What You Can Do

Tips for Policymakers and Elected Officials

Make high school graduation a national priority. Congress and the president should invest $10 billion over the next 10 years to support dropout prevention programs and states that make high school graduation compulsory.

Mandate high school graduation or equivalency for everyone below the age of 21. Just as we established compulsory attendance to the age of 16 or 17 in the beginning of the 20th century, we must now eradicate the idea of "dropping out" before you achieve your diploma. As a community, we have to stop enabling students to leave school.

Establish and fund high school graduation centers for students 19-21 years old to provide the specialized instruction and counseling to all students in this older age group who would be more effectively addressed in classes apart from younger students.

Give school districts the tools and resources they need to:

• Fully fund high-quality, universal preschool and full day kindergarten.
• Increase career education and workforce readiness programs in schools so that students see the connection between school and careers after graduation.
• Make sure students receive individual attention in safe schools with small class sizes .
• Address the literacy problems leading to high school dropouts, such as through the Striving Readers program.

Monitor, accurately report, and work to reduce dropout rates by gathering accurate data for key student groups (e.g., racial, ethnic, and economic), establishing benchmarks in each state for eliminating drop outs, and adopting the standardized reporting method developed by the National Governors Association.

Expand students' graduation options through creative partnerships with community colleges in career and technical fields and with alternative schools so that students have another way to earn a high school diploma. For students who are incarcerated, tie their release to high school graduation at the end of their sentence.

Support the use of multiple measures of student achievement to more accurately assess students' progress. Results shouldn't be measured by high-stakes tests, such as are mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. Measuring results should involve multiple measures of a student's performance over time.

Support policies and legislation that give educators the opportunity to develop comprehensive curricula that engage students at every level of their academic careers.

Ask governors to set benchmarks for eliminating dropout rates in their states and to create dropout commissions with all stakeholders represented.