Education and Skills

Four ways businesses can reduce school dropout

It’s October and already America’s public high school administrators have a good idea which students will leave school before the year is over. They are the students who already are exhibiting classic behaviours that lead to dropping out of school.

The ABCs of dropping out – attendance, behaviour and coursework slippage – are depressingly accurate predictors of those who will become the one-in-five students won’t graduate on time, if ever.

While an 80 percent on-time graduation rate is the best graduation rate this nation has ever recorded, our current rate of non-completion remains a central threat to our economy, to say nothing of our status as a great nation.

I serve on the board of directors for America’s Promise Alliance, which is leading the national effort to raise America’s on-time high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020, a goal every president since George H.W. Bush has called on us all to achieve.

If we reach that goal, our high schools will produce 1.6 million more graduates than we currently are projected to. Those 1.6 million graduates – more than the population of Philadelphia – will earn more, spend more, and contribute more to society for having completed their basic education. Many will enroll in college; fewer will rely on public assistance or enter the criminal justice system.

How do we maximize our graduation rate? There is no one solution, but the single best effort we can pursue is not about school reform.

It’s about connecting caring adults with youth who are disconnected from systems that can help them, and adult guides who can keep them on track to productive adulthood. This is the single most potent help they can receive, particularly those in greatest need of help navigating the hazards of poverty, violence, neglect, abuse, health issues, death or incarceration of family.

They need – and they crave – connection. And too many of them cannot find a single adult in their lives who can help them.

So, let’s dare to step out of our comfort zones and connect with young people who need us to stay on track. For a quick and easy way to learn where you can help as an individual, start by visiting the America’s Promise GradNation campaign website for volunteer opportunities in your community.

What can the business sector do? Plenty. For starters, here are four things every business can do to infuse an ethic of service into the company culture that will help where other sectors cannot:

  1. Lead local community coalitions. Be the corporate leader in coalitions that are addressing the challenge of disconnected youth in the communities where you do business. Step forward to lead coalitions where none exist.
  2. Engage your employees. Allow paid time off for employees to perform community service. Adopt good organizations that connect caring adults with youth who are seeking them out. Host employee giving campaigns that benefit them.
  3. Contribute financially. All serious efforts need money to sustain them, and corporate sponsorships are powerful boosts to campaigns for youth. Besides, customers are more loyal to brands that do well and do good.
  4. Bring youth into your company. Apprenticeships, internships and shadowing opportunities give young people exposure to workplace environments that might otherwise be completely foreign to them

We will not solve the dropout crisis by simply tinkering with curricula, teacher training, and school campuses. Young people are leaving school because they lack help navigating difficult life circumstances.

The best thing we can do to help complete their journey to productive adulthood is to take their hand and be their guides.

Published in collaboration with LinkedIn

Author: Michael Powell is the President and CEO of National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). 

Image: Reynolds High School students observe a moment of silence in memory of 14-year-old Emilio Hoffman, during their graduation ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland June 12, 2014. REUTERS/Steve Dipaola

 

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Share:
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.