Building on a Strong Foundation: Eastern North Carolina Schools Look Forward to GRAD Partnership

The GRAD Partnership for Advancing Student Success Systems is a national initiative that encourages and supports schools to use high quality student success systems that empower schools to graduate all students ready for the future. These efforts focus on increasing student agency, belonging, and connectedness, and participating schools nationwide provide key data that highlights the effectiveness of implementing these student-centered programs at increasing postsecondary success. The GRAD Partnership is a collaborative effort involving non-profits, community organizations, school districts, and schools which seeks to co-create effective student success systems with school leaders, teachers, students, parents, and community members.

This June, Rural Schools Collaborative announced that three Regional Hub Network partners, Missouri State University (Missouri Ozarks Hub), the Arizona Rural Schools Association (Arizona Hub), and East Carolina University (Southeast Hub) had joined the GRAD Partnership for Advancing Student Success Systems RSC Rural Cohort. They joined Northstate Together (No. California Hub) and University of West Alabama (Black Belt Hub), who together have been piloting student success systems in 20 rural schools for the previous two years. Each new Rural Cohort intermediary spent the summer recruiting 10 schools within their respective service areas, creating regional professional learning communities to undertake this vital work both locally and nationally. Recently, the RSC team visited Greenville, North Carolina, meeting with new GRAD Partnership schools to learn about how this project can advance their student outcomes.

After joining the Rural Cohort of the GRAD Partnership, schools identified internal teams of staff who will lead the work in increasing agency, belonging, and connectedness for all students. These teams often encompass school counselors, principals, teachers, and other school leaders. While the GRAD Partnership, through local intermediaries like ECU, provides student success teams with professional development and resources around student success systems, each school utilizes elements of student success systems to enhance the strong work they are already doing to graduate all students ready for careers or further education.

Led by ECU GRAD Partnership Coordinator Jacqui Allen, a retired counselor who worked in schools across eastern North Carolina for 25 years, the Southeast schools are already busy planning away. Since the school year began, these teams have been working out how participation in the GRAD Partnership can foster belonging and school connection among students, address achievement or attendance gaps, and meet the needs of all students. This might mean bolstering an existing graduation initiative, growing the number of students in successful intervention programs, or finding links and bridges between previously separate programs.

South of Greenville at Southside High School in Chocowinity, N.C., Principal Justin Holt and his team see lots of bright spots upon which to build. Dr. Holt describes Southside as a “well-kept secret,” identifying postsecondary outcomes and community partnerships as core strengths. Currently they support multiple pathways for students before and after graduation, including a close dual enrollment partnership with Beaufort Community College, thriving CTE education, and strong AP/college readiness offerings. Counselors and staff actively serve as liaisons between students and local colleges, working individually to make sure students only take classes they are prepared for and that fit their unique goals. “I want to double down on that model,” Justin notes.

Joining the GRAD Partnership will allow further reach, then, for already in-place ‘success’ teams that offer multi-tiered support for students, which considers their academic achievements, behavior, and home context. This includes recent professional development in Trauma informed learning and a partnership with a local non-profit that helps bridge interventions with students who may be experiencing homelessness or other instability. “I am excited to add to our toolkit. To learn from others, and expand our resources for kids in this building and families in this community” shares Justin. ECU, a trusted local institution, makes a perfect partner for Justin and his team on this work: “the roots that we have to ECU are incredibly deep; so many of my staff are deeply connected to ECU. ECU is a powerhouse opportunity for kids, opportunity for adults, to expand the impact that we have for our kids.”

North of Greenville and across the Tar River, North Pitt High School Principal Maurice Harris proudly offers that the GRAD Partnership now includes “The Best High School in the United States.” It’s important for Harris, who spends every lunch and class transition period in the halls with students, to instill in his students pride for their community, each other, and themselves. Strong relationships are an evident strength at North Pitt; all students have at least one trusted adult in the building, staff have the full support of the community, and students receive individual attention based upon their unique needs and contexts.

Mr. Harris and his team of counselors hope that the GRAD Partnership can help grow those relationships even further to advance academic achievement and assist a growing population of English Language Learners who are newer to the area. One in-house solution that they hope to expand is the Link Crew, a coalition of student leaders who guide new students on tours, offer support as a friendly face, and help generally with acclimation. Peer-to-peer mentorship is important, and the North Pitt team hopes that upperclassmen can play a vital role in helping lowerclassmen and transfers adjust. Likewise, North Pitt offers a ‘Twilight’ after school program, which can help students recover failed credits and catch up on coursework via virtual learning.

Back across the Tar and west of Greenville lies Ayden-Grifton High School, which happens to be Jacqui’s alma mater. With 750 students, the consolidated district is one of the larger schools in North Carolina’s rural cohort, but still fosters an environment where students have strong relationships with school staff and teachers. Course selection is student-centered and individualized, based both on present needs and career aspirations. Similarly, a freshman academy, aimed to welcome new students to high school, focuses on memorable, horizon-expanding experiences. One successful program that Principal Casey Hyatt hopes to build upon is an intervention/recharge period, where students can receive personalized intervention if needed, as well as get involved in various activities that build school culture.

These range from needed physical breaks, like disc golf, yoga, and ping-pong, to restorative practices such as Bob Ross Mini Paintings and nature walks on school grounds. There is “always somewhere for a student to connect” to school, shares Principal Hyatt. She describes that “I would like to add additional sessions in Recharge, such as small group core class support, an AP course fair, money management, various club activities, and workshops such as ‘how to pay for college.’” Through participation in the GRAD Partnership, she hopes to expand student experiences and interventions for all grade-levels and types of need, further deepening relationships and connections at Ayden-Grifton.

Along with these three schools, all across the GRAD Partnership Rural Cohort school leaders like Principals, Holt, Harris, and Hyatt and their student success teams are collaborating to continue to grow upon the strong work they have already been doing to center student experience, foster agency, and achieve high post-secondary outcomes. Rural Schools Collaborative is grateful for the vital work that local intermediaries like East Carolina University and GRAD Partnership coordinators like Jacqui Allen for their work to connect their schools to each other and their national peers.

Thank you to the Student Success Systems teams at Ayden-Grifton, North Pitt, and Southside HS for sharing their stories. Special thanks to Jacqui Allen of East Carolina University, who is serving as an intermediary for the 10 North Carolina schools in the rural school cohort through the GRAD Partnership for Student Success. We are also grateful for the support of Kate McPhee, who joined this trip and is a technical assistance partner for the Grad Partnership at the American Institute of Research. Learn more about the GRAD Partnership and RSC’s Rural Cohort here.