Dropout Rates and Dreams

Earlier this week, a study was released by the by the America’s Promise Alliance, founded by Colin Powell to improve the lives of children that supports a theory I have about dropout rates and dreams.

My theory is simple and based on years of study and practice in the field of career development. If we gave young people a process to help them clarify and plan for a  personal career dream, and then helped them understand the connection between that specific dream and school, they would be more likely to stay in school.

The study which concluded that American high school graduation rates rose from 72% in 2001 to 78% in 2008 did something new in the search for answers for continuing this trend. For the first time in history, they did a broad analysis of high school drop outs and found they all had two things in common:

1.       Despite their challenges, they had a variety of dreams

2.       They did not see the link between these aspirations and what they were studying in school

Over the last 14 years, we have developed and honed a young adult version of our career resilience and goals curriculum. We are now on a mission to have this material more broadly distributed to schools, parents and career development professionals who need tools for assisting 14-24 year olds prepare for satisfying work. To learn more about this, write me at laurel@threegiantleaps.com or attend our  upcoming webinar on December 15, 2010 by registering here:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/423163931

To learn more about the America’s Promise study go to this report at the PBS News Hour:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec10/hsdropouts_11-30.html

Laurel Donnellan

President

Three Giant Leaps

Site: https://www.threegiantleaps.com