Failures and Dropouts: Who Really Failed, the Student and/or the School?

Statistics demonstrate that one in every four high school students drops out of school, and one student drops out of school every 26 seconds across the United States. The highest percentage of dropouts occur in urban, high-poverty areas. Dropping out means leaving high school, college, university, or another group for practical reasons, necessities, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year, many falling into a cycle of poverty, unemployment, and violence. Sobering statistics on dropouts include: 

  

We know that far too many students drop out of school, and students from high-poverty situations drop out at the highest rate......the question is, what are we doing to fix it and help them get to graduation?  One of the obstacles many schools and districts are facing in the pandemic is student failures.  The bigger question is "Who really failed?  The school or the student?"  The goal should be to see each student be successful.  Does that mean that we just give the student a grade they didn't earn or work for?  Absolutely not, but this shift into virtual and blended learning has a learning curve for all involved, including the adults in the school.  As a former coach, many times we had to have a philosophy of "bend but don't break," "keep snapping the ball and see what happens," and "finish strong in the 4th quarter."  These would all be very applicable in this type of pandemic situation and school year.  

Patience and compassion are critical now more than ever for everyone in education.  When you look at data on why students drop out of high school, the alarming thing is that most reasons are preventable or workable.  Three out of the top four reasons students drop out of high school can be handled or prevented at the school level, actually all the way down to the classroom level.  As a classroom teacher, I never want to fail a student because I felt like I had failed as well.  I used to tell students that I didn't give a "0", they had an "Incomplete" until they finished it and that was up to them; or prove to me that they know the content in some way of their choosing and I'd give them credit because learning is what was really important to me.  I shifted to the latter approach as I grew and began to realize that learning was far more important than compliance of doing work.  Some of the major reasons students give for dropping out are disheartening such as "No one cared if I attended."  That's the power of human connection and relationships.  Relationships will actually help most all of the top reasons students drop out.  

We also have to help our stakeholders see the big picture in bending but not breaking, keep snapping the ball and playing another snap, and finishing strong.  The operational hurdles, just to be able to keep school open, are just as big as the instructional hurdles this school year.  When someone questions funding education, the better response would be "how can you not fund education?"  The investment in education has the potential to produce exponential gains in the return on the investment and help to alleviate or reduce many of the societal pitfalls and areas for improvement.  This is a time in our country's history where education is more important than ever.