TURNING AROUND THE DROPOUT FACTORIES: 

INCREASING THE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE

“It is time for all of us, no matter what our backgrounds, to come together and solve this epidemic. Stemming the tide 

of dropouts will require turning around our low-performing schools. Just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los 

Angeles, and Philadelphia produce over 50% of America’s dropouts... Let us all make turning around our schools 

our collective responsibility as Americans.”

- President Barack Obama

President Obama has set the ambitious goal that all adult Americans commit to at least one year of 

higher education or career training and that America lead the world in college graduates by 2020. In 

pursuing this goal, ensuring that all students get a quality K-12 education will be crucial. 

Unfortunately, one in four students in this country fails to graduate from high school. Roughly 1,600 

schools (about 10 percent of all high schools) produce nearly half of our nation’s dropouts, and up

to two-thirds of minority dropouts. These dropout factories are unacceptable and devastate the 

communities in which they exist. 

The President’s 2013 budget request and the Blueprint for Reform of the Elementary and Secondary 

Education Act (ESEA) build on the Administration’s current commitment to turning around these 

dropout factories and ensure that more students remain in school and receive a quality education. 

 Getting students through middle school and into college ($1.1 billion). This 

investment will support the GEAR UP and TRIO programs, which provide intensive 

services to students in middle school through college. GEAR UP, which serves students 

beginning in the middle grades, provides early college preparation and awareness activities to 

entire cohorts of students at individual schools that help them stay on a path to higher 

education. The TRIO programs, which include Upward Bound and Talent Search, provide 

intensive support, including summer learning opportunities, for students in high school to 

help more low-income, first generation students access and succeed in higher education. 

 School Turnaround Grants ($534 million). Funds will continue to support subgrants from 

States to districts to help low-performing schools implement rigorous interventions that 

bring about dramatic improvements in student achievement and school performance. High 

schools received approximately 40 percent of the over 1,200 subgrants awarded by States 

under this program in fiscal year 2009, and in fiscal year 2010, preliminary data from 37 

States and the District of Columbia indicate that high schools received 38 percent of 

subgrants.

 College Pathways and Accelerated Learning ($81 million). This new program would 

provide grants to LEAs and eligible entities to provide college-level and other accelerated 

courses and instruction in middle and high schools with high concentrations of students 
from low-income families. Although students who drop out, or are at risk of doing so, are 

often thought of as low achievers who need a watered-down curriculum, educators find that 

often the opposite is the case. This program will improve the education of students who 

may otherwise drop out because they are bored with and not challenged by the standard 

curriculum. 

 Promise Neighborhoods ($100 million). This program will continue to support projects 

that significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and 

youth by providing a birth-to-career continuum of rigorous and comprehensive education 

reforms, effective community services, and strong systems of family and community support 

– with high quality schools at the center. The comprehensive services provided by grantees 

will also help engage disconnected youth and keep them in school until graduation. 

 College- and Career-Ready Students ($14.5 billion) (formerly Title I Grants to Local 

Education Agencies). Since the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

(ESEA) in 1965, Title I funds have been available to support disadvantaged youth, including 

in middle school and high school. Under the Administration’s proposal to reauthorize the 

ESEA, States and districts would be required to identify and take aggressive action to 

improve the lowest-performing schools based on achievement and graduation rates, 

including the lowest-performing high schools. States and districts could also set aside funds 

to build capacity in high-priority areas, such as using data to identify low graduation rates as 

an area of need and improving outcomes in this area.

 Investing in Innovation ($150 million). This program provides competitive grants that 

expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative and evidence-based practices, 

programs and strategies that significantly improve student achievement and close 

achievement gaps. In its first two competitions, the program awarded grants to innovative 

projects aimed at turning around schools with high dropout rates. For example, the Talent 

Development Secondary Program at Johns Hopkins University received $30 million in 2010

to improve middle and high schools in 14 districts across the country by providing greater 

student support, including college mentoring. 

 Support Early for Warning Data. Building on $5 billion in investments through ARRA,

our network of technical assistance programs will ensure that States and districts have the 

expert guidance and technical support to use data more effectively. In the upcoming 

competition for the Comprehensive Centers program, the Department will emphasize the 

need for technical assistance on using data to develop early warning and college- and careerreadiness indicators to identify secondary school students needing additional support. In 

December, the Department awarded 10 new contracts for the Regional Education 

Laboratories, which will support research partnerships with SEAs and LEAs to help them 

use data, particularly longitudinal data, to better inform decision-making. Technical 
assistance also continues to be available to SEAs and LEAs working to develop robust data 

systems through our Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems program and our Privacy 

Technical Assistance Center. 

 Accountability for Graduation Rates through ESEA Flexibility. The Administration has 

offered States the opportunity to request flexibility from certain provisions of No Child Left 

Behind that have become barriers to State and local innovation and implementation of 

forward-looking reforms designed to raise academic achievement. As part of their requests 

for flexibility, States must put in place systems of differentiated recognition, accountability, 

and support that target the most rigorous interventions to the lowest-performing schools 

and schools with the largest achievement gaps, including all Title I high schools with 

graduation rates less than 60 percent over a number of years. States must also have in place 

meaningful accountability for improving graduation rates for all schools, and must continue 

to report the performance of all students and all subgroups against meaningful targets for 

improving graduation rates.

 Engaging Disconnected Youth. As a nation, we are sending the wrong message to 

students when we allow them to walk away from their education. This is why we are 

requesting $5 million to strengthen services for youth who are neither employed nor enrolled 

in an educational institution or who are at high-risk of dropping out of high school. In 

implementing the program, the Department would work closely with the Department of 

Health and Human Services (which requested $5 million to serve disconnected youth) and

the Department of Labor (which requested $10 million) to increase awareness and 

coordination at the state, local and federal levels. A portion of these funds would be used to 

invest in innovative re-engagement strategies and comprehensive approaches to preparing

this population for college and career success.