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Robert Balfanz  // Browsing posts in Robert Balfanz

2011 Building a Grad Nation Report

2011 Building a Grad Nation Report

We are now able to report that from 2008 to 2009 (the most current data available), the number of dropout factory high schools decreased by an additional 112 schools to 1,634, representing an annual rate of progress approximately three times as fast as the previous period. By 2009, approximately 580,000 fewer students attended a dropout […]

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Advancing the “Colorado Graduates” Agenda

Advancing the “Colorado Graduates” Agenda

“About 30 percent of Colorado high school students don’t graduate. Less than half of the black, Latino and American Indian students who start high school in Colorado actually finish. Our goal: cut the drop-out rate in half within 10 years.” Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. The ambitious goal set by Colorado’s governor to address the state’s […]

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2010 Building a Grad Nation Report: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic

2010 Building a Grad Nation Report: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic

The central message of this report is that some states and school districts are raising their high school graduation rates with scalable solutions in our public schools, showing the nation we can end the high school dropout crisis. America made progress not only in suburbs and towns, but also in urban districts and in states […]

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Putting All Students on the Graduation Path: New Directions for Youth Development, No. 127

Putting All Students on the Graduation Path: New Directions for Youth Development, No. 127

At no other time in our nation’s history has graduating from high school been a more important prerequisite for adult success. Young people who fall off the graduation path are more prone than ever before to experience chronic unemployment, poverty, ill health, dependence on social welfare, and a lifetime of struggle. The enormous costs to […]

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Meeting the Nation’s High School Graduation Challenge

Meeting the Nation’s High School Graduation Challenge

U.S. Army National Education Conference  |  September 2009 President Obama has challenged the nation to eliminate dropping out as an option. How then does the dropout crisis end? We know where the problem is concentrated. We have insight into why these high schools have low graduation rates. We know why most students drop out of […]

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Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools

Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools

This report is  a collaboration between the Everyone Graduates Center and Jobs for the Future. While high schools with low graduation rates have developed in every state and many communities across the country, they are concentrated in a subset of 17 states that produce approximately 70 percent of the nation’s dropouts. These states, which are […]

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Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief

Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief

The middle grades will play a pivotal role in enabling the nation to reach President Obama’s goal of graduating all students from high school prepared for college or advanced career training. In high-poverty neighborhoods, in particular, our research and school improvement work indicate that students’ middle grades experiences have tremendous impact on the extent to […]

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Editorial: Dropout Factories

Editorial: Dropout Factories

The New York Times | May 17, 2009 About one in five American students drops out of high school today, and there are some schools where students have only a 50-50 chance of getting a diploma. Hearings held last week before the House education committee suggest that Congress may be ready to tackle this problem. […]

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How Your Community Can Meet Its Graduation Challenge

How Your Community Can Meet Its Graduation Challenge

Alabama Summit  |  May 2009 Graduation Nation contains research-based guidance for addressing the dropout crisis in your community, with ready-to-print tools and links to additional online resources. One size does not fit all, so you will not find step-by-step instructions, rather you will find tools to create a customized solution that’s right for your community. […]

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Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path

Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path

Keynote Address NMSA Middle Levels Essential Conference  |  April 23, 2009 President Obama has challenged the nation to eliminate dropping out as an option.The middle grades, particularly in high-poverty neighborhoods, have a vital role in meeting this challenge. At least half of eventual dropouts can fall off the path to graduation in the middle grades. […]

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