WASHINGTON -- The road for a high school dropout often leads to low-paying jobs and jail, yet some 1.2 million students choose that path each year, said officials with America's Promise Alliance, a dropout prevention organization."All you're doing is growing the prison population," said Colin Powell, former U.S. secretary of state and Alliance founder. "It's a farm system for the jail system."The Alliance unveiled a plan Tuesday to hold 100 dropout prevention summits nationwide to curb what Powell called "a national catastrophe."According to a report prepared by Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, a student drops out of high school roughly every 26 seconds. Powell said 30 percent of all high school students fail to graduate, while 50 percent of minorities do not earn a diploma. "You'll be frightened by the numbers you see," Powell said. "The trend is real, and it's a trend that has to be reversed." Kareema Conda-Barr knows the trend all too well. She dropped out of her Chicago-area high school her senior year in 1996 in part because of a poor work ethic and the perceived disconnect between high school curriculum and everyday life. She now works with YouthBuild USA, a Somerville, Mass.-based organization that helps low-income students earn their GED. Conda-Barr is expecting to receive her associate's degree in May. "These are students who have given up on themselves, and consequently the school system has given up on them," she said. The dropout trend is worst in urban areas, where researchers have found that students are sometimes up to two times less likely to graduate than in suburban areas.Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said he's found many high school dropouts read at a fourth-grade level. Education officials said they hoped the summits could provide the answer. The plan is to gather parents, educators, community leaders and government officials in hopes of developing a game plan to fight the dropout crisis. The Alliance will coordinate one summit in each state and in the country's 50 largest cities by 2010.Robert Balfanz, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University, said it would take everyone to prevent children from continuing to drop out."It's important to get the community involved because the community bears the cost, while the school system is just getting rid of a problematic kid," Balfanz said.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
drop out
I have a 30 year old son who was born a drop out it was not his choice the schools are very limited in what they believe is their duty to educate and many do not fit the system. Every year in school lowered his self esteem. Ask any teacher and they think they can tell you who will end up in prison in first grade. The school system does not try to alter this. I don't think keeping these students in the current system until they graduate would change their out come.
I would love to converse with someone about addressing the needs of the schools. Children who learn differently should see some success.
Besides the prison population there is the below prime mortgage population etc..
When a child needs are not addressed in school and their self confidence plumates they feel ostracized by society and will never be a productive member.
So it looks like keeping these children in school is good but that is deceiving. Many of these Children won't drop out if they feel they belong and are not failing.
Ellen
America's Promise Alliance
America's Promise Alliance Launches National Campaign to Combat Nation's High School Dropout and College-Readiness Crisis
Report Finds America’s Largest Cities Struggle to Keep Majority of Students in School with Big Disparities Between Urban and Suburban Graduation Rates
America’s Promise Alliance Chair Alma Powell Announces Nationwide ‘Dropout Prevention Summits’; General Colin Powell Says Dropout Crisis Affects Economy and National Security
WASHINGTON, DC – A report to be released today finds that only about half of all students served by the main school systems in the nation's 50 largest cities graduate from high school. Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation released today by the America’s Promise Alliance and prepared by Editorial Projects in Education Research Center further reveals that in the metropolitan areas surrounding 35 of the nation’s largest cities, graduation rates in urban schools were lower than those in nearby suburban communities. In several instances, the disparity between urban-suburban graduation rates was more than 35 percentage points.
The report was released by Alma J. Powell, chair of the America’s Promise Alliance (Alliance), which is kicking off a national campaign to reduce high school dropout rates and prepare children for college, work and life. The campaign will include a series of ground-breaking, high-level Dropout Prevention summits to be held in every state and 50 communities over the next two years. General Colin Powell, founding chair of the Alliance, joined his wife in making the announcement – citing the dropout crisis as a threat to our economy and national security.
Nationwide, nearly one in three U.S. high school students drops out before graduating. In total, approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year – about 7,000 every school day, or one every 26 seconds.
The lead sponsor for the Dropout Prevention Campaign is the State Farm Insurance Company. State Farm is joined by AT&T, The Boeing Company, Ford Motor Company Fund, Casey Family Programs, ING Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.
In response to today’s report, Alma Powell was joined by Alliance Founding Chair General Powell; U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico); Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina); State Farm Chairman and CEO Edward B. Rust Jr.; National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial and others to launch the campaign. The campaign will bring mayors and governors, business owners, child advocates, school administrators, students and parents together to develop workable solutions and action plans for improving our nation’s alarming graduation rates. Several summits have already been held or are scheduled in Detroit, Tucson, Iowa and Mississippi. An additional 40 cities and states have committed.
“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe. Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future,” said General Powell. “It’s time for a national ‘call to arms,’ because we cannot afford to let nearly one-third of our kids fail.”
Research shows that the more support youth have, both inside and outside of the classroom, the more likely they are to stay in school. Specifically, research demonstrates that the more young people experience five essential wrap-around supports, what the Alliance calls the “Five Promises” – caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others – the greater their chance for future success.
“The number one predictor of a young person’s future success is whether they graduate from high school,” said Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise Alliance. “But just conferring a diploma is not enough. Students today must graduate with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in college, work and life. We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community.”
Experts say that dropping out of high school affects not just students and their families, but the country overall – including businesses, government and communities. The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that high school dropouts from the Class of 2006-07 will cost the U.S. more than $329 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes. Young people of color are most affected, because nearly half of all African-American and Native-American students will not graduate with their class, while less than six in 10 Hispanic students will. Experts say that those who drop out are more likely to be incarcerated, rely on public programs and social services, and go without health insurance than those who graduate from high school.
“Economic success is dependent upon educational opportunities. If we are to compete, it is essential that we address America’s growing dropout crisis,” said Edward B. Rust, Jr., chairman and CEO of State Farm Insurance Company. “I urge other businesses to join us in this campaign to ensure that all young people earn a high school diploma and are ready not only for college, but to succeed in tomorrow’s workforce.”
In announcing the summits, the Alliance emphasized that they are designed to both raise awareness and develop actual action plans that will help put local high schools on the road to improved graduation rates with a curriculum that better prepares young people for the workforce. The Alliance also underscored that these state and local efforts would need to be buttressed by strong federal action, including passage of ‘The Graduation Promise Act’ and the ‘Every Student Counts Act.’ Similarly, the Alliance offered its own solutions to the dropout crisis rooted in work the organization already has underway around health care access and insurance, middle-school student civic and vocational engagement and using schools as hubs for the delivery of comprehensive resources to kids.
“The key to increasing graduation rates is to stop working in isolation and to start working together,” said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance. “That’s why we are convening these summits. We need curriculum reform, after-school programs, efforts to improve health care and nutrition programs, increased resources and greater accountability. Most of all, we need to recognize that no one entity can solve this crisis alone, but working together, we can make enormous strides to ensure our children succeed.”
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Accurate GED Article
I think with how the market is going, there should be much support for the GED. Many people who have had a job, lost it because there are now more qualified prospects with higher education knocking on their doors. A GED is not some simple test that people make it out to seem. It is a recognized achievement that deserves more credibility.
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