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The Moreno Valley Unified School District administrators are showing their dedication to increasing graduation rates by developing new programs for their students.

The school district is now planning to implement an online school that will combine independent study with required student-teacher meetings. Enrollment in the program will be limited to juniors, seniors and fifth-year students.

Independent Study programs work for some students but do not provide enough support for all students, according to assistant superintendent Martinrex Kedziora, who was hired by Superintendent Judy White after she took over the district in 2011.

The district’s on-time graduation rate has improved from 65.7 percent in 2010 to 74.8 percent in 2012, but it’s still second lowest in Riverside County. However, the improvement is attributed to numerous efforts. The district recognizes that a single program won’t work for every at-risk student, so leaders have worked to offer electives, manage records better and mentor.

Many dropout prevention initiatives are attempts to rescue, rehabilitate or revive students who have fallen behind in their studies after a few years in high school.

But the biggest impact, according to researchers from the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, comes from a focus on the transition from middle school to high school.

A student’s freshman year is, after all, a key predictor of the likelihood of a high school student dropping out. If a student experiences low grades, a lack of course credit or poor attendance, they are more likely to be off track for graduation, and likely to drop out of school in 10th grade. In order to protect those at-risk adolescents, educators need to recognize how to keep a student on track during their freshman year of high school.

That’s why Jennifer S. Cohen and Becky A. Smerdon argue in their research article, “Tightening the Dropout Tourniquet: Easing the Transition from Middle School to High School,” that effective dropout prevention initiatives should include components that focus specifically on the ninth grade.

She only attended high school for a few weeks before dropping out. She got a job working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. By age 15, she was married and had a baby.

But that was years ago. Now, Debra Duardo, once a high school dropout, is working toward completing a doctorate degree from University of California Los Angeles Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

And, the Los Angeles Unified School District took away the interim portion of Duardo’s title last week, making Duardo the executive director of health and human services, according to a story published in Ampersand by UCLA.

Actor Mark Wahlberg is a high school dropout.

Yes, he defies many qualities commonly associated with dropouts. But even though he’s an extremely successful, well-known celebrity, Wahlberg recognizes the importance of a high school diploma.

“If my career goes south, I’m working at McDonald’s. I’m driving a tow truck,” Wahlberg told an auditorium full of high school students. “That’s why I’m going back to high school.”

Last week, Wahlberg spoke to students at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA., about his experience dropping out of high school in ninth grade. He became involved in gangs, violence and drugs — and even spent time in prison.