The White House has selected Columbus, along with nine other cities, as a focus site for two newly launched campaigns to address and eliminate chronic student absenteeism. The first is the My Brother’s Keeper Success Mentors Initiative, the “first-ever effort to scale an evidence-based, data-driven mentor model to reach and support the highest-risk students.” The program will connect over one million students across the ten cities with trained mentors, including coaches, administrative staff, teachers, security guards, AmeriCorps members, tutors, and others. The second initiative is a multi-million-dollar parent engagement campaign through the Ad Council, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education and the Mott Foundation, to “elevate the conversation about the devastating impact of chronic absenteeism.” The initiative will target K–8 parents through a campaign website with downloadable resources, billboards, and Public Service Announcements on bus shelters and in doctors’ offices and schools. Chronic absenteeism—missing more than 10 percent of a school year—is a strong predictor of low performance and eventual dropping out. Research shows that when at-risk students have caring adults in their lives, their likelihood of dropping out decreases. We’re pleased to see the campaigns’ selection of Columbus, a city whose district has the second-lowest attendance rate of Ohio’s Big 8 urban districts, and look forward to seeing how the initiatives unfold.
A new report from KidsOhio.org does a nice job of quantifying career and technical education (CTE) in Columbus City Schools. Ohio has invested heavily in CTE programs in the last few years, and while the structure is somewhat byzantine, CTE opportunities seem to be catching on among high school students. According to this report, in the 2013–2014 school year, 29 percent of all district juniors and seniors were enrolled in career education courses. Courses were offered in two dedicated career centers and nine traditional high schools. Additionally, students from thirteen other nearby districts took CTE courses in Columbus, as did a small handful of charter and private school students. While the district offered thirty-seven different programs, more than half of CTE students were enrolled in just seven of them: engineering science, health science, performing arts, job training coordinating, visual design and imaging, media arts, and business management. However, courses in several of the region’s most in-demand job categories were among the least popular (such as welding/cutting and programming/software development). It is important to note that one program—job training coordination—is especially designed for students with special needs, and it was the only one that was full. Best of all, the CTE path configured by Columbus is flexible enough to allow students to pursue other rigorous coursework through Advanced Placement, College Credit Plus, and early college tracks. The biggest takeaway of this paper is that much more could be done to let students know of CTE program opportunities—all but one CTE program had ample capacity— (especially for charter and private school students, should anyone at the district level have that inclination) and to help kids navigate into and through these courses.
