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What Cities Can Do to Turn the Dropout Crisis Around
by Feather O. Houstoun
After years in the shadows, the issues of struggling students and out-of-school youth are emerging as key elements in our national conversation about high school reform and economic competitiveness.
Philadelphia is one of several cities where committed individuals are working to make measurable improvements in the lives of these disconnected young people. Civic leaders in our city are engaged in pursuing multi-sector approaches designed with one common goal: to build comprehensive systems that reconnect these youths to educational opportunities.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently found that more than 8,200 Philadelphia students drop out each year, and that as many as 5,000 younger students attend school so infrequently they are unlikely to graduate on time, if at all. Most future dropouts can be identified at the start of high school, and 80 percent can be identified by the end of 9th grade. Many of these future dropouts attend a subset of Philadelphia high schools overwhelmed by the number of students in need of intensive intervention.
As research shows, many of the factors contributing to a decision to drop out are school-related, among them academic failure, literacy problems and issues of safety and alienation. Yet these kinds of problems are not the whole story. Data also reveal that up to one-third of dropouts are young men or women in the foster care, juvenile justice or child protective services systems, or are young women with children. Students involved in these systems are four times more likely to drop out than peers who are not.
In Philadelphia, we recently launched Project U-Turn, a collaborative campaign designed to raise awareness and coordinate more effective policy solutions to this insidious problem. Based on our experiences, I offer the following suggestions to other communities considering similar approaches:
Create a strong leadership body with cross-sector partners to shift the debate from a focus on the problem to an examination of solutions and resources. In Philadelphia, the collaborative is composed of public officials from the school district, city agencies and the courts, as well as nonprofit advocates for education, including parent groups.
Identify and support a trusted convener. This effort will require a strong, neutral broker to bring parties to the table and ensure that they stay there during the hard conversations. In our city, a youth workforce intermediary, the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN), has been highly effective at ensuring that turf issues, competing interests and finger-pointing don’t sabotage such an important endeavor.
Undertake high-quality data analysis and allow it to guide the work. The out-of-school youth population is much discussed but little understood. Good data can help counteract negative stereotypes and also identify and develop educational programming that targets the specific needs of out-of-school youths and struggling students.
Set benchmarks that are challenging and attainable, measure progress each year and hold civic leaders accountable. In Philadelphia, we have committed to do the following: reduce the number of dropouts by 25 percent, or more than 2,000 students, by the 2010-11 school year; reduce the number of high-risk youth dropping out by at least 10 percent over the next two years; and increase the number of high-quality alternative educational opportunities available to struggling students and out-of-school youth, from the current level of 2,800 to at least 5,000.
Challenge the school district and city social services systems to set the tone for aggressive action. In Philadelphia, we’ve benefited from remarkable leadership by School District CEO Paul Vallas, and from the commitment of city agencies to engage in an honest, open process. Doing so has not been without risk for them, but time and again they’ve risen to the challenge and tackled some of the thorniest parts of the problem.
Provide support to populations of young people most at risk for dropping out. These efforts might include assessing the curricular offerings at juvenile placement sites and other non-district educational programs to promote approaches that are aligned with school requirements and that maximize credit transfer. Cities can also help expand teenage-parenting programs, work with schools to extend parental leave and home study while students are out of school to care for their children, and improve access to child care. To support youths in foster care, districts need to decrease the amount of in-school time that is lost when students move and change schools. City agencies must do more to encourage students who have “aged out” of foster care to complete school.
Make this issue a top priority at all levels of government. To solidify public support and shatter common misconceptions about the nature of the dropout problem, local elected officials and other policymakers must use every available opportunity to highlight the issue, and must create incentives for greater cooperation across agencies.
Garner support from the private sector. The business community has an economic interest in reducing the number of dropouts and can show young people the importance of completing high school to be ready for the modern workforce. Business leaders can provide work and mentoring experiences that promote academic achievement, participate in forums and develop industry-pipeline models that offer youth the chance to enhance their skills through high school. Most importantly, cities can engage the business community in focusing investments to reengage disconnected youth.
As the severity of America’s dropout crisis becomes increasingly clear, it is incumbent upon communities to come together and create better opportunities for young people at risk of falling off the graduation track. Every community is different, and each will have to find its own ways of addressing this complex problem. We still have much to do in our city, but we’re optimistic that Philadelphia is on the right track in its efforts to help thousands of young people make a U-turn in their lives.
Details: To learn more about Project U-turn, visit www.projectuturn.net. To learn about NLC’s efforts to help city leaders address dropout rates, contact Lucinda Dugger at (202) 626-3052 or dugger@nlc.org.
Feather O. Houstoun is the president of the William Penn Foundation, in Philadelphia.
Excerpted from Education Week, January 24, 2007. Reprinted with permission from author.
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