On the rationale behind the latest hashtag, #zerodropoutrate. Everytime I bring up this idea in conversation, I receive blank faces like, "how are we really going to end the drop out crisis?" One student and one school at a time is my response. When I was on the faculty at UCLA I would give an annual lecture to students from Taiwan who could not believe that every student didn't finish high school in the U.S. I guess these are two different ways of looking at the issue; the expectation of success and the tolerance of failure. I choose the former not only because I am a dreamer, but because I think it is necessary and realistic to contemplate a future where every student who begins school in Kindergarten finishes thirteen years later with a high school diploma and a set of skills that prepares them for the world of work, postsecondary education, and meaningful participation in civil society. I say this is necessary because I cannot imagine a positive future for a nation that fails half of its school-aged population. Realistic because the students are not the variable. If we provide them with hope, authentic care, resources, and powerful instruction they will succeed. They already do and the thousands of schools that have solved (or prevented) the dropout "problem" are a testament to this fact.
