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 working with many of you are happy to report even more accelerated progress in the last couple of years than we've seen on an annual basis over the last decade. and to share examples of states and school districts continuing to make significant gains and the feature, as brian mentioned, leading organizations aligning their work with a civic marshall plan of action. a plan ignited by a pearson foundation, which is also a supporter of this summit and this year's report. we also show the daunting work ahead to reach national goals and pledge to provide an annual update every year through the class of 2020. i also want to take a

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

but i just got into one of the best high schools in the city. is is 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 ki

we had that curriculum designed to help students in their selection of high-school. as you saw with our programs, the programs are dispersed throughout the district. however, they are not in every school. we try to make students aware of what programs are available and where they are available, so when they are making their selection they can end up in a school where they have that opportunity if they are interested in engineering or architecture. again, in the ninth grade, we have a sign ahead curriculum which really helps students plan out a six-year plan, making sure they meet requirements, making sure they are able to purchase debate in their elective courses, and they are then able to have contracts with professionals in the industries they are interested in. the 10th grade starts when a few of our academies start as well. that is when we have this first year where they are taking the elective class, at intro to engineering, intro to architecture. carpentry programs, intro to carpentry. so, these three years, it is really an awareness, and exploration, and in 12t

but i'm a junior at balboa high school. at our school we've noticed that ever since the establishment of the advisory board, the scores have risen. we contributed to because of peer to peer networking and we have a stronger infrastructure in terms of health education. i am appreciative that you are approving of this policy so that more students can further improve in their education and become healthy high school student. >> i am a senior at balboa high school and a member of the student advisory council. in the beginning, health education in high school seemed like it was repeating information i have learned from previous glasses. i did not think of eight -- i did not link it was important felt i was actually in the class during the second semester of my freshman year. this class taught me about the topics that are not openly talked about. we learned about the responsibility that came with having sex, the consequences of drug use, and all of the other advice about being healthy. entering high school, students do not have th

we give students the opportunity to give their high-school diploma. if we don't take advantage of the opportunities like the bay area urban debate, it is just one or two students or for students that might have found another opportunity to come to school. getting kids in class, in school, excited about academics and learning, getting their confidence up. hopefully, we can continue to spread this out during the day and not just after school. it will be a great opportunity and we hope that you guys support us. >> good evening, everyone, how are you? i am a student mentor at a downtown high school as well as a former head of a person. they came to my life when i was in high school, so i of that activity a lot because it gave me strength and courage, and great speaking skills in order to navigate the many environmental that are due. i would like to touch upon the fact that when students encountered the bay, they encounter something different, it allows them to go outside of the box and examine what is going on in society. and all the other coaches, you kno

a high-school diploma is no longer enough. it is very important that you get your degree or you get your certificates. it is absolutely necessary in today's economy, and especially in san francisco. by the time you leave college, and around the age of 22, it is projected that 63% of the jobs will require a college degree. that means a majority of you need a degree, especially to stay in this wonderful city of san francisco. you need a college degree or a certificate. that is why i decided to get my college degree. it was not only getting my ticket out of cleaning toilets, but it was my ticket out of poverty. my mom could not help me to tell me how to get to college. that is what today is about. we are here to support you, help you understand how to best transition out of high school into college successfully. we need to to take advantage of this day. visit their resources affair. we have workshops happening all day long. all designed to kill to get motivated about attending college -- all designed to help you get motivated abo

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

others think there's more to high school than classes and tests. there's socializing and friendships. the school board and fairfax county is seriously considering establishing a virtual high school. >> in fairfax county, virginia, with the 11th largest school system in the u.s., some students are already taking some courses online. high school freshman, mitchell chen plans on doing that next year. >> i have figure skating, so i would like more time to do it myself. so i was thinking about taking online courses next year to have more time for skating. >> school officials are considering expanding online learning to include the creation of a full-time virtual high school. >> it's self-initiated learning. you get your assignments. you are interacting with teachers online with questions and answers, but in the end, you know, the burden is on you to do the assignments, get the homework in on time. >> virtual high schools already exist. >> so, our answer then is the t intersect b. >> is this a math course developed by a hernden based company. their high s

these are students who did not get credit for algebra in high school -- in middle school. and they moved object to high school to take algebra in their ninth grade year. of those 2,000 students, 411 of them had an f. 8% of those were chinese. 39% of those f's were african-american. 30% were latino. 26% english language learners. and 28% special education. so it is really -- this is the reason why the funding that we received from the city last year that we focused on these areas for students that had just completed their first semester of ninth grade. it was very clear to us that we needed to address that. so the pattern that you will see the presentation today is that we will take a look at what the problem is, how we address the problem last summer, and then what were the results from that action that we took. >> mr. sanderson, before you continue, i think that supervisor kim had a question for you. >> actually, i just had a quick clarifying question. so when you say 8% of chinese students, i mean, 8%, 39% of african-american, you mean 8% of the entire chinese american s

we have one junior high school, one middle school, it's combined with a high school and my daughter who's failing would be doing a lot better if she had better support, more unity, better conduct at the school. so long story short, i just think it would be an asset to our community. we need this. they build stores everywhere. we need more schools. we need to have a choice. i have no choice to where my daughter go to unless i bus her out completely across town besides i.s.a. so i would really like to see, i don't know if it's monetary, but i would like to see the school upgrade itself, upgrade itself. we need the space, we need the classrooms, we need the teachers. i can't stress to you how much it would be an asset to our community. thank you. >> you're about halfway through the 15 minutes. >> [speaking spanish] >> good evening, i am the mother of marcella at daniel webster in the third grade. i'm here because i'm concerned about the plan of the district of daniel webster to go up to the high school grade. i am very happy to know that when she's in the fifth grade that she's going to go t

oregon, will talk in a moment about how the sig program has worked in her district at roosevelt high school. two years ago roosevelt was named one of the worst schools in the state. but in its first year in the sig program, roosevelt has had a 14% jump in its four-year graduation rate. attendance is up. test scores are up. and discipline issues are down. but just as telling, just as important, roosevelt's educators have fostered a new belief among students about what's possible for them. the arts, for example, are thriving, and so is the school's drama program. last summer the students performed a play at the international thesbian festival in nebraska. a first for a public school from portland. and to make sure they could all make the trip, the drama director took out a second mortgage on her home. that's remarkable, remarkable commitment, but we have to give her some help and i'm going to figure out how to do that. in cities like st. louis and portland, maine, local unions are looking to improve and strength school turnaround efforts. they're looking for new professional development for s

and you should also note that a big effort this year at the high schools has been to ensure that students who have taken algebra in the middle school have access to geometry, to high school. so they have a head start into actually starting getting into higher level math classes. so if you look at the breakdown of the subgroups, how many students are actually placed into these classes, so, for example, the chinese students, 40% of the total number of students who are enrolled in english are chinese. 8% are african-american. these are ninth graders. just ninth graders. we're only looking at the ninth grade data. so as you will look at all across the subject matters, you will see the percentage and the breakdown of those students. ok. so now we get into some hard data about -- that focuses on the total number of apps of the ninth graders broken by subgroups and the number of students who receive those grades. if you looked at the previous slide, this is actually a slight improvement from the number of f's. so, for example, the african-american students, last year, 29% of african-americans re

melanie alnwick is live at marshall high school in falls church with the details. >> reporter: most fairfax county schools begin at 7:20 in the morning with bus pick high pressure ups starting before 6:00 in the morning in some cases. it has been about 10 years now that this group of parents and students have been trying to get this pushed back a little bit. it does appear the school board is at least willing to listen as they heard from parents, students and educators and from health professionals and then they voted 10-2 to begin looking at what it would take to push the high school start times back so they would start after 8:00 in the morning. they told board members that the current schedule makes it impossible for students to get the sleep they need. >> adolescents have brain chemistry that doesn't let them go to sleep until after 11:00 or so at night. so in order to get the full amount of sleep that they need, they have to be able to sleep later on in the morning. >> reporter: board members did reject a similar proposal in 2009. they said that rearranging schedules and adding bus was

when you look up a high schools that are completely open, it does about six high schools, so what we are in discussion about this may be having 500 feet for middle schools and high schools except for those five or six and a larger distance for the five or six, and the current discussion is happening, and i am hoping within the next week or so we will have a consensus or something approaching a consensus that we can move forward together. with respect to the other legislation and the amendments to the planning code, if you are now no hospital campus or a school in -- a high school campus of happens to be non- commercial, even though you have portions that are not near any residences or commercial districts, you are not allowed to " of food trucks -- to put a food truck on your campus because you are not now commercial. this would correct that and allow medical and college campuses to give notice to neighbors if they choose to put a food truck on their campus. this is fairly common sense, and we are seeing they are talking about how they cannot afford to have a comprehensive set cafete

. >>> later, how do you throw a high school prom after a tornado has taken the high school away? tonight chelsea clinton visits joplin, missouri, the teacher, the town that's "making a difference." >>> as we mentioned, there's trouble tonight for a legendary brand name, one of the nation's biggest business empires. walmart which operates in 27 nations around the world, is accused of using bribery to help expand its business in mexico and then covering it up. the u.s. justice department is investigating this, and congress is now taking notice. the implications could be enormous. our report tonight from nbc's john yang. >> reporter: mexico's a prime example of walmart's aggressive international expansion. 2,100 stores, one-fifth of all outlets worldwide, and more than 200,000 workers, more than any other private employer in mexico. a decade ago that country had 500 stores. how did walmart grow so much so fast? according to the "new york times" the company paid big bribes, a violation of u.s. law. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera is in mexico city covering the story. >> the newspaper'

you know that somebody graduating from high school is going to make twice as much over their lifetime as somebody who drops out. you know that the unemployment rate for someone without a high school degree is about 13% today but someone with college education is 4%. you know what that means to those individuals and their lives. and we know what it means just to the cost of our society that people who have significant education make more, contribute more, pay higher taxes, cost other taxpayers less funds. those are all things of which the academic evidence is overwhelming and undeniable. what is incredibly important to remember and maybe the most important message is that it benefits all of us. the president held a conference on insourcing the other day. in the insourcing conference a woman talked about what she advised when she was telling people where to locate their companies. and she said one of the number one indicators was what was the high school completion rate in the area that you would locate that particular service business, the college completion rate was a key indicator in

as a freshman coming into high school, but did not have the help i need it. i did not have to drink. i did not have any of that. when i failed a class and there was no summer school, i did not have credit recovery options. i do not know if i could even make of those classes. as a junior today, i am left not knowing if i will have to take more classes next year or pay my way through summer school this summer. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker. >> i share a similar story to jessica. as a junior this year, i had to make up classes my first and second sodbusters. instead of giving us the support we needed and be able to make of the class is on the spot when we missed them, we have to make them up later, which is not fair. we feel the class of 2014 have a better advantage, because they have better requirements than we did. if they do not get the support they need, they will be in the same position we are in when they are juniors. that is not fair to them either. we want all the young people and the people who come after us to try to br

they kept perry hill high school student -- student brianna sudano alive. an emotional day for them. >> it as a redout to support the american heart association and 14-year-old brianna sudano. the game is going on. many of brianna's field hockey teammates are here. it was back in september, the freshman collapsed on the field at catonsville high school after helping win the game. she was diagnosed with a condition that stopped the blood flow to her heart. she went through surgery at the university of maryland children's heart program. brianna sudano joins us live along with her cardiologist dr. peter gas con. you're not on the field but how do you feel? >> great. i can't wait to get back on the field in the fall. >> reporter: we should tell people you are showing team spirit because you're not sitting home. >> no i'm actually managing the various ti la crosse team. >> reporter: new role. >> it's a lot of fun. >> reporter: your sister is a senior, so you get to tell your senior sister what to do. >> yes. >> reporter: doctor, let's talk about her heart condit

>> high school, mostly high school-age students. from schools all over the united states. the man who gave this speech the anti-bullying speech he hasman. o. of giving speeches like this. some people said oh, you should have expected it. >> i had no reservations. as a teacher my main goal is to protect my kids. when i heard there's a speech about anti-bullying and there might be some benefits from that i said i'm willing to take a chance. i'm a form joirnlist. i'm big on the free marketplace of idea. i was very open to hearing what he had to say. it took a real dark hostile turn as i saw and some other students felt. he became very hostile towards christianity to the point where you saw many students walked now clueding my students. >> i'm sure you've talked to your students about this. what did they take away from this speech? >> well, i think they realized that this -- they came in like me with expectations it may be something they might not agree on may have a different message but they literally came away feeling they were attacked. as you saw in the clip they felt it