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National Governor’s Association Report Recognizes Texas for Dropout Prevention Practices

AUSTIN – In October, the National Governors Association (NGA) Achieving Graduation for All guide recognized several of Texas’ dropout prevention efforts as practices to be emulated by other states. The report also specifically praised Gov. Perry for his efforts to make high school graduation a priority.

The guide cited Texas’ initiatives including:
•Dropout Recovery Pilot Program, one of the first statewide efforts to focus on recruiting dropouts, bringing them back to the classroom and offering schools incentives to ensure they graduate;
•Reach Out to Dropouts program, which encourages district leaders to visit students who are not attending school;
•Texas High School Project, a public-private partnership created by Gov. Perry in 2005 that helps at-risk students in high-need areas through the creation of rigorous high school models that focus on college preparedness, like the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (T-STEM) academies;
•And the state’s high performing charter schools, which provide rigorous curriculum to minority and disadvantaged students.

Building upon the state’s efforts to strengthen education and ensure students are college and career-ready, Gov. Perry recently proposed the expansion of the state’s T-STEM academies, which have successfully provided young Texans with the resources they need to succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy.

The NGA study also recognized teacher incentive pay programs and dropout accountability standards as important components in the effort to decrease dropouts. Under Gov. Perry’s leadership, Texas has created the largest teacher incentive pay program in the nation and passed some of the most comprehensive accountability measures in the nation through House Bill 3 during the 2009 legislative session. Texas has also seen high school dropout rates decline for every student demographic between 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, according to a July 2009 report published by the Texas Education Agency.

To view the entire report, visit: http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.6c9a8a9ebc6...