Louisiana Dropout Prevention Summit
October 28, 2008
Convener: Education’s Next Horizon, the Governor’s Office, and the Department of Education will co-sponsor a statewide Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit in Baton Rouge.
Estimated Attendance: 1000
Summit Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Highlights:
The summit built on the work Governor Bobby Jindal is doing to make dropout prevention/workforce readiness a state priority. All 70 Parishes were represented with delegations led by area superintendents and composed of business, education and nonprofit leaders will attend the summit.
- Over 1,000 leaders from across the state attended. Presenters included Paul Pastorek, State Superintendent of Education. LA Public Broadcasting recorded the summit and is re-broadcasting it across the state.
- Follow-up activities will include regional convenings and the development of Parish-level action plans to decrease truancy rates and establish early warning indicators so that students in danger of dropping out can be identified early and provided the supports they need to succeed.
Summit Planning Team:
- The Louisiana Summit Host/Planning Team will include the following:
- Erin Bendily, Governor’s Education Policy Advisor
- Donna Nola-Ganey, Assistant Superintendent, Education Department
- John Warner Smith, CEO of Education’s Next Horizon
- Phillip A. Rozeman, Board President, Education’s Next Horizon
- Kathy Mouton, Executive Director of High School Redesign, Education Dept.
- Debi Faucette, Division Director, Education Department
- Scott Hughes, President of Alliance for Education, Louisiana Chapter
- Student representatives—Jobs for America’s Graduates
- Representative—Louisiana District Attorneys Association
- Representative—Louisiana School Superintendents Association
- Business and Industry Representative
Louisiana's Dropout Prevention Action Plan
Progress Since the Summit
- Louisiana’s state summit was an important tool for raising awareness and seeding a statewide movement around the dropout issue. The effort has received great coverage from the media – both around the time of the summit and since.
- Eight regional summits were held in early 2009. Approximately 1,000 total participants engaged in these half-day sessions, starting in meetings of the whole by region, and then in district breakouts to begin working on action plans. Outreach began to the state summit registrants, but then targeted outreach was done to those sectors most under-represented. Most districts have now submitted those plans, with short, medium, and long-term goals based on three core principles:
- early detection
- truancy and attendance
- connecting students to the future
- This fall, Education’s Next Horizon released a report that provides recommendations for how to better connect students to the real world, particularly to high-growth, high-pay jobs that only require 2-year and/or technical training. They’re also in the midst of supporting a series of eight education forums with state- and district-level policy makers over the next six weeks.
Contact:
John Warner Smith, Chief Executive Officer
Education’s Next Horizon
412 North Fourth Street, Suite 240
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
225-383-3844 Phone
225-383-3814 Fax