Working Groups

After the first preparatory meeting of the DROPOUT SUMMIT was held at United Way on December 18, 2006, five working Groups were organized:

• Academics & Research
• Community-Based Organizations
• Schools
• Government
• Youth

Each working group focuses on the resources, professional development, policies and procedures which must be addressed in order to reduce the alarming dropout rate.

Each working group will be meeting during the month of January to develop a Case Statement for the SUMMIT. The Case Statements will serve as working documents for discussion and development at the SUMMIT. Development of the Case Statements by each working group insures the widest participation by stakeholders in the dropout issue.

Attendees included representatives from United Way of New York, the New York City Council, high schools, colleges, community organizations and government agencies like the state and city education departments.

CBO Working Group

The working group on community organizations met at the United Way headquarters on January 18. participants included El Puente, Children’s Village, Good Shepherd, Citizens for NYC, NYC Department of Education, Directions for our Youth, The After-School Corporation, ENACT, Sports and Arts in the Schools Foundation, Harlem Children’s Zone, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and United Way, NYC.

_______________________________________________
Resources
From your perspective, what resources are necessary for a substantial improvement in the dropout rate?

1. Overwhelming need for space to be allocated to CBOs who work in schools.
2. Need for a street worker who would serve as a bridge between neighborhoods and schools, engaging parents and nonprofits as well as faith-based organizations.
3. Need for CBO partners for middle and high schools to fill in the gaps of extra-curricular and community-focused activities and events.
4. Classes in and materials for the teaching of life skills in the schools to enable students in goal-setting, time management, avoiding negative peer pressure, etc.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Procedures
What procedures need to be changed in order to significantly impact potential dropouts?

1. Acceptance by schools, DOE, Principals of crucial role played by CBOs in schools. CBOs should be viewed as schools’ partners and not have to grapple with the obstacles of hostility and being dismissed as lesser members of the school community.
2. Schools need to spend considerably more time, energy, resources thinking of ways and implementing ideas to celebrate youth, as opposed to labeling them.
3. School opening fees for CBOs need to be re-examined and reduced/eliminated.
4. School security training should include elements of cultural sensitivity.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Policies
What policies do you think the school and the government need to adopt to curb the dropout rate?

1. Schools should have accountability not simply to standardized tests but to community priorities as well. The new school report cards should reflect evaluation of schools by CBOs as well.
2. School leadership teams need to be accountable to a committee or council outside the DOE so as to limit the over-reliance on standardized test scores as measures of success.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Training/Professional Development
What professional training is necessary to prepare school personnel to curb the dropout rate and create a climate of mutual respect in the school?

1. Treat the dropout problem as a process and involve more community organizations, resources and talents in creating a climate of mutual respect in the schools.
   Comment
   

Youth Working Group

The Working Group on Youth held its meeting on Martin Luther King Day at Directions for Our Youth headquarters. Students from a variety of organizations and schools participated. Those present included students from Beacon Community Centers, the Harlem Children’s Zone, council for Unity, the Point, the NYC Museum School and directions for Our Youth.

_______________________________________________
Resources
From your perspective, what resources are necessary for a substantial improvement in the dropout rate?

1. More guidance counselors who know what it is like to live in poverty and with educational failure
2. More time for teachers to be involved with young people not just test preparation.
3. Smaller class sizes.
4. Dropout intervention teams for ‘at risk’ students.
5. More in-school activities that match students’ interests. For example, music and video production classes, clubs, sports, internships.
6. More after-school programs and partnerships.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Procedures
What procedures need to be changed in order to significantly impact potential dropouts?

1. Too easy to drop out; takes only 20 minutes to fill out the paperwork with parent
2. School has to promote a culture of empowerment where young people’s voices are heard and respected.
3. More relevant curricula; less test prep emphasis.
4. Different relationship with Safety officers and entry to school procedures which dehumanize students and are ineffective in stopping weapons and unauthorized people from entering the building.
5. Early warning system needed to identify which students are likely to drop out and to inform their families, teachers, counselors so they can intervene.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Policies
What policies do you think the school and the government need to adopt to curb the dropout rate?

1. Make the schools more student-friendly; eliminate an atmosphere of intimidation and blame.
2. Change policies on wearing hats and carrying Ipods and cell phones.
3. Improve the physical environment and condition of the schools.
4. Incorporate life skills classes into the curriculum.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Training/Professional Development
What professional training is necessary to prepare school personnel to curb the dropout rate and create a climate of mutual respect in the school?

1. Teachers should have regular, refresher courses on youth culture so they know what it is like being young (and poor) in today’s New York City.
2. Security guards need training in how to interact fairly, not in an authoritarian style with students.
   Comment

Schools Working Group

The Working Group on Schools held its meeting on January 16 at UFT headquarters. Participants included representatives of the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, the UFT, United Way, the Literacy Assistance Center, the Liberty partnership program, Mott Haven Prep HS, parents’ representatives, City Council staff and Directions for Our Youth.

_______________________________________________
Resources
From your perspective, what resources are necessary for a substantial improvement in the dropout rate?

1. The appropriate high School guidance counselor to student ratio should be 250 students per counselor. In many schools it is 600, 700 or 800 per counselor. The professionally appropriate ratio should be implemented.
2. Need for curriculum enhancements and extra-curricular developments that would be attractive to at risk students, especially boys.
3. Need to re-establish night schools and expand the Young Adult Borough Centers.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Procedures
What procedures need to be changed in order to significantly impact potential dropouts?

1. City needs an early warning system to identify most likely dropouts in first year of high school and possibly in middle school. Identify dropout as a process not an event.
2. City needs workshops for parents about high school articulation and selection process.
3. City needs summer orientation sessions to orient families to high school process, expectations and challenges.
4. Student high school placements require more customization and need to be more student-centric.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Policies
What policies do you think the school and the government need to adopt to curb the dropout rate?

1. Need to establish a common language and measurement tool to assist in learning which schools, which neighborhoods are most distressed. Suggest the creation of a dropout/graduation ratio which would influence schools’ behavior in terms of ‘discharging’ students and ‘clearing’ registers in order to demonstrate good graduation rates.
2. Need to significantly expand role of CBOs in providing supplemental guidance services for students.
3. Change high school from an expected graduation rate of four years to five or six, especially for ELL students.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Training/Professional Development
What professional training is necessary to prepare school personnel to curb the dropout rate and create a climate of mutual respect in the school?

1. Principals, teachers and parents/guardians all need to learn how to identify and intervene with students before they become significantly at risk of dropping out.
2. A handbook for Principals, teachers and parents should be available which can help spot the variables which are most likely to lead to early separation from school.
3. Research needed on the impact of raising the compulsory school age law to 17 or 18 as is the case in more than half the states.
   Comment
   

Government Working Group

The working group on the role of government held its meeting at the City Council offices, Wednesday, January 10. Participants included representatives from the City Council, the BLA City council Caucus, the NY State Department of Education, the NY State Senate, Directions for Our Youth, Council staff in finance, legal and juvenile justice, and the Comptroller’s Office. A summary of the ideas discussed in the four SUMMIT categories appears below.

_______________________________________________
Resources
From your perspective, what resources are necessary for a substantial improvement in the dropout rate?

1. Smaller class sizes
2. Professionally appropriate student – guidance counselor ratios (UFT)
3. Dropout prevention handbook for Principals, parents, teachers and students
4. An early warning system designed to identify probable dropout in sixth and ninth grades (research by Gates, Carnegie, 2006)
5. Universal pre-K.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Procedures
What procedures need to be changed in order to significantly impact potential dropouts?

1. City and State must align their nomenclature and measurements.
2. Schools must develop different ‘exit interviews’ before allowing student to dropout. Exit interview should include family counseling, vocational counseling and referral as well as academic counseling.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Policies
What policies do you think the school and the government need to adopt to curb the dropout rate?

1. Raise the age of the compulsory school law from 16 to 17 or 18 in New York State.
2. Establish an office of oversight to monitor dropout rate, school by school and citywide.
3. Establish a task force on dropouts under the Center for Economic Opportunity that includes Department of Education, New York State Education Department, DYCD, OCFS, community based organizations and universities to facilitate a coordinated effort to stop the dropout epidemic.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Training/Professional Development
What professional training is necessary to prepare school personnel to curb the dropput rate and create a climate of mutual respect in the school?

1. School-based staff should have professional development in identifying and intervening with potential dropouts. A certificate in dropout prevention might be issued to high school staff upon completion of the training, comparable to child abuse or sexuality and family living certifications.
   Comment
   

Academic & Research Working Group

The working group on universities and dropout research met at Baruch College on January 24. Participants included representatives from United Way NYC, the Community Service Society, the Liberty Partnership Program, CUNY’s College Now, Baruch College, the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, Sports and Arts in the Schools Foundation, the Society for Equitable Excellence, Queens College Equity Center, and Directions for Our Youth.

_______________________________________________
Resources
From your perspective, what resources are necessary for a substantial improvement in the dropout rate?

1. Need for data on dropouts and at risk students by specific schools and characteristics.
2. Massive expansion of guidance services and resources for dropout prevention training and materials.
3. Expansion of link between CUNY colleges and at risk students/struggling schools.
4. Enhancement of school curriculum (cultural sensitivity) and extra-curricular opportunities.
5. Expansion of high school internship programs like In School Youth operated by DYCD.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Procedures
What procedures need to be changed in order to significantly impact potential dropouts?

1. Parental/family involvement needs to be the core of any dropout prevention strategy.
2. Schools need to be viewed/re-designed as centers of academic, emotional, social and physical well-being.
3. High School to college transition, middle school to high school transition, needs special attention and reform.
4. School leadership teams need to be reinvigorated and tasked with dropout prevention planning.
5. School report cards should integrate parents’ evaluations and community-based organizations’ evaluations of the schools linkages to the immediate geographic community.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Policies
What policies do you think the school and the government need to adopt to curb the dropout rate?

1. Need a uniform language for and way of measuring dropout epidemic.
2. Dropout epidemic must be attacked like any other public health campaign with ads, slogans, editorials, letters to the editor, etc. Need to involve corporate leaders, communication professionals along with policy analysts, elected and government officials, educators and those directly impacted.
3. Post Parents Bill of Rights at the entrance to school buildings to signal respect for the paramount role played by parents in school success.
4. Change compulsory school laws at both ends: mandate kindergarten or pre-K and raise the compulsory attendance age to 18.
   Comment
   

_______________________________________________
Training/Professional Development
What professional training is necessary to prepare school personnel to curb the dropout rate and create a climate of mutual respect in the school?

1. Workshops for parents on the severe impact of dropping out of school, a nearly $10,000 a year economic loss measured against those who graduate high school.
2. Workshops for school-based personnel – teachers, principals, guidance staff to transform them into agents of dropout prevention.
3. Publication of dropout prevention handbooks or guides for families and schools.
   Comment

A National Dropout Prevention Act For 2007

Preamble
Nearly half-a-million students drop out of high schools across the
United States every year.

Each year's class of dropouts will cost the country over $200 billion during their lifetimes in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue

The tax revenue lost from every male between the ages of 25 and 34 years of age who did not complete high school would be approximately $944 billion, with cost increases to public welfare and crime at $24 billion.

59% of America's federal prison inmates did not complete high school.

Purpose
The purpose of the NDPA of 2007 is to initiate a campaign among school districts, universities, nonprofit organizations, parents associations and educators to curb the dropout epidemic.

Target
The nation's dropout problem is most desperate in between 200 to 300 schools in the 35 largest cities in the U.S. The cities are Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, San Antonio, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Austin, Columbus, Milwaukee, Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, Memphis, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Washington D.C., Long Beach, Phoenix, San Jose, Seattle, Tucson, Virginia Beach, New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Charlotte.

Goals

1. To provide money to colleges of education, research institutions, universities and other nonprofit organizations for the purpose of conducting research and developing model dropout prevention programs for the school systems and districts most impacted by the dropout problem
   
   
2. To provide money to the highest impacted cities for developing Early Warning Systems which will enable Principals and district administrators to identify those students most likely to drop out and to develop intervention teams and strategies to prevent leaving school before graduation.
   
   
3. To provide money to school districts and nonprofit organizations to produce and publish dropout prevention materials for parents, students and school staff.

Please support the Act by leaving your signature below in the comments section. Thank You.