Blogs
Are D Grades a Dropout Warning Sign?
Event Date: It’s common sense, really: Students who habitually eke out passing grades in middle school and the early years of high school are more likely to fail to receive credit in a class down the road. And in periods in which the incidence of dropping out increases — the junior and senior cohort years — a […]
Read MoreThe One Vital Indicator of a Dropout that Almost No One Tracks
Event Date: Research demonstrates that socioeconomic factors, the strength of parental relationships, non-cognitive skills development, and the presence of adult responsibilities in a student’s life can all be predictive of a student’s chances of dropping out. In our work with school leaders across the nation, though, we’ve heard again and again that these metrics can be hard […]
Read More5 Early Warning Signs a Student Is About to Drop Out
Event Date: Sometimes, the students who leave school before graduation are predictable. They’re the single mothers with no family support. They’re the young men who have been in trouble with the law. In at least one way, the stark challenges of their lives actually make our jobs as educators easier — it’s not hard to know that […]
Read MoreWhat’s the right way to find lost dropouts? Knowing there’s no one right way.
Event Date: We have yet to meet a school leader who wouldn’t like his or her district to be better connected to former students. We have also never met someone who tried to do so without experiencing quite a bit of frustration. Even in today’s vastly interconnected world, it’s remarkably easy to lose contact with people. Folks […]
Read MoreWhy the words ‘jobs that actually exist’ are so important
Event Date: “Jobs that actually exist.” There’s something profoundly important about those four words, which serve as the operative phrase in the mission statement of a foundation that actor and activist Mike Rowe established to help young Americans fill the “skills gap.” Vitally, Rowe has never said that a four-year degree is a bad path. He’s simply […]
Read MoreThree vital practice recommendations for serving at-risk students
Event Date: The report of proceedings from the 5th annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum has been published, and the recommendations derived from 26 sessions from teachers, administrators, researchers and educational policy experts are eye-opening.
Read MoreWhen it takes more than Google to find dropouts
Event Date: You can learn anything and everything about people online. That’s what society seems to be telling us these days, at least. But after a decade of helping school districts locate, re-enroll, re-engage and educate disengaged students, we’ve learned that sometimes the internet can’t even help us find missing students. And in talking to the school […]
Read MoreAre your schools ‘branding’ themselves in the right way?
Event Date: First impressions are lasting impressions. And when it comes to connecting with graduates in a way that makes it easier to monitor longitudinal outcomes (and easier to recover students who leave before graduation, too) lasting impressions are So how do you start building those sorts of impressions? By thinking about a school’s “brand.” Many people […]
Read MoreWhy disabled workers can benefit from hitching their gig to the new economy
Event Date: Why disabled workers can benefit from hitching their gig to the new economy (noun) 1. a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse 2. a job, especially one that is temporary A lot of folks lament the growth of the so-called “gig economy.” And sure — from taxes to insurance to retirement savings […]
Read MoreWant to get accepted to the perfect nursing school? Here’s how.
Event Date: Want to get accepted to the perfect nursing school? Here’s how. The future for nurses is bright. Really bright. The number of nurses in the United States is projected to grow by 16 percent through 2024 — much faster than the average of all occupations. And the pay is much better, too — median compensation […]
Read More