Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools

Everyone Graduates Center and Jobs for the Future, July, 2009

In his first major address to Congress, President Barack Obama envisioned a country where dropping out “is no longer an option.” He linked improving high school graduation rates to restoring the nation’s economic and political standing in the world.

Since then, federal officials and educators have focused on transforming or replacing the 2,000 high schools that produce more than half of U.S. dropouts. No longer can these failing schools, which routinely graduate fewer than two-thirds of their students, “go it alone.” Substantially increasing the number of young people who earn a high school diploma and are ready for college will require effective partnerships among the federal government, states, communities, and school districts.

The timing could hardly be better. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is pumping billions of dollars into turning around low-performing schools and has laid important groundwork for different levels and branches of government to work together.