Step One: Call It Out

Education has been labeled the “civil rights issue of our time.” Dropout factories––high schools where no more than 60% of the students that start as freshmen make it to their senior year––has become a common-day term. These low-performing public schools tend to be in the poorest zip codes across our country. The negative impacts of poverty on the health and education of students is well documented, mostly affecting kids of color who tend to live in lower-income communities.

Graduation from high school is not only a rite of passage, it is the ticket to economic prosperity and quality of life. The formula is simple: High school graduates are more employable, healthier and more likely to have health insurance, all of which positively contribute to our economy.

But here’s the flip side of that formula: New graduation data show glaring achievement gaps for students of color and economically disadvantaged students.

Elizabeth Molina Morgan, Executive Director of Grad Nation at Americas Promised Alliance, on the importance of creating education standards at career colleges.

Lily Eskelsen, Vice President, National Education Association, discusses the Priority Schools campaign and the need for education reforms in districts with low-incomes and high unemployment.

Arif, a young nurse working in a remote Moroccan village, is saving lives with education, a pit latrine, and a group of curious, engaged students. Meeting Arif and seeing his program in action inspired me to think about the power of simple solutions, the things we take for granted in the United States, and the potential of young people to change the world.

In most states, top-ranked high school seniors are shoo-ins to attend their local state universities. But that’s not how it goes in New York these days. In one recent, glaring case, the valedictorian of a rural school district outside Rochester was rejected by a nearby State University of New York campus — not because her grades were too low, but because her high school didn’t offer the courses needed to compete for college admission.

Such stories are becoming increasingly common across New York State.

PolicyTalk: U.S. Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano (D-CA) discusses education, mental health, and healthy food in schools.

Allan C. Golston, President of the United States Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses creating a vibrant educational environment in the U.S and the particular importance of engaging minority communities in this process.

Congressman José E. Serrano (D-NY) discusses strengthening our education system, creating jobs and investing in America at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 2011 Public Policy Conference.

The best teachers and schools cannot compensate for poor health, hunger, fear and sadness, violence, bullying or poverty. When students wrestle with these and other social barriers, they are more likely to miss school, do poorly on tests and drop out.