Currently serving as assistant superintendent of The School District of Philadelphia, Eric Becoats has improved retention and student achievement in several school districts over the course of his career. As superintendent of the Durham Public Schools, Eric Becoats increased the four-year graduation rate to 80 percent from 69.8 percent and the five-year graduation rate from 73.9 percent to 79.8 percent.

1. STRATEGIES FOR
IMPROVING
GRADUATION RATES
By Eric Becoats

2. Introduction
 Currently serving as assistant superintendent of
The School District of Philadelphia, Eric Becoats
has improved retention and student achievement
in several school districts over the course of his
career. As superintendent of the Durham Public
Schools, Eric Becoats increased the four-year
graduation rate to 80 percent from 69.8 percent
and the five-year graduation rate from 73.9
percent to 79.8 percent.
Although the reasons for student dropout rates
are nearly as diverse as the students themselves,
researchers have identified a number of overall
strategies that can help to prevent dropout.

3. Improving Graduation Rates
 Several such strategies relate to multistage and multiyear
intervention, in which schools focus on preparing students for
high school achievement during the middle grade years.
Success in ninth grade has been proven to be a key marker
for gradation rates, as students who fail their freshman year
in high school have only a 50 percent chance of graduation.
To avoid this outcome, schools must prepare students for
high school success and provide adequate support during the
eighth-to-ninth-grade transition.
A number of key strategies also address the need for
increased accountability among students as well as school
systems. School accountability includes assessing methods
of instruction for relevance and viability, while also looking
closely at expectations.

4. Conclusion
 If a school does not expect students to do well,
that prophecy is likely to be self-fulfilling.
Meanwhile, schools that hold themselves to high
standards must also do the same with their
students. Experts suggest that all students should
have access to rigorous course work and should
have expectations set that they achieve high
academic standards. Availability of tutoring and
other remedial study methods can help students
feel supported as they work toward these
expectations, though mastery remains an
important fundamental goal.