and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. last monday, the america's promise alliance hosted an education conference called building a grad nation summit to address the high school dropout rate and prepare young people for college in the work force. speakers included education secretary arne duncan who moderated the discussion on school improvement grants. also remarks by white house director gene sperling. from washington, d.c., this is about two hours, thirty minutes.

good morning. it is a pleasure to see all of you here and i am so proud and happy to welcome you. on behalf of the entire board of america's promise alliance and more than our 400 national partners, welcome to the grad nation summit. there are attendees here from nearly all 50 states. and you've all come together. i would like to say a special word to our youth leaders who have joined us. you are the reason we are here. and you are a big part of the solution. we cannot do it without you. and before i go any further, i would like to thank the sponsors of this wonderful program, our

state farm, which serves as the presenting sponsor of the grad nation campaign. our premier sponsors, at&t, target, and the bill and melinda gates foundation. our signature sponsors, apollo group, casey family programs, the corporation for public broadcasting, ford foundation, ford motor company, intel corporation, the lumina foundation, and the national cable and telecommunications association. and the pearson foundation. i would also like to thank nbc, our media partner. nbc continues to do a wonderful job with education nation, and we are so pleased to work closely with them as we make people aware of the education crisis in america, and what can be done about it. you know, the number of sponsors for this summit is a reflection

of the way that the grad nation campaign has become a large and growing movement. to use a word that dr. peter benson chose for the title of one of his books, this campaign is a spark. it's a spark that is igniting americans from every walk of life to join us. as many of you know, peter passed away last year. he was truly a visionary who played a founding and guiding role in our alliance, and there was no greater champion for the power of the five promises to change lives. he once said, "to dream what is possible and put one's self in service of that dream is the formula for a life well-lived." i know that if he were here today, he would be so excited to see so many people who have stepped up as leaders to bring

more of the promises to the young people who need them. because that's the heart of our grad nation work. we all know that it's an election year. how can you escape it? everybody's mind is on the economy. and jobs is our top priorities. but we need to help all americans recognize that there is a direct link between quality education and thriving economically strong communities. that's the theme of this summit. and you'll be hearing more and more about it over this next day-and-a-half. when children are not thriving, when too many find themselves in low-performing schools that don't prepare them for college in the work force, communities can't thrive. and that means our nation can't thrive. as education secretary arne duncan, who you'll be hearing from later this morning says, we

have to educate our way to a better economy. our young people are the secret of that success. most of you know that we launched this campaign two years ago with president obama and secretary duncan. and since this campaign began, we have made real and sustainable progress. you'll be hearing more from that today from bob ball fanz and john bridgeland who will talk about the building of grad nation report that we are releasing today. you'll also hear what's working. it seems to me that these days we don't often hear about what's working. but we also know we have to do more. and we must do it faster if we are to reach our goal of a 90% national graduation rate by 2020 with no school below 80%. and we must especially remember that these figures are not mere

statistics. they represent our children. our children. who want nothing more to claim than -- claim for themselves the promise of america. the opportunity to live independent, secure and happy lives. when we talk about graduation rates and readiness for college and work, that's what's at stake. our children. and their future. so let us resolve these days while we are here and carry it forth with us that we will rededicate ourselves, not just for the next two days, but in the days to come. that we will not stop until we have kept the promise that others work to keep for us. that we will bring others to this work and bring our communities together to build a grad nation so that we can remain a great nation and hold our place in the world.

and now it is my privilege to introduce to you somebody who i can truly say i've known him all his life. please welcome the co chair of the grad nation campaign, michael powell. >> good morning. you know, we know a lot about what it takes to successfully raise a child. but i don't think there's any greater blessing or advantage than to have a committed and caring mother. and mine happens to be spectacular. you know, by the time i finish my remarks, seven more kids will have dropped out of high school. by the time you finish your work two days from now, another 6,646 will be gone.

that's crisis. that's a ticking time bomb. that is a sure way to erode the foundation of any hope of the american dream. we're here to change that. and to change that with some urgency. we launched the grad nation campaign to mobilize america to end this dropout crisis. now, this campaign has become a large and growing movement of dedicated individuals, organizations and communities. working together toward this goal. we are grateful you are here this week, as leaders of the movement. this includes so many of you from grad nation communities. those communities on the front lines of helping young people succeed in school, work and life. all communities can join in this america's promise alliance initiative and become grad nation communities. by working across sectors to pursue the grad nation goals and

sharing best practices. to date, nearly 40 communities have joined the grad nation community network. from large, urban centers, such as houston, texas to small, rural communities such as kenston, north carolina. whether you've been a part of the grad nation campaign for a while now, to the movement, we think you'll be able to learn a lot over the next several days. and we hope you can learn and share your experiences much as you can while you're here so you can be more involved and most importantly, inspire others to join us when you return home. you'll learn from all different sectors about what's working, from communities, government, business, nonprofits, and young people themselves. we hope you'll be really attuned to these success stories, because many of them can be replicated in your own community. we also hope you'll be attuned to the new ways you can work with others in your community.

one thing we have learned, cross sector collaboration is critical if communities are going to succeed in raising graduation ratean people for success in college and in careers. we can't do it in silos. everyone can help end the community dropout crisis. parents, youth, business, leaders, policymakers and united together. we can ensure all of our young people can live up to their full potential and truly realize the american dream. thank you. our first speaker, randall stevenson, is a long-time friend and supporter of america's promise alliance. as chairman of at&t, the world's largest telecom company, he helped spearhead the mobile

internet revolution. and he is passionate about education. under his leadership, at&t launched aspire in 2008. its $100 million commitment to high school success and work force readiness. now, we're all familiar with the statistics surrounding the dropout crisis. but it's good to be reminded about the young people behind those numbers. so before i invite him to the stage, i want to show you a short video about the way aspire is changing lives. ♪ >> half the people i grew up with aren't even in high school,

or are dead. >> when people say, you went to blue, i'm sorry that people hear that name. they automatically think of death row and you're going to die. >> my mom is currently incarcerated. so that has been hard. >> i mean, you try, but it's hard to try to be a positive role model. because it's so negative. >> i refuse to be a statistic, another african-american female either pregnant, on welfare. no. >> jack is jobs for americans and graduates. it's a program that prepares you for once you graduate and the career where things are pretty different once you leave school. so it helps you to be prepared. how to act. what to do, what not to do. >> it's like a skills development class.

it helps you for the work force. and also as a person to get mentally ready, mentally prepared. >> how to work with people. how to cooperate with others. how to be a team and how to be a leader. >> the class is very diverse. it prepares you if you wanted to just go -- you know, look for a job after high school. if you wanted to go to college, it supported you going to college. and it has alternatives if you wanted to go into a trade or different work fields. >> work experience, i made a resume, how to do stuff. it wasn't just straightforward education. it was fun education. >> it's good to have people who tell you that i believe you. and i think you can do it. i also like to sing. musical theater is my dream. >> i want to be a journalist. >> and that's all i want. i want somebody to be at my graduation clapping.

because once you prove them wrong, or prove that, there is nothing they can have over your head. >> honestly, i already said once i walk across the stage, i'm going to bust out in tears. >> i did it. it's now your turn to do it. >> powerful statements. please join me in welcoming my friend and the friend of america's promise alliance, randall stevenson. >> good morning. it's good to be here. it's actually an honor to be here. and i just want to start by saying thanks to alma and michael for all that you guys are doing. they're an inspiration to those of us who are involved in this cause, and it's just terrific being with them. i also want to recognize ken smith, who is the president for

jobs for america's graduation. or graduates. and ken, it was good seeing you. you know, america's promise and j.a.g. do some incredible work. and i will tell you, it's an organization -- a couple organizations we love standing beside and being involved in this cause. and the young people that you saw in this video, and there are a lot of them like that. but they're here today. and it's great having the kids from ballou high school here with us this morning. i had a chance to spend -- yeah. in fact, why don't you stand up, kids? where are you? they're here at one of the tables. stand up. please, stand up. i had an opportunity this morning to meet with all of these kids. you notice some of those faces are the same faces you saw on the screen up here. and i have got to tell you, you walk away excited. you have a little bit of an

adrenaline rush. and that's what i'm talking about, right? that's what this is all about, and that's what we're trying to accomplish. so congratulations to you guys, and after meeting with you, i have no doubt you guys are going to be successful in whatever avenue you pursue. you know, what's being achieved at ballou says a lot. it says a lot, first of all, about these kids. the character that they have and the drive that they have. i think it says just as much about the teachers at ballou, and it screams a lot about the administrators at ballou, that they're driving these kind of programs inside their school. and over the past couple of years, almost 100% of j.a.g. students at ballou have graduated. did you hear that? it's an incredible achievement and an area we're really proud of at&t to be part. i get asked a lot, why is a company like yours involved in programs like this one? and to me, it's really simple. it's because if the united

states is going to win in the future, and alma said this, it's going to be by education. you know, our economy gets more and more global. and skilled labor pools, whether they like it or not, are becoming fungible. which means that economic opportunity is flowing to those markets that have the best prepared talent. an educated, highly skilled work force, historically, has been america's greatest competitive advantage when you look around the globe. and as we move into the future, that competitive advantage is going to be even more important. and i -- i'm pleased we're making progress, and it's thanks to programs like jobs for america's graduates, america's promise, there are a lot of other programs making a difference. but there are still more we have to do. if we don't, we're going to have more young people entering adulthood without the skills they need to succeed. we're going to have american businesses struggling to fill good jobs here in the united states. and once that happens, then the economic center of gravity will

shift to where those labor pools reside. so i believe it's in corporate america's best interest, i obviously believe it's in our nation's interest to step up our investment in high school graduation. and so in 2008, you heard al huh talk about it. but we launched a program called at&t aspire with this purpose behind it. many of you are familiar with it. it was concentrated on high school graduation and work force readiness. and as you heard, we committed $100 million over a four-year time period. and i'm pleased to say, we exceeded that target. of and to support the effort, our employees took on ambitious job shadow effort. the objective was to touch 100,000 kids with job shadowing programs. and earlier this month, we exceeded that objective, as well. so today we're announcing we're launching a new and expanded campaign. it's called at&t aspire 2. we have taken the original $100 million effort and we are more than doubling it.

we're making a $250 million financial commitment over a five-year period of time. and i'm really pleased to tell you, the first $1 million of that is going to america's promise and their work with grad nation. we like to invest in proven success, and this is an area that's having proven success. our employees have also asked to do more as we move forward as well. so as part of our new commitment later this year, we're going to launch an aspire mentoring academy. the objective here is to take our job shadowing effort to the next level, as well. one of the most important things we want to accomplish as we move into aspire 2 is to tap into our nation's most advanced technology and marry it with the educational needs to help students connect through social media, as well as web-based content. there's a great example of this. many of you are familiar with this organization called game

desk. and they're doing some very impressive work in game-based and digital they're doing some very impressive work in fwgame-based and digital learning technologies. we're looking forward to working with them. last i tell you when i look across this room, what's really impressive is the fact that everybody in here is focused on the exact same thing. that's making dramatic improvement in america's high school graduation rates. i know you agree with me, this is a race we don't have a choice, we have to win this race. and my hope is that our initiative will be a catalyst to support your work. the u.s. is home to the world's most vibrant and innovative companies in the world, bar none. in addition to our efforts there are a lot of companies with a broad range of industries that have gotten into these education initiatives, and i applaud their efforts. i encourage everybody to get involved in this. this is a race we absolutely have to win. all of these actions, the sum of them add up and they all do could want. i want to thank you again for the opportunity. it is an honor to be here with

you and to share this morning with you and to be part of this summit with so many great leaders in this particular field. i thank you for everything you're doing for america's students. i'll say it again. this matters. it's an honor being here and i hope you have a great summit. thank i now have the very distinct pleasure of introducing someone who certainly knows how to tackle challenges in a united way. brian gallagher is the ceo of the united way. one of the long standing and trusted leaders. we are privileged to have him as co-chair of the america alliance board of trustees. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome brian gallagher.

zblood morning. thanks, michael. thanks even more for your leadership. alma, your unbelievable leadership of this organization. it's a privilege to be a part of it. and thanks to all the alliance partners. this work doesn't happen without your work. thanks to all the summit conveners, the sponsors, all the participants. this is a really important two days, i think. my sense is that we're beginning to get some momentum, that we're beginning to make some progress. but the question now is, are we doing enough to continue that momentum? you know, our experience, my own experience is that as michael and alma both said, as randall just said, the only way that we're going to accelerate and scale our work is to do it together. you know, you've heard a lot about this idea, this framework of collective impact.

i think as alliance partners, i would challenge us to focus on five things. first, that we have a common agenda. we all have institutional agendas, but when it comes to academic achievement and helping young people succeed we need one agen agenda. we need common metrics. if we're not measuring the same things, we don't have the same language, we won't be focused and hold each other accountable. we need to coordinate our individual expertise. we all have diverse assets. we all have individual assets, but we've got to make sure that we understand that we're interdependent as well. we've got to communicate constantly. you know, the world is filled with millions and millions of messages. one of the things i think america's promise has done really, really well is to raise the conversation around high school graduation and the five promises themselves. then finally, we need to make sure that we put infrastructure behind collaboration. too often we're in, you know, meetings with individual

institutions. we set a common agenda. then we go back and run our own institutions. we need backbone organizations that are willing to put infrastructure into these collaborations. in my view, what we've got in front of us is a high-low strategy. we will continue at the board of trustees and the trustee group generally work on national partnerships, strategy, resources. try to provide political air cover. but our success will be defined by what happens on the ground. in local communities and in states across the country. you're going to hear over the next couple of days large institutional commitments. let me just say from united way's perspective, we've started and have been making some of those commitments. we've set a national goal to cut the high school dropout rate in half by 2018. obviously in partnership. we made a commitment last year to recruit 1 million reader, constitu tutors andenucation. in less than a year's time we've

had 400,000 commitments of people willing to get back involved in education. i would say with all humility, we're trying to teach ourselves how to be a backbone organization. we understand that we're present in all communities across the country. it's not just about raising money and funding great programs. but will we put the commitment into making sure that there's infrastructure to support these collaborations. we've made a commitment to the white house council on community solutions to have community conversations in over 40 cities across the country focused on how do we make sure that the 6.7 million young people 16 to 24 years old who aren't in school or do not have a job have a strategy to make sure that they're served. these are forgotten kids because they're not in our systems any longer. finally this morning it's really my honor to be able to say that we've made a commitment to america's promise alliance and to all the partnerships to identify the middle school feeder schools that feed into the lowest performing high schools across the country.

one of the things that i didn't realize is that we don't have national data on who those -- on what those middle schools are and who they are. we're obviously in 1,200 communities across the country. it's a conversation or it's a phone call for a local united way to find out who those middle schools are, put it down on paper and make sure that we're working with those middle schools across the country. and then, finally, we've turned our own national conference into truly a community conference. i'm done with the days that we get together as united way volunteers and professionals and talk to ourselves. you can learn so much -- [ applause ] -- but you learn by being together from different institutions, different backgrounds, different assets. so at our community leaders conference in nashville this year, may 2nd through the 4th, we've invited all of our community partners including the trustees, the trustee group at america's promise as well as america's promise the institution to make sure we're learning from each other. finally, let me just say, as jim collins would say, i think the fly wheel is starting to turn.

but what's in front of us now is can we get self-sustaining momentum so education and academic achievement and high school graduation and career readiness become as important as any other issue in this presidential election or the ones coming in front of us. [ applause ] thank you for being here. thanks for your leadership. thanks for your commitment. have a great two days. >> please welcome john bridgeland. >> good morning. how lucky the nation is to have brian gallagher leading the united way. yes. not only their wonderful

commitments in the past, but their new commitment to identify the feeder elementary and middle schools to the lowest performing high schools. also how lucky it is for the country to have leadership from general, mrs. and michael powell. what a powerful father/mother/son combination. but let me also say what a gift it's been to the nation to have marguerite kondracki at the helm of america's promise alliance. i'd love her to stand and be acknowledged by everybody. [ applause ] and she's not going anywhere. also what a gift it will be to have john gomperts. i'd love him to stand as well so everybody knows who he is. [ applause ] and to randall stephenson of at&t for their extraordinary work on so many fronts to help boost high school graduation

rates, support annual updates to the nation and make education a stronger data driven enterprise through the aspire 1 and now 2 programs. this morning we had the pleasure to release the 2012 update to the nation on our progress and challenge in ending the high school dropout epidemic. after years of bloomy news on the dropout challenge we released two reports over the last 18 months that showed over the last decade increases in high school graduation rates across dozens of states. reductions in the number of dropout factory high schools and the students attending them. and deeper evidence that states and school districts are boosting high school graduation rates and preparing students for college and the workforce by rising to a standard of excellence. serving as a challenge that if they can do it, others can, too. so today bob balfanz and i with our colleagues at america's promise alliance and the alliance for excellent education