Today’s post, by Tracey Savell Reavis, is from the CIS National Office Blog.
Last week I tuned in to NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and their special series, Dropping Out, A Life-Changing Decision. They opened with an alarming statistic – of the nearly 4 million kids who start ninth grade every year, 1 in 4 will not graduate. There was talk about programs that provide course work and career counseling specifically for dropouts. And about how to involve parents in helping students go back to school. And as I listened and shook my head at the information, I remembered the original thought I’m embarrassed to say I’d had when I first joined Communities In Schools: How relevant of an issue is the dropout crisis today?
It’s not as if I’d been living under a rock (or without an Internet connection). It’s just that in an economy where people with Master’s degrees are taking no-and low-paying internships, and retired executives are working at fast-food restaurants, I somehow felt surely, by now, everyone knew you couldn’t get anywhere without a high school diploma. But without that high school diploma, there’s not likely to be a college degree or an executive title. In the NPR series, we met four young people for whom the dropout issue is something they are dealing with now.
I’m not sure which of the dropouts profiled had it worse: The young woman who was a teen mom, now raising two children and determined to break the dropout cycle within her own family. Or the 19-year-old who, instead of having a high school diploma, already has a criminal record and limited employment prospects. Or the 44-year-old man who can’t even apply for better paying jobs, and admits that dropping out of school was the biggest mistake he’d ever made. As the dropout data suggests, the decision to leave school can have an impact that lasts for years.
NPR also declared that of all the problems with the American education system, the dropout crisis was the most urgent. Here’s another stat – 97 percent of students helped by Communities In Schools stay in school. Unlike dropout rescue programs, designed to help students after they’ve hit rock bottom, Communities In Schools surrounds students with a community of support to ensure they stay in school. Our model of integrated services addresses the academic and human service needs of students. And a five-year, independent evaluation concluded that Communities In Schools is the only organization proven to both increase graduation rates and lower dropout rates.
With the start of the new school year just weeks away, we are reminded that thousands of young people still need our help. I’m certain there’s a good reason NPR brought attention to this crisis. And I’m convinced the work we do at Communities In Schools to help students achieve their full potential and graduate is more relevant today than ever.