Rosemary gets ready for Spirit Week and the end of the school year. She’s one of eight students posting video diaries about the highlights and challenges of high school throughout the school year for Project Dropout.

Rosemary looks ahead to college and has some ideas on what she’d like to study. She’s one of eight students posting video diaries about the highlights and challenges of high school throughout the school year for Project Dropout.

By Monica Brady-Myerov (WBUR)

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In May, a legislative commission is expected to deliver its recommendations for ways to reduce the school dropout rate. The dropout rate has not improved for a decade. Each day in Massachusetts close to 100 students drop out of school. Gov. Patrick hopes to cut that figure by 25 percent within the next two years.

One measure being considered is raising the legal dropout age from 16 to 18. The idea may sound like a simple solution, but it has many critics.

This GED class in Haverhill is small. Eight students sit at long tables facing the white board. It allows instructor Jeff Reddy time to sit down with students individually. Some instruction begins with basic skills that are usually taught in middle school.

The General Educational Development, or GED, test was created in 1942 for World War II veterans who had not completed high school. But the profile of a GED student has changed since then. In this class, there are many 16 and 17 year olds. Nancy Tariot is in charge of the GED classes those kids attend. 

NANCY TARIOT: When they come in here with their backpacks on and they say they want their GED and I tell them, ‘You know what, this is an adult ed program and we’ll treat you like an adult, which means it’s up to you to do your homework and it’s up to you to study and we don’t do basketball and we don’t do proms.’

Tariot says she counsels young students against leaving school to enter a GED program.

TARIOT:  My personal feeling is they should increase the age at which children are allowed to drop out of school, because a 16 year old is not a good person to be making that kind of decision, but they do.

Raising the mandatory attendance age is expected to be one of the recommendations from the legislature’s dropout commission. There’s little political or research consensus on whether it works to lower the dropout rate.

Gov. Deval Patrick says he’d consider supporting keeping kids in school until they’re 18. State Rep. Marie St. Fleur, who is on the dropout commission, is in favor of raising the age. She says schools statewide lose 91 students a day.

MARIE ST. FLEUR: Maybe it quiets our classroom, but what happens to the lives of those people at the end of the day? And it’s not simply their lives we impact – they will have children — we impact the generations that come from them after that.

And St. Fleur says 16 year olds are not equipped to make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. But by law, 16 year olds can dropout of school without undergoing an intervention or even getting a signature from a parent. Even a 14 year old can leave school with an employment waiver as long as they work at least six hours a day.  Schools are supposed to conduct exit interviews, but many don’t. 

VANESSA JOHNSON: Once I turned 16 I was like, ‘Finally I’m really not going to school now.’

Vanessa Johnson, who’s now 18, says she left because she was suspended twice and fell far behind her peers. Now, as the mother of a new baby, she wishes she had been forced to stay beyond 16 years old.

JOHNSON: I think they should change that you can drop out when you’re 16 because you’re not an adult yet — you shouldn’t be able to make your own choices whether you should be able to drop out or not at 16.

Supporters of increasing the mandatory attendance age point to a study which suggests that staying in school may also increase students earning potential. It was co-authored by Joshua Angrist, a labor economist at MIT who studies the economics of education. Angrist says when kids are forced to stay in school longer, it pays.

JOSHUA ANGRIST: Each year of schooling  raises your earnings about 10 percent, and that really adds up because if you think about somebody who goes to college and spends a couple years doing something else, they might have 40 years of working life, so that 10 percent higher earnings every year is millions and millions of dollars.

But some critics say the study is outdated because it used census data from decades ago. It might be more applicable to look at the dropout rate in the 19 states that have a compulsory age of 18. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy recently looked at those states. Researcher Lisa Famularo says  you would expect them to have lower dropout rates, but they don’t.

LISA FAMULARO: Of the states that have the lowest dropout rates, only five of them have a compulsory age of 18. 

Famularo says the proposal to raise the age in Massachusetts should get careful scrutiny in this difficult budget time.

FAMULARO: I would rather see the state spend its money on implementing programs to help support students, to better engage them in school, than spend money on enforcing a law which is going to throw them back into the environment that is not working for them.

And may not work for the whole classroom. The Massachusetts Teachers Association has not taken a position on the proposal. But many teachers oppose it, including Steven Berbeco, who teaches government and politics at Charlestown High School.

STEVEN BERBECO: You can’t legislate education, you can’t pass a law to make people learn more. Our communities will get better results out of building models that invite students to stay in the classroom rather than passing a law to lock them in the school.

Another teacher says you can use the law to keep a 17 year old in a classroom, but to keep the student focused and learning is a totally different proposition.

Vanessa talks about her new job and about a possible career path. She’s one of nine students posting video diaries about the highlights and challenges of high school throughout the school year for Project Dropout.

Edwin talks about his future after high school, what he hopes to study in college and where he sees himself in five years. He’s one of eight students posting video diaries about the highlights and challenges of high school throughout the school year for Project Dropout.

By Emily Rooney

With the national unemployment rate at 8.1 %, the recession is helping the four branches of the US military exceed their recruitment figures. But with so many educated, qualified people out of work, the military can afford to be more selective in its recruitment efforts. In other words, high school dropouts may face more competition when pursuing what many consider a fallback career. However, the US Army offers some high school dropouts a chance to get their diplomas in order to serve their country. But these recruits must jump through more hoops than someone who completed high school.

Studio Guests: David O’Neil, Education Service Specialist; Sergeant First Class (SFC) Gregory Grayson, Army Recruiting Station Commander; Richard Murnane, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Produced by: Sanjay Salomon

By Bob Oakes (WBUR)

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A welding class at Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton, Mass. (Sarah Bush/WBUR)

An estimated 3.8 percent of Massachusetts high-school students never graduate, but there’s one segment of high schools where the drop-out rate is about half that — vocational schools. 
 
“Voc schools” outperform traditional high schools by some other measures as well.  For example, the four-year graduation rate is 10 points higher than the state average.

We visited Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton, where the drop-out rate is actually under one percent, to find out what’s going right.

Jeremy Lacourse is a sophomore at Blackstone. (Sarah Bush/WBUR)

There we met successful student after successful student, including sophomore Jeremy Lacourse, who was busy working on a project in the heating, venting and air-conditioning unit, or HVAC. 

JEREMY LACOURSE: The big line with the insulation on it right now is the suction line. And then the smaller line, which I ran, is the liquid line, which is the hot line…

Clearly pleased with his work, we asked Lacourse why he applied to come here over two years ago.

LACOURSE: I wanted to have a good standing of where I would be when I got out of school.

BOB OAKES: So you came here with a good idea of what you wanted to do when you got out of school?

LACOURSE: Yes.

OAKES: And what is that?

LACOURSE: I want to go to college for actually business management for HVAC.

OAKES: Tell us how you think your experience is different here than it would be if you’d gone to another high school.

LACOURSE: I don’t think I would be able to know as much as I do now. I wouldn’t know the basic electrical that goes into just flipping a switch every day.

OAKES: How’ve you been doing school wise?

LACOURSE: A’s and B’s.

Voc schools still train students in HVAC and other trades such as plumbing and carpentry, but they also offer instruction in areas such as graphic communication and business technology. 

Students split their time, spending one week in shop and then one week in academic courses, but that doesn’t mean academic standards are any lower than at traditional high schools.

By law, vocational high-school students must pass the MCAS student achievement test to graduate.

Blackstone Valley became the first voc-tech school in the state where 100 percent of students passed the MCAS to graduate. In fact this year’s senior class is the sixth in a row to achieve that 100-percent competency.

Blackstone Superintendent Michael Fitzpatrick says it’s that hands-on experience that’s key to student success in this and other voc-tech schools.  

SUPERINTENDENT MICHAEL FITZPATRICK: One of the biggest differences is the fact that they offer curriculum that is applied or a situation where students can utilize the theory that’s taught in classroom and actually see a practical application in multiple laboratories and in integrated instruction. Clearly in our conversations with the more than 1,100 students that we serve, it’s a motivational aspect to their learning.

OAKES: They’re motivated because they get their hands on and that’s a good thing. They can see how the learning applies right in front of them.

FITZPATRICK: That’s correct, but a key aspect to that is the manner that teachers in both academic and vocational and career tech blend a little bit of both to create the added motivation, the added experience and the exciting aspects of the learning that motivate students to do more.

That is certainly the case in the noisy heating, venting and air conditioning shop run by Thomas Belland, himself a Blackstone graduate. We spoke in the high-school boiler room, which is in fact a classroom.

THOMAS BELLAND: You’re looking at four modern boilers. These burn either oil or gas, but they burn it at a very efficient rate.

OAKES: The kids are responsible for some of this, aren’t they?

BELLAND: We do 99 percent of the maintenance, repairs and installations in the building. It’s like their signature on the school.

OAKES: It’s like everything becomes a learning experience, even heating and cooling the building at the moment?

BELLAND: Absolutely. We have a crew of students throughout the building every day working on the systems, designing new systems, dealing with customers, taking calls, filling out the paperwork. They get the real world experience.

Katelyn Christiansen is a senior at Blackstone. (Sarah Bush/WBUR)

It’s that real world experience that makes 17-year-old Katelyn Christiansen’s eyes light up as we talk with her in the crowded school cafeteria. Katelyn will graduate in June.

KATELYN CHRISTIANSEN: It gives you a head up because you’re learning not only regular high school, you’re learning a job – you have a trade. Say you go to college — you can work in that field and further your education in the field as well.

OAKES: So you feel that based on this you can see where you’re going?

CHRISTIANSEN: Yes.

OAKES: And where are you going?

CHRISTIANSEN: I’m going to college for biotechnology to do research.

So voc ed isn’t only for trade training anymore. In fact about 70 percent of the Blackstone Valley graduates have pursued college education in recent years.  

But there’s more to getting voc-ed students interested in school than giving them hands-on shop training.

One in four students enters Blackstone at a fourth-grade reading level, exacerbating the risk they could eventually fail the MCAS test, not graduate or drop out.

We asked Superintendent Michael Fitzpatrick how Blackstone addresses that issue.

FITZPATRICK: As soon as a student makes application to our system in the eighth grade, we’re immediately analyzing their previous skill sets in MCAS — we’re already building up programs that will strengthen their skills before they take the test.

OAKES: In the application process, does the school tend to filter out kids that are going to need help — kids that you know by looking at the data that they have when they apply are going to have trouble getting the pass grade on the MCAS?

FITZPATRICK: No, the real pride is you can take students wherever they might be and advance them. The admissions process is a state-approved adnmissions process that doesn’t indicate if a student is, for example, on a special-education plan and there is no entrance exam to come here. And the population mirrors that of the district we serve.

For some Blackstone students slipping behind academically there is individualized remediation. Others are coached in a variety of different settings in person at school or at Saturday camps, summer camps and vacation camps. And there is online help.

And the help, says Superintendent Fitzpatrick, goes beyond academics as the school assists the child in both mind and body.

FITZPATRICK: In fact, every student here has a wellness plan. It’s a case where our partnership with an area hospital is a satellite center in our building. And we have access to a nurse practitioner, a nutritionist and other staff members, all of whom work in tangent with our traditional instructors and we also have two school nurses. All contributing to better test scores. And another reason: We want every student to be safe here, and we also want them to know that we care. We want them to be very much a part of our family.

More and more eighth graders across the state are applying to vocational schools.

At Blackstone, 700 students signed up for the class of 2012 — competing for just 300 spots – and there’s similar demand at other voc schools.

So, if voc schools are so successful at combating dropout and improving student performance, why aren’t there more of them?

David Ferreira is executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators.

DAVID FERREIRA: Capacity is an issue. And I think, quite honestly, a lot of it is finance. In this fiscal climate, to enlarge these schools is very difficult.

And money is an issue beyond school expansion or school-building projects. Voc-ed schools spend more per student — about $4,000 more per year — than at traditional high schools.

The higher cost is partly due to the pricey technology and shop equipment on hand, and the lower student-teacher ratio required for safety reasons because the students use all that equipment.

While voc-tech education is not for everyone, administrators say its success surely means demand for it — whether it’s HVAC, carpentry, computer tech, or welding — will remain high in coming years.

By Deborah Becker (WBUR)

One of President Obama’s proposals to improve education is to increase high-school graduation rates. The challenge is daunting, especially in urban high schools where in some cases 50 percent of the students don’t graduate on time.

But a school in Worcester, Mass., is defying those odds and other schools around the country are taking note. The University Park Campus School is a public school located in the poorest section of Worcester, near Clark University. Clark says improving the area outside its gates will benefit the university, as well as its neighbors. So Clark provides student volunteers, the use of some campus facilities and the promise that those University Park students who meet Clark’s admission standards will be able to go to college there for free.

Clark provides no money to the school — it’s funded like all the other public schools in Worcester. And in the 11 years since University Park opened, every student has not only graduated, but gone on to post-secondary education. We visited University Park, which is in an unassuming, rather rundown, former Worcester elementary school. Instead of things such as computer labs and sports fields, there is a lot of enthusiasm.

Anthony Hodges is a freshman.

ANTHONY HODGES: When I started at this school, it was hard. Cuz like they, ‘pow, pow, pow’ homework on you. And see, me, if I went to a different school…probably would have been a bad boy. Because I used to be a troublemaker in elementary, used to be always like playing around, never doing homework. And once you come here, they just force you, like, ‘You want to go to college? You gotta do this, this, that and you can make it.’

We asked Ricky Hall, the coordinator of the University Park Campus School, why his school is so successful.

RICKY HALL: I think first and foremost it’s our shared and collective mission of student success here. I think all the teachers and staff bring to the school a genuine belief that all students can succeed and all students will go to college. And from the moment they walk in here in grade seven that’s our promise to them and that becomes a driving force — a driving cultural force — in the building. And everything is towards that end.

So, their rigorous academic coursework is to that end, but also their behavioral and academic and civic expectations are to that end. Kids take tough courses here. They don’t have a choice on what kind of course they take, they take all honors courses, all those courses are the core academic areas.

DEBORAH BECKER:  A lot of folks might say, ‘Well, doesn’t that happen at every school?’ Or, ‘Shouldn’t it?’

HALL: Yeah, it should. It should. And in the good schools it does. I think our smallness is another major factor here, because we only have 240 students or so, we have 17 teachers here. And so everybody feels like we’re a family. And much of it is, you know, kind of  “us against the world” kind of mentality. We know that there are challenges here, but collectively we can overcome them.

What makes this place different is it’s the same material being taught in other schools, it’s just being taught really well here.  I mean it’s being taught by expert teachers who love kids, who love their content area and work really hard to make sure that they, you know, bring that love to their students.

BECKER: A lot of the reasons that we hear – or the factors that we hear – of why kids drop out are poverty, English-language learners, mobility — people moving around a lot, not a lot of family support at home. It seems like you have all those factors and yet you’re defying the odds.

HALL: Yeah. I mean I think we have some kids that have all those factors you just listed, we have some kids that have some of them. I think every kid has at least one, for the most part. But yeah, poverty. We have ELL students. We have special ed students. We have the same group of factors and yet we consistently see, you know, very strong academic success.

It’s not just the instruction, but that’s a big part of it. I think part of it also is that kids come here and recognize that we’re just not going to let you fail. And it’s not just that we won’t accept you to fail, we won’t accept you not succeeding. It’s just not a matter of getting you through high school, but beyond that. It’s getting you into college, it’s getting you through college.  There’s a general misconception about the school that we cream the crop or take the best, academically most talented students in the city and that is the reason why we’re successful. But, in reality, our kids come here challenged as a population. Generally reading below grade level, doing math below grade level.

As a rule, we’re getting kids who are coming relatively depleted academically and challenged academically. Our role in grade seven and eight is to do a lot of wraparound academic and social services to kind of get them up to speed to be able to make access to a rigorous ninth grade curriculum. So seventh and eighth  grade is kind of this very intense, kind of bolstering the skills that are needed for high school success. And then by grade nine they’re taking a full slate of honors-level courses.

BECKER: Kids get in via lottery, is that right?

HALL: That’s right. Yeah.  So every year we accept 44 new seventh graders. The only admissions application requirement is that they live within a defined district around Clark University, that Clark defines around the school.

BECKER: Now is that something that parents have to sign up for or how do people get in the lottery? I’m wondering, are you dealing with a fairly committed group of parents?

HALL: That’s a good question. We send out notification to all the students in our Worcester public school system that show an address on the defined streets, explaining to them that there’s an informational meeting that they need to come to where they fill out the application. And so, that’s as much as we require of them. We don’t require any other things other than to show up to that informational meeting and fill out a very short application. The application’s merely: name, address, telephone number, that kind of thing. We don’t take test scores or anything like that. I think we do have some selective process there, that you know parents have to physically come, you know, to the meeting and fill out the application.

BECKER: Do you think that this model can be replicated in other places?

HALL: I get nervous when people want to just come here and take it like a cookie cutter and move it somewhere else and try to use the exact same model, because you know I think the school’s success is by virtue of not just its design principles, but also by the human beings who are here.

That being said, I think there are some clear, important lessons that come out of this school’s success. That if taken properly and used properly, I think could in fact really make people re-tool their understanding of how urban education is done. It’s not just –  some people have tried to figure it out by saying, ‘Well, it’s the smallness. Right, it’s the smallness that makes a difference. So we’re just going to make all of our big schools small.’ Well that’s not the only component of our success here. It’s one, but it’s not the only component. And when it doesn’t end up being successful they throw their hands up and go, ‘I can’t figure out why this doesn’t work.’

Well, it’s not just smallness. It’s part of it. So, if it were done really thoughtfully — someone came in and really said, ‘Let’s look at these design principles. Let’s try to replicate what makes sense for another school and really dive into what makes it successful here’ — I think it could be replicated. But this ‘quick fix, magic pill, we’ll make it small — that’s the reason why it’s successful’ — I don’t think that’s something that would actually work.