Dropout Prevention and Retrieval

Recent statistics from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) indicate that 33 percent of high school students in Washington State do not graduate on time with their classmates. According to the Manhattan Institute, Washington State ranks 38th nationally on this graduation statistic. Workforce partners, including the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (Workforce Board), Employment Security Department (ESD), and OSPI are coordinating efforts to address the dropout problem in this state in order to ameliorate the social and economic consequences for young people who do not earn a high school diploma.

These efforts are the direct result of the Workforce Board's adopted resolution in November 2003 that directed staff to "work with partner agencies to utilize Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 10 percent funds to implement a dropout prevention and retrieval initiative."

This initiative will develop and/or expand dropout prevention and intervention services in these subcategories:

1. Prevention-Identification of the at-risk, in-school student and support mechanisms that make it possible for that student to remain in and be successful in school.
   
2. Retrieval A rapid response or reentry program that brings a young person back to the first-chance system (ideally before the young person has legal or social problems that would keep him/her from returning to school).
   
3. Recovery A host of coordinated services that help a young person return to school, recover lost credits through seat time or competency testing, and resolve academic, social, or personal issues that inhibit successful learning.

To do this the state's 12 Workforce Development Councils and their Youth Councils will conduct local project activities. These 12 demonstration projects are at the heart of the Dropout Prevention Initiative, leveraging WIA discretionary funds with K-12 Basic Education Act funds (BEA). BEA funds support educationally related services to all youth and WIA funds make it possible to create partnerships among providers, educators and community members to coordinate a range of direct services to keep, retrieve, and retain youth in school.