Catalyst

Informed Families Catalyst

5 Reasons Why You Need to Highlight Student Achievement

Posted by Informed Families on June 21, 2017 at 8:00 AM

What is student achievement? Ask different people and you get different answers.

Some might define student achievement in purely academic terms: test scores, grades, the quality of colleges that teens attend after they graduate high school. 

Others might look beyond grades to things such as varsity letters, perfect attendance or simply earning the diploma.

Still others take a different tack on student achievement: community service, successfully participating in anti-drinking or anti-bullying campaigns, organizing a safe and fun prom.

No matter how you define student achievement (and, indeed, many educators define it in multiple ways), highlighting success should be a focus in every school and every school district. Here are five reasons why:

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Topics: Student Success

How to Encourage Student Success

Posted by Informed Families on May 10, 2017 at 8:00 AM

The concept of student success often gets lost in the perception of student failures. Too often, the attitude of some people, many of whom do not currently have teens themselves, is that high schoolers are collectively disappointing parents, communities and society at large. This negativity isn’t new—just about every generation has engaged in its own “These kids!” moment—but in 2017, with social media and the digital age, it seems louder and our students definitely hear it.

Unfortunately, that message can discourage teens from striving for success and then more success. Little victories are overlooked; bigger accomplishments are diminished. For example, alcohol usage rates have been dropping for teens for a couple decades now, as much as a 60 percent difference since its peak in the 1990s. Yet the mistaken belief of many people is that high school students are out of control with drinking and parties.

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Topics: Student Success

Creative Ways to Highlight Student Success at Your School

Posted by Informed Families on February 15, 2017 at 8:00 AM

Middle and high school students seem to get a bad rap in this day and age. There’s a perception that they are always on their smartphones, are lazy, are disinterested in hard work, are selfish, and are quick to use and abuse drugs and alcohol.

Thankfully, most educators know differently. They see the success from their students: both day-to-day achievements and long-term progress. They see teens’ hard work—sure, it might take a different form than previous generations, but it’s hard work nonetheless. And they see how students inspire others, through coordinated schoolwide efforts, peer counseling or just being a good friend.

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Topics: Student Success

Supporting Student Achievement with Prevention Messages

Posted by Informed Families on November 10, 2016 at 7:00 AM

Teens already are under tremendous pressure with school, their families and the simple fact that adolescent years are a naturally confusing and exciting time for most kids. Enter drugs and alcohol and you see why teens might feel overwhelmed. Educators might feel the same way—after all, part of helping students succeed, aside from academic support, is helping to students make healthy choices and avoiding negative behaviors which can hinder their growth and future success.  

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Topics: Student Success

Setting Up Student Success by Becoming an All Star School

Posted by Informed Families on September 7, 2016 at 12:00 PM

According to the latest study on teen drug use in the United States, 8.1 percent of eighth-graders used illicit drugs during any given month in 2015. A number like this could be seen as discouraging given the efforts schools and other organizations make to combat drug use in adolescents. But it could also be viewed another way: 91.9 percent of eighth-graders hadn’t used drugs during that time. That can be seen as a success—success that can be benchmarked, celebrated and built upon in the future.

Informed Families created the All Star Safe, Healthy & Drug Free Schools program to recognize the student success that schools are achieving throughout Florida through prevention efforts. A school that completes Informed Families’ four drug prevention campaigns is eligible to be named an All Star School; one All Star School is selected in each of the state’s 67 counties. All Star Schools receive well-deserved media recognition and $1,000 of prevention merchandise for the next school year.

Student success is the primary benefit of striving toward All Star Schools status. Here’s a look at what schools can achieve through the initiative:

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Topics: all star schools, Student Success

About Us

We teach people how to say no to drugs and how to make healthy choices. To reduce the demand for drugs, Informed Families has focused its efforts on educating and mobilizing the community, parents and young people in order to change attitudes. In this way we counteract the pressures in society that condone and promote drug and alcohol use and abuse. The organization educates thousands of families annually about how to stay drug and alcohol free through networking and a variety of programs and services .

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