Submitted by dexter (not verified) on May 5, 2007 - 12:05.
When I started at one school, many years ago, there was a serious dropout problem. Most of the dropouts were already parents and needed jobs right then. But there were few jobs in town, so long commutes precluded working after school. We set up thee following program to see what would happen:
Students could self select to enter the program
Students did class work in the core curriculum for half the week
Students designed, proposed, and worked on public projects in town for half the week
The same teachers were with students the whole week
Students were paid slightly more than minimum wage for hours worked
An hour of missed class meant an hour of missed work and loss of pay.
The school provided childcare and weekly health clinic to students.
The program ran year-round so that students graduated on time with HS diploma
Results were gratifying: zero dropouts, virtually 100% recovery of previous dropouts, and tremendous reduction of vandalism in town.
Program died when we were told that we could not use school-to-work funds in this way by the state.
When I started at one
Submitted by dexter (not verified) on May 5, 2007 - 12:05.
When I started at one school, many years ago, there was a serious dropout problem. Most of the dropouts were already parents and needed jobs right then. But there were few jobs in town, so long commutes precluded working after school. We set up thee following program to see what would happen:
Students could self select to enter the program
Students did class work in the core curriculum for half the week
Students designed, proposed, and worked on public projects in town for half the week
The same teachers were with students the whole week
Students were paid slightly more than minimum wage for hours worked
An hour of missed class meant an hour of missed work and loss of pay.
The school provided childcare and weekly health clinic to students.
The program ran year-round so that students graduated on time with HS diploma
Results were gratifying: zero dropouts, virtually 100% recovery of previous dropouts, and tremendous reduction of vandalism in town.
Program died when we were told that we could not use school-to-work funds in this way by the state.