In today's Bee, we talk about the dropout crisis in Fresno Unified, which is so severe that four of our high schools were categorized in a recent study as "Dropout factories." Read the editorial here.
That is completely unacceptable. Fresno needs to immerse itself in a campaign to end this outrageous injustice to our children and the hard-working educators who are under-resourced year after year to meet this challenge.
The folks at the center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University conducted the study that laid that heavy description on the schools, so it's important to know this is not coming from an unsympathetic, uneducated hit-and-run political organization. The researchers know what needs to be done and are happy to pass on their wisdom. There also is a report called "What your Community can do to end its Drop-Out Crisis: Learnings from Research and Practice." It was prepared for the National Summit on America's Silent Epidemic in Washington, DC on May 9. Read more about it by clicking www.csos.jhu.edu under What's New.
Part of that report is this list of 20 Questions to End the Dropout Crisis in Your Community.
Step 1: Understand the dropout crisis in your community
1. How many students who start high school in your community fail to earn a high school diploma? How far from graduation are they when they drop out? From which high schools do they drop out? Which middle schools send students to high schools with low graduation rates?
2. What percent of your community's droputs are "life events dropouts," "fade outs," "push outs" and "failing to succeed students?"
3. How early in their schooling can the majority of your community's dropouts be identified?
4. Are the schools in your community organized to help end the dropout crisis or do they inadvertently make it worse?
Step 2. Combine the basics of good schooling with focused prevention, intervention and recovery efforts at the key points where students fall off the path to graduation.
5. Does your community provide high-quality pre-K education to all young children who need or want it?
6. Does your community have grading benchmarks and provide multiple layers of support to ensure all students can read by second grade?
7. Are your community's elementary schools joyful places filled with singing, dancing, art and science activities?
8. Is class-size reduction used strategically, so elementary teachers are not overwhelmed and can take the time it takes to teach all students in a caring manner the behavioral norms of schooling?
9. Does your community not expel primary students nor over-identify students for special education services?
10. Does your community provide high quality pre-K to 2nd-grade mathematics instruction?
11. Do you have a multi-tiered prevention and intervention system in place in your middle schools to react effectively to the first signs of poor attendance, behavior and course failure?
12. Are your middle schools organized to engage middle grade students and meet their need for adventure and camaraderie?
13. Is there a plan to transform high schools with low graduation rates into strong learning institutions? Is the plan sufficiently comprehensive? Does it have organizational engagement, instructional and teacher-support components? Is implementation support being provided by someone who is experienced with high school reform?
14. Does your community do whatever it takes to insure that all students are earning on-time promotion to the 10th grade?
15. Are high school students being helped to make the transition to adulthood and adult behaviors?
16. Are parents being actively engaged to help high school students organize their future?
17. Does your school system provide multiple pathways to adult success?
Step 3: Organize a sustained communtiy-wide campaign to end the dropout crisis
18. Is your community organizing a community compact to end the dropout crisis? Is it prepared for a sustained campaign?
19. Is your community working to ensure that the resources being deployed to end the dropout crisis are being used strategically?
20. Has your community organized a means to increase the human resources available to help end the dropout crisis?
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