“Now we must work together to increase accountability, add flexibility for
states and districts, reduce the number of high school dropouts,
provide extra help for struggling schools.”
President George W. Bush, State of the Union, 2008 – 1/28/08

Education News

Education Remarks - State of the Union, 2008

While President Bush pointed to improved math scores for fourth and eighth graders and high scores for African-American and Hispanic students as evidence that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program is working, some education advocates see it differently. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) was among those quick to point out that much more needs to be done. “While the president agrees that changes need to be made to the law, we need to overhaul—not tweak—the law to help every child succeed,” said the AASA in a statement released 1/28/08. The president noted that student retention is an issue, but made no suggestion on how this is directly addressed by NCLB. For further commentary and analysis, visit edweek.org.

Success Highways in the News

“Success is the destination of this highway” - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 1/19/08

Teachers, students, and administrators at Genesis, a Milwaukee Public Schools charter school, all agree – the Success Highways program helps students figure out how to accomplish their dreams. Through exercises designed to drive home the importance of staying in school and its connection with future success, Genesis students can experience attitude shifts that allow them to focus on academics. V. Scott Solberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and creator of Success Highways, says that having sessions led by a caring adult who has genuinely high expectations for students is key to the program. Teacher Nancy Meneese even reports that the regularly scheduled 45-minute sessions often go longer as she finds herself discussing issues of concern to her students, resulting in improved relationships with them. Read more.

New Dropout Research

Exploring the Effects of Financial Aid on the Gap in Student Dropout Risks by Income Level. Chen, Rong, and Stephen DesJardins. Research in Higher Education 49, no. 1 (February 2008): 1-18.

The authors, professors of education at Seton Hall and the University of Michigan, used national survey data and discrete-time logic modeling to determine if student aid affects the relationship between parental income and student dropout behavior. Financial aid type and parental income were also used to determine how different types of aid may reduce the dropout gap. They found that though receipt of a Pell grant is related to narrowing the dropout gap between students from low- and middle-income groups, the overall interaction between Pell grant and income is not significant. Their conclusion? Dropout behavior needs to be modeled over time rather than by relying on outside intervention.

High School Dropout Summits, sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance

Washington, DC – Friday, February 15 and 22
New York City – Friday, February 22
Philadelphia, PA (First of three summits) – Saturday, February 23
Chicago, IL – Monday, February 25
Mississippi – Thursday, February 28 (tentative)
Anchorage, AK – Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12
Austin, TX – Saturday, April 12

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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