Ten schools in the Ozarks received a grant for GRAD Partnership from the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC) to implement student-success systems and participate in the rural portion of a national project.  

In 2022, GRAD Partnership launched its first rural cohort through RSC, a nonprofit organization. In its third year of creation, the partnership included rural schools from coast to coast. 

The partnership is funded by the Everyone Graduates Center, created by Johns Hopkins University. The center aims to increase graduation rates and expand student-readiness. 

As part of a regional hub for the Ozarks, Missouri State University’s Center for Rural Education (CRE) was invited to select 10 schools to be part of RSC’s second cohort. Co-directors Drs. Denise Cunningham and Rhonda Bishop selected participating schools from the Ozarks region. 

Student success in ninth grade 

The Everyone Graduates Center collaborates with nine organizations to create conditions for student success. These organizations help teachers, families and communities enable students to graduate ready for the future. 

The three keys to student success systems are supportive relationships, actionable data and student-centered mindsets. 

The data collected from the Everyone Graduates Center has indicated that ninth grade is a pivotal year for graduation and post-high school readiness.  

“Research shows us that if students are successful in ninth grade, they are more likely to actually graduate,” Bishop said.  

Participating schools 

These are the rural Missouri school districts participating in the second GRAD partnership cohort: 

• Alton Public Schools 
• Cassville Public Schools 
• Couch Public Schools 
• Eminence R-I 
• Fair Play Public Schools 
• Humansville Public Schools  
• Lutie Public Schools 
• Pleasant Hope Public Schools  
• McDonald County Public Schools  
• Shell Knob Public Schools 

Once selected for the program, the co-directors helped each school to identify one area of focus for the year. The four evidence-based components were school connectedness/belonging, attendance, behavior and course performance.  

The partnership provided each school with $2,500 and schools were required to match the funding.   

The schools selected will apply their support strategies and funding from the organizations to see improvement in the area they chose.  

Cassville Middle School has chosen to focus on “Connectedness and Attendance.” They allocated some of their funding toward the Beta Club as a way to increase student involvement.  

Cassville math teacher Dove Haney is a Beta Club organizer.  

“Our goal with Beta Club is to provide a community and opportunity for students to explore interests and receive recognition through competition at our state convention,” she said.  

Haney explained with the help of the partnership, students can participate more. 

“This partnership has enabled us to provide snacks for afterschool meetings, resources for service projects, and supplies and fees for students to belong and compete in Beta membership and competitions,” she said. 

Assistance from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks 

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) partners with the CRE as a hub lead for the Ozarks.   

“They were all in from the beginning,” Cunningham said about approaching CFO with the GRAD Partnership project. 

CFO provided $1,000 to each school, which helped schools match the CRE’s funding.  

“CFO supports the Rural Schools Collaborative’s vision of schools as linchpins of our rural places and has long championed this vision through our grantmaking,” said Winter Kinne, CFO president and CEO.