High School Dropout Recovery Efforts

These days, stakeholders across the education arena are talking about the nation’s low high school graduation rates. According to an Education Week publication, three out of every ten high school students do not graduate on time. Thus far, the Obama Administration has talked about activities that seek to prevent students from dropping out in the first place like individualized learning plans and at risk indicators. But little has been said about pulling students that have already dropped out back into high school to complete their degree or even enter college until now. Last week, Senator Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) office held a briefing about the RAISE UP Act, a program in the works that would seek to do just that.

RAISE UP, short for Reengaging Americans in Serious Education by Uniting Programs, would create a $1 billion program to form community partnerships that would engage in high school dropout recovery efforts. It is based on a now-defunct federal program called Youth Opportunity Grants.

More than ten years ago, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 included funding for a five year, $1 billion competitive grant program called Youth Opportunity Grants. This program provided financial support for 36 locally based programs that aimed to increase employment, high school graduation, and college enrollment rates among disconnected youth in urban, rural, and other high poverty areas like Native American reservations. Over the program’s five years of operation, more than 90,000 disconnected youth received services. Since the federally-supported program expired in 2005, many of the 36 programs have continued to exist but with much smaller budgets in the absence of federal funds.

The anecdotal evidence supporting the Youth Opportunity Grant (YO) program is compelling. At a briefing on Capitol Hill last week, several program alumni spoke about their successes as a result of participation in a YO program. But the evidence behind the program is more than anecdotal. A full evaluation completed in 2007 found that YO increased labor force participation rates and increased high school attainment levels among certain populations. Additionally, YO programs were credited with creating a “safe space for young people, quality youth and adult relationships, enhanced training and education services, and opportunities to be productive.”

Given these positive outcomes, it’s surprising that the Department of Labor did not extend the YO program after 2005 even with its hefty price tag (YO last received federal funding in fiscal year 2003 due to cuts and reorganization in the Department of Labor’s budget). However, a smaller but somewhat similar federal program known as YouthBuild was started in 2006 and provides similar opportunities at a much smaller scale. YouthBuild serves just under 6,000 youth every year.

RAISE UP would create a competitive grant program similar to the Youth Opportunity Grants to address the 8 percent of youth that are neither in school nor working. And while the Stabenow program is still in the initial phases – it has yet to reach the Senate floor – it is one of the first real efforts this Congress has undertaken to address youth after they have left the traditional education system. Will Congress rally around this issue? Are community partnerships the best way to address high school dropout recovery? What are some alternatives to this approach?

Ed Money Watch will be keeping a close eye on this program and others that directly attempt to bring high school dropouts back into the system.