The committee that oversees the state’s dropout prevention grant program will change the way they award and evaluate grantees.
From the News & Observer,
The dropout prevention committee, whose members are appointed by the governor and House and Senate leaders, met Monday to review its new application criteria. One of the committee’s goals is to find successful programs that can be replicated, said Bill Farmer, a committee co-chairman. Some members said they wanted programs to better target students who are at risk of dropping out. Applicants will have to describe specific, measurable and realistic goals. “We want to have a more disciplined approach to dropout prevention,” Farmer said.
I have written three evaluations of dropout prevention grants and have been the most outspoken critic of the initiative. (Get the evaluations here, here, and here.) In my third evaluation of the grants, I wrote,
Programs should not receive additional funding and/or replication based on anecdotal evidence. Instead, grant recipients should be able to quantify their program?s ability to retain students and significantly increase the district or school dropout rate.
It appears that those in charge of the grants are finally listening.
