Educational Services of America

By MARK CLAYPOOL – May 11, 2008

Tennessee Voices

Every nine seconds, a student drops out of school.

Some students quit school because they have to work to help support their families. Some become parents and leave school to care for their children. Others say they’re uncomfortable in large classes, so they drop out.

Not all at-risk students drop out. Some stay in school even though they believe they are too far behind academically to ever catch up. Bored and frustrated, they engage in disruptive behavior that distracts teachers from teaching and students from learning.

While the reasons for school failure vary, the consequences are the same.

The U.S. Department of Education reports dropouts cost our economy $260 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity in 2005. Dropouts are more likely than high school graduates to be unemployed, incarcerated and impoverished. They are more likely to be single parents and their children are more likely to drop out of school.

Our entire community has an obligation to end this cycle.

About 70 percent of Metro Nashville Public Schools students graduated from high school in 2006. The district has established a goal of 100 percent graduation by 2014 and has asked for a solution to help achieve it. I believe we have one.

Nashville-based Educational Services of America is the nation’s leading provider of K-12 and post-secondary alternative and special education. One of our divisions, Ombudsman Educational Services, has served more than 100,000 at-risk students since 1975, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the body that accredits MNPS.

As educators, it is our responsibility to create classrooms in which every child can learn. We have found that many students do better in a small learning community where they receive individual attention, work on computers to master subjects at their own pace, and attend class on a flexible schedule that accommodates work and family responsibilities.

Ombudsman will partner with more than 120 school districts nationwide this fall. We hope Metro Nashville will be one of them. Based on more than 30 years’ experience in school districts throughout the country, we anticipate that 85 percent of MNPS students enrolled in Ombudsman – all of whom are in danger of failure – will improve their behavior and graduate. They can continue their education, join the work force or the military -and go wherever their dreams take them.

Graduation is a significant milestone, but it is only one measure of success. Standardized test results over a three-year period illustrate that, on average, Ombudsman students on the path to graduation achieve more than one academic year’s growth in less than one year’s time. As students achieve academic success, their self-esteem improves, their behaviors improve, their perception of school improves and they feel better about their opportunities for the future. As a native Nashvillian, I can think of no better legacy for our children and for our community.

Mark Claypool is president and CEO of Educational Services of America, www.esa-education.com.