Worth County Seeking A+ Students

The A+ program began in Missouri in 1993 with the goal of lowering dropout rates, increasing GPAs, increasing college entrance test scores, lowering remediation rates and increasing the percentage of students continuing to postsecondary education.  The program is open to all public Missouri schools.  To receive designation, high schools must meet requirements aimed at supporting at-risk students to lower dropout rates, improving coursework rigor, and involving community stakeholders in the education process.  Worth County was able to begin the A+ process last school year.  Generally schools have three years to develop and implement the steps needed to achieve designation, but the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education is allowing schools to speed up the process so students graduating in 2013 will reap the benefits of the A+ program.

Students completing the A+ program will earn two years of state-paid tuition at a Missouri public community college or an eligible career or technical school.  Many students are also eligible for university funded scholarships at certain Missouri colleges.  

Students who are a part of the A+ program must graduate with a minimum GPA of 2.5 on a 4 point scale, have an overall attendance rate of 95 percent, maintain good citizenship as determined by the school, complete 50 hours of district-supervised unpaid mentoring or tutoring and achieve a level of proficient or advanced on the Missouri MAP End of Course test in Algebra I (beginning with the class of 2015).  Once a student graduates with an A+ diploma, they have up to four years after high school graduation to use the state paid benefit.  

Contact Mrs. Clella Goodwin, Worth County A+ Coordinator, if you have questions.  More information on the A+ program is available on the website: http://dhe.mo.gov/ppc/grants/aplusscholarship.php