Some New Details On Speaker's BRIDGE Plan To Raise Graduation Rates

(12/3/07) We’ve got some new details today on Speaker Glenn Richardson’s proposed “BRIDGE” plan, the initiative he announced last August “to do something about education” in Georgia by providing an alternate career path to help keep at-risk or just-plain-bored students in school.

Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, who is spearheading the effort for Richardson, released a draft of the bill he will introduce in the 2008 session. It requires school systems to work in concert with students and their parents to develop an individualized graduation plan for every high schooler.

“Every child is going to be given options,” said Millar. “I think a lot of kids you’re going to be giving some hope to.”

Richardson sketched the outlines of the legislation at a news conference back during the summer, decrying the state’s high school graduation rate and declaring more needed to be done.

He said at the time: “Georgia is overflowing with bright, capable young people who never reach their full potential because they feel that college - a four-year college - is their only choice. Today, we’re going to try to start and change that in Georgia.”

Under the proposed legislation, high schools beginning in the 2010-2011 school year would offer students the option of taking a college-prep track or a career-prep track toward the same high school diploma.

The academic standards would be the same for both groups. But those on the college-prep track would take additional studies in subjects like math, science, foreign language or fine arts, while those on the career-prep track would get hands-on training in high-demand career fields and would pick up a technical certificate along with their diploma on graduation day.

Millar said it’s all about keeping students engaged so that they do not drop out.

“We need to raise the academic rigor for all students. High expectations are key to improved results. However, for many students we must link academic studies to career studies for learning to be meaningful,” he said.

He continued, “For too long we have focused on every child going to college. As a consequence, too many students are enrolling without a goal in mind and too few are finishing. Many are not going and are not well-prepared for a good job.”

Incidentally, BRIDGE is an acronym for "Building Resourceful Individuals to Develop Georgia's Economy."

The draft legislation can be viewed here (Adobe Acrobat format).