We at State of the Re:Union are getting into the school spirit just in time for the start of the academic season. For the second segment of the School Spotlight, SOTRU is taking a look at the issues surrounding the growing dropout rate and what initiatives are being done to combat this problem. The American Graduate initiative is a collaborative effort of CPB and other community-minded organizations.  This is a campaign to create more awareness about this troubling issue. This program will be implemented in 20 communities around the country (found on link above). Unlike many other graduation initiative programs that focus on high schoolers, American Graduate will concentrate on middle schoolers. The “middle child” of our school systems can sometimes be overlooked in regards to programs such as this, and it is this crucial time that will make or break a student’s school habits. During this developmental period, kids encounter countless obstacles and are easily influenced. Without the appropriate type of encouragement, their futures could easily derail the track leading to a high school graduation.

Source: cpb.org

Since public media broadcasting stations are steeped in their communities, who better to deliver this urgent and pressing message on a local level? These stations understand how to reach stakeholders, and the men and women making up their city. They also understand the importance of delivering this message, rallying support and helping their communities coordinate efforts. Their attempts to reach at-risk children can also be seen in their programming. There is a long history of public media trying to assist the people of our nation in moving beyond hurtles keeping children back: poverty, immigration, and other obstacles associated with dropouts.

Source: cpb.org

In addition to public media channels, this Dropout Prevention Awareness Campaign will blanket the airways with specials and shows highlighting this dilemma and what it means to us as a nation.  Dynamos, such as America Ferrera, Hill Harper and Aimee Garcia (among others) are standing at the forefront of this initiative. They are actively involved with and speaking out about the seriousness of how this is affecting our youth. Our nation’s graduation rate is right at 70 percent, and some communities are below that average. Growing dropouts rates will have a devastating impact on an already fragile economy, and that is something that we cannot afford. According to a report by American Graduate, high school dropouts will accrue our country a tab of more than $300 million in lost wages,  taxes and productivity.  This can lead to a rise in crime, drug use and homelessness. Our students, and our country, will benefit from making the connection between the relevancy of why school matters. Children need to learn the perks associated with graduating high school and venturing onto college. Yes, the monetary potential increases, helping drive our economy, but so does the level of confidence … and that is worth more than its weight in gold.

American Graduate is allowing each of the 20 “hubs” to come up with solutions that will work for their students. As practice and policy varies between regions, so does the way in which a child learns. (Hub list found on American Graduate site.) The teachers and administrators involved in this effort understand this and are working to customize programs that will offer the best solution for their community. This program will help engage communities and families in children’s school lives, a great way to reinforce the desire for success. To assist in further efforts to eradicate this problem, the National Center for Media Engagement is offering additional grants to as many as another 40 schools.

There are many people and organizations raising their voices in unison on the dropout rate, and we at SOTRU are listening. To assist in spreading the awareness, we will continue to investigate other initiatives and designed to combat a declining graduation rate. If you know of a program or initiative working to solve this problem in your community, we would love to learn about it.

So this is it. For those of you who never heard of the Public Radio Talent Quest, State of the Re:UNION, or of Al Letson, here’s a quick primer. My name is Al Letson, I’m a playwright, performance poet, actor, director, and a few other titles, I won’t bore you with. I’ve been working as an artist professionally for about 10 years, doing any gig that can pay the bills. I started as a Slam Poet, and still very much consider myself one, even though I don’t actually slam anymore. A year ago (April 07), I was looking up the results of American Idol, which I don’t even watch, but I was curious for some strange reason. When I googled American Idol something entitled Public Radio’s American Idol popped up. I click on the link and found out that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was looking for new host, and new ideas. I love Public Radio, and figured what the hell.

I entered the contest with 1400 other folks, and with nine other contestants was chosen as a semi finalist. The ten of us, had to go through some pretty strenuous tasks to get to the finish line, along the way, the contestants got pared down to three, and the top three of us, where given funding to make a pilot. Here is where the plot thickens. CPB created two contests to find host: Public Radio Talent Quest run but The Public Radio Xchange (PRX), and Launch productions. I don’t know much about LAUNCH. The way it was described to me is that PRX took the grassroots approach, whereas LAUNCH took the top down model and contacted people who were in Media/celebrities of a sort to have their own shows. Each contest was given funding to create three pilots, and those pilots would vie for their own show. Out of the six, the conventional wisdom was that CPB would pick two.

After a year of competing and a whole lot of waiting, CPB informed me that my show State of the Re:UNION, was chosen as one of the winners. They’d decided to award three shows total. Two from PRX, mine and Glynn Washington’s Snap Judgment, and one from LAUNCH, The Promise Land with host Majora Carter (whom I have not met, but have been a huge fan of for years).

What does all this mean? In the history of Public Broadcasting State of the Re:Union will be one of the first shows ever given this opportunity. For the next year CPB will allow me to develop the program, find out what works, get my footing as a host, and make some killer shows. At the end of that process, you’ll be hearing the show on your public radio station next to Public Radio giants like Ira Glass and Garrison Keillor. I’m honored to have this opportunity. I’d like to give thank you’s in this blog, but there are too many to name. Rest assured if you’ve helped on this journey, you will be personally hearing from me. The staff of SOTRU, and myself will be posting on this blog to from time to time to give you an inside scoop on the progress of the show. It should be a wild and fun ride, so fasten your seatbelt, adjust your seatbacks to full upright position and prepare for take off.