American Graduate 2012 Archive | PBS NewsHour

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	2012 DECEMBER Dec. 31, 2012 Why After-School Jobs Keep Young Adults in School Jobs can provide teenagers with an exciting glimpse of economic freedom, as well as a new set of responsibilities and money, often for the first time. But education experts say part-time and after-school jobs also play a pivotal role in keeping young people on the path toward high school graduation. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

	Dec. 31, 2012 Boston's School-to-Career Program Gives Disadvantaged Students Running Start Getting a job as a high school freshman without work experience or specialized skills can be particularly difficult. But Escarolyn Garcia was determined. So when a representative from the Boston Private Industry Council came to her school to talk about workplace opportunities, she took notice.

	Dec. 27, 2012 After-School Jobs Spark Academic Success The NewsHour's American Graduate team recently traveled to Boston to report on youth employment rates and how the city is reaching out to businesses in an effort to link the classroom to potential careers.

	Dec. 27, 2012 What Have We Learned From the Dropout Crisis? Here's a statistic we've reported on all year: One in four students drops out before he or she finishes high school. The NewsHour's American Graduate team has traveled the country to find the stories behind the numbers.

	Dec. 21, 2012 Haley House: Food with Purpose Haley House

	Dec. 14, 2012 How Will the Fiscal Cliff Impact Education Funding? With tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect in January if lawmakers and the President fail to reach a debt-reduction deal, education providers are being forced to plan for tighter budgets. But the effects those cuts would have on education ends up being much more complex than.

	Dec. 7, 2012 City Year Plays Role in Turnaround for School and Students Together under the Diplomas Now model for school reform, City Year and Communities in Schools closely examine students' attendance, behavior and coursework -- the ABC's that can determine a child's likelihood of dropping out. When they find a student in trouble, they work together to create a plan supporting positive change.

	Dec. 6, 2012 School Reform Program Targets Students at Risk of Falling Behind, Dropping Out Currently implemented in 44 U.S. schools, a data-driven dropout prevention program called Diplomas Now targets students who start to fall behind in middle school, and offers them nurturing, mentoring relationships. Ray Suarez reports on how a Baton Rouge middle school was able to turn itself around by adopting this approach.

	Dec. 6, 2012 Why 'Mastering' the Basics of Why We Go to School Matters Diplomas Now, a data-driven program of curriculum reforms and support services, leverages community organizations to work with administrators and staff. Together they identify the predictors of poor school performance, and initiate and support positive change.

	Dec. 6, 2012 'Insider Trading' Used to Retool Failing Schools Broadmoor Middle School in Baton Rouge, La., is starting to see improvements in student attendance, behavior and class performance. It's an unlikely success story for a school where 95 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

	Dec. 6, 2012 Gospel Singer Motivates Youth through Nonprofit Grammy award-winning Christian singer Israel Houghton discusses what drives him to inspiring young adults maximize their full potential and harness the power of their education to rise out of poverty.

	Dec. 3, 2012 In Chicago, Public Schools and Teachers Work Towards a 'Common Core' Some states, including Illinois, have recently adopted new public school curriculum guidelines called the Common Core State Standards. While some teachers feel relief at having clear guidelines, Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW reports from Chicago on a more contentious aspect of the new implementation: student and teacher evaluation.

	Dec. 3, 2012 Can Longer School Days Close the Achievement Gap? In an experiment aimed to raise achievement in America's public schools, 11 school districts across five states--Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee--will be extending their class time learning by at least 300 hours, starting in 2013.



	NOVEMBER Nov. 30, 2012 Latest Release of U.S. High School Graduation Rates Still Preliminary After decades of using different metrics to calculate high school graduation rates, the Department of Education has for the first time released data for most states' graduation rates under one standardized measurement.

	Nov. 20, 2012 High School Coach Tells Football Team, 'Don't Go to Study Hall, You Don't Play' Natalie Randolph is one of the first women to head a high school football team, but to her students she is more than a coach. At Coolidge High School in Washington, Coach Randolph prioritizes academics by ensuring athletes attend study hall before practice. Jeffrey Brown talks to Randolph about success on and off the field.

	Nov. 20, 2012 What Can Children Tell Us About Growing Up Poor? In Frontline's latest documentary, "Poor Kids," children are all too aware of their family's financial situation. We chat with the film's producer about the film, which airs Tuesday on most PBS stations.

	Nov. 15, 2012 From Homeless to Homecoming and Beyond Football Coach Natalie Randolph is clear: 'If you don't go to study hall, you don't practice. If you don't practice, you don't play.' The nation's first female high school football head coach inspires her team on and off the field.

	Nov. 14, 2012 The Football Facts of Life Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C. is home to one of the first female head coaches in the nation. But Coach Natalie Randolph is also known for prioritizing academics before football. Her game plan is to show her students that football is just "icing on the cake." Education and character are what sets them apart.

	Nov. 13, 2012 What Does Poverty Mean to Children? Child poverty has reached record levels with over 16 million children affected. 1 in 13 Americans are jobless, and many children are growing up with little hope for their future. Frontline's latest documentary, Poor Kids, asks children what being poor in America really looks like through their eyes.



	OCTOBER Oct. 5, 2012 Does U.S. School Reform Need to Be Reformed? The Obama Administration's effort to turn around failing schools under the School Improvement Grant program is in need of drastic reform, says a new report by the National Education Policy Center. But what does it mean to be a 'turnaround' school?



	SEPTEMBER Sept. 28, 2012 8th-Grade Journalist Spotlights Violence in School, Hopes Obama Will Notice How does violence affect students' ability to learn? That's what eighth-grader De'Qonton Davis and his classmates set out to investigate as part of the NewsHour's Student Reporting Labs project in partnership with PBS station WEDU in Tampa. The students produced a unique video report that they hope President Obama will see.

	Sept. 28, 2012 Student Journalists Report on Florida's Home Invasion Problem De'Qonton Davis teamed up with his friend Antwoine Reid, and the pair used an iPod Touch to shoot a story about an issue that hit close to home -- home invasions.

	Sept. 28, 2012 American Graduate Day, a Community Effort to Curb the Dropout Crisis Last Saturday, public media came together to host the first American Graduate Day. Here's a look at how the community event unfolded online:

	Sept. 27, 2012 In N.D., Oil Boom Brings Student Boom and Schools Struggle to Accommodate As people flock to Williston, N.D., for jobs in the booming oil industry, the public systems struggle to keep up, converting one-room school houses to accommodate the rapid rise in student enrollment. Like much of Williston's infrastructure, there are financial hurdles to meet needs of teachers and students. Ray Suarez reports.

	Sept. 27, 2012 Educating a Boom The schools in Williston, N.D., are facing a set of unique challenges. A rapidly expanding oil boom has created widespread prosperity in the region, but it has also given rise to a whole host of problems.

	Sept. 27, 2012 In Rural Williston, N.D., Bus Drivers Act as School's Eyes and Ears In District 8, which covers about 1,500 rural miles beyond the four-mile radius of the town of Williston, N.D., bus drivers are more than just the backbone of the transportation program.

	Sept. 26, 2012 2012 Teacher of the Year on What Helps Teachers and Students Succeed Ray Suarez talks to Council of Chief State School Officers 2012 Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki, about the learning curve for teachers in helping students succeed and graduate from middle school and high school. Mieliwocki believes that teachers are 'seekers' who uplift the natural talents of each individual student.

	Sept. 26, 2012 Teacher of the Year: Engagement Key to Student Success Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki's classroom is designed to discover each child's aptitudes, so they become more engaged in the classroom and more likely to learn the required material.

	Sept. 25, 2012 Live Chat Recap: Inside America's Dropout Epidemic Tuesday's FRONTLINE profiles four at-risk students at Sharpstown High School, one of Houston's worst performing schools. On Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, join us for a live chat with the film's producer and key players.

	Sept. 24, 2012 Why Students Who Underperform, Fall Behind or Fail Classes Drop Out of School In the U.S., one million students leave school early each year. Ray Suarez kicks off American Graduate Week with Victor Rios, Stephanie Krauss and Adam Steltzner, three individuals who know firsthand what it's like to be a high school dropout, but who ultimately turned their lives around and returned to get more education.

	Sept. 24, 2012 Call is Out to Sabotage the Dropout Crisis American Graduate Day was a culmination of a year of reporting and programming across public media in the United States, and made the daunting task of helping more teens finish high school urgent, and doable.

	Sept. 24, 2012 American Graduate Week Kicks Off This week, the PBS NewsHour will be featuring voices of and potential solutions to the high school dropout crisis.

	Sept. 24, 2012 Former Dropouts and Their Paths to Success On Monday we begin American Graduate Week with a panel discussion moderated by senior correspondent Ray Suarez.

	Sept. 21, 2012 American Graduate Day Highlights Fight to Curb Student Dropouts More than 7,000 students drop out of school every day, a million each year. Join public media partners this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, for the first ever American Graduate Day -- a full day of multi-platform programing to fight high school student dropout rates.

	Sept. 19, 2012 Young Voters Rank Education and the Economy as Top Priorities With a growing deficit and steady unemployment levels, it's no surprise that young voters list the economy as a top issue this election season.



	AUGUST Aug. 21, 2012 Year-Round School Commits to Students from Middle School to Last Day of College Rainier Scholars, a Seattle non-profit, is trying to curb high school drop out rates. Taking the long-term approach, they identify students with high barriers to higher education and ask them -- some as young as 10 -- to commit not just to finishing high school, but to graduating from college. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

	Aug. 21, 2012 Are Year-Round Enrichment Programs the Answer to Summer Learning Loss? Few things conjure up childhood nostalgia like summer vacation. Yet the long period away from school is often cited by education experts as a crucial factor in explaining why some students fall behind in subjects like math, reading and science every year.

	Aug. 21, 2012 From Middle School to College, Six Tips for Educational Success There is a shy grin on the face of Pablo Santiago-Benitez, 11, as he proudly explains why he's already planning for his university career. "You have to start early or else it will be too late, and before you know it you are already in college," he says.

	Aug. 20, 2012 In Rhode Island, Reinventing Summer School to Prevent Kids' Learning Loss In Providence, R.I., the Summer Scholars Program has reinvented summer school by taking lower income students out of the classroom and putting them "into the field." John Merrow reports on how the new approach gets students to practice skills they struggled with during the past year and prevent additional learning loss for fall.

	Aug. 13, 2012 Education Olympics: How Does the U.S. Rank? The United States left the 2012 London Olympics with 104 medals in tow. But how do we stack up against the world when it comes to education?

	Aug. 1, 2012 School's Out, But PBS NewsHour Summer Programs Keep Going While most students are on summer vacation, two Student Reporting Labs have been diligently working through the hot months.



	JULY July 31, 2012 STEAM Ahead: Merging Arts and Science Education Akua Kouyate, Wolf Trap's senior director of education During tough economic times, arts and music programs are often some of the first programs cut in schools.

	July 17, 2012 In Middle School, Can Data Prevent Dropouts? Seven thousand students dropout of school every day in the U.S. And some researchers have dubbed middle school as the essential "make-or-break" years in determining a child's success.

	July 5, 2012 Taste of College Encourages Students to Continue Classes In his second report from South Texas, special correspondent John Merrow explores from the students' perspective how early college programs are encouraging youth to stay in high school.

	July 4, 2012 In South Texas, Luring Dropouts Back By Sending Them to College Hoping to stem a high school dropout crisis, one Texas superintendent is luring many students back to school by giving them a taste of college coursework. Special correspondent John Merrow reports as part of our American Graduate series.



	JUNE June 26, 2012 Harsh Punishment for Misbehavior in Texas Schools In the latest installment of our American Graduate series, correspondent Tom Bearden reports on the strict disciplinary policies in place in Texas schools. Misbehavior that in another era might have resulted in a trip to the principal's office now leads to fines, citations, even criminal records in some cases in Texas.

	June 26, 2012 In Texas Schools, Parents Cited for Students' Misbehavior The state of Texas has used the tactic of citing students for behavior violations and truancy as part of a zero-tolerance movement since the mid-1990's.

	June 26, 2012 Early Punishments Can Have Lasting Impact for Some Students A number of studies over the years have linked a child's exposure to the criminal justice system with increased odds of dropping out of school. The NewsHour recently traveled to Texas, a state that is sending thousands of kids to court every year.

	June 21, 2012 857 Empty School Desks for Every Student Who Drops Out Hundreds of empty school desks crowded the National Mall Wednesday as part of an awareness campaign that estimates 857 students drop out of high school every hour of a school day.

	June 15, 2012 A Step in the Right Direction, Student Reflects on DREAM Act President Obama's administration announced that they will stop deporting and grant work permits to nearly 1 million immigrants who are eligible for the controversial DREAM Act. A student tells his story.

	June 6, 2012 New York Teachers Discuss Accountability, Pros and Cons of Assessments As part of our American Graduate focus on teachers, testing and accountability, Ray Suarez moderated a discussion with several New York public school teachers on the challenges they face in the classroom and how they think they should be evaluated.

	June 5, 2012 Are Teachers Too Easily Caught in Crossfire Over Student Achievement? Part of the American Graduate project addressing the country's high school dropout crisis, Ray Suarez and former Deputy Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch discuss education reform and her approach to teacher accountability.

	June 4, 2012 Melinda Gates on the Importance of Evaluations in Shaping Effective Teachers Part of the American Graduate project addressing the country's high school dropout crisis, teachers across the nation have weighed in at town halls on what's working and what's not. Hari Sreenivasan and Melinda Gates discuss how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes to best tackle education reform.



	MAY May 21, 2012 Helping High School Youth Learn by Doing Since 1994, YouthBuild has trained 110,000 high school dropouts around the country to put up houses for their community and think critically in the classroom while earning their GEDs or diplomas. As part of the American Graduate series, Paul Solman reports on a program designed to keep kids learning inside and outside of class.

	May 18, 2012 Chronic Absenteeism -- Not a 'Casual Decision' There's an assumption that in order to do well in school, you have to be in school. But new data suggests that 5 to 7.5 million students, especially from low-income areas, are missing more than one month of school a year.

	May 17, 2012 Florida Journalism Program Gives Students Reason to Stay in School Student Leon Tomlinson joined Journeys in Journalism in third grade and said that the program was one of the main reasons he now excels in the classroom.

	May 17, 2012 Young Journalists at Work Over the course of reporting a story on a communications magnet program in St. Petersburg, Fla., the NewsHour met many students going through the K-12 "Journeys in Journalism" program. View a slideshow of their work.

	May 16, 2012 8th-Grade Journalist Spotlights Violence in School, Hopes Obama Will Notice How does violence affect students' ability to learn? That's what eighth-grader De'Qonton Davis and his classmates set out to investigate as part of the NewsHour's Student Reporting Labs project in partnership with PBS station WEDU in Tampa. The students produced a unique video report that they hope President Obama will see.

	May 16, 2012 What Does a First-Grade Journalist Look Like? On a cool April morning the first graders from Teresa Scott's class silently make their way into a multimedia classroom where they gather once a week to learn the ins and outs of journalism.

	May 10, 2012 'I Am an American Graduate' - Presenting the Class of 2012 As graduation season approaches, we invite you to share your graduation story with the American Graduate project. We will curate them on our "I Am an American Graduate" Pinterest board, in partnership with other public media partners across the country.

	May 7, 2012 Ndegeocello Credits Arts Education With Redefining Path to Success With nine studio albums under her belt and a world tour under way, bass player Meshell Ndegeocello was in her hometown of Washington, D.

	May 2, 2012 Ask Melinda Gates Your Question About Education Reform Next week, Melinda Gates will sit down with Hari Sreenivasan to talk about the Gates Foundation's work in the field of education, and we'd like to hear your suggestions.



	APRIL April 25, 2012 In Indiana School District, Dropouts Have Tech Alternative to Regular Classroom In Shelbyville, Ind., Melissa Lakes and the Student Achievement Center provide at-risk students with technology-enhanced hands-on learning. But it wasn't always like that. Part of the American Graduate project, Learning Matters' John Tulenko profiles one school district that wholly responded to its "dropout nation" epithet.

	April 25, 2012 An American Graduate in New Mexico As part of the American Graduate project, Ray Suarez visits a school in New Mexico, where he talks to teenagers about the value of education.

	April 25, 2012 'Dropout Nation' Turnaround: How Shelbyville Fixed its Dropout Problem In 2006, TIME Magazine featured Shelbyville, Indiana under the headline "Dropout Nation." With a graduation rate of 75 percent, Shelbyville was the poster child for the dropout crisis in America. Since then, the community has dramatically shifted its strategy and attitude when it comes to helping students get their diploma.

	April 17, 2012 'Reclaim Your Future': Vegas Aims to Change Odds for High School Dropouts Trying to entice wayward students back to class in Las Vegas, Chaparral High School Principal David Wilson led teams into communities to knock on doors in search of dropouts. Ray Suarez reports on an offbeat approach starting to show some signs of success in a city that ranks near the bottom in the nation for graduation rates.

	April 17, 2012 Hoping to Change Odds, Las Vegas Gambles on Once-Failing School Fist bumps and high-fives -- it's how principal David Wilson interacts with students as he walks down the halls of Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. The unconventional style is a trademark of Wilson, who was brought to the high school in 2010 as part of a turnaround effort by the Clark County School District.

	April 17, 2012 In Sin City, Out-of-Work Adults Double Down on Education The recession hit many Las Vegans very hard. That, in turn, has led to many of the unemployed or under-employed to re-evaluate their skills. Some have chosen to try to earn a GED. And that desire has led to a surge in enrollment in the Community Multicultural Center's GED program.

	April 13, 2012 As 'Bully' Opens, the Bullied, Bullies and Bystanders Weigh In Video editing by Thaisi Da SilvaA 12-year-old is harassed on the school bus, a 16-year-old lesbian is ostracized by her community and a young girl brings a gun to school to face her bullies.

	April 6, 2012 Need to Know: Philadelphia's 'Project U-Turn' Aims to 'Recapture' Dropouts On Friday's "Need to Know," our public media colleagues tell the story of Justin Rudd, a high school dropout who lived on the streets of Philadelphia -- a city where roughly 40 percent of ninth-graders don't mange to graduate in four years.

	April 5, 2012 The Education Conversation In this week's Education Conversation, we take a a look at campus tragedies, increasing student loan debt, and more.



	MARCH March 26, 2012 Join a Live Chat Friday at 2 p.m. ET on Learning Differences The NewsHour Health team recently looked at the challenges students with learning differences face as part of our ongoing American Graduate series.

	March 22, 2012 Learning Differences and the Arts Many students with learning disabilities lack confidence in some of the typical classroom activities but shine in the arts. At Henderson Inclusion Elementary School in Boston, a third of the students are disabled and the curriculum is filled with things like dancing, theater and visual arts.

	March 21, 2012 Engaging Students With Learning Differences Early On Students with learning differences are twice as likely as their peers to drop out of high school, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Betty Ann Bowser visited an elementary school that practices early intervention -- engaging students with technology and art to improve their chances of earning a diploma.

	March 21, 2012 6 Tips for Parents of Students With Learning Differences After being diagnosed with ADHD and multiple learning disabilities, Daniel Paris was able to move from high school dropout to Harvard graduate student. Read Paris' advice for parents of children with learning differences.

	March 21, 2012 From High School Dropout to Harvard University Graduate Student Frustrated by his struggles in school, Daniel Paris dropped out of high school during his sophomore year. But after being diagnosed with ADHD and other learning disabilities, Paris finished high school, graduated from the University of Southern California and is now a graduate student at Harvard University.

	March 19, 2012 Poetry from a 'Neurologically Impaired' Life This is the story of a now-successful poet who once found it hard to write. A businessman who couldn't add. LeDerick Horne's learning disability almost caused him to become part of the U.S. dropout statistic. Almost.

	March 19, 2012 Report: Graduation Rates Improve, but Hurdles Remain A new report reveals progress is being made in the effort to curb the dropout rate among U.S. high school students, but some states have been more effective at keeping students in school than others.

	March 16, 2012 Five Misconceptions About Learning Differences Nearly 50 percent of special education students in the U.S. struggle with learning disabilities, but most Americans still struggle to define exactly what they are -- and just as importantly, what they aren't. Here's your 101.

	March 13, 2012 Driver's License Incentives Used in Some States to Keep Teens in School A growing number of state legislatures are using driving privileges as an incentive to keep students from dropping out of high school. States' laws vary, but the general premise is the same: If a student wants to stay on the road, he or she must stay in school. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

	March 13, 2012 Can Lure of Driver's License Keep Kids in School? For many teenagers, getting behind the wheel is a rite of passage. It's a step into adulthood that brings new freedoms and responsibilities. For a growing number of state legislatures, however, the driver's license is being used as an incentive to keep students from dropping out of high school.



	FEBRUARY Feb. 22, 2012 'Why I Go to School': An Antidote For Dropping Out Every year, more than 1.3 million students drop out of high school. In our new project, we are asking students to choose an image that illustrates their motivations to stay in school. We'll "pin" them up on our Pinterest board "Why I Go to School."

	Feb. 10, 2012 Schools Look to Holistic Approach to Improve Attendance When it comes to lowering the high school dropout rate, many school leaders have found that something fairly basic works: the ABCs -- Attendance, Behavior and Class.

	Feb. 8, 2012 In California, Some Students Rethink Dropping Out Santa Barbara High School covers 40 acres in tree-lined hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a few miles away.

	Feb. 2, 2012 California Photographer Captures Young Faces of Juvenile Detention Photographer and University of California, Santa Barbara professor Richard Ross has spent five years documenting juvenile detention facilities throughout the nation. In his own words, Ross explains what he's seen. This report is part of NewsHour's American Graduate series on the U.S. dropout crisis.

	Feb. 2, 2012 Juvenile Education: Inside a Confined World Photographer and professor Richard Ross has spent the last five years documenting juvenile detention facilities throughout the nation. The NewsHour recently spoke with him in his studio at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

	Feb. 1, 2012 Gang Member-Turned-Ph.D. Mentors Youth on the Fringes Victor Rios says he has lived two lifetimes. In his first, he was a gang member, juvenile delinquent and high school dropout. Now, he's a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who tries to help adolescents avoid the same mistakes he made and get second chances like he did. Ray Suarez reports.

	Feb. 1, 2012 Join a Live Chat Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET on Dropouts and Delinquents This week, the NewsHour's American Graduate team looks at juvenile justice and gang violence relating to the dropout crisis. Join a live chat Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET with Victor Rios, a former gang member turned sociology professor, and Richard Ross, a photographer who documents what life is like for young people in prison.

	Feb. 1, 2012 One Man's Journey From Gang Member to Academia Victor Rios says he has lived two lifetimes. In his first, he was a gang member, juvenile delinquent and high school dropout. Today, he's a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who studies at-risk youth.



	JANUARY Jan. 31, 2012 Mentoring Focuses on Building Relationships in Addition to Grades Mentor Joytrease George and mentee Tianie Hazel's relationship did not begin with big smiles and jokes. Hazel reluctantly joined College Bound at the urging of her mother.

	Jan. 20, 2012 The Education Conversation - South Carolina Edition In this week's Education Conversation, we look at how GOP candidates score on education and why South Carolina's graduation rates are so low.

	Jan. 20, 2012 Airman, Actors Seek to Inspire Youth with 'Red Tails' "Nothing's difficult. Everything's a challenge. Through adversity to the stars. From the last plane to the last bullet to the last minute to the last man - we fight. WE fight! We FIGHT!"

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