The new dropout challenge: bridging gaps among students, parents, and teachers

Interview and survey data reveal significant disconnects among the insights and perspectives of dropouts, parents, teachers, and administrators on the causes and solutions to the dropout challenge. Many educators, for example, do not see boredom as a factor for most dropouts, while young people who drop out see it as the central cause. The author argues that if these disconnects are not more fully understood and bridged, they will continue to set back efforts to keep more students in school and on track to graduate ready for postsecondary education. Models for how communities can engage these constituencies in productive dialogue and transformative action are included in reports and in Grad Nation, a guidebook that helps communities tackle their dropout crises.