LAUSD's Solution to the Dropout Crisis:Better Advertising

October 9, 2007 by dave

Is it just me, or is this the stupidest idea ever? According to this Los Angeles Daily News story, the district has announced a new program to reduce dropouts.

The new program - "My Future, My Decision" - is a broad effort that includes spots on KPWR-FM (105.9), a text-messaging campaign and interaction through popular social networking Web sites MySpace and Facebook.

District officials on Monday said they did not know how much the new efforts would cost, but said it would come out of the $10 million already allocated to the program.

I'm sorry, but this seems like an idiotic solution to a serious problem. What makes them think that high school (and middle school) dropouts are going to pay any attention to their ads? What makes them think that even if they do pay attention to the ads that they're going to get the kids to act?

What they should be doing is spending the $10M on more counselors and outreach efforts to actually talk to these kids and their parents. They need to be watching for kids who are in danger of dropping out BEFORE it happens. They need to fix their schools so that these children actually have hope of graduating. Many of these kids drop out because their early school years were filled with failure. By the time they get to high school, they've given up. They have no hope of graduating and they quickly see the futility in hanging around school.

The solution isn't fancy advertising campaigns. It is getting back to the basics of curriculum, instructional strategies, appropriate professional development, regular assessments, and using data to modify strategies so that children are getting what they need from Kindergarten and not waiting until they're ready to drop out or have already dropped out to try to fix the damage the district has done.

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