Dropout.....to where???

Many years from now, educators will look back on 2001 as the beginning of the educational revolution. Our responsibilities as educational leaders immediately changed the moment No Child Left Behind went into effect. Schools were forced to face our alarming dropout rate and began to create programs that were aimed towards increasing the number of students who graduate. A tremendous amount of programs and practices have come to form since then, but their effectiveness has not yet been proven. The majority of school districts lack the financial and staff support that is needed to battle the dropout rate effectively and an increase in funding is nowhere in sight. Instead of holding our breath, it’s time we started attacking with the weapons we already have in our possession. While the statistics are always changing, our attention and focus must remain constant. Addressing three of the groups that are most at risk is a great start: students who have failed a grade prior to entering the tenth grade, students who go to school in “dropout factories” and students who are transitioning from one level of school to the next.

Even though funding is at a premium during these economic times, we must find a way to reward the teachers in our inner cities. A study by Alliance for Excellent Education found that thirteen percent of schools are responsible for fifty-one percent of our nation’s dropouts. These “dropout factories” must be the first thing we address if we want to increase the graduation rate. Most of these schools lack sufficient resources and are in desperate need of high-energy teachers who can relate to these students. New teachers often work the best in these situations due to their enthusiasm, but burnout is likely if they do not receive the proper support and positive reinforcement. Along with examining who is teaching at our “dropout factories”, we also need to look at what is being taught as these schools to ensure that their current curriculums are relevant to their surroundings. Students are much more likely to be engaged in learning when they believe what they are being taught will have real life applications after graduation.

An immense amount of studies investigate the importance of connecting with students during their transitional years of schooling. The middle school years, along with the first year of high school, have proven to be the time when most students decide to dropout. On top of getting through the year’s curriculum, teachers of these age groups also have the responsibility of making sure each student is comfortable inside their school’s walls. This is often impossible to achieve during a normal school day and it is a lot to ask of a teacher to put in multiple hours after school working with each student individually. Luckily for us as a nation, we have a large group of unemployed teachers that are looking for opportunities just like this to make an impact on student’s lives. After school programs could be created and could be orchestrated by these teachers. Middle school is an integral time for students to start getting involved in after school activities and creating more structure for this to take place will give students a sense of purpose.

While the statistics on the dropout rate can be overwhelming, an article titled, “Dropouts: Finding the Needles in the Haystack” brought up one statistic that caught my eye, “61% of students who are left back in any grade ninth or lower go on to drop out of school” (Spark, Johnson, Akos, 2010). Out of all the indicators that have been identified, this one is one of the easiest to track and address. Teachers have enough to worry about during those earlier years, so a great deal of responsibility should fall on the guidance department. High school guidance counselors focus on getting their students into college, so counselors at the middle school and elementary levels should spend most of their time working with those students who have had to repeat a grade level. Often times these students lack positive role models and mentors in their lives and guidance counselors can help fill that void. By engaging these students who are at risk at an early age, we can create an opportunity for them to excel once they reach high school.

As we begin to get rolling in the 21^st century, our efforts need to be focused on drastically improving our graduation rate. Focusing on the “dropout factories” is a great place to start making changes since they are responsible for more than half of our nation’s dropouts. Within these districts, addressing the students who have repeated grade levels prior to ninth grade will give us a specific target to begin our changes. With the ever-advancing technological world around us, blue-collar jobs are diminishing. Our advances in communication, research and entertainment have made drastic changes in the way we operate our everyday lives. We need to reform our education system to keep up with these changes and it all starts with helping our students who the most at risk.