Gary, Indiana’s leaders share profound concern and inspiring commitment to their young people, many of whom are being left behind by the 21st Century.  Over the past three years, Gary’s leaders produced their Multiple Education Pathway Blueprint. The blueprint may serve as a catalyst for  education attainment that leads to employment and supports economic development in Gary and NW Indiana.

In-School Portfolio of Options: In 2008, the Gary Community Schools unveiled a set of ten specific strategies known as the “The New Secondary Experience.” The objective was to implement best practices from work being done in other cities that were possible with limited resources.

The ten components include:

1. Collecting and utilizing school-based data to provide early indicators of students at-risk of dropping out by: a) identifying all students falling behind, b) classifying students by credits earned, and c) using KidTrax data systems to foster connectedness between community and in-school activities,
2. Transforming schools to allow students to pursue interests, talents and abilities
3. Eliminating all social promotions and engage students and their parents in developing a plan for credit recovery and intensive remedial education
4. Implementing “Double Dose” classes for students falling behind in mathematics and language arts
5. Implementing extended day strategies supported by existing Title XX and remediation funds
6. Engaging employers and workforce specialists to provide career and job awareness, exploration, mentoring and employment
7. Implementing immediate instructional interventions and exploring the use of technology options to support teachers and counselors
8. Implementing reading and literacy classes at the high school level to provide remediation for those students not reading English at grade level
9. Providing credit recovery and acquisition opportunities for all students classified as behind their grade level in credits earned after regular school day, and
10. Developing an individual Career Pathway Plan for all Gary students

New Pathways Options through “Magnet Schools”: In the winter of 2008, faced with a $22 million budget shortfall, the Gary Community Schools Board designed and passed a sweeping secondary school re-organization built on principles of “The New Secondary Experience.” The strategy, “Magnet Schools,” requires students, parents and faculty to choose where their talent and interests lie in selecting one of four schools that will offer choice of 1) Leadership/Military Academy & Gifted/Talented Focus, 2) Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM),  3) Career and Technical options, and 4)Visual & Performing Arts.

“Oldest and Closest”: An immediate strategy to arise from MEP Blueprint planning process is for the Gary Community Schools and its partners to rapidly identify its 2008-2009 students missing the least number of credits and who were oldest students at risk of “aging out” for immediate interventions. It was estimated that roughly 10% of the students most likely to drop out were in this category. Intensive time and resources for students in need of assistance to secure credits or a satisfactory ISTEP score to graduate could produce momentum and early success.