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Youngstown City School District CEO Krish Mohip aims for 100 percent graduation
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown City School District CEO Krish Mohip aims for 100 percent graduation of the 2018 senior class despite changing requirements.
“Why wouldn’t you aim for that?” he said. “How do I look at myself and say, ‘I’m OK with 90 percent graduation?’ How am I OK with saying, ‘It’s OK if 10 percent of our kids don’t graduate?’”
Mohip’s expectation is that students who enter Youngstown schools will graduate. Currently, just 14 percent of students are on track to graduate by 2018 with the new requirements.
The Ohio Department of Education has set new requirements for numbers of credits that students need to have on new, end-of-the-course exams. The 2018 senior class is the first to fall under these new requirements.
Although the new requirements present a challenge to the Youngstown schools, he doesn’t think the system or high expectations of students should change.
“We need to change what we’re doing so we have a better impact on those children,” he said. “We need to re-examine how we are instructing our students.”
Mohip added all he can do is push, and it is not up to him to decide whether his expectation of 100 percent graduation is realistic or not.
“It’s a terrifying number to aim for,” he said. “There’s a chance you’re not going to hit that number and the failure is on you.”
One of the efforts Mohip implemented to achieve 100 percent graduation is looking at how students are entering each school and the “gaps” in their education.
The gaps are where students fall behind the grade level they are entering – for example, a third-grade student who is not reading at the third-grade level.
Mohip said now is the time for ownership of these pitfalls and wants to head them off as early as possible.
“We need to stop blaming everyone and start saying we are going to remedy the situation this year and we are going to put our kids onto a better path,” he said.
With that thought in mind, Youngstown schools now have all-day preschool. What was once partial-day, four-days-a-week is now full-day, five-days-a-week instruction.
“It is preschool intervention for high school graduation,” said Timothy Filipovich, academics, accountability and assessments chief.
Something Filipovich said the district must be mindful of is the fast pace at which schools are going to have to move, to push behind students “over the line” by 2018.
Youngstown schools, however, have an advantage in this light.
Mohip, as part of the Youngstown Plan, has full authority to implement appropriate interventions without having to wait for school board approval.
The school district is being led by a chief executive officer and overseen by a state-appointed academic distress commission, although its elected board of education remains in place.
“We have the ability to not let the bureaucracy slow us down,” Mohip said.
Other efforts include credit-recovery plans, personal-growth plans for each child and teacher celebrations for their success in being able to move their students closer to graduation.
“I’m excited for the first time to be able to celebrate teachers for what they are able to accomplish in the classroom,” Mohip said.
In addition, Mohip is looking into putting together a committee to work as a think tank to take students even further.
“I know we have the staff to do it and the parents who want to get behind this and help our students,” he said.