“Teaching is an instinctual art, mindful of potential, craving of realizations, a pausing, seamless process.” — A. Bartlett Giamatti

Urban Students Less Likely to Graduate

Editorial Projects in Education Research Center Releases Cities in Crisis Report on High Schools – 4/1/08

The report, prepared with support from America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, points to a great need in the United States for education reform. Among the results - graduation rates are considerably lower in the nation’s largest cities than in the average urban location. In addition, when the country’s largest metropolitan areas are considered, students served by suburban systems may be twice as likely as their urban peers to graduate from high school.

15 in 5 Campaign Network Completes Seven City Tour

Since January 2008, over 1,000 concerned educators, policy makers, students, and parents have attended a series of Dropout Summits, sponsored in part by America’s Promise Alliance, with encouraging results. In Kentucky, each county that attended was awarded a $500 mini-grant to begin planning local dropout prevention programs; in Washington, DC, attendees took part in “Invitation to Dream,” a series of art-based student forums about the high school dropout epidemic and student-based vision for high school reform.

Success Highways Customer News

Denver Public Schools Recommits to Success Highways Program for All Ninth Grades in 2008/2009

Following the success of a pilot program implemented in select DPS high schools in 2007, school administration has contracted with ScholarCentric to include Success Highways in its Ninth Grade Academy curriculum at all Denver high schools. Through the Ninth Grade Academy, students receive information on leadership training – focusing on school pride, student involvement, and creating an investment in the community. The Success Highways program supports each of these key areas, helping students to make the connection between staying in school and achieving success later in life. The program is being phased in over a four-year period with trained upper-class students providing mentoring to underclassmen. A case study outlining DPS’ pilot program can be found on the ScholarCentric Web site.

Events of Interest

2008 Institute on Service Learning, Clemson, SC – June 23-25, 2008

Sponsored by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network, this year’s institute will focus on using the strategy of service-learning, which can contribute to students realizing school-life connections, making it more likely they will stay in school. Registration information is now available; for the full program, visit NDPC/N after May 16.

ASCD Summer Conference, Nashville, TN – June 27-29, 2008

The summer conference will focus on differentiated instruction, understanding by design, and what works in school. Education and learning experts in these research-based and classroom-proven approaches will present on a broad variety of subjects, including Understanding Mathematics by Design, Painless Peer Review, and Connecting Differentiated Curriculum to Students' Interests. Registration and full preconference and program information is now available.

Have news you’d like to share? E-mail us at NewsEditor@ScholarCentric.com

About this Newsletter

Success Highways News is brought to you by ScholarCentric, publisher of Success Highways, a dropout prevention program for students in grades 7-9. You can reach us at info@scholarcentric.com, visit our Web site at http://www.scholarcentric.com, or call us at our toll free number 800-995-8779.

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