"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) NCLB Turns Five: Key Players in Reauthorization Process Celebrate Fifth Anniversary of Landmark Education Law, Begin…

There is a growing concern at the national, state, and local levels over the number of students who are leaving school without graduating. In response to this concern, Spokane School District No. 81 in Spokane, Washington established a ninth-grade task force to examine the issue of dropouts. This report reviews related literature examined by the…

In recent years, the federal government has designated 105 communities across the country, including many urban neighborhoods, as Empowerment Zones or Enterprise Communities (EZ/ECs). At the same time, many urban school districts have launched school-to-career initiatives to help keep at-risk youth in school and improve their academic achievement…

One Washington state school district uses mariachi music lessons to engage Hispanic students in school and deter them from dropping out. The district's dropout rate is very low, despite its high Hispanic population. Students in the top-performing mariachi groups say that participating has motivated them academically. Just as mariachi has…

EXPERIMENTAL DATA WERE GATHERED ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRECOLLEGE ORIENTATION AND ACTUAL PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE. SPECIFICALLY, THREE APPROACHES WERE STUDIED--(1) AN INTENSIVE, 1-WEEK ORIENTATION EXPERIENCE HELD EARLY IN THE SUMMER PRECEDING COLLEGE, (2) THE TRADITIONAL FALL ORIENTATION PROGRAM, AND (3) NO ORIENTATION FOR COLLEGE. COLLEGE…

The Career Planning Center was an education-work-counseling program designed to accommodate 50 boys, ages 16-18, who are residents within the Seattle School District. The purpose of the program was to help the low-achieving young adults and potential dropouts to remain in school and to assist them in determining and accomplishing meaningful goals.…

School district associations across the country have often opposed charter school legislation as strongly, or more strongly, than have teachers unions. They typically argue charter schools will threaten the tradition of local control of schools by elected officials, drain their financial resources, and distract them from pursuing…

The federal requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have placed a new focus on increasing graduation rates and reducing dropout rates. While the dropout problem has generated research and new programs over the last 30 years, the dropout rate has remained relatively unchanged. Students drop out of school for many reasons, and the…

Most treaties negotiated with Indian tribes between 1778 and 1868 contain a clause insuring that the federal government will provide Indians with full educational opportunity in exchange for their ceded lands. This promise has not been fulfilled. Indian students are dropping out of Washington schools at rates estimated between 38-60 percent;…

This paper summarizes investigations of school connectedness completed by the Social Development Research Group in two longitudinal studies, the Seattle Social Development Project and Raising Healthy Children. The theoretical importance of school connectedness, empirical support for the theoretical propositions of the impact of school…

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES AN INSTRUCTIONAL-VOCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR ABOUT 50 TEENAGE MALE STUDENTS WHO ARE EITHER LOW ACHIEVERS OR ACTUAL DROPOUTS. THE CHIEF PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM IS TO ASSIST THESE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE THEIR EDUCATION OR TO BE MEANINGFULLY EMPLOYED. IN ADDITION TO RECEIVING INSTRUCTION IN READING, MATHEMATICS, VOCATIONAL, AND SOCIAL…

The consequences of not graduating from high school are increasingly serious for both individuals and society as a whole. As a result, policymakers and the federal requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have placed a new focus on increasing graduation rates and reducing dropout rates. While the dropout problem has generated research and new…

The strategies used by practicing adult basic education (ABE) teachers to retain students with poor self-esteem were examined through an Internet survey that was sent to 115 ABE instructors at community colleges in Washington. The survey, which contained questions about the prevalence of poor self-esteem among ABE dropouts, specific behaviors…

As entitlements for students, "Average Daily Attendance" funding (ADA), Title I and Pell Grants can provide a stable funding base to support college bridge programs targeted to at-risk students and dropouts. In most states, school districts can re-enroll out-of-school students and draw additional ADA money from the state. College bridge…