Ideas sought to cut dropout rate in N.C.

One-on-one mentoring and identifying students who are at risk of quitting school -- even as early as in elementary grades -- are key steps to cutting North Carolina's high dropout rate, educators and activists told lawmakers Wednesday.

The State Board of Education said in February that only 68 percent of North Carolina ninth-graders earn a high school diploma within four years. The meeting Wednesday was the first of two that House members planned to collect ideas on how to increase the number of graduates.

"We want to find out what works. Of course it won't be the same at every place," House Speaker Joe Hackney, a Democrat from Orange County, said at the start of the meeting. "We want to find out what has the best potential for saving kids."

Giving guidance

Acton Archie, a business analyst for software-maker SAS, offered ideas based on personal experience. The Charlotte native told lawmakers he was encouraged to stay in school in the ninth grade by a nonprofit group called Communities in Schools. The nationwide organization teams up parents, educators, community leaders, local churches and businesses in mentoring programs to encourage students to stay in school.

Archie, whose father was murdered when he was a child and whose mother still struggles with substance abuse, is the only one of their three children to finish a college degree. With so much chaos at home, he said, outside mentors helped him focus on work and filled a role that his parents couldn't.

"I think it comes down to having someone in the home or ... someone who is close by who can reach out and say, 'You know what, I care about you,' he said. "They didn't necessarily give you the answer, but they gave you guidance."

'Education summits'

Archie was one of several speakers who urged support for programs that rely on community involvement.

The head of a business organization founded to promote education in the Latino community said his group has had success with a several-years-old program that reaches out to Hispanic middle school and high school students.

Marco Zarate, president of the N.C. Society of Hispanic Professionals, said the organization has held "education summits" with teens since 2000. In each of the past four years, the group has seen a 12 percent increase in the number of Hispanic high school graduates.

But Zarate noted also that 2,000 more Latino students dropped out this year, and suggested aiming efforts at even younger students.

"We need to start a dialogue with all students in elementary school," Zarate said. "Middle and high school may be too late for some students."

Data to help identify at-risk students is lacking in North Carolina and must be compiled, said Judith Rizzo, executive director of the Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy in Chapel Hill. In the meantime, she said, information from other states can be studied to give North Carolina a place to start.