North Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District experienced a significant improvement in its graduation rates for students from low-income families--from just 52% in 2009 to 85.2% in 2016--which has been credited to the district's shift to community schools.

The Colorado Graduates Initiative demonstrates seven factors that must be present to build an effective statewide collaborative effort to increase high school graduation rates. These include: 1) Leadership to unite diverse stakeholders on specific, common goals and catalyze them into action; 2) A focus on data, particularly on actionable, early…

An exemplary program based at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay greatly increases the odds that at-risk youngsters will not only graduate from high school, but will go on to higher education. The program is also a model of university/community collaboration. ["Inspiring Students to Create the Future" was written with Timothy U.…