Human Services News

From PR Newswire:

The Campaign for High School Equity, the only coalition of leading civil rights groups to focus on high school education reform, today urged policymakers to ensure productive futures for all students by holding school systems accountable for getting students successfully to graduation.

One third of American students -- about 1.2 million each year -- leave high school without a diploma, and graduation rates for poor and minority students are even lower.

At a congressional briefing today, speakers discussed the significant need to include meaningful graduation rates in federal school accountability requirements and outlined the personal and societal costs associated with high school dropout rates, especially among poor and minority students.

Graduation rate information should be used to inform decision-making and to improve policy and practice around strengthening student outcomes.

For those statistics to be valuable, NCLB needs to ensure that educators and policymakers actually know how many students are graduating.

Schools cannot be considered successful if large percentages of their students, particularly those who are of color and/or low-income, are dropping out or being pushed out.

Members of the Campaign include the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the National Indian Education Association, the National Urban League, and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

The Alliance for Excellent Education serves as the Campaign's convener and coordinator.

Read more from this post.