Obama launches bid to end dropout scourge
AFP
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama launched a 900-million-dollar initiative Monday to tackle sky-high school dropout rates by tempting states with cash to close the worst-performing institutions.
Obama sought to underline the added peril of under-performing high schools during dire economic times, as the White House said 1.2 million students -- nearly one in three -- drop out of school each year while only some 70 percent of students entering high school complete their studies.
US President Barack Obama speaking during the America's Promise Alliance Education event at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC (AFP/Jim Watson)
"Now, it's true that not long ago, you could drop out of high school and reasonably expect to find a blue-collar job that would pay the bills and help support your family. That's just not the case anymore," warned Obama.
"In recent years, a high school dropout has made, on average, about 10,000 dollars less per year than a high school graduate.
"In fact, during this recession, a high school dropout has been more than three times as likely to be out of work as someone with at least a college degree," he added.
To reverse the trend, the president called for a radical overhaul, not only weeding out the worst schools but also in reforming teaching methods, turning around schools that perform poorly and even replacing principals if required.
His 2011 budget blueprint includes 900 million dollars for grants to help schools reform to boost the rates of students completing school, and the Obama administration will work with states to identify schools with graduation rates below 60 percent.
The Obama administration is also pouring 50 million dollars into anti-dropout strategies, including individualized instruction, facilitating the transfer of school credits and better using data and information to identify at-risk students and help them transition to high school and college.
"Strategies like transforming schools from top to bottom by bringing in a new principal, and training teachers to use more effective techniques in the classroom," Obama said in describing some of the measures.
"Strategies like closing a school for a time and reopening it under new management, or even shutting it down entirely and sending its students to a better school."
Some 12 percent of US educational institutions are responsible for half of the dropouts, said Obama, as he vowed to pressure states and school districts to turn around the 5,000 worst schools by 2015.
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