Louisville's Summit was held on July 30, 2008 - Many thanks to all who helped make it such a success!
The number-one predictor of whether a person will be successful in life is whether he or she graduates from high school. In today’s competitive global economy, effective education is more important than ever before. Yet more than 25% of our students do not finish high school. America’s Promise
Louisville: One out of four high school students does not graduate in four years.
On July 30, 2008, Louisville Metro's Mayor Jerry E. Abramson and Dr. Sheldon H. Berman, Superintendent, Jefferson County Public Schools hosted the Graduate Greater Louisville High School Dropout Solutions Summit at Bellarmine University.
The purpose of the summit was to bring together a large and diverse group of stakeholders to learn about the school dropout problem in Louisville, and, more importantly, to launch an effort to ensure that all of Louisville’s youth can graduate from high school and be prepared for success in adulthood.
Sponsored by America’s Promise, the summit addressed improving high school graduation rates in Louisville and featured a keynote address by the Honorable Bob Wise, former Governor of West Virginia and President of the Alliance for Excellence in Education.
Summit work was conducted in four areas:
Multiple pathways/high school innovation: participants in this track worked on what happens at school for students: they explored current available options, talked about how to address the needs of different types of students (“one size does not fit all” philosophy), explored various pathways to graduation, and recommended strategies to meet the differentiated needs of individual students.
Student supports: participants in this track worked on what happens outside of school for youngsters: they talked about how community organizations work with young people now, described the characteristics of the new generation of young people, talked about how organizations can best meet the needs of youngsters 14 to 19 years of age, and made recommendations for improving services for this age group and explore ways to utilize connections (the “Velcro” approach) to help them stay in school and stay on track to become successful in life.
Policy barriers to graduation: participants in this track identifed policy issues that hinder students from graduating or keep teachers, parents and caregivers from helping them stay on track; the group made recommendations for policy and legislative changes that will work toward getting young people to graduate and become prepared for careers and/or post secondary education.
Life readiness and education beyond high school: participants in this track identified the issues that hold young people back from getting jobs or going on for further schooling, and made recommendations about how to get young people focused on their futures beyond high school.
A report on the Proceedings of the Summit will be available soon.
For questions about summit logistics and how the summit was conducted, please call Elizabeth Stith at (502) 574-3328 or email her at Elizabeth.stith@louisvilleky.gov
For questions about summit content, please call Lynn Howard at (502) 574-4349 or email her at lynn.howard@louisvilleky.gov
"Thank You" to our sponsors -
America's Promise
the C.E.& S. Foundation
AT&T Kentucky
Bellarmine University
Louisville Metro Government
Jefferson County Public Schools
special thanks to -
Tiffanie Foster for writing and performing "The Graduation Song"
Jefferson County Public Schools Materials Production
ValuMarket