Table of Contents
Introduction 5
1 Dropping Out of School Is a National Crisis Keith Melville 10
2 The Dropout Crisis Is Also an Economic Crisis Jeff Kelly Lowenstein Sarah Karp 18
3 The Dropout Crisis Is Improving Sarah D. Sparks 25
4 High School Dropouts Are More Severely Affected by a Poor Economy than Graduates Alliance for Excellent Education 32
5 An Emphasis on Vocational Education Could Reduce Dropout Rates William C. Symonds Robert B. Schwartz Ronald Ferguson 38
6 High-Stakes Testing and Zero-Tolerance Policies Increase Dropout Rates Advancement Project 45
7 Separate Schools for Minorities Are Not the Answer to the Dropout Crisis Jan Wong 52
8 New Strategies by Educators Are Decreasing Minority Dropout Rates Ed Finkel 58
9 The Dropout Crisis Is Also Rural Mary Ann Zehr 66
10 Decreasing the Dropout Rate Requires Multiple Solutions Dale Mezzacappa 74
11 Blended Learning Offers High School Dropouts a Second Chance June Kronholz 84
Appendix
What You Should Know About Dropping Out of School 92
What You Should Do About Dropping Out of School 94
Organizations to Contact 97
Bibliography 102
Index 105
Picture Credits 110
