Today, one out of every four Michigan students fail to graduate from public high school with his or her freshman class. Students who drop out of school lack the tools to compete in today's global economy and diminish their chances for greater success in the future. Dropouts are more likely than high school graduates to: be unemployed, live in poverty, spend time in jail, have poor health, be single parents of children who drop out of high school.

TURNING THE TIDE

In Michigan, we know that our future economic well-being depends on all students graduating high school and being prepared for success in college and the workplace. Research shows most students send distress signals years before they drop out of school. In fact, key early warning signs displayed by students nearing or entering transitional school years, such as 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades, have proven to be strong dropout predictors. Early warning signs include the A-B-C's: A-Attendance, B-Behavior, and C-Course performance. These have an 80% accuracy rate of predicting risk of dropout and a 90% accuracy rate of predicting graduation rates within four years.

MICHIGAN'S CHALLENGE TO SCHOOLS

During the summer of 2009, I issued a challenge to all Michigan schools to identify 10-15 students in all elementary, middle and high schools who are nearing or in a transition year with multiple dropout risk factors and provide research-based supports and interventions. As a result, over 1,100 schools including all schools in 142 districts accepted this Challenge.

A recent study confirms that schools in the Challenge have statistically significant lower dropout rates than those not yet part of the Challenge. In addition, reports from Challenge districts and schools indicate this Challenge has made a difference in thousands of student and educator lives.

CALL TO ACTION

While having nearly 1/3 of all schools sign up for the Challenge is impressive, all schools and districts would benefit from accepting this challenge. Therefore, I am issuing a NEW CALL TO JOIN THIS CHALLENGE.

For new Challenge takers, signing up is easy and can be done by completing a short survey below in SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN THE CHALLENGE section or visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2011-12DropoutChallengeSignupSurvey.

IF YOUR BUILDING OR DISTRICT HAS BEEN PART OF THE CHALLENGE IN THE PAST, NO FURTHER ACTION IS NECESSARY AT THIS TIME. You will automatically be re-enrolled. Over the next few weeks, you will receive an email confirming your Challenge participation and a form to make necessary contact, building or district changes. For example, if you are a single building, you could explore if your district would like to have all of its schools participate.