Mayors Conference on Graduation Rates
May 7, 2010 -- On April 29th Mayors throughout the state of California came together in Sacramento with one thing in mind "Increasing Graduation Rates". Youth who drop out of High School have lower earnings, poorer health and higher rates of unemployment, mortality, criminal behavior and incarceration. Mayor Kevin Johnson, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Governor Schwarzenegger all spoke about the importance of making sure our children graduate high school and continue their education. The Sacramento Group decided we would work together as a region. Our suggestion was to hold a regional meeting on Graduation and invite all of the local Mayors. It is great that more and more people are turning their attention to increasing graduation rates.
Why don't we ask students what they think?
Mar. 23, 2010 -- The Education Impact Council is researching how to increase graduation rates in our region. Council members wanted to know what makes some students graduate from High School and what causes other students to drop out. The Council said, "why don't we ask students what they think". Outreach was conducted in many places that served different youth. We talked to foster youth, homeless youth, youth in continuation schools, youth in private schools, youth in public elementary, middle and high schools throughout our five county region. We thought we would get back a few surveys and get a general idea of what students thought. To our surprise we received 625 completed surveys. It was so much information we were overwhelmed. We reached out to the Sacramento State University Graduate School of Education for help. They have agreed to analyze the data and give us a report. The Graduate School of Education was so excited about the data that they are already working on different projects featuring the information we got from youth. Look for results in the near future. If you are interested in joining the group of volunteers on the Education Impact Council that oversee the Education focus area, contact impact@uwccr.org
Regional education collaborative meeting a success
Feb. 4, 2010 -- What a meeting! On Feb. 2 the Regional Education Collaborative -- volunteers who tasked themselves with positively impacting the graduation rates in our region -- held a webinar at Drexel University Center for Graduate Studies. Big thanks to the efforts of Linking Education and Economic Development (LEED) for introducing United Way to Drexel and helping make the arrangements to use Drexel’s equipment. The Regional Education Collaborative is composed of public, private, nonprofit, education, experts and concerned individuals from throughout the 5 county region.
The meeting was in support of the collaborative’s effort to improve graduations rates throughout the region. The goal is to improve graduation rates in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo Counties while ensuring our students leave school with the necessary skills to contribute to our regional economy, are prepared for life and are positively engaged in the community. The group outlined next steps in preparing to launch our efforts. The webinar can be viewed at: http://drexelmeeting.na4.acrobat.com/p50081364/
