Even the most vocal advocates for North Carolina’s public schools agree the state’s high school dropout rate is far too high. People of all political stripes have searched for ways to cut that rate.
The Locke Foundation’s in-house education expert, Terry Stoops, will be disappointed to read some of the key recommendations emanating today from the Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout Prevention and High School Graduation.
The group makes recommendations in 11 areas, four of which require new legislation.
- First, the commission wants to extend its own lifespan to 2011.
- Next, the group wants to mandate a UNC system study of raising the compulsory school attendance age. (That’s an idea Terry discredited here.)
- The commission also wants to spend another $5.5 million to offer 40 more dropout prevention grants. (Terry questioned the first round of grants here.)
- One idea Terry has not yet tackled is a proposed $6 million payment to Communities in Schools of North Carolina. That payment includes funding to place 100 “graduation coaches” in middle schools or high schools.
Asked by one legislator today what a “graduation coach” would do, a legislative staffer responded: “The graduation coach is specifically going to make sure that the child is taking, like, the right courses and keeping the parent informed about the progress of their student, you know, referring them to appropriate services.”
The full General Assembly must approve any of these ideas before they could move forward.
