...K P F T news

Related Articles Peer-mediation helps solve student problems Related Links Project GRAD

LEAD-IN BY HOST JACKSON ALLERS: The Texas Education Agency is implementing new legislation across the state aimed at increasing high school graduation rates. Shalini Tripathi reports on what is currently being done in Houston to boost the numbers of young Texans successfully completing school: STORY: According to Texas Education Agency statistics, Houston Independent School District's dropout rate in 2000 was about 15 percent, more than double the state's rate of a little over 7 percent. HISD is the largest school district in Texas - the seventh largest in the nation. What is it doing to solve this enormous problem? A few weeks ago, Governor Rick Perry came to town with [U.S.] Secretary of Education Rod Paige to announce an increase in funding for state education programs - nearly $400 million over last year's budget for a total of $2.3 billion. The money is to be used to implement a Texas version of President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" legislation, which emphasizes accountability in education. "This announcement today confirms that Texas schools are on the right path. Our students are succeeding. And with a continued focus on the basic subjects, and effective accountability and assessment tools, our students and our schools will be even better. In Texas, students of every background, every ethnicity, are making the grade." But is the combination of the state's funding and tougher accountability standards enough to reduce the dropout rate ... or do students need more than just more money and testing? "Relatively speaking, obviously the way HISD operates is that they equally distribute all of their resources. But there certainly aren't enough resources, especially in economically disadvantaged communities. It's not a matter of just throwing money -- it does take more money without a doubt -- it takes more money used in a targeted fashion." That was Executive Director Sharon Jacobson of HISD's program Project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams. Project GRAD's goal is to improve the graduation rates for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The program was initially implemented in 1989 in some of the lowest-performing high schools in Houston. [Jacobson says that the initiative has been successful so far - the number of college-bound students from Wheatley, Davis and Yates High Schools has tripled since Project GRAD was implemented.] Since 1993, the program has expanded into the feeder patterns of the high schools. Feeder patterns establish where elementary and middle school students go to high school. Jacobson says that these younger students from elementary and middle schools have access to resources which help them deal not only with academic difficulties, but social problems, as well. "We want them to be citizens, not tourists ... so how do you engage the children to make them responsible for their learning? We're partnered with committees and schools. So we have a social worker in every elementary school and a middle school and high school team of people, so that for the kids who aren't being successful because of the outside factors that affect their learning, there's that support also. So there's a wide variety of resources that the whole feeder pattern gets." The funding for the program comes mainly from private sponsors, in addition to some private foundations and federal and state grants. HISD spends about $8,000 per student, but $8,400 on each Project GRAD student, $400 more per student. Jacobson says that corporations sponsoring the program are aware that the city cannot afford to let an entire section of the city's population go uneducated. "HISD is perhaps the best public school system for a major city in the country. Obviously everyone's concerned about the number of kids that are making it through high school and on to college, especially in the minority populations ... its just so low. They're our future, they're our future workforce. The corporate community is very aware of it. And they have a real interest in it. For the health of the economy of this city, that's where their interest lies." With the recent economic climate, the program may face tighter donation budgets from corporations and foundations. Extra public funds will be needed to compensate. The program is waiting to hear whether it will receive additional support from the "No Child Left Behind" legislation. Meanwhile, based on its high success rate, Project GRAD is looking to expand [even more of] its programs outside of Houston and to other Texas cities. [Brackets denote content that was edited out of the original broadcast because of time constraints and post-broadcast clarifications.] Shalini Tripathi, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Shalini Tripathi at shalini_tripathi@att.net. This story was broadcast on August 8, 2002.