High School Dropout Rate Receives National Attention

A recent ABC World News segment ("Failing Grades," April 1) featured a report from America's Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that showed 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year.

The news story and follow up article also highlighted two high schools that are reversing the dropout trend and increasing graduation rates. At Clover Park High School in Washington state, small groups of students are paired with teachers for four years, thus providing them with "surrogate family members," while students at Berrien High School in Georgia each receive a graduation coach.

In both cases, the extra support students receive lets them know that they are "human beings, not statistics" as the article quotes one principal saying. The efforts by these two schools to increase graduation rates are examples of innovative high school redesign, a top legislative priority for ASCD.

In a response to producers at ABC World News, ASCD Executive Director Gene R. Carter highlighted the Association's advocacy efforts to improve the situation in U.S. high schools by gaining support and passage of the Getting Retention and Diplomas Up Among Today's Enrolled Students or GRADUATES Act (S. 1920/H.R. 3763). This legislation would increase student engagement and reduce dropout rates by supporting personalized learning, mentoring programs, school- and community-based learning opportunities, and flexible scheduling in U.S. high schools. Carter's comments highlighted how ASCD educators are working to support the whole child "from crib to commencement."

ASCD believes that the GRADUATES Act provides a tremendous opportunity for educators to improve high schools. You can help support it by joining other ASCD Educator Advocates in asking your members of the U.S. House and Senate to cosponsor the legislation.

We'd like to know what's happening in your communities to improve the high school experience and raise graduations rates. Please share your stories by commenting on this post.

Comments

[sweetchuckd]

This story is mentioned on http://detentionslip.org. It's one of the leading sources for crazy news in public education.

[SIATech Schools]

SIATech, a public charter high school with campuses nationwide, re-engages disconnected students through an innovative curriculum that integrates technology with academics and provides the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. SIATech campuses are currently located on 14 Job Corps centers and serve over 3,200 students.

7,442 graduates since 1998

[Eugene G. White]

On Tuesday, April 1, 2008, there was a national news story that declared the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) to have the second-lowest graduation rate of any urban school district in the country. We were second only to the Detroit Public Schools.

This grand announcement was entre to a national dropout summit sponsored by America's Promise Alliance, created by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and his wife, Alma. The group was kicking off a national campaign to keep children in schools.

I have no problem with the positive efforts of the America's Promise Alliance campaign, but I truly take exception to the school data that supported the national announcement and news coverage. The data used reflects the 2003-04 school year. IPS has experienced many changes and positive improvements that are totally disregarded by this report. We also have had three more classes to graduate since the data in the report.

On behalf of the teachers, administrators and students who have worked hard to improve the overall graduation rate in IPS, I want to set the record in the proper chronological context.

Indiana now has a common four-year graduation rate computed on entering 9th-grade students and graduating seniors four years later. This is consistent with standards adopted by the National Governor's Association. The first class to graduate under this new formula was the IPS Class of 2006. The district graduation rate for 2006 was 52 percent. The second class for the four-year survival schedule was the Class of 2007. The district graduation rate in 2007 was 46.5 percent.

The 2007 graduation data ranged from a high of 88 percent at the Key Learning Community to 40.3 percent at Northwest High School. It should be clearly understood that these graduation rates are not acceptable. We will -- we must -- do a better job.

IPS is joining with the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the other 10 school districts of Marion County through the Common Goal Initiative, an effort to create a "common goal" for high school graduation in Marion County. Our first performance indicator is to get IPS school graduation rates to 70 percent and above by 2010. These students are currently 10th-graders. Through enhanced instruction, after-school tutoring, mentoring programs, extended classes of mathematics and language arts, expanded alternative education programs, adult education programs, career and technical programs and credit-recovery programs, we hope to improve our graduation rates and greatly reduce school dropouts.

In the meantime, we can't have any more April Fool's stories that are almost true.

Eugene G. White, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Indianapolis Public Schools

[Franklin P. Schargel]

The National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University has been studying the dropout problem since 1986. We have developed 15 strategies which the National Education Goals Panel has said are "the most effective strategies to help solve our school dropout problem." (NEGP Monthly, August 1999) and have been recognized by the United States Department of Education (www.ed.gov/dropout.html

These strategies are posted copyright free on my website, www.schargel.com and the NDPC website, www.dropoutprevention.org

[Renee Graef]

Diploma Plus Schools are primarily located in urban areas and serve students who are over-aged and under-credited or at risk of dropping out. Diploma Plus (DP) provides a rigorous and student-centered alternative for youth who have been failed by a traditional system that did not adequately nurture their gifts, curiosity, intelligence, and power as learners. DP is an alternative in the best sense of the word; its role is to transform our students’ learning experiences so they will achieve success in high school, college, and careers. The Diploma Plus model combines high expectations for every student, a competency-based and standards-aligned Performance-Based System, a personalized learning environment, opportunities to make academic and real world connections, and challenging post-secondary experiences, such as career internships and taking college courses while still in high school.

Diploma Plus was created as a response to the alarmingly high dropout rate among urban youth of color, the low numbers of vulnerable youth entering or completing college, and the inadequate supply of high quality alternatives to traditional high schools. The mission of the Diploma Plus initiative is to create small high schools that incorporate a performance-based system, a supportive school culture, future focus, and effective supports in order to increase opportunities for students so that they have the ability to graduate college- and career- ready.

Since 2003, DP has evolved by adding new schools, improving student outcomes, codifying the model, and deepening the implementation. Diploma Plus works to achieve the shared mission to vastly improve educational outcomes for youth and develop strategies, tools, and practices that can improve the national dropout crisis.

For more information, please visit http://www.commcorp.org/diplomaplus/index.html

[Hector Tapia Perez]

If you were wondering if there is a national role model for at risk youth who was once a heroin abuser and high school drop out that dropped back in and became a mentor's mentor in the city that had the highest drop out rate of any urban center and actually lived in the city with his wife and five children, the answer is yes. I mentored at risk art students. Students need positive male role models in the 'hood. I moved to Hawaii to create a new "carrot". I promised them free room and board in Paradise when they graduate...from college. I think you hard working educators should come and visit me here in Kauai too. Do not wait for a natural disaster to hit your community before you decide to bring us to your school.
Our stories of hope are real and are designed to inspire the most hard core. I earned my rep in Detroit baby! Was it rough? Yes. Were the innocent angels in Detroit worth it? YES
Now I wish to speak to all the nation's youth because I have some cousins in Mexico that didn't get the meaning of life. They have targeted major cities to move their product. They have better marketing than I do. Statistics can't illustrate the importance of living to serve America. Real humans can. Oh we will come suited up. I taught my young men this. No baggy pants hip hop show will ever get respect outside the 'hood. We are creating a new aesthetic for young men.
I am learning much about the aloha spirit. It is a very marketable concept, the spirit of love, respect and well wishes for other humans. Detroit, I miss my hard working comrades that are receiving a bad rep because of poor administration. Stay strong, I have found some nice beaches for you all. We are waiting for you educators. Come de-stress, then return and serve the poor. Our island is getting crowded. Let your community know there is hope. I didn't teach in an affluent city with plenty of resources. My strength is that I did it in Detroit, where graduates are rare. Children emulate the inner city behavior. It's even taught in some video games. Let my team come and tell your students the other side of being a gangsta. It isn't the Scared Straight approach. Kids laugh at that. I developed a different approach that worked. Google Jonathan Meyer/AnnArbor ArtFair, Omar Paulk, and Maurizio Rosas. You will like Nia Mora's photography. She is now in NYC. I am writing a book to encourage youth to serve America by investing time and energy into teaching in the inner city. I have to go watch a beautiful sunset! Gotta go. Aloha, Hector Tapia Perez

[Sharon Green]

Why do we not have a federal law requiring students to finish the 12th-grade level of education? We have laws about everything else concerning 16 to 18 year-olds. Why can a sixteen-year-old quit school but is not allowed to buy a beer. I see something horribly wrong with this picture.
Sharon Green