Monday, July 12, 2010

Thinking about dropouts

Here in Portland, Maine, where Walch Education is headquartered, we have a new superintendent for our school system, Dr. Jim Morse. One of the interesting things about Dr. Morse is that, as a child, he attended Portland High School -- and he dropped out of PHS for much of his junior year. Obviously, he worked his way back into the system, thence into a career in education, until today he runs the state's largest school department.

But the dropout issue is one that Dr. Morse understands all too well. Currently, the city's three high schools graduate about 78% of their students, a figure slightly better than the recent national average. Another way to look at it: according to the America’s Promise Alliance, U.S. high schools lose close to 1.3 million students every year. By now, we're all far too aware of the importance of a high-school education (not to mention a college degree), so those numbers represent a huge loss for our country and individuals involved.

What to do? Here's one place to learn more: Clemson University hosts the National Dropout Prevention Center which, at this link, showcases 15 strategies for increasing graduation rates: http://dle-mediasite-hehd.clemson.edu/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=1d84b884-4d32-41e9-b761-64878271fd38.

From Walch Education's perspective, we get involved, obviously, at the curriculum level. And it's interesting to see, from the NDPC's web site, the importance of active learning. Much of the language from this site is virtually identical to what we've been saying for years:
"Research has shown that not everyone learns in the same way. Some of us are visual learners that need to see to understand; while others need to hear or verbalize information. Others are hands-on, kinesthetic learners. Some learners prefer to work alone, while some like to teach each other in small groups. Some need time to quietly reflect, while others need to move and be active. Teachers know that they need to use a variety of activities to meet the learning styles of their students."

The site goes on to discuss cooperative learning, project-based learning, and other strategies that we likewise champion. It's important to note that these strategies are not useful solely to prevent students from dropping out. Rather, they're an approach that assumes that a one-size-fits-all style of educating doesn't do anyone any good. Students are as different and unique as the adults they grow into being. Similarly, how we teach them should be unique to each student.

Many of our programs, such as our Academic Support Programs, or our Expeditions series, or our Real Life series, do just that. They give the educator a variety of ways to instruct, and students a variety of ways to engage the content. No one single program or approach will lower dropout rates, but there are ways to help to turn classrooms into environments that students will want to return to, next week, next month, and next year.