School Reform Program Targets Students at Risk of Falling Behind, Dropping Out: News of the Day

On Thursday, PBS Newshour aired a feature on an innovative, data-driven dropout prevention program called Diplomas Now, currently operating in 44 U.S. schools. Diplomas Now targets students who start to fall behind in middle school, and offers them nurturing, mentoring relationships to improve their achievement and college- and career-readiness, and to raise schools' graduation rates. The piece focuses on Broadmoor Middle School in Baton Rouge, LA, which is starting to see improvements in student attendance, behavior and class performance by adopting this approach. Watch below:

America is facing a serious threat in its high school dropout rates. Nationally, only 70 percent of students graduate from high school with a regular high school diploma. 2,000 high schools, approximately 10 percent of high schools in this country, produce close to half of these dropouts and more than 75 percent of the nation's minority dropouts. The soaring dropout rate is causing the United States to lose ground educationally to rivals abroad and is trapping millions of young Americans at the very margins of the economy. The crisis poses one of the greatest threats to the nation’s economic growth and competitiveness and must be addressed. Programs like Diplomas Now, while showing promise, are but one way to tackle this growing problem.

As Congress moves into its next session, Democrats on the committee will look to continue their work to update and improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Using data-driven reforms as a framework, the dropout crisis is one issue Democrats hope to address in reauthorizing ESEA. Democrats believe that reauthorization presents a tremendous opportunity to take our education system into the 21st century and ensure all students have access to a world-class education. A fundamental rewrite of NCLB must reflect current best practices and protect students’ rights in the process. We can alter individual roles and responsibilities, but maintaining a clear focus on students is critical if we want to uphold the promise of ESEA.