Resources
The resources below focus on reports, programs, and helpful links related to the issue of the dropout rate in California and dropout prevention efforts.
Partnerships
| Berkeley | 2020 Vision for Berkeley’s Children and Youth | 2020 Vision is a citywide movement to ensure academic success and well-being for all children and youth growing up in Berkeley by closing the achievement gap in Berkeley's public schools by the year 2020.The 2020 Vision began with a campaign by United in Action, a community-driven multi-ethnic coalition, to eliminate inequities in educational opportunities in Berkeley public schools. In June 2008, the Berkeley City Council and Berkeley Unified School District School Board adopted formal resolutions. |
| Berkeley Alliance | The Berkeley Alliance convenes and supports the 2020 Vision for Berkeley’s Children and Youth | |
| Long Beach | The Seamless Education Partnership | In the early 1990s, the Seamless Educational Partnership was formed among CSULB, Long Beach City College and Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) to ensure that more students would graduate from high school prepared for college. |
| The Academic and Career Success for All Initiative | The Academic and Career Success For All Initiative, under the Seamless Education Partnership, was unanimously approved by the Board of Education in September 2007 to increase the college and career readiness of all students. | |
| Los Angeles | Partnership for LA Schools | The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools serves nearly 17, 000 students across 22 schools and is a unique collaboration between the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District aimed at turning around LA’s lowest performing schools. |
| Pasadena | Pasadena City-School Partnership | Through this partnership, the Pasadena City Council and the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education have committed to establish and sustain collaborative initiatives to improve student achievement, expand positive youth development and build stronger neighborhoods. |
| San Francisco | SFUSD and City Partnership for Achievement | The SFUSD and City Partnership for achievement focuses on improving outcomes for public school students through active collaboration and a focus on six strategic areas: (1) Building Community Support and Civic Engagement, (2) Supporting teachers and principals, (3) Promoting Adequate School Funding, (4) Increasing Opportunities, (5) Preparing for the 21st Century, and (6) Strengthening Schools as Community Institutions. |
| San Jose | SJ2020 | In October 2009, Mayor Reed joined Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis, Ph.D., to launch SJ2020, a collaborative effort amongst the City of San Jose, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, school districts and educational institutions, and business and non-profit organizations, aimed at eliminating the achievement gap in San José schools by the year 2020. |
| Santa Ana Partnership | Download PDF | The Santa Ana Unified School District, Santa Ana College, California State University, Fullerton, the University of California at Irvine, City of Santa Ana, CBO’s and Business Partners formed a partnership to help students overcome barriers to higher education. |
Promising Programs
| Statewide | California Youth Graduation Empowerment Project | Student-organized regional summits, provided mini-grants, led a statewide web dialogue, and led a state YGEP Summit on 9/12/09. |
| Long Beach | Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (A.C.E.) Academy of Long Beach | The ACE Academy is a school-within-a-school supported by Mayor Bob Foster, the Long Beach Unified School District, and multiple industry and community partners. This unique program provides guest speakers, fieldtrips, internships and partnerships with industry professionals and businesses. |
| Fontana | Fontana Leadership Intervention Program (FLIP) | The Fontana Leadership Intervention Program (FLIP) is founded upon a partnership between the Fontana School Police, City of Fontana, Fontana Police Department, and Fontana Unified School District. The 16 week program offers “at-risk” teenagers an opportunity to experience a unique educational environment which will positively impact the rest of their lives. |
| Oakland | 2000 Volunteer/Mentor Project | Mayor Quan has asked those over 18 to consider volunteering in schools, after school or in programs that serve students and young Oakland residents up to age 22. Goal of recruiting volunteers to build a mentoring program in support of the 2000 most at risk youth in Oakland (to increase school graduation rate and reduce crime in Oakland). |
| Sacramento | Sacramento Reads! | Sacramento READS! Third Grade Literacy Campaign is a ten year initiative with a vision of making Sacramento the first city in the country to have every third grader reading on grade level by the end of third grade. Sacramento READS!, in conjunction with a broad based community stakeholder group and all 5 school districts in the city, is working to close the gap on the literacy crisis, raise the bar for reading proficiency and ensure equitable opportunity to meet higher standards. |
| San Francisco | Gateway to College | Gateway to College is a program at City College of San Francisco that serves students between ages 16-20, who have dropped out of high school or may not graduate. |
| San Francisco | San Francisco Promise | Launched in 2007 as part of the Partnership for Achievement, San Francisco Promise is a joint collaboration with SFUSD, San Francisco State University, and the Mayor’s office. San Francisco Promise is a fundamental piece of the new “P-16” vision that aims to provide every child with quality public education (support services and guidance) from pre-school through college. Students that stay committed to the program will be guaranteed a spot at San Francisco State University. |
| Stanislaus County | Graduation Empowerment Project of Stanislaus County | The Graduation Empowerment Project of Stanislaus County is committed to increasing graduation rates using strategies through findings from resilient research. |
| Stockton | The Mayor’s Book Club | The Mayor's Book Club is an initiative of the Education Summit focusing on pre-reading skills and kindergarten readiness of 4-year-olds in the community. |
Reports
- Reenrollment of High School Dropouts in a Large, Urban School District, WestEd, September 2009.
- IES Practice Guide: Helping Students Navigate the Path to College - What High Schools Can Do, U.S. Department of Education, July 2008.
- IES Practice Guide: Dropout Prevention, U.S. Department of Education, September 2008.
- Solving California’s Dropout Crisis, California Dropout Research Project (CDRP), Policy Committee Report, February 2008.
- Synthesis of Recent California Education Reform Recommendations, WestEd, 2008.
- Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings (PDF) by Kavitha Mediratta, Seema Shah, Sara McAlister, Norm Fruchter, Christina Mokhtar, Dana Lockwood. Annenberg Institute for School Reform, March 2008.
- Cities In Crisis 2009: Closing the Achievement Gap, prepared for America’s Promise Alliance by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. July, 2009.
Helpful Links
Our Research
- Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: A Preview of Research Findings by Kavitha Mediratta (PDF), Seema Shah, Sara McAlister, Norm Fruchter, Christina Mokhtar, & Dana Lockwood. Annenberg Institute for School Reform, March 2008.
- Profile of the California Partnership Academies (PDF), 2009-2010. Career Academy Support Network, University of California, Berkeley (California Department of Education), October 2011.
- Career Academies: A Proven Strategy to Prepare High School Students for College and Careers (PDF) by David Stern, Marilyn Raby, & Charles Dayton. Career Academy Support Network, University of California, Berkeley, February 2010.
- Work-Based Learning in California: Opportunities and Models for Expansion (PDF) by Svetlana Darche, Nara Nayar, & Kathy Reeves Bracco. The James Irvine Foundation (WestEd), November 2009.
- Preparing Students for College and Career: Linked Learning In California (PDF) by Eric Richmond. Alliance for Excellent Education Issue Brief, March 2010.
- A Model for Success: CART’s Linked Learning Program Increases College Enrollment (PDF). Center for Advanced Research and Technology, January 2011.
- The Underserved Third: How Our Educational Structures Populate an Educational Underclass (PDF) by Regina Deil-Amen & Stefanie DeLuca. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 15: 27–50, April 2010.
- Can California Compete? Reducing the Skills Gap and Creating a Skilled Workforce through Linked Learning (PDF). America’s Edge, May 2011.
- Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century (PDF), Pathways to Prosperity Project. Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 2011.
