On May 9th the National Governor's Association, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Time Magazine sponsored the "Summit on America's Silent Epidemic". To view online materials shared at that summit visit http://www.silentepidemic.org/summit/index.htm.Also released at the summit was a new online mapping tool that shows graduation rates down to the district level. An article about that tool can be accessed at http://www2.edweek.org/rc/articles/2007/04/25/map.html. The mapping tool can be accessed at http://63.241.153.180/edweek/main.html.

I just wonder how schools and policy makers can address some of the below reasons cited for dropping out (The Silent Epidemic, Why Students Drop Out http://www.silentepidemic.org/summit/index.htm/)? I only chose about half of the statistics cited. The others are at the URL above.Nearly half of dropouts surveyed for The Silent Epidemic (PDF) said the main reason they left school was because classes were not interesting. Nearly 70 percent said they were not motivated to work hard and two-thirds would have worked harder if more were demanded of them. More than 80 percent said their chances of staying in school would have increased if classes were more interesting and provided opportunities for real-world learning. The majority said that higher expectations from teachers and parents and improved supervision in the classroom would have helped keep them in school.

On May 16th the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and school district leaders in Marion County (Indianapolis) announced a joint effort to reduce the high school drop out rate and improve the graduation rate. As is typical in Indianapolis the business community and public agencies often work together to address community wide issues.To read about this initiative click on this Indianapolis Star article http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/LOCAL18/705170523.As noted in the article "the educators plan to implement strategies to boost the county's graduation rate to more than 80 percent from 70.7 percent by 2011. At the same time, the educators want to reduce the dropout rate to 5 percent from 7.7 percent in the same four years."