Wes Fryer posted in his blog yesterday (Missing Choices…) a list of solutions for this country’s (embarrassing) high school dropout problem. I’ve included the list to the right. Attendees for a dropout summit in Oklahoma City were asked to rate the solutions by one of the event’s sponsors, America’s Promise Alliance. Wesley live-blogged the event here.
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Fryer drew out numbers 3 (parent envolvment) and 8 (individualized graduation plan), suggesting that they were the most important and valid. I agree. He also suggested two additions:
- Expand alternative graduation and credit options for students
- Focus the learning culture of schools on student engagement, project-based learning, and authentic assessment.
But even with his characteristically thoughtful reflections, the activity continued to irk me. I copied the list into a personal little blog that I keep for things I may want to consider in the future and inserted some comments, mostly pithily mocking and ill considered.
The list continued to stay with me until this morning, when I woke, understanding why it bothered me so (I can be kind’a slow with these things). The problem is that attendees appear to have been asked to rate each solution, comparing them with each other, side-by-side. They each have their value, or else they would not have been included in the list. But, as with many things, their value increases in combination.
It seems more useful to me to consider the items as a collection of solutions, combined logically to achieve what Wes calls a learning culture for the school.
So I spent a little time this morning, posting the items on an Inspiration file, and then linking them together in a way that made sense to me. To the far left is the realization that this is a problem demanding a solution, — not just a committee. As a jibe from my customary (way) outside the box position, I suggested that rather than raise the compulsory school age, we lower it, challenging schools to treat their students as customers with a choice, instead of inmates serving time. I know, a bit harsh!
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I, like Fryer, put the individualized graduation plan at the center of the diagram, with expectations, intervention, and a lot of input from staff, parents, and the student — establishing a meaningful high school experience. Follow this evolving plan is an emerging teaching and learning culture, drawing from the safe learning environment, opportunities from local colleges and universities, parents, research, and the addition of local community services and resources, and passion-based extracurricular activities.
What continues to make me itch is the suggestion that we “Give schools information about scientifically proven strategies to improve education.” First of all, it’s out there. We should expect educators to be skilled in finding, evaluating, and utilizing that research. I would also add practices in “action research,” that true learning cultures reflect on themselves and share what they learn.
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David: I really like your diagram for several reasons, mainly because it shows the interconnectedness of these approaches as well as the central importance of the customized / individualized learning plan. I agree that the implication these “solutions” should be considered separately is off base. I wonder if the parent engagement piece fits in here as a puzzle piece feeding in like the other elements– the early childhood / early preparation piece is so important, it really needs to start before kids are even in school. It was interesting to hear Michael Horn talk about teaching high school students the importance of dialog (I think they call it ‘dialog dancing’ in Disrupting Class) as a way to address generational poverty issues surrounding illiteracy and dropout probabilities.
A multi-pronged approach is definitely needed. I think bell schedules have to change to permit more time for customized learning as well as preparation, by students as well as as educators. It’s interesting to me that as we consider what might be best for those served least well by our “traditional educational system” we can end up focusing on what would be best for ALL students.
I think the exercise “irked” me for this reason: it assumes there is one solution to the dropout rate or even a recipe of solutions as you, David, suggest. The reality is that we have to stop pretending that schools, situations and students are the same everywhere when all of the evidence suggests they are not. I have not doubt that all of these solutions could work somewhere in some combination at some time but the reality that many administrators will simply hear about these at a conference or ready about them in a magazine and boldly and blindly implementing without examining their own students, staff and data to consider what the problem really is. I know of schools and districts with a historically low dropout rate that have had administrators go to a conference and come home with a generic message “the dropout rate is increasing! we need to take action!” and push generic solutions on a school only to see that the solutions made things worse because they tried to retrofit solutions on local problems…
The list of solutions read to me like an equation for why kids drop-out, and in itself was a startling reality. For each bullet item, I saw a student- one that lacks a supportive adult or parent, one who struggles for years without intervention, one whose personality doesn’t “fit” high school, but might excel in college, one who doesn’t feel safe or supported at school, one that must beat statistics simply to graduate. It was sobering.
This statement caught my attention:
‘“Give schools information about scientifically proven strategies to improve education.” First of all, it’s out there. We should expect educators to be skilled in finding, evaluating, and utilizing that research.’
We should expect that from educators, and I am not sure why that is not an expectation educators don’t have the same expectations of themselves. I don’t understand why districts are providing binders of “research based lessons” instead of encouraging teachers to create those lessons themselves, with their own population of students.
When I put myself in the place of a student in college, high school, middle school and elementary school, what are my eyes be seeing? A time to be f2f with my peeps. A time to text about what happened last night. A time to share a youtube. A time to wonder about some of the usefulness of some assignments. When I listen to what excites our students what am I listening to? My professor emailed me some really constructive comments for my essay. She really used the technology. I learned how to use the copy machine to scan a document to my email!(A really useful skill for this time!MHO)Thanks for teaching us how to blog on a ning, it is the coolest part of my day, I can’t believe I am in school when I am on my blog! We are playing a math game and giving feedback to the developers!
Have you seen such things in your school? Have you heard such things in your school? What can make the difference?
I appreciate the way that you have visualized these solutions for the drop out problem. The interconnectedness between these points is important to recocnize. I would like to suggest a couple of additional points. 1) Communities (not just schools) need to take drug issues seriously and recognize that this is part of the drop out problem. Students who don’t come to school sober can not be expected to succeed or to make good decisions about their education. 2) Students need to be encouraged to see the value in graduation. Most suggestions for increasing graduation rates seem linked to tests, to schools, to adult interventions. If students don’t buy in, no amount of administrative policy will not succeed.
Regarding the point “Supporting greater student engagement through passion-based learning…” Have you seen the trailers from the movie, “Voices from the New American Schoolhouse?” It is very inspirational and represents what can be achieved when deep trust is supported by strong democratic institutions. See http://newamericanschoolhouse.com/
How is an invidualized graduation plan different than an IEP?
A fundamental flaw in the secondary system is that it is mired in competition. For example, how do we define the purpose of IEPs? Some of us (us = educators) see them as a way to equalize the playing field, so those who need extra help can remain in the game. Some of us see them as a way to maintain motivation and a steady rate of skill acquisition and learning. Which purpose are IEPs most likely to accomplish?
To put it another way, our system is designed to separate the cans from the can nots, (the supervisors from the factory floor workers). We grade; we rank; we reward those who distinguish themselves within this seemingly objective ranking system. When the system tries to define achievement through some different means, other than ranking and grading, like skill acquisition or performance assessment for example, the system is said to be dumbing itself down or rewarding mediocrity, etc. In essence, the type of competition inherent in the secondary system forces us to push some kids to the bottom and eventually out, yet we point to these same students as evidence that the system is failing. We have to rearrange our thinking and the system so that we accept that all students need to continue their education. We need to create a system that nurtures learners, (those who respect learning and want to continue to learn), rather than kids who simply want to be ranked higher than their peers.
My solution for dropout prevention is quite simple: make a high school dipoloma a requirement for a driver’s license. High school students would be able focus on their studies, rather than on working partime jobs to pay for vehicles and auto insurance. Fewer cars on the road would reduce gasoline consumption and pollution. High schools would not need student parking lots or parking lot security. There would be a sharp decrease in student driver accidents before and after school and during the lunch period. There would be fewer road-related injuries and deaths.
I like what you have done, but you have left out what is the most powerful motivator for a student: a realistic connection to, and focus on, their own futures.
A future focus is the goal of a 10-year time-capsule and class reunion project we started in 2005 at our middle school. The two high schools our students transfer to from our middle school used to have among the worst dropout rates of any high schools Dallas ISD. This year, our 8th grade class of 2005, who were the first class to write letters for the time capsule in 2005, were in the graduating class of 2009. They were members of the largest class either of these 50+ year old high schools have had since before 1997!!
The simple focus on the future must be on your list. See the details of this simple $2 per student dropout prevention project at http://www.studentmotivation.org.
This is an interesting concept and I think that you are absolutely right. I focus has shifted from the future of their lives to a report that will be produced at the end of the school year. We have become way to concerned about the cogs at the expense of the machinery of working, playing, loving, contributing people — who, I might add, will be supporting us in the not too distant future.