# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The chips are stacked against black males trying to make it through school and experts have pointed to everything from the Great Recession to the 1980s crack epidemic as the reason why. But a recent study by Terrell Strayhorn, associate professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University, says there may be another factor at play.

"For many black men, talent and high school success are not the only things they need to succeed when they attend a predominantly white university," Strayhorn says, pointing to a third factor -- grit.

According to psychologists, "grit" is defined as a dedication to pursuing and achieving a goal, whatever the obstacles and failures along the way. In his study of 140 black male, first-generation college students who were enrolled full time at a large, predominantly white public university, Strayhorn found that grit affected college grades for almost as much as high school GPA and ACT scores.

"Despite where they begin in terms of college readiness, black males who show more grit than their peers earn better grades in college," he concluded in this study, which appears online in the Journal of African American Studies. Even after taking into account factors that may affect grades, such as prior achievement, age, year in school, transfer status, how engaged they are in university activities and their degree aspirations, the grit-to-success correlation remained true.

In 2010, a 50-state report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education revealed that only 47 percent of black male students graduated high school, much less made it on to college, nationwide. Last year, the same organization released a report stating that while more than half of the young black men who graduated high school in 2010 earned their diploma in four years, it would still take nearly 50 years for black men to graduate at the same rate as their white male counterparts.

Strayhorn says that a closer look at the role grit plays in college degree attainment may be the key to turning the tide.

"You can't change where a student grows up, or the quality of the high school he attended. But grit is something that can be taught and instilled in young men and it will have a real effect on their success," Strayhorn said in a release, suggesting that educators look to ways to integrate the model into academic boot camps that teach young people how to manage stress, balance demanding tasks over time and cope with academic failure.

"The ability to persevere in the face of obstacles is a key to college success for black men," Strayhorn said.

Fellow educators from across the country have been taking similar steps to help close the black-white achievement gap.

According to a report released last year called "Advancing to Completion: Increasing Degree Attainment by Improving Graduation Rates and Closing the Gaps for African-American Students," universities across the country have managed to boost graduation rates without reducing black college enrollment.

How they did it, the report says: By implementing programs targeted specifically toward blacks.

At Virginia Commonwealth University, for example, students follow a cohort curriculum in which the cohort take the same classes with the same professor, and get specialized support services. Special programs, such as mentoring programs for black students in science, technology, engineering and math are also offered.

The State University at Albany in New York holds regular meetings between academic and student-affairs staff to identity early those students at risk of dropping out.

Between 2004 and 2010, about half of the public and private schools named in the report either improved their graduation rates or closed the attainment gaps for black students by an average of 8 percentage points.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Study May Have Found Key To Closing The Gap Between White And Black Graduation Rates

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The chips are stacked against black males trying to make it through school and experts have pointed to everything from the Great Recession to the 1980s crack epidemic as the reason why. But a recent study by Terrell Strayhorn, associate professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University, says there may be another factor at play.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Are Problems That Cause Students to Drop Out of School?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
High school students and college students drop out of school for many reasons, but a few core problems can be the catalyst behind their decision. Students who don't complete high school are ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What's Driving Dropout Rate For Black, Latino Men?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A new report says barely half of Latino and Black men graduate from high school in four years. Host Michel Martin discusses the dropout rate and what's being done about it. She speaks with John H. Jackson of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, and Pilar Montoya of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On all of the indicators of academic achievement, educational attainment, and school success, African-American and Latino males are noticeably distinguished from other segments of the American population by their consistent clustering at the bottom (Schott, 2010). With few exceptions, these dismal patterns exist in urban, suburban, and rural school districts throughout the United States. Nationally, African-American and Latino males are more likely than any other group to be suspended and expelled from school (Fergus & Noguera, 2010). In most American cities, dropout rates for African-American and Latino males are well above 50%, and they're less likely to enroll or graduate from college than any other group (Schott, 2010).

African-American and Latino males are more likely to be classified as mentally retarded or to be identified as suffering from a learning disability and placed in special education (Losen & Orfield, 2002). They're more likely to be absent from gifted and talented programs, Advanced Placement and honors courses, and international baccalaureate programs (Noguera, 2008). Even class privilege and the material benefits that accompany it fail to inoculate black males from low academic performance. When compared to their white peers, middle-class African-American and Latino males lag significantly in grade point average and on standardized tests.

These patterns have become so common and widespread that a recitation of the dismal statistics no longer generates surprise or even alarm. But, in recent years, private foundations and local, state, and federal officials have called for urgent measures to subvert these trends and reverse the patterns. In August 2011, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he and billionaire philanthropist George Soros were donating $200 million and redirecting another $500 million of public funds to a variety of initiatives addressing the "crisis" confronting Latino and African-American males. Similar initiatives have been launched in communities throughout the country.

There is a growing awareness that early intervention within schools may be the most effective way to prevent some of the problems facing males of color during adulthood. More educators are embracing the idea that the educational and social challenges confronting black and Latino males can be solved, or at least ameliorated, through single-sex education; such schools specifically designed for young men of color are now proliferating across the nation. Of course, single-sex schools are not a new idea or invention. Since the 18th century, parochial schools, military academies, and elite boarding schools have served young men in all-male learning environments. However, today, single-sex schools are spreading based on the idea that young men are best educated when they're separated from girls in public and charter schools. Spurred by a desire to address the underachievement of boys and justified by highly questionable research that suggest boys learn differently than girls (Gurian, 2011), singlesex schools are rapidly growing. In 1998, there was only one single-sex public school in the United States - Detroit's Malcolm X Academy (Leake & Leake, 1992; Watson & Smitherman, 1996).

Today, there are over 300 single-sex public and charter schools and hundreds of other single-sex classrooms in schools that are ostensibly coeducational, according to the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (www.coseboc.org). Most of the new single-sex schools have been designed specifically to serve African-American and Latino males based on the assumption that the best way to educate and "save" young men of color is to separate them from the rest of the population.

Research is Needed

The need to act on the problems confronting black and Latino males is apparent, but no research supports the notion that separating young men is the best way to meet their academic and social needs.

In 2006, U.S. Department of Education regulations were reinterpreted to allow single-sex classes in coeducational schools under limited circumstances without violating Title IX. The provision required that such single-sex classes must be "substantially related" to the achievement of an important governmental or educational objective.

Thus, the new single-sex schools have been justified because of the belief that they'll benefit young black and Latino men and thereby satisfy the "important government or educational objective." However, a review commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education to compare academic outcomes in single-sex and coeducational classrooms concluded that no positive benefits could be discerned. Similarly, large-scale reviews in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as analyses of data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, found scant overall difference between academic outcomes obtained in single-sex and mixed-sex academic classrooms (OECD, 2009; Smithers & Robinson, 2006; Thomson & Ungerleider, 2004; Marsh & Rowe, 1996; Harker, 2000). Some advocates of single-sex schools claim that brain research evidence shows that boys learn differently from girls and that separation on the basis of sex would support and enhance their educational needs. However, none of their claims about innate learning differences have been supported by neuroscientists who actually study the human brain, and their ideas about the types of teaching strategies that constitute "best practices" for boys are also unsupported by scientific evidence (Tyre, 2008).

In the absence of clear and compelling research and well-developed theories on how to respond to the problems facing black and Latino males, the schools that serve black or Latino males have designed curriculum, created mentoring and rites of passage programs, and implemented counseling and recreation services without the benefit of clear and compelling research to support the design of these interventions. Most of these initiatives are being carried out by individuals who are sincere and well-meaning about their desire to "save" young men of color, but, in many cases, they lack a clear sense of how to approach their work. Given the proliferation of single-sex schools and the wide gulf between practice and evidence-based theory, there's a pressing need for an applied research agenda that can shed some light on whether single-sex schools are indeed the best way to improve the educational attainment and social mobility of black and Latino males.

Learning From Schools That Work

In 2009, the center that I direct at New York University-the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education - studied dropout rates among black and Latino males in New York City. The results were disturbing. In one of the few cities with a rising graduation rate (official graduation rates in New York City are now over 65%), less than 40% of black and Latino males were graduating, and less than 30% were graduating with a Regents diploma, the certificate used to determine college readiness. However, during our study, we also identified over 20 New York City high schools with graduation rates for black and Latino males exceeding 80%. We were surprised both by the significant number of schools that were achieving at this level and by the fact that the knowledge they had gained was not being shared widely among New York City schools.

At schools like Frederick Douglass Academy and Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem and Eagle Academy in the South Bronx, high graduation rates have been the norm for several years. These schools serve students from low-income backgrounds who come from some of the most troubled and disadvantaged neighborhoods in the city, but they've found ways to create school cultures that counter the influence of gangs and affirm the importance of learning. Our research in these schools showed us that strong, positive relationships between teachers and students are critical ingredients of their success. Equally important is the need to provide a personalized learning environment with mentors, counseling, and other supports that make it possible for schools to intervene early and effectively when problems arise. Naturally, these schools have strong and effective school leaders, but that doesn't mean they are authoritarian and intimidating. On the contrary, students report that principals like David Banks at Eagle Academy and Tim King at Urban Prep in Chicago-another urban high school with high graduation rates - are regarded more like big brothers and father figures.

These are safe schools where students feel as though they can be themselves, where the peer culture reinforces the value of learning, and where character, ethics, and moral development are far more important than rigid discipline policies.

Some of these high-performing schools are all male, but not all of them. At coed schools like Thurgood Marshall, a mentoring program was created specifically for 9th-grade males who were paired with high-performing female seniors. The principal realized that if girls are better at school than boys in many cases, why not have them model success for their younger peers? Similarly, former principal Juan Mendez at Enterprise, Business, and Technology High School in Brooklyn learned early that great counseling and a strong focus on internships that lead to real job opportunities could keep his young men engaged and his highly successful school never embraced the idea that boys needed to be separated.

Conclusion

While some of the schools that are successfully educating black and Latino males are single-sex, others are not. A four-year study that I led at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education found that some but not all of the single-sex schools that have been created over the last few years are quite successful. Many single-sex schools have been created without a clear sense of instructional supports that the students they serve will need. They also haven't created a learning climate conducive to academic success and positive youth development. Not surprisingly, these schools are foundering, and the students they serve are not thriving. Clearly, there is no magic to be found in merely separating boys of color from their peers.

The good news is that there are several schools across the country that are succeeding at educating black and Latino males. These schools remind us that the problem is not who we serve but how well they are served. This point must be made clear to educators, especially those who have lapsed into blaming the students they serve for their own failures or, by extension, their parents. Poverty, crime, gangs, and other social problems that are endemic to some neighborhoods pose formidable challenges. The pull of the streets and all of the dangers associated with it is drawing many young males of color onto the path of delinquency at an early age (Anderson, 1990; Majors & Billson, 1992). However, schools that are successful with black and Latino boys show us that educators can counter and even overcome these obstacles when they work closely with parents and community to design positive learning environments that meet the needs of the children they serve.

Of course, creating such schools is not easy. If it were, the problems facing black and Latino males would have been solved long ago. Moreover, the challenges facing young men of color aren't purely educational. The fact that many children come to school sick, hungry, without adequate housing or social and emotional support, and from families in distress makes the job of educating them much more difficult. Our schools need help meeting the needs of those they serve, especially those most vulnerable and most likely to fail in American society-black and Latino males. We must address this issue with urgency and treat it as an American problem, rather than as a problem that only those who directly experience it should be concerned about. The continued failure of so many young men not only increases the likelihood that they'll end up in prison, permanently unemployed, or dead at an early age, but that our society will accept such conditions as normal. As that begins to occur, all of us are endangered.

References

Anderson, E. (1990). Street wise. Race, class, and change in an urban community. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Fergus, E. & Noguera, P. (2010). Doing what it takes to prepare black and Latino males in college. In C. Edley & J. Ruiz (Eds.), Changing places: How communities will improve the health of boys of color (pp. 97-139). Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Gurian, M. (2011). How do I help him: A practitioner's guide to working with boys and men in therapeutic settings. Colorado Springs, CO: Gurian Institute Press.

Harker, R. (2000). Achievement, gender, and the single-sex/coed debate. British Journal of the Sociology of Education, 21 (2).

Leake, D. & Leake, B. (1992, Winter). Islands of hope: Milwaukee's African-American immersion schools. Journal of Negro Education, 61 (1).

Losen, D. & Orfield, G. (2002). Racial inequality in special education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Majors, R. & Billson, M. (1992). Cool pose: The dilemmas of black manhood in America. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Marsh, J. & Rowe, K. (1996). The effects of single-sex and mixed-sex mathematics classes within a coeducational school: A reanalysis and comment. Australian Journal of Education, 40, 147-162.

Noguera, P. (2008). The trouble with black boys and other reflections on race, equity, and the future of public education. San Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons.

OECD. (2009). Equally prepared for life? How 15-year-old boys and girls perform in school. Brussels, Belgium: Author.

Schott Foundation. (2010). Yes, we can: The 2010 Schott 50-state report on public education of black males. Cambridge, MA: Author. www.blackboysreport.org.

Smithers, A. & Robinson, P. (2006). The paradox of single-sex and co-educational schooling. Buckingham, England: University of Buckingham.

Thomson, T. & Ungerleider, C. (2004). Single-sex schooling: Final report. Waterloo, Ontario: Canadian Centre for Knowledge Mobilisation.

Tyre, P. (2008). The trouble with boys. New York, NY: Crown Publishers.

U.S. Department of Education. (2006). 34 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 106, 1034.

Watson, C. & Smitherman, G. (1996). Educating African-American males: Detroit's Malcolm X Academy. Chicago, IL: Third World Press.

Vol. 30, Issue 20
Back to Top

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On all of the indicators of academic achievement, educational attainment, and school success, African-American and Latino males are noticeably distinguished from other segments of the American population by their consistent clustering at the bottom (Schott, 2010). With few exceptions, these dismal patterns exist in urban, suburban, and rural school districts throughout the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Are you sitting down? Each year, more than a million kids will leave school without earning a high school diploma -- that's approximately 7,000 students every day of the academic year. Without that diploma, they'll be more likely to head down a path that leads to lower-paying jobs, poorer health, and the possible continuation of a cycle of poverty that creates immense challenges for families, neighborhoods, and communities.

For some students, dropping out is the culmination of years of academic hurdles, missteps, and wrong turns. For others, the decision to drop out is a response to conflicting life pressures -- the need to help support their family financially or the demands of caring for siblings or their own child. Dropping out is sometimes about students being bored and seeing no connection between academic life and "real" life. It's about young people feeling disconnected from their peers and from teachers and other adults at school. And it's about schools and communities having too few resources to meet the complex emotional and academic needs of their most vulnerable youth.

Although the reasons for dropping out vary, the consequences of the decision are remarkably similar. Over a lifetime, dropouts typically earn less, suffer from poorer health as adults, and are more likely to wind up in jail than their diploma-earning peers. An August 2007 report by the California Dropout Research Project (PDF) detailed the economic and social impacts of failing to finish high school in the Golden State. The numbers cited in the report are sobering: High school graduates earn an average of nearly $290,000 more than dropouts over their lifetime, and they are 68 percent less apt to rely on public assistance. The link between dropout rates and crime is also well documented, and the report's data indicates that high school graduation reduces violent crime by 20 percent. And nationally, the economic impact is clear: A 2011 analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that by halving the 2010 national dropout rate, for example (an estimated 1.3 million students that year), "new" graduates would likely earn a collective $7.6 billion more in an average year than they would without a high school diploma.

Mounting research on the causes and consequences of dropping out, coupled with more accurate reporting on the extent of the crisis, has led to increased public focus on what's been called the silent epidemic. And with that focus comes the possibility of more action at the local, state, and national levels to implement a mix of reforms that will support all students through high school graduation. Such reforms include early identification of and support for struggling students, more relevant and engaging courses, and structural and scheduling changes to the typical school day.

Decades of research and pockets of success point to measures that work. Here are ten strategies that can help reduce the dropout rate in your school or community. We begin with steps to connect students and parents to school and then address structural, programmatic, and funding changes:

1. Engage and Partner with Parents

It's an all-too-familiar story: Parent involvement declines as students get older and become more independent. But although the role of parents changes in secondary school, their ongoing engagement -- from regular communication with school staff to familiarity with their child's schedule, courses, and progress toward graduation -- remains central to students' success. Findings in a March 2006 report, " The Silent Epidemic," illustrate the importance of engaged parents throughout secondary school. Sixty-eight percent of the high school dropouts who participated in the study said their parents became involved in their education only after realizing their student was contemplating dropping out of school.

In Sacramento, California, high school staff members make appointments with parents for voluntary home visits, to keep parents engaged with their children's progress. This strategy -- which has so far been replicated nationally in eleven states, plus the District of Columbia -- includes placing as many visits as possible during summer and fall to parents of teens entering high school -- a critical transition point for many students -- to begin building a net of support and to connect parents to the new school. Staffers also conduct summer, fall, and spring home visits between and during the sophomore and junior years to students who are at risk of not graduating because of deficiencies in course credits, the possibility of failing the state high school exit exam (a condition of graduation), or poor grades. Visits in the summer after junior year and fall of senior year are to ensure that students are on track for either career or college. Early evaluations of the program by Paul Tuss of Sacramento County Office of Education's Center for Student Assessment and Program Accountability found that students who received a home visit were considerably more likely to be successful in their exit exam intervention and academic-support classes and pass the English portion of the exit exam. A follow-up evaluation of the initial cohort of students at Luther Burbank High School showed that the students both passed the exit exam and graduated high school at significantly higher rates. (Visit the website of the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project.)

2. Cultivate Relationships

A concerned teacher or trusted adult can make the difference between a student's staying in school or dropping out. That's why secondary schools around the country are implementing advisories -- small groups of students that come together with a faculty member to create an in-school family of sorts. These advisories, which meet during the school day, provide a structured way of enabling those supporting relationships to grow and thrive. The most effective advisories meet regularly, stay together for several years, and involve staff development that helps teachers support the academic, social, and emotional needs of their students. In Texas, the Austin Independent School District began incorporating advisories into all of its high schools in 2007/2008 to ensure that all students had at least one adult in their school life who knew them well, to build community by creating stronger bonds across social groups, to teach important life skills, and to establish a forum for academic advisement and college and career coaching. (Download a PDF summary of the results of a 2010 survey about Austin's advisory program.)

3. Pay Attention to Warning Signs

Project U-Turn, a collaboration among foundations, parents, young people, and youth-serving organizations such as the school district and city agencies in Philadelphia, grew out of research that analyzed a variety of data sources in order to develop a clear picture of the nature of Philadelphia's dropout problem, get a deeper understanding of which students were most likely to drop out, and identify the early-warning signs that should alert teachers, school staff, and parents to the need for interventions. After looking at data spanning some five years, researchers were able to see predictors of students who were most at risk of not graduating.

Key indicators among eighth graders were a failing final grade in English or math and being absent for more than 20 percent of school days. Among ninth graders, poor attendance (defined as attending classes less than 70% of the time), earning fewer than two credits during 9th grade, and/or not being promoted to 10th grade on time were all factors that put students at significantly higher risk of not graduating, and were key predictors of dropping out. Armed with this information, staff members at the school district, city, and partner organizations have been developing strategies and practices that give both dropouts and at-risk students a web of increased support and services, including providing dropout-prevention specialists in several high schools, establishing accelerated-learning programs for older students who are behind on credits, and implementing reading programs for older students whose skills are well below grade level.

4. Make Learning Relevant

Boredom and disengagement are two key reasons students stop attending class and wind up dropping out of school. In "The Silent Epidemic," 47 percent of dropouts said a major reason for leaving school was that their classes were not interesting. Instruction that takes students into the broader community provides opportunities for all students -- especially experiential learners -- to connect to academics in a deeper, more powerful way.

For example, at Big Picture Learning schools throughout the country, internships in local businesses and nonprofit organizations are integrated into the regular school week. Students work with teacher advisers to find out more about what interests them and to research and locate internships; then on-the-job mentors work with students and school faculty to design programs that build connections between work life and academics. Nationwide, Big Picture schools have an on-time graduation rate of 90 percent. Watch an Edutopia video about Big Picture Schools.

5. Raise the Academic Bar

Increased rigor doesn't have to mean increased dropout rates. Higher expectations and more challenging curriculum, coupled with the support students need to be successful, have proven to be an effective strategy not only for increasing graduation rates, but also for preparing students to graduate from high school with options. In San Jose, California, the San Jose Unified School District implemented a college-preparatory curriculum for all students in 1998. Contrary to the concerns of early skeptics, the more rigorous workload didn't cause graduation rates to plummet. Recent data shows that the SJUSD has a four-year dropout rate of just 11.4 percent, compared with a statewide average of 18.2 percent.

6. Think Small

For too many students, large comprehensive high schools are a place to get lost rather than to thrive. That's why districts throughout the country are working to personalize learning by creating small schools or reorganizing large schools into small learning communities, as part of their strategy for reducing the dropout rate. A 2010 MDRC report funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation looked at the 123 "small schools of choice," or SSCs, that have opened in New York City since 2002. The report showed higher graduation rates at the new schools compared with their much larger predecessors. By the end of their first year in high school, 58.5 percent of students enrolled in SSCs were on track to graduate, compared with 48.5 percent of their peers in other schools, and by the fourth year, graduation rates increased by 6.8 percentage points.

7. Rethink Schedules

For some students, the demands of a job or family responsibilities make it impossible to attend school during the traditional bell schedule. Forward-thinking districts recognize the need to come up with alternatives. Liberty High School, a Houston public charter school serving recent immigrants, offers weekend and evening classes, providing students with flexible scheduling that enables them to work or handle other responsibilities while still attending school. Similarly, in Las Vegas, students at Cowan Sunset Southeast High School's campus can attend classes in the late afternoon and early evening to accommodate work schedules, and they may be eligible for child care, which is offered on a limited basis to help young parents continue their education. Watch an Edutopia video about Cowan Sunset High School.

8. Develop a Community Plan

In its May 2007 report " What Your Community Can Do to End Its Drop-Out Crisis," the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University advocates development of a community-based strategy to combat the problem. Author Robert Balfanz describes three key elements of a community-driven plan: First is knowledge -- understanding the scope of the problem as well as current programs, practices, and resources targeted at addressing it. Second is strategy -- development of what Balfanz describes as a "dropout prevention, intervention, and recovery plan" that focuses community resources. Last is ongoing assessment -- regular evaluation and improvement of practices to ensure that community initiatives are having the desired effect.

9. Invest in Preschool

In their August 2007 report " The Return on Investment for Improving California's High School Graduation Rate" (PDF), Clive R. Belfield and Henry M. Levin review both evidential and promising research as well as economically beneficial interventions for addressing the dropout crisis. Preschool, they argue, is an early investment in youth that yields significant economic results later on. In their review of the research on preschool models in California and elsewhere, the authors found that one preschool program increased high school graduation rates by 11 percent, and another by 19 percent. A 2011 article published in Science by researchers who followed participants in Chicago's early childhood education program Child-Parent Center for 25 years found, among other results, that by age 28, the group that began preschool at age three or four had higher educational levels and incomes, and lower substance abuse problems.

10. Adopt a Student-Centered Funding Model

Research shows that it costs more to educate some students, including students living in poverty, English-language learners, and students with disabilities. Recognizing this need, some districts have adopted a student-centered funding model, which adjusts the funding amount based on the demographics of individual students and schools, and more closely aligns funding to their unique needs. Flexible funding enables schools with more challenging populations to gain access to more resources so they can take needed steps such as reducing class size, hiring more experienced and effective teachers, and implementing other programs and services to support students with greater needs.

Although switching to this funding model does require an infusion of new dollars -- to support the added costs associated with educating certain groups of students without reducing funds to schools with smaller at-risk populations -- many districts have already explored or are using this option, including districts in Denver, New York City, Oakland and San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Hartford, Cincinnati, and the state of Hawaii, which has only one school district.

Roberta Furger is a contributing writer for Edutopia.

Retention Research: Studies About Keeping Kids in School

The following reports provide valuable insight into the causes of and solutions for the dropout crisis plaguing many of our schools and communities:

By analyzing a unique collection of both city and school district data sets over multiple years, researchers Ruth Curran Neild and Robert Balfanz were able to identify key characteristics of students most at risk for dropping out of school. The report describes the project and discusses the factors, such as grades and attendance, that are identified as predictive of high-risk students.

This 2006 report, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is based on interviews with young men and women, ages 16 - 25, who dropped out of high school. The findings debunk some of the commonly held myths about why students decide to drop out of school. (For example, a majority of the young people who were interviewed had at least a C average when they dropped out, and 47 percent reported that they dropped out because school was not interesting.) Embedded in these insights are useful strategies for addressing the crisis.

This 2010 report, published by the nonprofit education and social policy research organization MDRC, takes a close look at New York City's 123 "small schools of choice," or SSCs. These schools are open to students at all levels of academic achievement, located in disadvantaged communities, and emphasize strong relationships between students and faculty. So far, they've also been successful at raising graduation rates.

Drawing on drop-out crisis research at the national level, as well as author Robert Balfanz's decade-long experience working with middle and high schools that serve low-income students, this report provides a unique guide to tackling the issue locally. It begins with strategies for developing a deep understanding of local needs and then guides readers step by step through the creation of a comprehensive plan to assist students inside and outside of school.

This 2011 annual update on a November 2010 report by Civic Enterprises, The Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, and America's Promise Alliance takes a look at the big picture. It is still grim, but getting less so: For instance, the number of high schools that qualify as "dropout factories" (schools that graduate 60 percent or less of their students) has declined from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,634 in 2009. The report compares current data with national goals and explores best practices through several in-depth case studies of struggling school districts.

Another report from Civic Enterprises and The Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, published in November 2011, asks how effective early intervention can be to prevent dropouts and build graduation rates. Early Warning Indicator and Intervention Systems (EWS) represent a collaborative approach by educators, administrators, parents, and communities to identify and support students at risk of not graduating. The report investigates the most successful EWS through case studies in eastern Missouri, Chicago, and Philadelphia, among others.

Last updated: 01/03/2012 by Sara Bernard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to End the Dropout Crisis: Ten Strategies for Student Retention | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Are you sitting down? Each year, more than a million kids will leave school without earning a high school diploma -- that's approximately 7,000 students every day of the academic year. Without that diploma, they'll be more likely to head down a path that leads to lower-paying jobs, poorer health, and the possible continuation of a cycle of poverty that creates immense challenges for families, neighborhoods, and communities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Calling the dropout rate of African American and Latino males in Philadelphia "an alarming crisis," a School Reform Commission task force on the issue is recommending amending the zero-tolerance discipline policy and overhauling classroom approaches that leave most of these students disaffected and disengaged.

The report concluded - based on interviews and focus groups with young people both in and out of school - that many Black and Latino boys feel " pushed out" and disrespected. The task formally presented its findings and recommendations to Mayor Nutter and Superintendent Ackerman Thursday at a public event at School District headquarters.

"I don't think the District is succeeding in engaging these young people," said Johnny Irizarry, the SRC member who convened the task force with SRC chairman Robert Archie, at an August 31 press briefing. "Let me put it this way, engaging education looks different than what we have today."

He called the task force report "a template for activism and transformation."

Both the mayor and superintendent welcomed the report. Ackerman said it would help the District "accelerate our efforts" to eliminate "an inequitable allocation of resources and opportunities for young people." Neither spoke to the report's specific recommendations for change in areas such as zero-tolerance discipline policies or problematic curriculum .

Irizarry discussed the substance of the report for an hour at a press briefing on Tuesday with Bill McKinney, who is president of the task force. McKinney is the director of the Howard Samuels Center at the City University of New York, a research center that specializes in looking at issues affecting traditionally marginalized groups and studies the effects of community organizing. Archie had a last-minute obligation and did not appear.

"Violence, housing, employment, all these things are affected by the dropout crisis," said McKinney, who lives in Philadelphia.

The report noted that the four-year graduation rate for African American males is 45 percent, and for Latino males is 43 percent. That "is staggering," Irizarry said. It drew heavily on data compiled by Project U-Turn, the city's major anti-dropout initiative, and worked with the Philadelphia Youth Network to organize groups of students and disengaged youth for focus groups.

The task force recommended establishing an oversight group to implement a range of reform strategies, including some single-sex classrooms, more evening school, and more paid, credit-bearing internships that connect students with real job possibilities. The oversight committee would also try to promote "a comprehensive approach, collaboration, partnerships."

"As we consider the many strategies that can be employed to re-engage students, attention must be paid to how these strategies embrace youth development principles and address the different ethnic and cultural values held by African American and Latino men," the report said. "Programs should account for the cultural context, historical backgrounds, family differences, language barriers, immigrant/migrant experiences and other issues," it said.

It said that most teachers are not specifically trained to work with African American and Latino males and understand them. They need more training to be culturally sensitive, the report said.

"Strategies must take asset-based approaches, and focus on students' skills and abilities instead of perceived deficits or shortcomings," the report said. And it said the adults need to pay more attention to the students themselves.

"This approach also requires that student voices be incorporated into the design of district policy and school programs that aim to curb the dropout problem."

The report said that in the focus groups, students said it was important for adults in schools to "earn" their respect.

"Students claim that they are much more likely to engage in class if they felt as though they are part of the conversation and not simply being 'talked at'....several of the formerly out-of-school youth interviewed said the schools that they left failed to keep them engaged or prepare them for college or careers," the task force wrote. It recommended more access to Advanced Placement courses, career and technical education options, and an array of enrichment activities.

"Hiring practices that reflect the need for adults who are able to relate to the various life circumstances of young people are of the utmost importance," the report said.

In addition, it called for increased peer mentoring and changing the approach to discipline to one that focuses more on restorative practices and less on punishment. African American and Latino male students are suspended and expelled at disproportionate rates.

In feedback sessions, students said that zero-tolerance policies were "ineffective, and in many cases even counterproductive to their learning. In fact, some students felt that zero tolerance kept students from learning from their mistakes...Males in urban school environments often find that teachers focus more on their behavior than academic achievement, or even potential."

The District is expanding an in-school suspension policy this year as an alternative to the primary mode of punishment for breaking the code of conduct, which is suspension from school for one or two weeks.

At the press briefing, Irizarry said that "we need to look at subgroups and how education reform is leaving them behind." For instance, he said there is more need for flexibility, including programs that allow students to work and earn money while earning credits toward graduation. The report calls for a single-sex annual dropout prevent conference that focuses on the middle years.

"In designing interventions, it is necessary for the School District and its many partners to address differences between groups that are being served," the report said. "Curriculum and teaching, for instance, must be tailored to young urban males. Male students in urban environments respond most to classroom activities that are energetic, hands-on, and varied rather than routine whole-class instruction."

The students interviewed said that the main reason they stayed in school was the presence of "caring adults" who have high expectations for them and help them develop high expectations for themselves.

The report's authors broke the recommendations into categories that are aligned with Ackerman's Imagine 2014 blueprint, those that are directly connected, and those that are not "but we think are important."

The list of recommendations not directly addressed by Ackerman's blueprint include:

a need to use innovative approaches in classroom instruction;

a differentiation between dropout prevention and addressing the needs of students who have dropped out;

better communication with various communities;

peer mentoring opportunities; and

building curricula "that consider all aspects of a young person's life.

"Social will is probably the most critical point," Irizarry said. "We need to create a social urgency in the city."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black and Latino boys disrespected, task force finds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Calling the dropout rate of African American and Latino males in Philadelphia "an alarming crisis," a School Reform Commission task force on the issue is recommending amending the zero-tolerance discipline policy and overhauling classroom approaches that leave most of these students disaffected and disengaged.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dropout Prevention | Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Students drop out of school for a variety of reasons that stem from both inside and outside of school walls. Often, students have a long history of struggling in school - being retained in a grade, failing courses, or having behavioral issues - before they stop attending school.