School-to-Career Blog 121307

The views expressed here are Chris' and are not necessarily the same as the Wake County Public School System.

Fewer dropouts equal fewer homicides

link to the news article: The Mercury News, December 13, 2007.

Article Highlights

Increasing the graduation rate by 10 percentage points statewide would lower the homicide tally by an estimated 500 a year and prevent more than 20,000 aggravated assaults, according to a report by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, a coalition of law enforcement leaders and violence survivors.

As one of the best remedies, the report touts small learning communities of as many as 350 students. Proponents say this increasingly common reform -- sometimes called a school within a school -- personalizes huge high schools by breaking them down into smaller clusters. To make it work, each student should have an advocate, a dedicated staff member who monitors progress.

The group also recommends developing more career and technical education programs like the California Partnership Academies, in place at one in five high schools in the Bay Area. These programs, which involve practical career and vocational training, help engage students by connecting school to the real world.

Chris' thoughts -

School-to-Career is committed to reducing the dropout rate by making school relevant to the student. Our Career Academy program and our CTE courses are, as this article suggests, making a difference in keeping the kids in high school until they graduate.

We as a community must do whatever is necessary to keep these kids in school and to get them on a pathway to a rewarding career and life.

If you want to help out, please contact the Career Development Coordinator or a Career and Technical Education teacher at your local high school.

Well, at least that's what I'm thinking!

Chris Droessler

Chris writes for the following Blogs:

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