Louisville Mayor and Superintendent Team Up to Reduce Number of High School Dropouts

In Louisville, one in four Jefferson County Public School students do not graduate in four years, and students from all races, neighborhoods and economic levels are dropping out. 

“Those statistics are too high,” Mayor Jerry Abramson said. “One in four is just too many, and every student matters. We need to find a way to keep teenagers in schools and this summit is the first step toward developing a clear, community-wide action plan.”

City-School Partnership

Abramson, approaching his 16^th year as mayor, and Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sheldon H. Berman teamed up with the America’s Promise Alliance to hold the summit, a first step toward increasing the number of high school graduates. The summit, held at Bellarmine University on July 30, was among the first of more than 100 summits America’s Promise is sponsoring in at least 50 cities and all 50 states.

Berman, entering his second year as superintendent, was clear that progress depends on more than improving schools.

“It is our job to pull together as a community with all of our community resources to be certain we give every child the support system he or she needs to graduate from high school prepared to pursue a productive life,” he said.

Berman, with Abramson’s full support, announced two goals to reach within 10 years.  When looking at graduation rates, Louisville Metro will move from the middle to the top tier among 15 competitive cities, and will cut its dropout rate in half.  

Summit Themes and Recommendations

Keynote speaker Bob Wise, president of the Alliance of Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, said that Louisville, and other communities across the country, need to start addressing dropout issues earlier.

“We can’t start talking about the dangers of dropping out to students in the eighth or ninth grade,” he said.  “We have to start much earlier.”

Preparation for the summit began in March, and included nearly 300 young people, ages 14 to 24 years old, who completed surveys, shared thoughts in focus groups and discussed their experiences in school. Several themes emerged: schools are large and impersonal; the “feel” of school is a challenge; interest and involvement from adult and the community significantly impact student retention; most are hopeful about their future and acknowledge that success or failure is up to them; and courses often fail to teach material students believe is relevant to their lives and career goals or to reach them at their current level of understanding.

In addition to a keynote session that laid out the national and local scope of the problem, summit participants working in four tracks were charged with identifying emerging recommendations to incorporate in a post-summit Action Plan. Recommendations included ideas such as: early warning systems that identify struggling students; redesigned high schools that include freshmen academies, advisors and smaller learning communities; a stronger afterschool network; changes in legislation and public policy to encourage students to stay in school and on track; and better alignment between high school and college curriculums.

“Having our children excel in school is not only important for their future success, it’s critical to Louisville’s economic future,” Abramson said.

The summit is part of a larger, continuing Graduate Greater Louisville effort that aims to boost educational attainment across the board. Increasing high school graduation rates is part of Mayor Abramson’s Graduate Greater Louisville initiative to increase education levels of Louisville residents.

In addition to a grant from America’s Promise, funding for Louisville’s summit was provided by AT&T Kentucky and the CE&S Foundation, a Louisville charitable organization. 

Details: For more information on the Louisville summit, visit www.louisvilleky.gov/oyd/dropout_summit. To learn how to get involved in the national dropout prevention initiative sponsored by America’s Promise, visit www.americaspromise.org or contact Chrystal Morris at chrystalm@americaspromise.org.

To learn about other summits and city responses to the dropout crisis, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Marjorie Cohen at (202) 626-3052 or cohen@nlc.org.

Lynn Howard works for the Louisville Metro Office of Policy and Management.

What Students Said – In Their Own Words.

The youth who attended the Graduate Greater Louisville High School Dropout Solutions Summit gave education, civic, business and government leaders much insight into their experiences in school.

The following reflects some of their comments.

• Forty-three percent of young people who dropped out said they did so in part because “no one encouraged me to stay.”
• “If you aren’t getting it, you need someone who will help you out. Schools just pass you to get you out of there.”
• “One high school had a better environment because the teachers cared and told you it mattered whether you cared.”
• “It’s 90 percent the student and 10 percent the school. It’s up to the student to learn.”