i used to go to downtown high school. i graduated from there and i was a debater for that school. now i am a program assistant and i teach debate. the student who was up here was my student. there was another gentleman with a hooded sweatshirt that spoke clearly and concisely about his needs in the community. those are two prime examples of young males who come from different backgrounds who have struggled in their education and came up here and spoke beautifully. with the help of debate and activity, they came up here and did just that. that was the skill set that was given to students in the community. that is a possible interaction they could have for themselves and be accountable for. do all students have that opportunity to get this type of extracurricular activity in training? they do not. what do some students resort to if they're not taught the skills? vulnerability. they are vulnerable. they're in a place in time within themselves were they do not know what to do or how to react. what is that they do? two things. they communicate or they fight. nine times that of 10, that

someone drops out of high school every 26 seconds. a high-school graduate, i want the u.s. mission to pay attention, lives nine years longer than a drop out. they make 50% more money than a drop out. we want you to live longer and be more successful. but the downside is that 94% of the homicide victims under the age of 25 are dropouts and the suspects are just about as high. 75% of the crime committed -- i am sorry. nearly 75% of the jail population are high-school dropouts and almost 80% of the crime in this country is committed by high school dropouts. for people that say we are suggesting that kids with challenges cannot graduate from college, that is not true. i am one of them. i had both parents at home. i went to city college. but miami had my high school diploma when i became a police officer. we did fine. later, i had to go to college because i wanted to be chief of police. it is important to graduate from college. another important statistic is that every person that goes to college had to graduate from high school. you just have to graduate high school and you can

we have had mediations between teachers and students at lincoln high school. for me peer resources represents exactly the type of program that our students need to feel that they have a voice that is heard in school and respected and have a positive influence in their school community. >> i'm a senior at lincoln and conflict manager. last week there was a fight on campus between two boys that i had got between to i had broke it up like probably a couple months ago, i probably wouldn't have done that. i would have been watching or one of the people in the fight. [laughter] >> peer resources had helped me grow like, because before, i don't know like -- i had problems and i used to feel and used to be in a program that i used to be in trouble and get mad and morgan would say you can't be doing that if you are in the peer resources program and i would say take me out. take me out. but they kept me in the program and bagely worked with me and helped me become a better person and a role model. >> i was ditching class and didn't want to be in spanish and involved in s

you look at all the kids who are playing high school ball right now or playing high school football. 1.1 million kids. last year, what, 254 people were drafted into the nfl. is it worth the risk? is it worth the risk? is head injury risk, all the different risks out on the field for just a slim shot to be someone like you? >> when you look at the draft and all the players, where they come from and where they're ultimately going, you can't look at the 1.1 million and think every one of those players wants to make the nfl. i think a lot of those players are just enjoying their experience, playing with their friends because i know my experience, i loved playing high school football and two of my closest friends today are still my players that i played high school with. some of them had no aspiration of becoming nfl players. >> the san ra bullock character is interesting because that's about parents and coaches and the breaks on the raw aggression are the adults who are around the kids. in the case of the nfl bounty situation, the gas on the car was actually the people in charge. so this

fort lee high school traditionally has been a very good school ranking in the top 100 of new jersey high schools, but a couple years ago it slipped a bit and was labeled by the state a school that needs improvement. improve it did. last year, just one year after getting the needs improvement tag, fort lee graduated 98% of its students. with 94% of them going on to college. later you will meet some of the administrators and teachers who are using new methods and new philosophy to re-energize the students. they're proud around here this week, we should point out, because fort lee high school products, the brothers ralph and glen zipper. ralph seen here in the upper left won oscars sunday for best featured length documentary for their film "undefeated" the story of a high school football team in memphis. a proud day for fort lee. don't forget this morning to shoot me an e-mail at way too early at msnbc, or tweet me @willie geist 1. let me know what you're doing up. we will read the best responses later in the show. first let's get to the news. live at 5:30 a.m. at fort lee high school in fo

i'm talking about extraordinary principals like roy sandoval who works at a high school on an indian reservation. every morning he gets up really terl and drives two and a half hours to his school. the second thing that turn around schools have in common is they have teachers and adult who is share relentless focus on improving instruction both through collaboration and through the use of data. all four of the modilies give professionals in the school the resources they need to be ambitious teachers. they increased learning time, will youing more improved teacher valuation system. but the road to success is not the program itself. it's the focus, it's the passion, it's the commitment of practitioners that drive success. contrary to a lot of the predictions that were made about sig, the program has helped to spur innovation in the field. >> st. paul, minnesota has implied a peer-to-fear observe system. in ontario high school in oregon, teachers are making better and smatter use of kek ji to improve instruction in real time. in las vegas, cynthia marleau u used sig funds to institute a

i could not have done this in high school. you're way ahead of me. you've been at this school for four years. you're a senior now. i would love to hear about what the school is like in the first couple years before the turn around and what the environment and culture is like now. >> well, the first couple of years, me there, so young. when i came, i was 14 years old. everybody else was older. a lot of stuff was new to me. >> a couple of dudes, that's okay. >> yeah, you know, like i wasn't really used to they were smoking and gambling and things like that. >> in the school. >> in the school. i tried my best to stay away from it. so, you know, but it was all around. so it was kind of hard. but the couple of years after that though when the new staff came, wasn't really none of that. everything was shut down. >> students are taking education more seriously now. >> yes, sir. >> what changed their behavior? >> i think the teachers because my first couple of years it was like most of the teachers really didn't care. we would do the work and even if it was w

we have troubling evidence minorities have less access to rigorous high school classes. for example, only 29% of a high minority high schools offer calculus. 55% of schools with the lowest black and hispanic enrollment. even in schools offering calculus hispanics make up 20% of those schools' student body, just 10% of the students actually enrolled if in calculus. that underrepresentation has to end. overall while blacks and hispanics make up 44% of the students in this survey they make up only 26% of students in gifted and talented programs. something's wrong with that picture as well. many states are already taking steps to try and address these opportunity deficits. several of the top states received grants in part because of their real commitment to increasing subject offerings in their schools. they're partnering with universities and training high school teachers in advance placement courses. so those schools can give their students more rigorous and challenging classes to set them on a path for college and even give them a leg up. once they get to college ideally w

but i just got into one of the best high schools in the city. s my true story of the people who helped me get there. ♪ >> i want you to achieve academically. i want you to do well in school and i want you to graduate from high school. first things first. let's do that. >> because it is important for a young man to be educated, to be able to take care of his family. and i see that the young men of today, they're not educated. especially black young men. ♪ >> united way of broward county and big brothers, big sisters have had an incredible working relationship for a long period of time. a trusting relationship for a long period of time. >> we as community partners also understand the real importance of mentoring in general. we're measuring how the children do obviously in school. that they are maintaining their grades and their behavior. it's all about building strong kids who can make great decisions. >> i know that when we have a representative from the big brothers big sisters come, they're constantly checking report cards. we all have to kind o

i could to -- high school. i am a part of the partnership also. i think it would be very good if the police did get a bond with young people, because it would make everything better. the kids would not be, i hate the police, ron. everybody would be happier, and san francisco would be a better place for young people. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you. >> hello, my name is danny. the positive relationships could limit the racial tensions, because since a majority of the young feel they are targeted for particular reasons, such as racial backgrounds or physical appearances, so we can engage in the communities together, especially with some of the safety issues in the community, or even have simple conversations, perhaps just say hi when you see us on the street. we need to build a successful alliance between us and the police by recognizing each other and working side by side. both will acknowledge each other as allies rather than enemies. i feel that this could prevent violence if we were together and treat each other with the same respect. t

weather is a school grade or data report or a high school graduation rate. we want to make sure the entire school community has information available to -- >> gates gives information to microsoft including managers of the people being evaluated. in our case it is the principal and parents who need the information. we are not doing anything differently than what does. [talking over each other] >> someone out of the business world understand how these things work. you have been facing a lot of challenges in your short tenure as you take over this complex school system. you went to the puppet of major church just last weekend and explain how passionately you feel about the reforms going to chicago. you are facing opposition from the teachers' union. from rainbow push coalition. >> we spent quite a bit of time talking about what we accomplish in chicago. going back to the data and talk about what has been happening we have increasing achievement gap between black and white students and 57%, we have got the average graduate, 21 is college readiness so a call to ac

someone drops out of high school every 26 seconds. a high-school graduate, i want the u.s. mission to pay attention, lives nine years longer than a drop out. they make 50% more money than a drop out. we want you to live longer and be more successful. but the downside is that 94% of the homicide victims under the age of 25 are dropouts and the suspects are just about as

i am a freshman at the high school as well as a youth leader. with the yellow school buses drastically cut, many will have to rely on muni for transportation. afterschool they walk to chinatown. this is a really long distance, trust me. that's because it's unaffor dable. when i mean youth, i mean all of them. none of us should feel that muni is a low-income form of transport. >> michele, deron davis. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. i am in my junior year in high school. i am here to support free muni for youth. my mom is a single mom. she has two jobs to support my brother and myself. she couldn't afford it. i was thinking of good way to help my mom. also, to make it family- friendly. thank you for your time. >> my name is sandy. i am here from abraham lincoln high school. i am here for the leadership empowerment program. i am here to support free muni for all youth. transportation is extremely important. without it we would not be able to get to school and received our education. support free muni for all youth. every youth deserves an opp

reductions in the number of dropout factory high schools and the students attending them. d 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

is committed by high school dropouts. for people that say we are suggesting that kids with challenges cannot graduate from college, that is not true. i am one of them. i had both parents at home. i went to city college. but miami had my high school diploma when i became a police officer. we did fine. later, i had to go to college because i wanted to be chief of police. it is important to graduate from college. another important statistic is that every person that goes to college had to graduate from high school. you just have to graduate high school and you can do well but you can do better if you go to college. that is the message for that. we are going to the schools. potoo whatever high school -- leave that there. we have already been to washington high school. the principal spoke today. balboa, carmichael middle school. we go to thurgood marshall next week. you would think we were a road show if. we are booked into may. if anybody is watching on television, if you want us to come out and talk, we will talk to anybody

high schools and feeder middles. you need to enhance student supports in those schools. right? because those kids need a good lesson every day and something else. we have to bring in that something else in order to enhance student support which is going to really involve bringing in often external nonprofit partners, many of which you're going to hear today, many of which have stepped up as brian said using common metrics. it really moved up their game. using evidence based procedures we need to bring those adults into schools and use an early warning system so we target those adults and the school on the kids most at need as soon as they're starting to show any sign of trouble. that's what you should be looking for as states are moving to use their dollars and address this problem. are they enhancing student support? are they using early warning systems? are they creating funding streams to pay for it while holding them accountable? the other thing to watch out for is that as they build these state performance indexes, which in many ways are going to be very exciting, that the

i would like to have a peer resource program in every high school and middle schools. but it's the strategies we use and the issue about students being such an enormous resource that we should be talking more about. and even though i have been kind of critical for the we just fund it with p-15 and we have cut back and schools have cut back. but you know, i have been thinking about it, that it's still an isolated program, not integrated enough and that is what i would hope we would talk about. i would like to see more of these kinds of efforts going on in more schools. but i think we need to talk about not just like we need a peer resource program and it might look like that in the end and don't talk about that or say what are the effective strategies that we have seen, how can we integrate them into our programs? what's the purpose? what's the effectiveness? i hope as we continue to do our re-examination of our planning processes, what our district plan looks like, what our goalsr that we would talk more about this. and i would like us to stop thinking about peer as a

i am honored to be the principle of abraham lincoln high school animals a graduate of public schools. my whole life. i am here to express gratitude to the police department in the neighborhood, who despite budget cuts have continued to find a school car that serves the west side schools. two of the officers are here this evening. the officers are immediately available to the school, to school officials, through their personal cell phones. in fact, i have all three of them on the speed dial in my phone right now. most often, when we call the school car for a situation on campus, the officers have been sensitive to the needs of students and their families and have been more than willing to mentor and resolve conflicts among students. most often, the officers being involved results and no police action or not having to take police action. in fact, one officer was there about three hours this week working with conflicts. when we request the officers to be at our school events, they almost always find up to supervise those events. for example, dances and sporting events. one officer here,

it helps students with the high school enrollment process. where the schools have interest programs for them. this is a gaps funded and pearson curriculum looked at as a model for the state of california and also is being pushed into the 10th grade. we're excited about that. it is a first step for all students. we want to at your request dive more into specifically the information and technology academies. we have not looked at the information and communication technology. we recently changed the time -- the title based on industry lingo as well as what our partners are using. we started using that technology. the five ict's across the district collectively have 700 students enrolled and the typical jobs would be after some post-secondary education. would site developer, game developer, each one of those is a slightly different focus and they work with board members to ensure those are worthwhile to be working on with students. they work with an advisory board that has 18 business members from city colleges as well as other higher education in

so, if the high school completion rate is better, it's not just those individuals who benefit. that community as a whole benefits. there will be more job location here. more jobs for everyone. so we need to make very clear that when we're funding and we're inspiring people at higher aspirations, higher achievement, higher academic progress, it is not just about those individuals. it is about our economy as a whole. my second point though is really one that i think all of you feel deeply, which is that even if that was not the case, my guess is everybody was here today would still be here today. because we are fundamentally aa people who believe fundamentally that the accident of your birth should not be overly determ native ofoutcome of your life. we would not tolerate a law that says if you are born in a poor area to a single parent, only 7 out of 100 can go to college. we would not tolerate a law like that. we would think that law is cruel. but how much better are we if we sit by and do nothing when that reality -- when that is the reality we live in? we have an obligation, e

activities, after school programs that are most effective and also, for us trying to engage the high schools, what would you advise for us on how to get really involved? because it seemed like you guys were reaching out as school was to them, this is us reaching out on the other side. >> so i'm thinking that one's to me? >> yeah. >> yeah? so i would offer one of our non-profit partners self-enhancement inc .is here at the conference and will be presenting this afternoon on scaling up. sei has been a long-standing partner in our community who starts working with young people and their families in second grade. it's all about keeping kids in school, it's all about the relationships they build with those students and they have a 9-four year cohort graduation rate after the young people that they have supported. so they are, is, yeah. they'll be part of a presentation here at this. i would say of a session that would be worthwhile to go to. the partnering they're doing with us right now is a whole school model at one of our high schools, jefferson high school that is partnering with our communit

i am here from abraham lincoln high school. i am here for the leadership empowerment program. i am here to support free muni for all youth. transportation is extremely important. without it we would not be able to get to school and received our education. support free muni for all youth. every youth deserves an opportunity to learn. thank you. >> d michelle greater than deron, juan. >> my name is michelle. i am a senior at galileo academy. >> i am a junior from abraham lincoln high school. i am a leader for youth for a single world leadership empowerment program. >> my family has never been able to drive. i have never woken up and said i am excited to take this bus. i met my friends across the country. they have a new york metro card. they were so excited to go back home and take the bus. i have never had that experience. all youth can take the bus. and be more excited about it. that can have the experience and have more access to take public transportation. we have identified the funding. i feel if muni was more efficient and move money around to not have so many overtimes, we

we also have troubling evidence that minorities have less access to rigorous high school classes. for example, only 29% of high minority high schools offer calculus, 29%. compared to 59% of schools with the lowest black and hispanic enrollment. hispanics make -- that under representation has to end. overall, while black and hispanics make up 44% of this survey, they make up only 26% of students in gifted and talented programs. many states are already taking steps to try and address these opportunity deficits. several of the race to the top states received grants in part because of real commitment to increasing subject offerings in their schools. they're partnering with -- those schools can give their students more rigorous and challenging classes that set them on a path to college and give them a leg up once they get to college. but all school, all districts and states need to do more to create access to rigorous classes to their minority students. third is discipline. and perhaps the most alamping findings involve the topic of discipline. minority students across america face much

school. so next year we need 50 new principals of high quality. we will do a bonus system are a signing bonus for the best people coming out of our school system you're ready to be principals and ready to take over the system and be accountable. and that to me is using the bonus system as a merit pay system for our principals and and i fully support what's going on. >> we have the same thing. we pay bonuses to principals to go into tough neighborhoods and take over the schools and to really make a difference. but what people don't understand is in government management is a bad word. every time there's a budget crisis there's always a demand, cut that managed, you're too many managers and you're overpaying your managers. when times get tough and you have to do more with less, you need better managers. you need better paid managers. i know it doesn't sound good to people who are being to manage, no, i do want to lose my job, and everybody does worry about their own jobs and where you stand depends on where you said, but nevertheless you need better