For Immediate Release
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
America’s Promise Alliance Releases Grad Nation to Aid Communities in Reversing High School Dropout Crisis
Comprehensive Guidebook and Toolkit Includes Evidence-based Solutions to Address Local and State Dropout and College-readiness Crisis
WASHINGTON , DC – America’s Promise Alliance (the Alliance) today announced the release of Grad Nation, a first-of-its-kind research-based toolkit for communities seeking to reduce their dropout rate and better support young people through high school graduation and beyond. With more than one million students dropping out of high school each year, Grad Nation is specifically designed to offer solutions and tools for every size community and presents a compelling case for all sectors of society to get involved. The guidebook is part of the Alliance’s Dropout Prevention Campaign, which launched in April 2008, and is sponsoring 105 Dropout Prevention Summits in all 50 states through 2010.
”Just as every community is unique, so should their approach to addressing the dropout rate,” said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance. “Our Dropout Prevention Campaign will sponsor summits in every state, but not every city and we didn’t want that to deter any community from confronting this challenge head-on and that’s why we developed this tool-kit. There is no silver bullet for reducing the nation’s dropout rate, but we know what approaches work and this guidebook is the first ‘one stop shop’ for anyone who wants to assemble the best set of approaches that will impact the problem.”
Commissioned by the Alliance and authored by Robert Balfanz, Ph.D. and Joanna Honig Fox from the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University and John M. Bridgeland and Mary McNaught of Civic Enterprises, Grad Nation brings together—in one place—the nation’s best evidence-based practices for keeping young people in school. It includes information on everything from making the case to the community on the need to act to establishing “early warning” systems, implementing effective school transformation strategies, and building proven “multiple pathways” to graduation, as well as wrapping the most appropriate services around students so they can surmount the challenges they face. Grad Nation gives communities a comprehensive set of tools necessary to: rally collective support to end the dropout crisis; understand and communicate the dimensions of the dropout challenge in a particular region or community; develop effective action strategies to improve graduation rates and prepare youth for advanced learning in and after high school through better programs and polices and build strong and lasting partnerships that involve all sectors of a community.
“Communities bear the cost of the dropout crisis and the lack of college readiness, fundamentally they need to drive its solutions,” said Robert Balfanz, Ph.D., research scientist, Everyone Graduates Center, John’s Hopkins University. “Grad Nation was designed to help communities gain the knowledge and build the tools they need to meet this challenge.”
“In these hard times, our nation needs every tool possible to jumpstart our economy. High school dropouts have a severe impact on our economy, costing the nation literally billions of dollars in lost productivity and revenue and increased social service costs,” said John M. Bridgeland, president and CEO, Civic Enterprises. “Increasing the numbers of students who graduate from high school ready for college and the workforce is more essential than ever in these tough economic times.”
The Alliance will make Grad Nation available as a free resource to anyone who wants to address the nation’s dropout crisis. Grad Nation is available in limited hard copy and as a PDF online at www.americaspromise.org/gradnation, with ready-to-print tools and links to other online resources. In addition, the Alliance’s partners will offer technical assistance to those seeking advice for the implementation of programs and policies contained in Grad Nation. More than 20 Dropout Prevention Summits have already taken place and more than 60 are planned for the upcoming year where the guidebook will be made available. Grad Nation is also supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bank of America, State Farm Insurance Companies and Chevron.
“Grad Nation is a welcome and long-overdue resource for school administrators and everyone else working tirelessly to help our young people achieve their diplomas and succeed,” said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director, American Association of School Administrators, a partner in the America’s Promise Alliance. “With budgets shrinking in this unstable economy, it’s more important than ever for educators and others to have access to free, evidence-based resources like this to ensure we can continue to support our children and youth at every juncture.”
About America’s Promise Alliance
America’s Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest partnership alliance comprised of corporations, nonprofit organizations, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith groups committed to ensuring that children receive the fundamental resources – the Five Promises – they need to lead successful, healthy and productive lives and build a stronger society. Building on the legacy of our founder General Colin Powell, the Alliance believes the success of our children is grounded in experiencing the Five Promises – caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others—at home, in school and in the community. For more information about America's Promise Alliance, visit www.americaspromise.org.