A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Your community and schools will want to ask: What are we doing to continuously improve our high school completion rate?

To answer this question, your community and schools may want to look at:

• The Nature of the Dropout Problem in Our Community. Are we collecting information on how many of our youngsters leave school without a diploma and why they are leaving school? Do we look at that information for different schools and ethnic groups so that we can do a better job of helping all students complete school and learn what they need to know and be able to do? How can we help parents and students learn about the importance of staying in school and find extra help if necessary?

• Strengthening All Schools. Are we helping all schools become more vibrant and compelling places where meaningful teaching and learning happen -- places where students feel they belong and want to be? Are we tapping the arts, apprenticeships, and mentoring to help students connect with adults who care?

• Bringing Dropouts Back. Do we identify youngsters who have left school without earning a high school diploma? Do we reach out and recruit them back into the education system?

• Options and Alternative Environments. Do we offer youngsters who have left school a range of education options and alternative learning environments -- real choices, not just more of the same thing they left? Do we offer, for instance, personalized instruction, flexible hours, community service learning, and other nontraditional approaches? Do we provide students with the extra support they may need to succeed?

[Promoting Grassroots Efforts] [Coordination With School-to-Work...]