were creating conflict," he says. "Rather than forcing them to attend school between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., they now have the opportunity to play a part in determining a schedule that fits their needs around adult responsibilities. This has resolved many of our discipline and attendance issues, and we can really get to the business of learning."

Much of the instruction is delivered by computer. The benefit of this approach is true self-paced instruction. A traditional model bases instruction delivery on the needs of 25 to 30 learners per classroom, but computerized instruction allows a student to move faster through some subjects and slower through others, depending on their levels of mastery on any given objective.

Thinking "outside the box" has presented challenges. Because the Project Diploma students are receiving instruction for fewer than the state-mandated four hours per day, Temple ISD receives no average daily attendance (ADA) funding for the program.

"In this tight financial climate, the district continues to find ways to maximize efficiency in staffing, facilities and delivery of instruction to ensure we continue to provide services like Project Diploma," Battershell says. "It's the right thing to do for students."

At the beginning of the year, 84 students enrolled in Project Diploma. Currently, eight have graduated. The district has a goal of graduating 30 students in Project Diploma by the end of the school year.

Sharon Holleman, administrator at the Fred W. Edwards Academy, Temple ISD's academic alternative program, applauds the mission of Project Diploma, which is bringing more students to her campus. Her students have fallen behind in credits and are in danger of not completing high school on time or have unique instructional needs. The academy offers a variety of programs in both academics and life skills. Academy students are given access to parenting classes, post-secondary counseling and financial aid planning, as well as mentor partnerships with Rotary Club Project Interact and Fort Hood's 61st Area Support Medical Brigade. To date, Edwards has 39 graduates (i.e., students have completed all credits and passed TAKS) and 17 "completers" (i.e., students have completed all credits and are awaiting TAKS results).

"Project Diploma is not a GED program; it is a high school diploma," Pleasant says. "Students have to obtain the state-required credits and pass TAKS. These students are invited to participate in commencement exercises in June with all the regalia and honors awarded to any other high school graduate."