dropout alternatives

Students who earn a GED are in the same economic boat as those who drop out of college.

In California, students who participate in programs that emphasize career-oriented education have a higher graduation rate than their peers who don’t.

About 1,500 students dropped out of school in Delaware last school year, and officials are struggling to pinpoint why.

The Delaware Department of Education does show a decreasing dropout rate, with 71 fewer students dropping out last year than the year before. That continues a three-year decline to 3.7 percent, according to an article on DFMNews.

Having more students stay engaged is encouraging, but administrators believe the numbers could be better — after all, they argue, some of their students are being counted as dropouts even though they are continuing their education.

“I’m asking for the opportunity to think outside of the box,” said Mervin Daugherty, superintendent of Red Clay Consolidated School District. Teachers may be more comfortable suggesting alternate educational routes if those students weren’t counted as dropouts.

Did you attend the 2010 National Dropout Prevention Conference in Philadelphia?

The City of Brotherly Love wants your help.

A short survey about the conference is available here. Responses are due by Feb. 2.

A dropout prevention program at Louisiana's Thibodaux High will be expanded into other schools.

It's been nearly one year since the National Governor's Association released its seminal report, "Achieving Graduation for All: A Governor's Guide to Dropout Prevention and Recovery."

Could the fight against dropouts lead to more fights on campus?

A new report by Philadelphia's School Reform Commission suggests that schools reexamine zero-tolerance policies toward violence in order to keep more students in school.

The bad economy has been good for the Army: Even at a time in which the United States is fighting wars on two fronts, the military no longer has a problem getting young men and women to volunteer for service.

And that means the Army no longer has a need to help potential recruits get earn their high school equivalency certificate — a bare minimum qualification for enlistment. So the Army is shutting down a "prep" program that helped 3,000 high school dropouts get a GED.

The U.S. Department of Education hosted a summit on school bullying on Wednesday. And Education Secretary Arne Duncan wasted no time getting to a crucial point about what happens when students don't feel safe at school:

“A school where children don’t feel safe is a school where children struggle to learn," Duncan said. "It is a school where kids drop out, tune out, and get depressed.”

A few important facts to consider: