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Dropout factories' can be improved
Greensboro News and Record (NC) - 7/13/2007
The article, "Dropout study reveals an alarming problem" (July 3), highlights an important issue -- low graduation rates -- but states that it's "all but impossible" to "save" low-performing students once they're in high school if we didn't get the job done in elementary school.
This is simply not true. Thankfully, some of our leaders are working to address the needs of high schools as Congress debates the renewal of No Child Left Behind.
Nearly 2,000 of the nation's high schools produce about half of our dropouts. North Carolina has about 70 of these "dropout factories" -- high schools where the freshman class shrinks by almost half by graduation day. We know where these schools are. The question is, do we have the will to help them?
Fortunately, some of our leaders do.
Sen. Richard Burr is leading two efforts in Congress to turn the nation's dropout factories into diploma factories. The Graduate For a Better Future Act proposes to target schools that have a graduation rate of no more than 60 percent and provide them with the assistance they need to increase their graduation rate. And the Graduation Promise Act would support high school accountability and improvement systems in each state.
Yes, we can help struggling students graduate. What we can't do is let schools and politicians off the hook because it's hard and expensive. It's the only thing to do for our economy, and it's the right thing to do for our students.
Phillip Lovell is vice president for education at First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy organization in Alexandria, Va.
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