Chicken, mashed potatoes and sweet tea weren't the only things of interest for the capacity crowd Feb. 4 at the Parents for Public Schools Lunch Bunch meeting at the Jackson Medical Mall. On the agenda was a powerful concept that promises to stem the growing tide of Jackson's high-school dropouts.

Here is the sobering statistic: In Jackson's public schools, more than 36 of every 100 young scholars never made it to graduation day in 2011. Put another way, in a district where roughly 2,700 students start 9th grade each year, nearly 1,000 will drop out. Those dropouts may never become fully contributing, productive members of the community. Poverty or jail is a far more likely outcome.

Jackson isn't alone with its abysmal graduation rates. At the end of the '03-'04 school year, Nashville's schools were even worse than Jackson's, graduating only 58 percent of its kids. In a remarkable turnaround, by the end of the 2009-2010 year, the district had increased its graduation rate to 82 percent.

What made the difference was the entire community—parents, teachers, school administrators, as well as local business people, churches and area non-profit organizations—working together under the banner of Alignment Nashville. Jackson has joined numerous school districts around the country in using Nashville's successful model to mount a concerted effort to ensure more Jackson teens get to wear the cap and gown, and are fully prepared for college or careers.

"This is not just another program," said Shawna Davie, former director of education initiatives for the United Way of the Capital Area.

Instead, Davie said, Alignment Jackson is using the sustainable Nashville model to pull together diverse people and organizations with a common goal: to support students in Jackson schools, providing what they need to achieve academic success in alignment with Jackson Public Schools' strategic plan.

"There's no other agenda," said Davie, who is now serving as Alignment Jackson's executive director. The organization's major sponsors include the City of Jackson, the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, Jackson Public Schools and the United Way of the Capital Area.

These types of organizations may not have played well together in the past, Davie suggested, but they can pull together for the students' and the city's future.

"It requires us to leave our 'territory' at the door," she said.

Alignment Jackson is dedicated to asking what students need, Davie said, instead of pointing out what doesn't work. Once the needs are identified, the organization's job is to figure out the "who, what, where, when and how" of fulfillment. That may include finding new resources (including funding), setting and assigning tasks to be completed, evaluating solutions and, if necessary, redirecting its teams toward more viable alternatives.

First and foremost, Alignment Jackson's success requires a collective decision that Jackson's young people are worth the hard work and time it will take.

"We have 30,000 students whose lives and futures are at stake," Davie said.

Frederick Murray was on hand Wednesday to explain how the model will fit into the city's schools. Murray is the executive director of high schools for JPS and heads up Alignment Jackson's committee for high schools.

Beginning this spring, he said, high schools will begin a shift to small learning communities, or "academies." Groups of 150 incoming freshmen will form like-minded groups with teachers and classes focused on engaging the students' interests. The academies—which may include subject areas such as hospitality, aviation and transportation, digital design and communication, health science and law, and business and finance—will be housed in a designated area at each school.

"Every student may not get their first choice," Murray said, but they won't forever be stuck with an academy, either, if they find themselves in the wrong one. Finding out what you don't want to do can be just as important as figuring out what inspires you, he said.

The academy structure can give students real-world experiences of what a career may entail. Nissan, for example, might bring a robot to show teens how modern manufacturing works, Murray said, helping to create a vision of what a students' future could hold. It's all about the three academy "R"s: relevance, relationship and rigor. The plan is to have academies "wall-to-wall" in every Jackson high school.

"We have to do better for our students," Murray said. "This is transformational."

For Alignment Jackson, the plan is to create and invigorate Jackson's village to empower its young people to be successful. "Embrace the change," Murray advised.

Parents for Public Schools of Jackson is hosting a public informational session regarding Alignment Jackson on Tuesday, Feb. 11, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Metrocenter Mall's Event Center (3645 U.S. Highway 80). Use the lower-level entrance near the state Highway Patrol office. For more information, visit the PPS website or the Alignment Jackson website.