The path to dropout starts early. So the earlier a struggling student is identified, ideally before they enter high school, the better the chances in shifting the odds for success in school, work and life.  But that identification must be based on the right data.  One effective starting point is identifying the middle and elementary schools that “feed” into the  lowest-performing high schools.

United Way Worldwide, Civic Enterprises, and Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University have developed a guide to help you and your community partners identify school feeder patterns – and help your community begin the critical discussion on using that data to boost graduation rates.

This Guide can help you and your community partners:

• Understand the graduation crisis and effectively convey the rationale for identifying and using school feeder pattern data
• Understand your community’s education landscape
• Find out where to access key education national, state, and local information and data
• Know how graduation rates are calculated and determine your community’s graduation rates
• Identify feeder school patterns in your community
• Use school feeder pattern data for greater impact in your community

Download the guide available here in PDF and online here from United Way, and use these tips and this flyer with your board, key volunteers who care about education, partners, funded agencies, and other community stakeholders.

If you missed the April 24^th webinar focused on school feeder patterns and featuring Bob Balfanz, the nation’s premier researcher on high school dropout on this topic, click here to view the archived Webinar.