In 1995 Molly Howard became the new principal of Jefferson County High School.
With 80% of the students living in what was classed as poverty and only 15% previously progressing onto college, it was a challenging position.
There was a huge culture, both within the school and the community of the other 85% being, essentially ‘written off’.
For them, it was case of ‘getting through’ school, while the 15% were prepped for college.
Amongst the changes she made was to alter the grading system.
No more Ds, Es of Fs.
You could get an A, B, C or NY.
“Not yet”
Throughout the school, the expectation became that every child was capable of getting an A, B or C.
Some just weren’t quite their yet.
And what was needed to help them fill that gap was the focus.
No one felt ‘left behind’.
No one felt they ‘couldn’t do it’.
By 2008 all remedial courses had been stopped, college applications were at several times the 1995 level and Howard was named U.S. Principal of the Year.
“There’s no never at Jefferson anymore, only a ‘Not yet'”
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And it’s the same with your goals.
There is no ‘Never’.
Just ‘Not yet’.
Even if you’ve faced a lifetime of ‘Not yet’…………
All we need to do is find how to ‘fill that gap’.
We have a natural tendancy to write both ourselves and others off.
Often ourselves more so.
“I’ve always been fat”
“I’ve never liked exercise”
“I find diets boring and miserable after a while”
All Ds, Es and Fs.
What we need are our NYs.
“Finding an approach to life that means I’m no longer fat”
“Finding a way of exercising I, at least, find tolerable”
“Finding a healthy way of eating that’s enjoyable and I can stick with”
No one should be left behind.
No one written off.
Let’s stop giving ourselves and others those Ds, Es and Fs.
And concentrate on the NYs 🙂
## The first step to yours, of course, could be our find-out-more meeting tonight. Don’t leave it for another month. myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting ##
Much love,
Jon ‘NSYNC’ Hall and Matt ‘NDubz’ Nicholson
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RISE Macclesfield –Â myrise.co.uk
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