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Overview The dropout problem in the United States is daunting. More than a fifth of the U.S. population ages 18-24 have neither a high school diploma nor a GED. Students from low-income families drop out at six times the rate of those from high-income families. Students who fail to complete high school are less likely than others to be employed, more likely to be receiving public assistance, and much more likely to be incarcerated. All of society suffers as each high school dropout costs the public sector $139,100 in reduced tax payments, $40,500 in increased public health costs, $26,600 from increased criminal activity, and $3,000 in increased welfare costs on average over the course of a lifetime. As the chief executives of their states, governors are in an extraordinary position to make the changes needed to ensure that all students graduate high school ready for college, work, and life. Governors are taking a two-pronged approach, focusing on both dropout prevention and dropout recovery. Strategies governors can take to prevent high school dropout include supporting early-warning data systems to identify students at risk of dropping out, raising the maximum compulsory schooling age from 16 to 18, providing catch-up programs for credit-delinquent students, and increasing high school relevance via dual enrollment programs and career and technical education coursework. No matter how sound a state's education system or how vigorous its dropout prevention efforts, students will invariably fall through the cracks. Dropout recovery systems and programs provide students who have dropped out of school with another chance for high school success. To provide second-chance opportunities for educational success, governors can create incentives for schools to reengage students, provide multiple pathways to high school graduation, and permit schools to award credit based on performance and competency. For additional information on the NGA Center's dropout prevention and recovery efforts, contact Ryan Reyna. ^ Back to top. NGA Center Activities The overarching goal of the NGA Center's Gubernatorial Action for Dropout Prevention and Recovery initiative is to galvanize gubernatorial leadership to tackle the dropout problem. With generous support from the GE Foundation, the NGA Center will undertake the following activities from 2008-2010: -
Convene a project advisory committee, including researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and national experts to help guide the work of the project. -
Produce a governor's guide to dropout prevention and recovery that presents state policy strategies for preventing student dropout and reengaging out-of-school youth, along with examples of innovative state activities in these areas. -
Offer competitive grants and ongoing technical assistance over the course of 16 months to five states seeking to create and implement plans and policies regarding a statewide dropout prevention and recovery system. -
Provide targeted technical assistance on dropout prevention and recovery to governors' offices upon request. -
Organize cross-state learning opportunities on dropout prevention and recovery via conference calls, web casts, and in-person meetings. ^ Back to top. Resources from the NGA Center The NGA Center for Best Practices has developed a series of resources for Governors and their key staff, including: -
Honoring Progress Newsletter. This newsletter provides information on some of the most promising policies and practices related to dropout prevention and recovery that have grown out of the work of the Honor States Grant Program, a $23.6 million, governor-led effort to improve college and work ready graduation rates. -
Implementing Graduation Counts: State Progress to Date, 2008. In 2005, all 50 state governors committed to implement voluntarily a common formula for calculating their state's high school graduation rate by signing the National Governors Association (NGA) Graduation Counts Compact. This report outlines the progress of implementation nationally and calls on states to include additional student outcomes such as in-grade retention rates and high school dropout rates. -
Redesigning High Schools in 10 Honor States. The NGA Center's Honor States Grant Program is a $23.6 million, governor-led initiative to improve high school and college-ready graduation rates in 26 states. This report outlines the various strategies states employed to improve college and career readiness. Three of the Phase I states focused on dropout prevention in their state-specific reform activities. -
An Action Agenda for Improving America's High Schools. This 2005 Education Summit Action Agenda identifies steps states can follow to raise graduation rates and close preparation gaps. ^ Back to top. News to Know Catch up on recent state activities and key reports on dropout prevention and recovery with these articles from Front & Center, the NGA Center's weekly report to state policymakers: ^ Back to top. Related Links -
American Youth Policy Forum provides information on learning opportunities for policymakers working on youth issues at the local, state, and national levels. -
America's Promise Alliance is an alliance of nonprofit groups, corporations, community leaders, and foundations created to advocate on behalf of at-risk youth. The Alliance produced a report, "Cities in Crisis," which focuses on the dropout problem in America's largest cities. -
California Dropout Research Project provides research to inform policymakers and the larger public about the nature of—and potential solutions to—the dropout problem in California. -
Center for Social Organization of Schools is an educational research center at Johns Hopkins University that has conducted pioneering research on "dropout factory" schools throughout the US. -
Civic Enterprises is a public policy firm that conducts research on the dropout problem and potential solutions, including the influential "The Silent Epidemic" report. -
Communities in Schools is the nation's largest dropout prevention organization. It focuses on connecting community resources with schools to help students succeed. -
Connected by 25 is a project of Jobs for the Future that focuses on developing and supporting effective models that prepare students who are not on track for graduation to complete high school and advance along pathways to postsecondary credentials. -
Council of Chief State School Officers provides information on best policies, practices, and strategies to assist the efforts of chief state school officers and other state and district officials supporting extended learning programs. -
Education Commission of the States provides information on what's happening in the states by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about current and emerging issues, trends and innovations in dropout prevention and recovery. -
Forum for Youth Investment provides information on planning and hosting dropout prevention summits. -
Institute of Education Sciences: What Works Clearinghouse provides several reports analyzing dropout prevention programs. -
National Education Association provides resources about the dropout problem and action steps to assist parents, educators and states to address the problem. -
National Dropout Prevention Centers provide knowledge and promote networking for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and families to increase opportunities for youth in at-risk situations to receive the quality education and services necessary to successfully graduate from high school. -
Project U-Turn is a citywide campaign to focus public attention on Philadelphia's dropout crisis and to design strategies and leverage investments to resolve it. -
School Dropout Prevention Program is a U.S. Department of Education program to support effective, sustainable, and coordinated dropout prevention and reentry programs in high schools with annual dropout rates that exceed their state average annual dropout rate. -
The Silent Epidemic is a report that analyzes the various reasons that students drop out of school. |
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