Rethink Learning Blog

Figuring out how to lower high school dropout rates is a major challenge. The fact that 1.2 million high school students dropout each year is unacceptable. So, I applaud President Obama and Secretary Duncan for making this a key area of focus.

But, I am less enthusiastic about their approach so far. To improve America’s lowest performing schools, the President has outlined four options  states and school districts must use if they want to access the $900 million available for this “school improvement” initiative. Here are the models:

• Turnaround Model: replacement of the principal and at least half of the school staff, adopt a new governance structure for the school, and implement a new or revised instructional program.

• Restart Model: closure of the school and reopening it under the management of a charter school operator, a charter management organization or an educational management organization.

• School Closure: Closure of the failing school and enrollment of the students in other, higher-achieving schools in the district.

• Transformational Model: School leadership focus on four areas: teacher effectiveness, instruction, learning and teacher planning time, and operational flexibility.

In my opinion, the first step to improving any school is to determine why it’s failing. How is the school climate? Are students and teachers building meaningful relationships? Are teachers supported by administration? Is there strong school leadership? Do they have time to collaborate with and learn from other teachers? Are parents and the community actively engaged in the school? Is the school building partnerships with organizations to provide opportunities and supports to address the external factors students face?

In the President’s remarks at the America’s Promise Alliance event yesterday,  he said:

Of course, getting it right requires more than just transforming our lowest performing schools. It requires giving students who are behind in school a chance to catch up and a path to a diploma. It requires focusing on students, from middle school through high school, who face factors at home, in the neighborhood, or in school that put them at risk of dropping out. And it requires replicating innovative ideas that make class feel engaging and relevant — because most high school dropouts in a recent study said the reason they dropped out was that they weren’t interested in class and they weren’t motivated to do their work.

So that’s why we’ll build on the efforts of places like Communities in Schools that make sure kids who are at risk of dropping out have one-on-one support. That’s why we’ll follow the example of places like the Met Center in Rhode Island that give students that individual attention, while also preparing them through real-world, hands-on training the possibility of succeeding in a career.

More resources should be invested in the types of things the President mentioned above if the Administration is serious about lowering dropout rates and improving low-performing schools. I’m not convinced that is where the bulk of the proposed funding is intended to go.