Texas School Social Work Conference

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Texas School Social Work Conference February 27,
2009
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About the Alliance

• Founded by Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush
  and Clinton to call America to service on behalf
  of children GSK involvement
• Alliance of 250 Partner organizations across all
  sectors business, philanthropy, faith-based,
  government, non-profit.
• Chaired by Alma Powell and led by a diverse,
  powerful board of directors willing to move past
  ideology.

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Americas Promise Assets

• Gold standard non-partisan credibility on
  childrens issues
• Relationships with 250 partners nurtured over 10
  years
• Advocacy through First Focus affiliate
• Uniquely positioned to reach across sectors and
  ideologies Proven capacity to convene,
  coordinate, catalyze and report back on progress
  made.

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Our Five Promise Framework Restoring
Communities for Children

• Caring adults
• Safe places
• Healthy start
• Effective education
• Opportunities to help others

More children need more promises to succeed
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Research on the Promises
Our Every Child, Every Promise report finds
that children who receive at least 4 promises are

• Twice as likely to get As in school
• Twice as likely to avoid violence
• 40 more likely to volunteer
• 2/3 more likely to be generous, respectful,
  empathetic and resolve conflicts
• ..than those that have only 0-1

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Better Outcomes for Americas Young People
ALLIANCE THEORY OF ACTION
PREPARED FOR LIFE High School Graduation
College-ready Work-ready
5 PROMISES Home/Family School Community
ALL YOUNG PEOPLE 0-21 Focus Most Vulnerable
15 MILLION IN 5 YEARS
More Young People Receiving More
Promises Partner Collaboration National,
State, Local Community Engagement and Commitment
to Young People Public Policies Supporting
Children and Families
ALLIANCE LEADERSHIP
Awareness Advocacy
Action
Dropout Summits 100 Best Communities Research
First Focus 10 Point Plan and American Diploma
Project Childrens Budget
All Kids Covered Where the Kids Are Ready for the
Real World Promise Zones
All Kids Covered Where the Kids Are Ready for the
Real World Promise Zones
?
?
CARING ADULTS SAFE PLACES
HEALTHY START EFFECTIVE EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP OTHERS
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Awareness
Every Child, Every Promise Pioneering research
which measured the degree to which Americas
young people experience the Five Promises,
providing baseline for Alliance efforts.

• Key Findings
• The Promises produce results Children receiving
  at least four of the Five Promises are more
  likely to succeed academically, avoid violence
  and be socially competent.
• Children need Promises holistically Young people
  do best when they receive the Promises across all
  areas of their lives home, school, and
  community.
• Promises level the playing field Receiving at
  least four of the Five Promises is a great
  equalizer across racial and economic boundaries
  and can often eliminate disparities completely
• Most children lack Promises More than 2/3 of
  Americas young people 6-17-years old (34 million
  children) lack enough of the Five Promises to be
  confident of success

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• How do we bring more of the 5 Promises to 15
  million of our most underserved youth?

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National Action Strategies

• Alliance Partners have developed three action
  strategies
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• All Kids Covered See that all eligible
  children are enrolled in SCHIP and Medicaid (6
  million of 9 million eligible)
• Where the Kids Are Beginning with schools as
  hubs, integrate school and community services so
  at-risk children receive more Promises year round
  (2 million)
• Ready for the Real World Engage every
  middle-school aged youth in service-learning and
  career exploration by designing real-world
  experiences relevant to them (7 million)

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New Strategic Plan

• Needed a leading edge that would attract
  attention and galvanize action of our partners
  and the country.
• Dropout Prevention Initiative Rally the nation
  to address the most glaring symptom of broken
  promises.
• Bring more Promises to at least 15 million more
  young people in the next five years.

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A Dropout Crisis The Facts

• One student in America drops out every 26
  seconds thats 1.1 million per year
• 50 of African American and Hispanic youth fail
  to graduate on time
• Of those who do graduate with a high school
• diploma, only 1/3 are ready for college
• Jobs that require post-secondary education will
  make up more than 80 of new jobs

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How Does the United States Stack Up?
International Comparisons of Academic
Achievement
In the last 30 years, US has largely stagnated
while other countries have made major gains,
according to the Organization for Economic and
Co-operation and Development (OECD).

• America has very high achievement in more
  affluent areas, and some of the lowest in poor
  areas. We have some of the greatest disparities
  in educational outcomes between rich and poor.
• And our poorest students will make up more than
  half of the US student population in the year
  2050. So we have much work to do.
• US is now 14th in onto-college rates when just
  30 years ago we were 1. Our rank tends to fall
  two additional places annually according to Linda
  Darling-Hammond, Education Transition Team
  Director for President Elect Obama.
• While other countries have invested in
  assimilating foreign populations into
• mainstream education arena, the US has not made
  similar investments.

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High School graduation is a strong predictor of
adult success Students who dont graduate are

• Twice as likely to continue the cycle of poverty
• Three times as likely to be unemployed
• Eight times as likely to go to prison

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Perspectives on Why Students Dropout
The top five reasons for leaving school are

• Classes were not interesting (47)
• Missed too many days and could not catch up (43)
• Spent time with people who were not interested in
  school (42)
• Had too much freedom and not enough rules (38)
• Was failing in school (35)

Bridgeland, John M. John J. DiIulio, Jr and
Karen Burke Morison (2006).The Silent Epidemic
Perspectives of High School Dropouts. The Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Perspectives what would have helped?

• When asked, students said the 1 thing that would
  have kept them in school was greater connection
  to community either through career exploration or
  service learning.

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Economic Imperative
U.S. at risk of losing economic edge - workforce
not prepared for the global marketplace.

• Dropouts
• Earn 8/hr.
• More likely to hold multiple jobs
• More likely to experience unemployment during
  economic downturns
• High School Graduates
• Earn 13/hr.
• Experience increased employment stability
• Access to more professional opportunities
• College Graduates
• Earn 25/hr.

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Economic Impact

• One class of dropouts from 2007 will cost the
  economy 329 billion in lost revenues over the
  45-year working lifetime of these people.
• Roughly two and half classes of dropouts -if
  graduated - would equal the size of the 789
  billion economic stimulus package just passed by
  Congress, over their working lives.

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Return on Investment
1 increase in high school graduation rates
would

• Yield 1.8 billion in social benefits
• Reduce number of crimes nationwide by 94,000

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Texas Stats

• Approximately 1/3 dont graduate in four years
• 67.3 graduation rate (Editorial Projects in
  Education Research/Cities in Crisis Report)
• VS. 84.6 grad rate reported by Texas Education
  Association (leaver rate or event report, as
  opposed to a longitudinal accounting of how many
  start 9th grade and dont finish four years
  later).
• The Dept of Education has now required that all
  use this longitudinal system and report by
  2011-2012 school years.
• This makes it 36th in the nation by our
  independent accounting process.

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Concentrated Problem

• There are roughly 15,000 high schools in the
  country and 1,600 drop-out factories those that
  graduate 60 or less of their students in four
  years. (or 10 that have a graduation rate of 60
  or less)
• 184 of those high schools are in Texas out of a
  total of approximately 1,100 high schools in the
  state or 17.
• This is surmountable! Find them and concentrate
  on them and transition their structures and wrap
  services around them.

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Texas Assets

• We know where these drop-out factory high schools
  are and there are 184 of them in Texas
• Texas has very strong P-12 longitudinal data
  systems and are meeting 9/10 of the requirements
  outlined by Data Quality Campaign
• And 96.7 of secondary classes in low poverty
  schools in Texas are taught by a highly qualified
  teacher and 98.7 of low poverty secondary school
  classes in Texas. So we dont see as much
  disparity here as we do in other parts of the
  country.
• Texas Spirit!

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• How do we use the drop-out challenge to
• Raise awareness
• Mobilize the 5 Promises and the National Action
  Strategies and
• Frame opportunities for our partners to act?

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April 1st Launch of Dropout Prevention Campaign

• Released Cities in Crisis report, which
  highlights 50 largest cities and their urban and
  suburban graduation rates
• General and Mrs. Powell issued call to arms
  around dropout catastrophe
• Panel of Alliance leaders spoke about issue and
  needed response from all sectors
• Secretary Spellings announced federal drive
  toward common standard for graduation rate
  measurement.

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Results of Launch

• 85 million broadcast airings/interviews
• ABC, NBC, CBS nightly news
• Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News Channel,
  Tom Joyner Morning Show, CNN American Morning,
  C-Span
• 25 major dailies
• New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, New
  York Daily News, Detroit Free Press, Baltimore
  Sun
• Washington Times op-ed General and Mrs. Powell
• Wall Street Journal editorial
• Examples of Partners Extending the Message
• State Farm
• Boys Girls Club of America
• Achieve
• AT T
• United Way of America

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Required Elements

• The Alliance is requiring certain critical
  components in all dropout summits, including
• Demonstrated leadership from four sectors
  (education, political, social service and
  corporate).
• Get deep in the data
• Build upon existing local education reform
  efforts and evidence-based practice
• Mobilize youth voice and leadership.
• Provide breakout planning against a standard
  template
• Produce a high level plan within 60 days of
  summit.

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Summit Support

• Seed funding for all 50 states (25K) and 50
  targeted cities (10K)
• Connections with Alliance partners, nationally
  and locally
• Technical assistance (planning, leadership
  outreach, policy, youth engagement, etc.)
• Web-based resources (data, template agendas,
  speakers, best practices, etc.)
• Post-Summit action planning support
• National evaluation with Duke Universitys Center
  for Child and Family Policy

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Clarion Call to Action
50 state and 50 city drop-out summits by 2010
First official city summit Detroit April 24-25
Pictured (l to r) Michael Tenbusch, United Way
of SE Michigan Ron Bettie, State Farm Insurance
Charles Hiteshew, Americas Promise Alliance
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Initial Summit Cities
Jackson, MS Jacksonville, FL (Duval
County) Jersey City, NJ Kansas City, MO Los
Angeles, CA Louisville, KY (Jefferson
County) Memphis, TN Miami, FL Milwaukee,
WI Minneapolis, MN Nashville, TN (Davidson
County) New Orleans, LA New York, NY Newark,
NJ Norfolk, VA Oakland, CA Oklahoma City,
OK Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Richmond,
VA Rochester, NY San Antonio, TX Santa Ana,
CA Shreveport, LA (Caddo County) St. Louis,
MO St. Petersburg, FL (Pinellas
County) Stockton, CA Tacoma, WA Tampa, FL
(Hillsborough County) Toledo, OH Tulsa,
OK Tucson, AZ Washington, DC Yonkers, NY
Akron, OH Albuquerque, NM Arlington, TX Atlanta,
GA Augusta, GA (Richmond County) Austin,
TX Baltimore, MD Chicago, IL Cincinnati,
OH Cleveland, OH Columbus Corpus Christi,
TX Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI El Paso,
TX Fort Worth, TX Fresno, CA Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Note Cities were invited with special emphasis
on the 50 cities with the highest concentration
of failing (dropout factory) schools, as
determined by research from Johns Hopkins
University.
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Featured Summit Communities for Alliance
Collaboration Going in early and staying late
Atlanta, GA Chicago, IL Detroit, MI Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN Jackson, MS Louisville, KY
Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA New York, NY
Oakland, CA Washington, DC
Communities in process of forming early Promise
Zones
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Texas Summits

•    State Summit - November 10, 2008
• Arlington November 1, 2008
• Austin Spring, 2010
• Corpus Christi  - May 7th, 2009    Dallas -
  TBD
• El Paso Fall 2009
• Fort Worth March 30, 2009
• Houston October, 2009 San Antonio - TBD

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Developing a Local Action Plan Start Your Own

• The Alliance recommends three affirmed agendas to
  drive action
• 10 Point Plan to End Americas Silent Epidemic
• National Action Strategies of Americas Promise
  Alliance
• American Diploma Projects 4-point action agenda

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Recommended Program Policy Improvements for
Post-Summit Action Plans

• Three affirmed agendas to drive action
• 10 Point Plan to End Americas Silent Epidemic
• Support accurate graduation and dropout data
• Establish early warning systems to support
  struggling students
• Provide adult advocates and student supports.
• Support parent engagement and individualized
  graduation plans.
• Establish a rigorous college and work preparatory
  curriculum for high school graduation.
• Provide supportive options for struggling
  students to meet rigorous expectations.
• Raise compulsory school age requirements under
  state laws.
• Expand college level learning opportunities in
  high school.
• Focus the research and disseminate best
  practices.
• Make increasing high school graduation and
  college and workforce readiness a national
  priority.

See www.silentepidemic.org for more information.
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Recommended Program Policy Improvements for
Post-Summit Action Plans

• Three affirmed agendas to drive action
• National Action Strategies of Americas Promise
  Alliance
• Ready for the Real World
• Where the Kids Are
• All Kids Covered

See www.americaspromise.org for more information.
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Recommended Program Policy Improvements for
Post-Summit Action Plans

• Three affirmed agendas to drive action
• American Diploma Projects 4-point action agenda
• Aligning high school standards and assessments
  with the knowledge and skills required for
  success after high school.
• Requiring all high school graduates to take
  challenging courses that actually prepare them
  for life after high school.
• Streamlining the assessment system so that the
  tests students take in high school also can serve
  as readiness tests for college and work.
• Holding high schools accountable for graduating
  students who are ready for college or careers,
  and holding postsecondary institutions
  accountable for students' success once enrolled.

See www.achieve.org for more information.
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Online Tools Resources
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Contact Us
Charles Hiteshew, Special Assistant to the
President/CEO CharlesH_at_americaspromise.org
Richard Wells, Vice President of State and
Community Summits RichardW_at_americaspromise.org Ch
rystal Morris, Sr. Director of State and
Community Summits ChrystalM_at_americaspromise.org P
amela Bender, Sr. Vice President, Partnerships
and Programs PamelaB_at_americaspromise.org
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Questions?

• What can you do with this information?
• What value can you add to the summits?
• How can we help you in your efforts?

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Together We Can
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When our children are stronger, America is
stronger.
Thats a legacy we can all be proud of.