The Summit

May 9, 2007 | Washington DC

The "Summit on America's Silent Epidemic" launched a national movement to end the high school dropout crisis, including a sea change in education policy at the local, state and federal levels. More than 500 superintendents, teachers, parents, students, state and federal policymakers and other education and community leaders attended the summit where they exchanged ideas and will continue to be a part of the on-going effort to address this crisis.

Jynell Harrison at the Silent Epidemic Summit

View a slideshow of the event

At the summit more than 100 organizations representing a broad spectrum of education and community stakeholders endorsed a 10-point plan that would raise state compulsory school age requirements, establish more challenging college and work preparatory learning in high schools, support parents' roles in keeping students in school, establish early warning systems to support struggling students and demand accurate graduation and dropout data.

The 10-point plan and many of the other materials shared at the summit can be found below.

Summit Materials

A Blueprint for Ending America's Silent Epidemic (PDF)
Fact sheet on the high school dropout epidemic.
Education Week's Chris Swanson released a new online tool that makes it possible to learn the graduation rate of every school district in the nation, as well as the grade level each district tends to lose students. Such data can help communities effectively target solutions that reduce dropouts.
The May 9 summit showcased a 10-point plan endorsed by more than 100 organizations, which provides concrete action items that leaders at the local, state, and federal levels can take to end the silent epidemic.
Professor Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University released What Your Community Can Do to End its Dropout Crisis. (PDF)
Civic Enterprises released Raising the Compulsory School Age: The Case for Reform.
MTV released its The Dropout Chronicles
Professor Russell Rumberger of the University of California Santa Barbara showcased the Dropout Research Project, which provides a regularly updated list of the latest research across the nation on the issue of high school dropout and graduation.
The National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices released Implementing Graduation Counts: State Progress to Date (PDF).
10 Steps to a Local Summit