MEA Votes

The most exciting thing about the Michigan Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit held today in Lansing was the 500 plus people who gathered to talk about what they can do locally to address the dropout problem. It was great to see a standing-room-only crowd ready to work together – both in and out of school – to try something different in tackling Michigan's dropout crisis.

All these students, parents, educators and community activists need is some support in their efforts. Case in point – nearly every member of a youth panel at the summit said in a single word that what they needed most was "support."

Unfortunately, we may be on our own when it comes to support from the state. Despite the outcry for assistance, state officials at Monday's summit seemed reluctant to commit to the support many insisted was necessary.

Throughout 2008, MEA has been holding hearings all over the state about Michigan’s dropout crisis and what works to keep students in school. Today is the final one of those hearings in Kalamazoo. (To learn more about this effort, go to www.mea.org/dropouts.)

One of the things we’ve heard at every hearing is the need for individual attention for students – attention that makes students feel cared for and helps make what’s going on in school feel relevant to their life and interests.

But it’s hard to forge those critical relationships and make things relevant to individuals when you’re teaching five classes of 35 students each.

Hundreds of people have testified at MEA-sponsored public hearings about the dropout crisis. They've shared many good ideas as well as specific examples of effective programs that target at-risk students.

We've heard about dozens of exciting programs that help students stay in school or reengage students who've dropped out.

Part of the problem is that some programs are fairly isolated. People don't always know they exist. At the community level, we need to build good programs into a tightly knit network that doesn't allow kids to fall through the cracks.

Given the news of the past two weeks about financial crashes and investigations and bailouts, it’s completely appropriate for this fall’s political candidates to stay focused on the economy. It’s the top thing on most American’s minds.

So everyone should be eager for a plan to pump $2.7 billion back into our local, state and national economies, right? How do we do it?

Graduate 21,185 more students from Michigan high schools.

Dropouts: One is Too Many.

That’s the theme of a statewide series of hearings MEA and other partner organizations are holding about the dropout crisis. To help our economy and our communities, we need to graduate more students from high school.

In this critical election year, the economy is the issue at the top of everyone’s mind. But it's another crucial yet less discussed issue – education – that really drives our economy by preparing students for future careers, encouraging local growth in 21st century jobs, and providing a cost-effective return on all of our tax dollars.

That’s why we’ve launched the MEA Votes Blog, providing a forum for discussion of the key education issues that are part of the political dialogue in our communities, our state and our nation. From how the dropout crisis relates to availability of local jobs, to how the No Child Left Behind law affects students and school employees across the country, the MEA Votes Blog is the place to make your voice heard on the issues you hear about in the school halls and on the campaign trail.