NTA staff

In a different way of thinking about addressing the dropout crisis, Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski of Big Picture Schools (10) suggest connecting students with the world outside the classroom as a better way to foster success inside school. In Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (11), they explain why internships, travel, service learning, and other real-world experiences give students more reason to care about what they are learning and why it matters

Self Enhancement Inc. (8), also highlighted in Building a Grad Nation, points to a graduation rate of 97 percent among youth served at its high-poverty partner schools. The nonprofit program (which happens to be based in my hometown of Portland, Oregon) starts working with children as early as second grade