After he was forced to leave North Charleston High School, Noah Ratliff didn’t think he’d ever be able to earn his high school diploma.
He was a junior when he was diagnosed with insomnia, sleep apnea, depression and anxiety.
Going to school became impossible. By the end of the 2017-18 school year, he'd missed so much class time that he was failing all of his courses.
“Even getting 100 percent on all of my final exams wouldn’t have saved my grade at all,” he said. “They thought at that point I was a lost cause. Teachers and staff that I had known for four years gave up on me. It was heartbreaking."
After leaving North Charleston High, Ratliff enrolled in Charleston Acceleration Academy, a public charter school that specializes in helping students who’ve dropped out of traditional schools earn their diploma.
Photos: Students graduate from the Charleston Acceleration Academy
Students from the Charleston Acceleration Academy graduate in the Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston on Wednesday, December 18, 2019.
Surrounded by dozens of cheering family members and friends, Ratliff and 17 other students walked across the Simons Center for the Arts Recital Hall stage to receive their diplomas on Dec. 18.
"Charleston Acceleration Academy has been absolutely life-changing,” Ratliff said. “I wish I’d gotten here sooner.”
Noah Ratliff speaks during the Charleston Acceleration Academy graduation ceremony in the Simons Center Recital Hall at the College of Charleston on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Lauren Petracca/Staff
CAA opened in September 2018 and serves students at North Charleston and James Island campuses. It operates under the S.C. Public Charter School District and is free for students to attend. It's part of a Chicago-based for-profit charter organization, Acceleration Academies, which also has schools in Florida, Nevada and Washington state.
Despite some of their successes, charter schools and similar public-private partnerships have also been met with criticism and skepticism from some parents, board members and community groups in Charleston County. Earlier this year, the Charleston County School District was scrutinized when it approved plans to solicit third-party partners to help run some of its lowest-performing schools, a move some considered to be a step toward privatization. The district has repeatedly denied this claim.
CAA uses a "blended learning model" that includes a mix of individualized online coursework and in-person coaching and instruction, said Restorative Practices Coach Jeff Good.
Many of the students enrolled also have jobs to support themselves or their families, Good said. Some even work full time in addition to completing their coursework.
"All of us are very, very proud of them, because they don’t have it easy," said Takiya Mack, a graduation candidate advocate at CAA.
Some students face poverty, Mack said. Others are single parents. Some have learning disorders or come from broken homes. That's why graduation candidate advocates like Mack are integral to Charleston Acceleration Academy's model.
"A lot of these kids have had people give up on them. And we give them that reassurance that we're not going to give up on them," she said.
Ratliff said his graduation candidate advocate, Jamel Gregory, was instrumental to his graduation journey.
A Charleston Acceleration Academy graduate points to his family after receiving his diploma in the Simons Center Recital Hall at the College of Charleston on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Lauren Petracca/Staff
"When I was falling, he was there to catch me. When I struggled to stand on my own, he gave me a shoulder to lean on. When I cried and put my head down, he picked me up and helped me wipe those tears," Ratliff told his classmates during the graduation ceremony.
Summer Rose, who graduated alongside Ratliff last week, found success at Charleston Acceleration Academy after dropping out of high school in March 2018. At the time, she was working three jobs and living out of her car.
"I really just sat there and just cried. It was not fun. It was awful," she said.
At one point, she was forced to sell her car to buy baby food for her son, Clayton. Her fiance at the time had just lost his job and she needed money for formula.
After moving to Charleston to be with her mom, Rose started school at Charleston Acceleration Academy in September.
"It was hard, I will admit," Rose said. "I was helping my other siblings, and the baby was up, and he doesn’t like to take naps, so I had to wait until he goes to sleep ... to do my schoolwork."
Rose appreciated the academy's flexible schedule and online coursework that allows students to work at their own pace.
"That was the greatest thing, was doing online work," Rose said. "And all of the teachers are very kind, they're going to help you no matter what."
Students at CAA are enrolled in one course at a time, said Diana Solis, one of the school's model fidelity coaches.
Teachers, also known as "content coaches," monitor students' progress daily to make sure they're completing assignments on pace. Students have to demonstrate 70 percent mastery of a subject in order to move forward, Solis said, which is higher than the minimum 60 percent pass rate for South Carolina students in traditional public schools.
But the school focuses on more than just students' academics, Good said.
Keiontrez Boone leads his graduating class from Charleston Acceleration Academy to the Simons Center Recital Hall at the College of Charleston for their graduation ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Lauren Petracca/Staff
"A lot of what we do is try to pay attention to the needs (of) the whole child. So it's not just about academics. It's not just about getting your homework done, it's not just about passing tests. But it's also about dealing with those very real-life challenges that most of these kids face," Good said.
Solis agreed.
"I have never in my life seen a program that takes students who are so vulnerable to falling through the cracks and makes a significant and lasting difference for them, both academically and non-academically," she said.
This means supporting students with wrap-around services including transportation, mental health supports or other community services, Solis said.
"It's really such a comprehensive program that focuses on the whole human and fills in the gaps that a large traditional-type school just doesn't have the resources to do and provide for students," she said.
Ratliff plans to go back to school and become a guidance counselor. He eventually hopes to work for Charleston Acceleration Academy one day.
"I want my experience to be a story for other people to see that no matter what life throws at you, perseverance is key to everything," Ratliff said. "It may be hard, but the harder you push yourself and the more you go forward, no matter what's holding you back, you can achieve just about anything."