Reengagement: Bringing Students Back to America's Schools

Product Description This book by practitioners, policy analysts, and young people, for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers, captures up-to-the-moment experience and as yet unresolved issues in a newly emerging field: dropout reengagement. Key elements in this field include reaching out to young people who have left school for a myriad of reasons, and providing individualized supports and services all the way through to successful re-enrollment.The development of coordinated citywide efforts to re-engage out-of-school youth on positive educational pathways -- in several dozen cities in recent years -- spurred the effort to document practice and policy. Readers will come away with an understanding of results to date, as well as a sense of the variety and continuous improvement and innovation underway.This book describes the impressive early accomplishments of reengagement efforts in several cities, provides practical advice from a variety of perspectives for those seeking to launch or formalize local reengagement programs, and describes how reengagement at scale could help solve the crisis of unfulfilled potential represented in America’s millions of young people without high school credentials. Review This extraordinary book provides communities the evidence and tools they need to help millions of America’s opportunity youth get back on track to a better life. Such work is urgent to fulfill the potential of our young people, strengthen our fraying communities, and restore a fundamental belief in equal access to the American Dream. -- John M. Bridgeland, CEO, Civic Enterprises & former Director, White House Domestic Policy CouncilThe recent rise in the nation’s high school graduation rates has been no accident. It has resulted from smart and dedicated work on the ground, including the invention of a new strategies to provide students who have dropped out second and third chances to succeed. Central to this has been the realization that for reengagement to occur we need to be able to provide students who have dropped out with supported pathways back in. This highly informative volume shows the Art and Science of how that can be done. -- Robert Balfanz, Everyone Graduates Center, Johns Hopkins UniversityThe problem of disconnection from school and work among teens and young adults has worsened in recent years. Here in Philadelphia, we recently found that about one quarter of the city’s residents aged 18 to 24 are idle, and worse still, a majority are high school dropouts who have never held a job. This book provides important insights into different ways in which the nation could respond to re-engage teens and young adults and increase their chances for a life of opportunity and fulfillment. -- Paul Harrington, Director and Professor of Education, Center for Labor Markets and Policy, Drexel University About the Author Andrew O. Moore supports the nationwide Reengagement Network in his role as a program director at the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. He brings to this role, extensive experience with youth conservation corps, alternative education, and youth employment programs.