dropout epidemic

Job prospects for high school dropouts have gotten a lot more grim these past few years.

Across the nation, dropout intervention efforts are focused on helping academically struggling students get the help they need to get to graduation day.

And now, increasingly, programs aimed at preventing dropouts (and recovering those who have already left school) are focusing on giving students the support and flexibility they need to overcome the non-academic obstacles that often stand in the way of a diploma.

But one area that is often neglected is the spiritual and psychological wellness of a student.

In this week’s edition of Research Wednesday, we look at a 2011 study published in the Journal of At-Risk Issues that found that psychological and spiritual components factor into whether a student stays in school.

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.

Those of us who fight to end the dropout epidemic understand the damage that can be done by celebrities who brag about leaving school.

Teenage moms in one Chattanooga school are banding together to offer each other support while counseling their peers not to get pregnant.

The girls are careful to tell their friends who see them with their children that parenting is not as easy as some reality TV shows make it out to be — and none of them would have gotten pregnant so young if they had the choice to make again.

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.

A goal of zero dropouts? Is this really possible?

Yes!

And Boulder Valley School District seems to be on that path — tracking students, offering support groups, and then — if necessary — offering online or alterative schooling and dropout recovery programs.

It's all about "reaching out," says Boulder High Principal Kevin Braney.

At NoDropouts.org we’ve seen dropout prevention programs of all shapes and sizes. And in general, well like to say, that in a nation in which as many as 1.2 million students drops out each year, any effort to fight the status quo is worthy of support.

Off-track for graduation after failing a world history course, Kareem Bennett was on his way to being a statistic.