“Most people understand the heavy yoke that high school students place around their own necks when they drop out of school, but few understand that the drag goes far beyond the impact on the individuals. High school dropouts influence a community’s economic, social, and civic health”
- Dropouts are three and a half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested
- Each student who graduates from high school instead of dropping out will save Kansas an average of $12,939 in Medicaid and expenditures for uninsured care over the course of their lifetime
- High school graduates are more likely to engage in civic activity, including voting and volunteering in their communities
-Dropouts, Diplomas and Dollars
Kansas’s dropout problem affects each of us. After all, these students are our future. It will take parents, businesses, churches, schools, youth, civic groups and others getting involved and working together to make sure that all children in Kansas graduate from high school prepared for life, work and/or postsecondary education, instilled with a passion for lifelong learning.
Ways that your community can Drop IN to be part of the solution:
- Participate in the governance/ decision-making activities of districts and schools
- Provide schools with monetary or other resources (e.g., computers, classroom supplies) that enhance learning and teaching
- Use your expertise to help schools build a stronger curriculum with more connections to real-world activities
- Mentor or coach teachers: share your expertise with teachers, helping them make instruction more robust and engaging (e.g., a science teacher would benefit from shadowing a local chemist for a day)
- Help orient students to the world of work and provide them with invaluable real-world experiences. Community members also can become trusted mentors, providing students with academic and social support
- Provide service learning opportunities to students
- Serve as a classroom volunteer, after school tutor, report card counselor or provide other services to the school, teachers, students, and administrators as needed
- Advocate for the schools, at state and district-levels, and within the community itself, and ultimately be initiators of reform
- Hold districts and schools responsible for student outcomes: ensure that schools and districts are using taxpayer money to appropriately and adequately educate students
- Provide assistance to families in need, including food, clothing, medical care, education, and childcare
Suggestions compiled from High School Reform Strategy Toolkit
Click here for some of the resource links we recommend