Dropout Prevention Exerpt: April 2008 From the Ground Up Newsletter

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Dropout Prevention Commission Agrees to More Funding to Combat Problem

The Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout Prevention and High School Graduation began the process of finalizing its list of recommendations for the upcoming 2008 session. When the committee met last week, there was a great deal of discussion about raising the dropout age as well as the need to allocate additional funding for dropout prevention grants. The entire General Assembly will receive the commission’s report and have a chance to accept or decline the recommendations when the session begins in May. Highlights of the report include the following:

• The State Board of Education and the State Board of Community Colleges are to create a system to identify students who have dropped out of high school and enrolled in a community college GED or adult education program.
• The NC General Assembly will appropriate $2,700,000 to hire dropout prevention coordinators for high schools that have a four-year graduation rate of less than 65%.
• The Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout Prevention and High School Graduation will continue until 2010 and will present a final report on recommendations and proposed legislation before the 2011 legislative session.
• The Committee will meet again on April 29th to finalize the list of recommendations.

Mattie C. Stewart Foundation Partners with NC To Decrease Dropout Rate

The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation, along with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and Executive Women International, has partnered with the Winston-Salem, Durham, Edgecombe, and New Hanover school districts to unveil a powerful new documentary to address the alarming national dropout crisis. The film, appropriately titled Inside Out , is one tool that NC educators and communities can use to combat the high dropout rate in the state. The documentary, which shares the life stories of inmates in the Alabama Prison System, is the brainchild of Shelly Stewart, a former homeless student who later became a successful business man.

Throughout the film, the inmates provide words of wisdom and a message of encouragement to potential dropouts. Each inmate echoes the importance of not only completing high school but also of making wise decisions that will prevent them from ending up in the prison system.

Viewings will be held in Edgecombe, New Hanover and Durham counties in April and May. For more information about the film and the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation visit their website http://www.mattiecstewart.org/.