AT&T and high school dropouts

An article in The New York Times today says AT&T is going to announce a $100 million gift aimed at addressing two huge problems: the alarming number of high school dropouts and the skills of our nation’s work force.

The AT&T action follows closely the recent announcement by America’s Promise Alliance that indicates that about one-third of American high school students leave school before graduating. According to the article in The Times, that’s about 1.2 million young people.

AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in late March that the company was having a hard time finding enough qualified employees to fill 5,000 customer service jobs that it plans to bring back to the United States from India. Many companies are facing similar workforce readiness issues.

A comprehensive report — Are They Really Ready To Work — is available on the Corporate Voices for Working Families Web site.

by Rob Jewell

March madness and graduation rates

OK. By now most everyone knows that Kansas is the NCAA basketball champ. Certainly an exciting game that produced many interesting stories.

Here’s a story not directly connected to the tournament, but one that is interesting and important nonetheless. It concerns graduation rates of African-American athletes and students in general. And the numbers follow the release of information last week by America’s Promise Alliance that show that only 53 percent of African-American students in this country complete high school.

Ted Mitchell and Jonathan Schorr wrote in the Washington Post Sunday that “in addition to all the fast-paced excitement it brings, March Madness shines a light on one of the most troubling aspects of college sports: graduation rates of African American students, who make up most of the Division 1 athletic teams. But while the players’ high dropout rate gets much of the attention, non-athletes fare even worse.”

Mitchell and Schorr write:

A study of NCAA schools released last month by the University of Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that 53 percent of African American basketball players finish college — compared with a dismal 37 percent for black students overall at those schools.

But here is the key point in the article — concerning those who even make it to college:

The larger truth is that graduation is the last stop for an academic train whose passengers mostly disembark at earlier stations.

Corporate Voices for Working Families is a partner with America’s Promise Alliance – and this overall issue of workforce readiness is one of our continuing top priorities.

by Rob Jewell

America’s Promise Alliance: Focusing on a national crisis

America’s Promise Alliance released a study yesterday that finds that only about half of all students served by the main school systems in the nation’s 50 largest states graduate from high school.

I had the opportunity to attend the event. And it was exciting – with the room jammed with television and print reporters and with leaders from the public and private sectors. 

Alma J. Powell and General Colin Powell made the announcement and discussed details of the study. Here’s one part:

“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe. Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future,” said General Powell “It’s time for a national ‘call to arms,’ because we cannot afford to let nearly one-third of our kids fail.”

Corporate Voices for Working Families is an alliance partner – and this overall issue of workforce readiness is one of our continuing top priorities.  We share the concerns of General Powell and many others who recognize that this is a compelling national problem, one that affects the ability of our business community to compete and one that has the potential to substantially reduce the quality of life for our children and theirs. 

But it is also a problem with solutions, if we can harness the skills, resources and vision of all the stakeholders – parents, business leaders, educators, community leaders, policy makers, and young people themselves.

And it is right and necessary to keep the national spotlight on this issue – and that should be applauded. Yet at the same time we need to work with the business community to create real opportunities and pathways to employment.

For instance, at the announcement yesterday, Ed Rust from State Farm challenged the business community to get involved and recognize that “awareness is not enough.” Corporate Voices looks forward to working with State Farm and others throughout the business community to move this discussion beyond awareness and into sustainable opportunity for this population of youth to succeed.

by Tiffany Westover-Kernan