They'll get a certificate, but won't graduate? Why participate in the ceremony? Is this another one of those award programs?
About 30 students from Columbia County's four high schools will be on stage at Evans High School today for the school system's summer graduation ceremony.
Summer school principal Chris Segraves said that's the largest number of students to participate in summer graduation since the school system started having the ceremony.
"It's an event that they can fall back on when they're parents and stress the importance of education to their children," Mr. Segraves said. "It brings closure to their high school career. It is a chance for them to be publicly recognized for completing their high school work."
Regina Buccafusco, the school board chairwoman, said the ceremony is a motivator for students.
"We really want to encourage as many students as we can to get their high school diplomas," she said.
Mr. Segraves said about 50 students overall are expected to earn their diplomas this summer.
He attributed the higher number of summer graduates to increased options for students to finish their course work.
In addition to summer school classes, students can take online classes or online credit-recovery courses.
Credit recovery puts students back on track for graduation by enabling them to regain credits for semester classes they failed during the school year.
"Many of the students this year were ones who didn't finish their online courses in time to graduate," Ms. Buccafusco said.
Some students also retook portions of the Georgia High School Graduation Tests this summer. However, Mr. Segraves said those students did not have to pass the tests to participate in graduation.
They will receive a high school certificate, he said.
The graduation ceremony will begin at 5 p.m.
Reach Betsy Gilliland at (706) 868-1222, ext. 113,or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of Columbia County students who graduated from the summer program the past three years:
2006: 14
2007: 7
2008: about 30
Source: Columbia County Board of Education
Comments
They'll get a certificate, but won't graduate? Why participate in the ceremony? Is this another one of those award programs?
patriciathomas, ......They will graduate when they pass all parts of the Georgia High School Graduation Tests.
victotheend, ...then why participate in the ceremony? If they don't complete or pass all parts of the test, will they have another ceremony where they give the certificate back?
This is a good way to help students who were just a little bit behind everyone else for some reason or other. It could mean the difference between a child going on to higher education or struggling the rest of their lives to make ends meet because they do not have a diploma. Congratulations to all of these students!
I think the GHSGT should be demolished anyway. These students who pass all of there school subjects-should Graduate with a Diploma not certificate. They work all year for four years and then bam-they're given a dumb test that someone came up with in Atlanta-while getting paid big bucks and bingo-this decides if they get a diploma---no way should it weigh that heavy on someones future. Trash all of them; it takes up the time, teachers, guidance counselors and all concerned when they could be doing what really needs to be completed. Let's help students to Graduate with diginity and not have them to hold there heads down or not even get a decent job. Some try really hard and get put down or even find out in there Senior year: Oh you are not on track--you need this and this or you will not make it when all of there Junior and Senior year they should have someone working with them that tells the truth and helps them-not knock them down. Guess I better stop-before I say to much.
I agree homeowner, why bother with government school at all? Let's just award a diploma for attendance. Testing to see if anything was learned is just plain mean.
There is public information for anyone who wonders if they have enough credits to graduate. There is no excuse for students or their parents to be surprised if their child is not on track. The high school graduation test is the minimum students should be able to do in order to graduate. GADOE has all the information anyone needs to know about education in Georgia. The high school graduation requirements can be found at http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_services.aspx
Columbia county is going to become the gwinnet county of atlanta. Gwinnet was the suburban county that all the whites ran to in atlanta. Now its nothing but strip malls, and fake neighbohoods. Crime, and gangs have gone up dramatically. Now people are leaving gwinnet for even further out counties in atlanta. Once grovetown high is built there will be more students going to summer school. Growth is not always a good thing.
What relation does building a new high school have to students attending summer school?
Since the repeat test was not given until this morning, why are they having the graduation today. My understanding was that those students that pass the failed segment of the test would be included in the graduation
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