School-Community Partnerships: Hope for 21st Century Schools

Abstract

A ccording to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2005), one-third of entering ninth-grade students will drop out of high school before attaining a diploma, and another third will graduate unprepared for college or a good job. About half of the high schools in the nation’s 35 largest cities have severe dropout rates—often as high as 50 percent. Only about 30 percent of high school students read proficiently, and more than a quarter read significantly below grade level.