Grad Nation


In 2010, America’s Promise Alliance launched its most ambitious campaign ever — Grad Nation — to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. One in four public school children drop out before they finish high school. That’s 1.3 million students a year — one every 26 seconds, 7,000 every school day. But this is a campaign we can win … must win … and will win. Grad Nation has two goals: 1. 90 percent graduation rate nationwide by 2020, with no school graduating less than 80 percent of its students. 2. Regain America’s standing as first in the world in college completion. We need everyone involved — civic and business leaders, elected officials, educators, faith leaders, parents, volunteers, young people themselves. State Farm is the presenting national sponsor of Grad Nation.

Building a Grad Nation Summit

The second annual Building a Grad Nation Summit will take place March 18-21, 2012 in Washington, D.C. The event is co-hosted by America's Promise Alliance, the Alliance for Excellent Education, Civic Enterprises, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University to inspire a national movement to reach our goal of a 90 percent national graduation rate by 2020.

About the Movement

On March 1, 2010, President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Gen. Colin Powell and America’s Promise Alliance Chair Alma Powell gathered with partners from every sector to officially embark on the most ambitious campaign America's Promise has ever undertaken — the Grad Nation campaign — to mobilize America to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce.

Building a Grad Nation Report

Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, released November 2010 by America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, shows that we can end the dropout epidemic, even in schools from lower-income, urban and rural districts that many previously thought were hopeless.

Waiting for "Superman"

Waiting for “Superman” is a documentary film that examines the crisis of public education in the U.S. through multiple interlocking stories, from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance to the those trying to find lasting solutions within a broken education system. America’s Promise Alliance has developed a toolkit to help you engage your community in conversation about the local education system and how individuals can make a difference.

Additional Resources

This section includes resources to help you learn more about the issue.

America's Promise Alliance | 1110 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 900 | Washington, DC 20005 | Phone: 202.657.0600 | Fax: 202.657.0601

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