Who's Leaving School?

What Are We Doing About It?

In 2004, 10.3 percent of all 16- to 24-year-old Americans left school without any kind of a high school completion credential. Who are these students? Some of them never reached high school. Some of them were born outside the United States and may have dropped out of school in another country. The reasons why they left school vary, but here is a breakdown by gender and ethnicity:

Male: 11.6 percent
Female: 9.0 percent
White: 6.8 percent
African American: 11.8 percent
Hispanic: 23.8 percent

Source: Dropout Rates in the United States: 2004. Laird, J., DeBell, M., & Chapman, C. National Center for Education Statistics, 2006.  

What is NEA doing about it?
To address the problem on the national level, NEA created an action plan based on promising practices and a range of experience and data. Read

• NEA's Position on Dropout Prevention and making high school graduation a priority
  
  
• NEA's 12-Point Action Plan to find solutions based on experience and best practices

What are others doing about it?
Read these three articles on what teachers and schools are doing to keep students in school:

• "I Don't Need to Graduate" - about in-school tutoring that paid off
  
  
• Adapting the School Setting - about a teacher who opened her homeroom to a student.
  
  
• We Provided Alternative Schooling - about a teacher working with a student who may not return.