United Way Receives $1 Million from AT&T To Support Local Schools

PRESS RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Cara I. Belton
313-226-9484 or 313-520-8454
or
Laura L. Rodwan
313-226-9484 or 313-477-2750
United Way for Southeast Michigan

Joe Steele
313-223-9759
AT&T

Grant will support Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund

DETROIT, August 4, 2008 – AT&T (NYSE:T), today announced a $1 million contribution to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan Greater Detroit Area Venture Fund. The Venture Fund was created to support school turnaround efforts in high schools that have low graduation rates, based on best practices that have proven effective in other cities nationwide.

"We're pleased to present United Way with the largest gift we’ve ever given of this kind in Michigan," said Gail Torreano, president of AT&T Michigan. "We are proud to be a catalyst for the Venture Fund, and hope AT&T’s contribution will inspire many more companies and individuals to come forward and contribute to support our local students who are the future leaders in Michigan."

The launch of the Venture Fund is an example of United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s commitment to becoming an impact-driven organization in order to better meet the needs of the communities it serves. The Fund is a $10 million initiative to transform high school education in the region.

“As part of our re-alignment into a community-impact organization through the Agenda for Change, United Way will continue to take the lead in unprecedented, innovative work throughout the region,” said Mike Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "Through the generosity of AT&T, we will lay the groundwork for long-term success in turning around southeastern Michigan’s low-performing schools.”

Currently, there are 2,000 high schools in America that have graduated less than 60% of their freshmen class for three consecutive years. More than 30 of those schools are located in Southeastern Michigan.

The Venture Fund’s purpose is to turn around the low graduation rates at high schools in the region with dropout rates of 40 percent or higher.

The Venture Fund will financially support partnerships between high schools and proven educational intermediaries working together to create small, personalized learning environments.

In April 2008, AT&T unveiled the “AT&T Aspire” program through which the company and the AT&T Foundation will commit $100 million over the next four years toward high school success and workforce readiness initiatives.

With more than 12,000 employees in Michigan and over 300,000 employees worldwide, AT&T is uniquely positioned to take on this challenge and lead the way in supporting students and schools in our local communities. By focusing on education and workforce readiness, AT&T is looking beyond today, because our nation’s prosperity depends on investing in and supporting the next generation.

United Way president and CEO Mike Brennan accepted the $1 million gift from Torreano on the first day of a two-day school turnaround forum, “Conversations with Intermediaries,” held at Lawrence Technological Institute in Southfield. Representatives from AFT Michigan (AFL-CIO), the Skillman Foundation, and other corporate and community partners are at the forefront of this effort, and are providing generous support to The Venture Fund.

After acknowledging AT&T’s contribution, Brennan expressed the continued need for education reform in our community. “Now, more than ever, the success of the region in the 21st century will require a renewed commitment to a culture of achievement in our schools and communities.”

Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund Funding Partnerships for Turnaround Schools Q & As

What is the Venture Fund?
The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund (“the Venture Fund”) was created to support eligible school turnaround efforts in high schools that have low graduation rates. These turnaround efforts are based on best practices that have proven effective in other cities nationwide.

The Purpose of the Venture Fund IS NOT:

• to create charter schools
• take over schools
• to break up unions
• limited to schools only in the city of Detroit

Where did the idea for the Venture Fund originate?
A recent Johns Hopkins study identified 78 high schools in Michigan (more than 30 of which are in Southeastern Michigan) as “dropout factories,” meaning that less than 60% of the students graduated with their class for at least three years in a row. Yet since 2001, a wave of urban high school transformation efforts has swept across the country, and some cities and intermediary organizations have shown amazing results.

Who is involved in the Venture Fund?
The AT& T Foundation, the Skillman Foundation and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Why has the United Way for Southeastern Michigan created the Venture Fund?
The issues facing families and individuals in our communities have become greater in number and more acute. As a result, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan is changing the way it does business in order to meet the needs of the communities it serves. The Venture Fund is a part of that change. United Way’s shift in function and focus is an agile, swift response to rapidly changing community needs, including the area of education.

How is United Way changing the way it is doing business?
United Way has implemented its Agenda for Change and is transforming into an impact-driven organization seeking to create measurable and lasting change in the areas most critical to the well being of Southeastern Michigan communities. The Agenda’s three impact areas are:

• Educational Preparedness
• Financial Stability
• Basic Needs

What is role of United Way in the Venture Fund?
In addition to creating the Venture Fund, United Way will act as its fiduciary, marking a non-traditional role and progressive approach by the organization. As part of its re-alignment into a community-impact organization, United Way will continue to take the lead in unprecedented, innovative work throughout the region.

What is the goal of the Venture Fund?
The Fund will financially support partnerships between high schools and proven educational intermediaries working together to create small, personalized learning environments.

Why the need?
There are 2,000 high schools in America that have graduated less than 60% of their freshmen class for three consecutive years—and more than 30 of those schools are in Southeastern Michigan. The schools listed below have been invited (via school district leaders) to submit a School Turnaround Proposal.

How will the funds be allocated?
Grants up to $80,000 per year per small high school (500 students or fewer) or $320,000 per large high school (1,500 to 2,000 students) will be made to support comprehensive turnaround efforts. Grants are renewable for up to five years based on annual performance objectives. Funds will be paid directly to the intermediaries identified by the school.

Will the Funds go directly to the schools?
No. Funds will be paid directly to the intermediaries identified by the school.

Which schools are eligible?

Academy for Business and Tech.	East Detroit	Osborn
Cass Technical	Ecorse	Pershing
Central	Finney	Pontiac Central
Chadsey	Hamtramck	Pontiac Northern
Cody	Hazel Park	Redford
Communication & Media Arts	Henry Ford	River Rouge
Cooley	Kettering	Southeastern
Davis Aerospace	Lincoln Park	Southwestern
Denby	Melvindale-Northern Allen Park	Van Dyke Lincoln
Detroit School of Industrial Arts	Northwestern	Western International

What is an eligible intermediary?
An educational intermediary is a non-profit organization that partners with a school district to help its leadership and teachers improve student achievement. Intermediaries eligible for funding must have a proven record of improving student achievement and graduation rates in high poverty high schools, as measured by an external evaluator.

What is the strategy behind the Venture Fund school turnaround efforts?
Other cities have shown that urban school districts, union leadership, and community members can transform large, failing high schools into smaller, successful ones. The purpose of the Venture Fund is to incentivize those partnerships and best practices to turn around schools in Southeastern Michigan. This includes the following key components:

• Changing Conditions
  Conditions in the lowest-performing schools must be changed so that school leaders have the authority to make decisions in the best interests of the students. Changing conditions also means being accountable for increased achievement rates.
• Increasing Capacity
  Increasing capacity means that one lead external partner (or “intermediary”) works with the school district and school staff to implement proven school turnaround and student engagement strategies.
• Creating Clusters
  To be effective, school turnaround cannot occur in small, isolated pockets. School leaders and teachers involved in turnaround need both collaboration and competition.

What are the criteria that indicate success in school turnaround efforts?

• If a school’s district office is supportive of the turnaround efforts.
• The school has a plan for effective site-based management.
• The school has selected a partner with a proven record of improving graduation rates.

There have been failed efforts in the past. How is this different?
In the last few years we have begun to see the development of successful strategies for improving low graduation rates throughout the country. The strategies will create the foundation for change in our failing schools. In addition, The Venture Fund is unique in that labor and school leaders, as well the corporate and philanthropic community, are working together to tackle this critical issue.

About United Way for Southeast Michigan
United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.uwsem.org.

About Philanthropy at AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its philanthropic initiatives and partnerships, AT&T supports projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; and address community needs. In 2007, AT&T contributed more than $164 million through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T, combine more than $1.9 billion of historic charitable commitment to communities across the country.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.

© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss.

Video: One D Dropout Prevention Summit and Retreat in review

One D Dropout Prevention Summit and Retreat in review from United Way on Vimeo.

Reflections: Dropout Summit exemplifies regional collaboration

I know we complain a great deal about the lack of regional focus and collaboration in addressing the challenges in transforming our region, but it’s time to celebrate some of our progress. As Michigan -- and more specifically, Southeastern Michigan -- competes for economic development opportunities, a prepared workforce is always mentioned as a necessary component.

As we review what has to take place to strengthen our employment opportunities, education, and talent attraction and retention always end up among the proposed solutions. At the same time, it will come as no surprise that one of the issues we struggle with both regionally and statewide is unacceptable graduation rates from our K-12 school systems, especially in our urban and economically challenged districts.

Through extensive community outreach and substantial resident input, our region identified educational preparedness as a significant priority. It is one of three focus areas of United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Agenda for Change, along with financial stability and basic needs. One D, the consortium of organizations dedicated to addressing the most pressing issues in our region, also established educational preparedness as one of its five major priorities and decided to tackle the issue during a two day Dropout Prevention Summit to explore solutions.

I am proud to say that United Way took the lead in organizing the conference, and partnered with our One D colleagues, New Detroit and the Detroit Regional Chamber, as well as the Skillman Foundation, the Detroit Parent Network and our hosts, Lawrence Technological University. The mission was to advance the turnaround effort in 35 high schools in the region that have a drop out rate of 40 percent or higher. Edsel Ford II, One D's lead champion, kicked off the conference, and other leaders participated during the event, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Mike Flanagan, the state Department of Education's superintendent of public instruction, Connie Calloway, general superintendent of Detroit Public Schools and David Hecker, president of AFT Michigan.

The conference convened several experts from across the country with experience in successfully working with districts to improve student achievement and graduation rates. The experts presented their ideas to approximately 150 officials from DPS, suburban school districts and students, as well as representatives from foundations, businesses and organized labor. The conference format allowed participants significant time to discuss the approaches that had been successful elsewhere and begin the planning for our region’s turnaround.

There was lots of discussion about the importance of early childhood development to success later in school, which is something the Women’s Initiative of United Way identified as a critical success factor -- and we chose to focus our energy on this area. No doubt, our work will be a part of the multi-faceted solution and will ultimately contribute to this effort's success.

The excitement and enthusiasm throughout the event was unbelievable, as over 300 interested parties began to imagine our success and envision our future progress. Even during session breaks, the hallways were buzzing as attendees chatted about ideas to help each student in our region succeed in school.

It’s a new day in Southeastern Michigan and high-time we approach issues of importance as a team. This will take hard work and long-term commitment. But with the type of collaborative leadership this conference showcased, I am betting on the success of the home team.

Leslie Murphy
President & CEO, Murphy Consulting
and Member, United Way Women's Initiative

Kurt's Corner: Another look at dropouts

The issue of dropout prevention has moved to the forefront of the educational component of United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Agenda for Change. This is not a signal that we value early childhood education any less or that our grade-level reading initiative, Operation ABC has taken a back seat. In fact, graduation rates are clearly tied to the availability and quality of early childhood education opportunities and Operation ABC is alive and well as grade-level reading is a predictor of high school completion and post-secondary education success.

Click here to continue reading.

Summit rallies support against dropout epidemic

The failure of high schools has taken a huge toll on our state. A recent Johns Hopkins University study revealed that 73 high schools in Michigan have graduated less than 60 percent of their freshmen class for three straight years.

The problem is serious and it's not just an "urban" issue. Only half of the schools identified as troubled are located in larger cities, including 22 in Detroit. Another 12 schools are in Detroit suburbs, and 40 others are scattered around the state in small towns, including districts with strong financial support.

Listen to the standard line and you would believe money is a central barrier to school transformation. The real issue is one of public will.

Click here to continue reading.

Detroit Free Press: Determined student defies the odds

In the national disaster of failing urban schools, Alecia McWilliams is at Ground Zero.
And she is amazing. More than a survivor, she is a remarkable success in circumstances that breed failure. She did not disappear from the school system, as so many children like her do. She persevered as she was shuttled between relatives and foster homes and more than 10 schools in 12 years.

And now, a month from graduating as valedictorian of an east-side charter school, Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences High School, she must be heard. Her experience, her commitment, can be building blocks for others.

"I remember specifically a friend of the family telling me: I don't know how you're going to make it without your mother," Alecia told me. "You're going to be pregnant at 16, you're going to drop out of school, you ain't going to do nothing with yourself."

What a message to give a child. But Alecia didn't crumble. "I could hear that in my ear the whole time. It matured me, and it motivated me to say, 'OK, I'm going to show you different. One day I'm going to have you speechless.' "

Alecia was 9 when her mother died from drugs and complications of HIV. Her father remains in her life but has struggled with his own demons.

So Alecia, now 18, found her self shuttled between temporary foster homes and a parade of aunts, uncles and grandparents. In fact, she tracks her life less in years than by the schools she has attended.

How easily Alecia's name could have been added to vast rolls of dropouts in Detroit, as her three older sisters were. But she kept going, pushed by her faith, her teachers and an aunt named Gwen.

"Life has not broken her," said Jill Thomas-Bowens, Alecia's English teacher. "A student like Alecia, all she needs is a chance and a few champions."

Her struggle will not end on graduation day, June 16. While Alecia carries a 3.95 GPA, her ACT score was just 17, and Thomas-Bowens worries about her needing to seek extra help in college and finding mentors.

She also needs enough of a financial aid package to cover tuition at Michigan State University, Wayne State University or Olivet College. She has been accepted at all three, but counselors have had to scramble to resolve a glitch in her assistance forms.

Faith will not let Alecia fret.

"I know I'm going to college," she said.

"Before my grandmother died, she taught me to believe in goals, God and the 91st Psalm," she said, referring to a Bible passage about faith. "It's not that I'm the smartest; I just have a goal, and I have God on my side."

There's a word for young people like Alecia: resilient.

They are the girls and boys who come to school already skilled at survival. Imagine the fortitude it takes for a child from a struggling environment to keep showing up, despite family histories of failure and friends who find it acceptable to quit.

Too bad most schools aren't equipped to leverage that raw skill set or to recognize how a hard home life doesn't steal or twist all the strengths of a child.

"If you just have somebody to listen to you, it makes you keep going," Alecia said.

Teachers have the desire to reach out, but few have the flexibility to take their eye off the demands of the classroom long enough to go deep with one child. But there are more Alecias out there, more building blocks for the younger children behind them.

They should be honored -- and they could be trained as citywide, on-site school leaders and mentors. They can be enlisted to help people who care retake a failing school system.

Sounds big, maybe even impossible. But don't tell Alecia McWilliams about daunting odds. Let her tell you how to beat them.

NICHOLE M. CHRISTIAN is an editorial writer. Contact her at 313-222-6456 or nchristian@freepress.com.

Detroit Free Press editorial: Should Michigan raise the compulsory school age from 16 to 18?

The real question is why are students leaving school before graduation? Although
I believe that as a community it is our responsibility to compel children to
attend school until graduation or at least to the age of 18, forcing attendance
without supporting the students' education and growth by attending to individual
challenges is a waste of time and educational dollars, and fosters frustration
in the student as well as the teachers. Knowing why a student needs to leave or
wants to leave gives us the groundwork to serve that student properly and
encourage success after high school.

Kathryn Bedikian, 44, Wyandotte, nurse-midwife, U-M Women's Hospital, and Wyandotte school board member

I agree that we should value education so much in Michigan that the dropout age should be raised to 18. However, before I would vote for this change, I would want to see how the state would pay for this. School districts are already pinching every penny. Trying to keep a 16-year-old in traditional school is futile and costly. There would need to be an alternative setting for these students so they could continue their education.

Patricia Kolodziejski Kilby, 55, Rochester Hills, teacher

Schools must offer different curriculums for different students. Some brilliant
kids quit at 16 because they are bored and others could stay until they are 25
and never get it. Readin', writin' and 'rithmatic are the basics needed to
function in our society; however, all kids need to get training to get a job.
Schools must offer something for all kids.

Bill Belcher, 67, Farmington Hills, mortgage loan officer

Keeping kids in school is a valiant goal, but if it means tolerating the
atrocious behavior of a virtual prisoner, it just isn't worth it. Every defiant
student poisons a classroom. Let them go their own way, and they'll often come
back to school anyway, more cooperative this time.

Daniel Propson, 29, Detroit, high school English teacher

JOIN "FIX IT FAST": The Free Press sends a "Fix It Fast" question each week to a group of readers. If you'd like to be on a panel, send an e-mail to fixitfast@freepress.com with your name, age, hometown and any background or expertise that might make you well suited for certain issues.

Detroit Free Press: Detroit ready to turn a new page

Changes aim to improve each classroom
BY CONNIE K. CALLOWAY • May 4, 2008

This is an exciting time for Detroit Public Schools.

Over the next weeks and months, educators, community leaders, teachers, staff and parents will review data to work on new educational designs to enhance rigor, relevance and relationships for our students. With the strong support of foundations and agencies, including the Skillman Foundation and United Way, we plan to have one campus ready to go for the upcoming school year.

There is a growing discussion across Detroit surrounding community-wide awareness and ownership of the need to create data-driven educational models that assure that our children will succeed academically and graduate with skills that will support the future growth and vitality of our city and region.

All of our principals now have complete reports on their schools' academic, demographic, student conduct, enrollment and graduation data. We've also created a glossary of terms to assure that all participants can use the Language of Achievement.

As an example, the data report for one of the schools we are reviewing indicates it is a high school that did not make annual yearly progress in English/Language Arts or mathematics. Its AYP history from 2004-05 to present shows that it has moved from Phase 2 to Phase 4, and its Michigan School Report Card history shows that this school has received a "D-Alert" grade in each of the three past years.

A more rigorous curriculum means increasing the level of challenge in our academic standards. Academic rigor incorporates competitive proficiency levels in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts and technology required for success beyond high school. Relevance is to better address the need of the employment market, to better prepare DPS graduates to enter the workforce at skill levels needed to move our city and state forward. Building sustained positive relationships between students and educators is key to increasing the graduation rate, maintaining student engagement, and course completion.

Our actions will significantly move Detroit Public Schools toward the AAA Schools model, where everyone is held accountable, is expected to add value, which will result in increased academic achievement for our students, thus positively impacting the communities we serve. This paradigm shift filters every school function through the lens of effective instruction, what is best for each child.

Models in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Providence and elsewhere are working and give hope for this initiative. Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposal for smaller high schools, which aims to reduce the dropout rate and requires partners in the process, creates an opportunity for Detroit to step forward to submit multiple proposals for this funding.

Remember, the heart of instruction is what takes place in the classrooms of this district.

Teaching and learning are the most important business of DPS. Please take care of the children; they are our investment in our future.

CONNIE CALLOWAY is superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools. Write to her in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or at oped@freepress.com.

Detroit Free Press editorial: Graduate to solutions

Stop treating dismal graduation rates like a hot potato; all involved need to bite into the challenge
The children deserve better. The taxpayers are entitled to more. Society needs dramatically improved results. Everybody agrees this situation cannot continue.

And so the problem of staggering high school dropout rates, acute in Detroit but not exclusive to the city, can no longer be passed around like a game of hot potato. It's time for all the stakeholders -- and who isn't? -- to take a bite. Otherwise, we will continue to spend money without solving problems that just cost more money, because kids who quit school are the most likely to have children they can't afford and to end up in prison.

Think of Detroit Public Schools as a $1.3-billion enterprise and ask yourself: What enterprise would tolerate the utter failure of 22 of its 27 divisions, and for how long, without an urgent overhaul? Yet students in 22 of Detroit's 27 high schools are failing to meet minimum state benchmarks for progress. Three-quarters of the students who start high school don't finish.
And it has been going on for a long time. The social costs are beyond computing. There's no point anymore in trying to figure out who's responsible for DPS sliding into this mess. What's needed are urgent resolve and engagement. Michigan cannot afford thousands of undereducated, unskilled people in its largest city. The children entering the DPS system deserve to be on a track to productive citizenship.

The sound of change can be heard, at least, in DPS Superintendent Connie Calloway's candor about the district's failings and her call for smaller, themed high schools to replace the chronic failures.

But Calloway needs parental involvement, staff support and community allies.

Many potential allies met late last month at a two-day dropout-prevention summit cosponsored by the America's Promise Alliance, the organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, which chose Detroit to kick off a series of 50 summits nationwide on dropout prevention.
Summits aren't a solution, but they can explore policy initiatives for schools and community groups to push forward together.

Four that would help in Detroit and other high-dropout districts:

• Managing teacher morale: Calloway could blaze a trail if she agreed to bring the Detroit Federation of Teachers to the table now, at the outset of change. Teachers are the foot soldiers in this struggle. Surely they would all rather be working in successful schools. They have legitimate issues to raise, just as Calloway has legitimate concerns about losing certified and nationally recognized teachers to other districts or states.

• Put a spotlight on attendance: Starting in middle school, it's possible to spot a likely dropout just by tracking attendance patterns. Eighth-graders who miss more than five weeks of school have a 75% chance of dropping out of high school, but too many absences go unnoticed. Computerized attendance gives schools the technology to do better at tracking students, and more resources must also be invested in tracking them down when they are missing. Education officials need to devise a coordinated way to use attendance data to identify students headed for trouble before they hit high school. The data also will show which of the middle schools feeding Detroit's high schools are failing students, too.

• Personalizing freshman year: Ninth grade is critical. Students who start high school having failed math or English in middle school are especially at risk of dropping out. High school principals should be empowered to customize ninth-grade academics, providing early remedial intervention as part of a protective support ring. Ideally, a mentor -- a student, graduate, parent or staff member -- would be assigned, on the promise to help the student complete that critical first year. Sound outlandishly costly? Remember the cost of losing the kid to the streets.

One D, the umbrella group for six leading civic organizations in the region, will unveil an action plan at the Detroit Regional Chamber conference later this month on Mackinac Island based on findings from the dropout summit. It should include nontraditional engagement with students. What if, for example, local companies chose a ninth-grade class to adopt at one troubled school for a year? The relationship could be as simple as pairing students with adult mentors or committing to help educate students for future job opportunities.

• Expanded early college enrollment: According to a study by the Bill Gates Foundation, 75% of ninth- and tenth-grade dropouts blamed a lack of motivation and boredom for quitting school. What better incentives to offer than a chance to jump-start their earnings potential? Dropouts, on average, earn, $9,200 less per year than high school graduates.

Michigan has a number of early-college high schools up and running. They allow students either to take a college level course or simultaneously to earn a diploma and an associate's degree.
Increasing partnership between school districts and community colleges should be a legislative priority.

None of these ideas alone can move the needle. They are starting points. But nothing gets started at all without a broad-based commitment to end one of Michigan's greatest and most costly failings.

Detroit Free Press: Only a full-scale team effort can cure high school dropout rate

BY MICHAEL F. TENBUSCH • May 4, 2008

For the past 40 years, public high schools in urban America have been easy to understand.

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, "Just think of any other business, and then take away accountability and reason."

The failure of urban high schools has taken a huge toll here in Michigan and in Detroit. One study revealed that there are 73 high schools in Michigan that have graduated less than 60% of their freshmen class for three straight years.

Twenty-two are in Detroit, 12 are in its suburbs, and another 40 are spread around the state. High school dropouts are eight times more likely than high school graduates to end up in jail, and 75% of all prison inmates are dropouts. Clearly, our failure to build high schools that work has forced us to build prisons.

It doesn't need to be this way.

Thanks in part to No Child Left Behind, in part to hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the Gates Foundation, and in large part to the pioneering spirit of those who rightly view this as the civil rights issue of our time, high-performing high schools have popped up in high-poverty areas of America in the last five years -- graduating 80% or more of their freshman classes, in stark contrast to the schools they replaced that had graduation rates ranging from 20%-40%.

We know what works. According to Mass Insight, which analyzed successful strategies in districts like Boston and New York that turned student achievement around, principals must be given control over the people, budget and programs in their buildings -- and in turn they must be held accountable for ensuring that their students meet high but realistic expectations.
Schools have been run on the "Friends, Family and Neighborhood Plan" for too long, and this arbitrary hiring and contracting process has led to an entrenched view of the inviolability of seniority rights. Both must change.

This is not to say unions are the problem. Instead, unions must be invited to the table at every turn, and they must embrace their role as agents of social change. In New York, the teachers union played a leadership role in creating the conditions necessary for success, and high school graduation rates across the city shot up 10% in just three years.

Schools must also partner with an educational intermediary -- that is, a nonprofit organization with a proven record of improving student achievement.

Finally, this work cannot be done one school at a time. Clusters of schools must work together in a collaborative and competitive manner to lift up best practices until excellence becomes the norm.

The end result is smaller, more personalized schools and classes with a safer and more effective environment for teachers and students.

Thus, the question is not how to turn schools around, but whether we have the will. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, in proposing legislation for the Schools of the 21st Century Fund, has answered the call. Dr. Connie Calloway, Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools, demonstrates daily that she is in her position to lead that turnaround. She talks candidly and consistently about the dismal student achievement rates in Detroit's general admissions high schools, and she is putting the people and resources in place to launch and execute a comprehensive turnaround plan.

The unions must play a leading role in that plan, and Virginia Cantrell, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, has the vision and fortitude to do this. Her members must support her, and research consistently shows teachers overwhelmingly have more job satisfaction working in high-performing schools than in the dysfunctional ones.

There is too much to gain, and too much to lose, to tinker around the edges any longer. We must get this done. We can get it done.

MICHAEL F. TENBUSCH is vice president for education preparedness at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and a former board member of the Detroit Public Schools. Write to him in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or at oped@freepress.com.

Bank of America donates books

Bank of America donated three very large cases of books to assist the United Way Women's Initiative in its efforts to promote early childhood literacy.

The April donation benefits Healthy Start, Healthy Families, Lighthouse PATH and Catholic Social Services. Gail Duncan, WI steering committee member, made the delivery. In March, the WI received a generous donation of 600 new soft-covered books from the Detroit Media Partnership, comprised of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, and Duncan made that delivery as well.

"For me personally, the greatest part of this project is being able to say, 'keep up the good work,' each time I drop off books at an agency and prepare to leave, empty handed," said Duncan.

Reflecting on WI's progress

By Jennifer Shroeger

I would like to voice my heartfelt appreciation to United Way for Southeastern Michigan for organizing the Women’s Initiative. This creative group has focused on improving early childhood literacy and is doing vital work in the lives of women, children, and families across Southeastern Michigan.

Our Harvest Soiree was a wonderful time of sharing. Leslie Murphy, a member of the Women’s Initiative steering committee and the UWSEM Board, hosted the event and graciously welcomed the group into her home in order to facilitate discussion on the importance of this work. As we all sat in a circle, each member took turns relating their own personal story and many of us spoke of the help we received in the course of our own lives. Through the laughter and tears we shared, we came together in consensus that determined people can achieve anything.

Click here to continue reading.

One D Responds to Dropout Issue

One D, a collaboration of six major civic organizations in metro Detroit led by Edsel B. Ford II to transform the region, responded to yesterday's story on the dropout issue and its effect on Detroit. The America's Promise Alliance release of a study that found that half of the students served by public school systems in the nation's largest cities receive diplomas. Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50%, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland.

While there are continuing discussions on how the drop out rates are calculated and what may be a more accurate process, any method demonstrates that the number of dropouts in urban settings across the country is too high. One D has dedicated its support to improving this condition.

The dropout rate is not a new problem for the region or the nation. The partners of One D are committed to finding innovative ways to solve the problem. One D will convene partners and resources in a different way to create change as evidenced by a Dropout Prevention Summit being held on April 24-25, 2008 in conjunction with America's Promise and the Skillman Foundation at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield.

"Unless we work together to stem the tide of the current high school dropout rate in our region, our community will suffer devastating long-term effects," said Michael J. Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "Individual and community levels of academic attainment are one of the single most critical predictors of personal health, life expectancy, potential earnings, crime rates and civic participation. Unless more people complete school prepared to succeed in the workforce, southeast Michigan will be unable to compete in the global economy."

One D's "Dropout Prevent Summit" is being funded by America's Promise, the Skillman Foundation and the United Way to raise awareness of this epidemic locally, to showcase cities and organizations that have successfully turned around their worst performing schools, and to equip school and community leaders with the vision and tools to begin the design of their own school turnaround efforts.

"The good news is that high-performing, high-poverty high schools have emerged across the nation," said Shirley Stancato, President of New Detroit. "It has also been shown that there are conditions which must be in place for high schools to flourish for kids who confront the myriad of challenges of poverty on a daily basis. The purpose of One D's Dropout Prevention Summit is to learn from the people and schools who have successfully changed those conditions, and to make plans to accomplish the same in our region," she added.

The Dropout Prevention Summit, April 24-25, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield. Keynote speakers include:

• Connie Calloway, Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools
• David Hecker, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Michigan Chapter
  
• Michael Flanagan, State Superintendent of Schools
  

For more information on the partners of the One D collaborative and the Dropout Prevention Summit, visit http://www.oned.org/ .

Books, books and more books

Women's Initiative delivers the goods

Recently, the Women's Initiative received a generous donation of 600 new soft-covered books from the Detroit Media Partnership, comprised of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.

This delightful selection of books, geared for ages 7-12, included many award winners. While the focus of our Early Childhood Literacy Initiative is improving literacy among children 0-3 so that they are ready to enter school prepared to learn, the chance to help older children is appealing. Securing books for these age levels provides our initiative an opportunity to include older siblings as part of the literacy process and supply “role modeling” for their younger brothers and sisters.

Click here to continue reading.

Changing statistics one child at a time

By Ty Partridge, Ph.D

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan Women’s Initiative is in the midst of its third year of funding four home-based early childhood literacy programs, and so far over 300 families stand to benefit.

The quick wins realized by the Women's Initiative Early Childhood Literacy Program are impactful because they represent progress on United Way's Agenda for Change -- which includes educational preparedness as one of three focus areas -- and the work is positively affecting a population in dire need.

Click here to continue reading.

Low birthweight’s tie to reading performance

While a number of factors contribute to a child’s ability to read effectively – mother’s education, socioeconomic status and lead exposure to name a few – a child’s weight at birth may be the most significant. Research indicates low birthweight babies are much more likely to fail in school than those of average weight or better.

As United Way for Southeastern Michigan pursues its Agenda for Change, which targets educational preparedness as one of three focus areas, it is critical to increase awareness of contributing (root) factors that impede progress. Getting more children to read at grade level is one of the priorities of the educational preparedness work, as evidenced by the recent launch of Operation ABC -- a unique initiative focused on improving grade level reading by mobilizing at least 2,000 volunteers and rallying multiple sectors of the community around the cause. Research shows that what a child weighs at birth is an important factor in future educational success.

Click here to continue reading.

Operation ABC needs Y-O-U

Proactive regional program will prepare children for long-term success

United Way for Southeastern Michigan took a major step forward in its mission to improve educational preparedness levels across the region with the recent launch of Operation ABC, and is currently looking for volunteers to join the effort.

Click here to continue reading.

Job posting: Operation ABC Specialist

United for Southeastern Michigan is seeking a Project Coordinator to oversee and execute all assigned activities related to the Operation ABC, Every child a reader by grade three reading initiative. This initiative brings together school districts, nonprofits, corporations, unions and volunteers to improve the reading levels of first and second graders in metro Detroit.

Click here to learn more.

Operation ABC fact sheet

Operation ABC™
Every child a reader by grade three

• Operation ABC is a United Way for Southeastern Michigan early education initiative that brings together school districts, local unions, nonprofits, corporations and volunteers to improve the reading levels of first and second graders in metro Detroit. This community-based initiative will recruit and train 2,000 volunteers and mobilize them in classrooms across the region as reading tutors. Each volunteer will be required to commit between one and five hours of time a week beginning in 2008.
  
  
• In southeast Michigan, recent standardized test scores reveal that nearly 7,000 third graders throughout Wayne Oakland and Macomb counties are not reading at grade level.
  
  
• Though 2006 MEAP Reading Test results showed improvements over those of 2005, 33,000 tri-county 3rd through 6th graders, attending public and charter schools tested as not reading at grade level.
  
  
• The 2005 MEAP trend of increasing shares (and numbers) of students “not meeting standards” with increasing grade level continued in 2006. The tri-county averages for 2006 were: 3rd Grade – 12.8%; 4th Grade– 15.4%; 5th Grade – 16.1%; and, 6th Grade– 17.9%.
  
  
• Studies show that of the children who don’t read at grade level by third grade, 10 to 15 percent will drop out of high school, and only two percent will complete a college degree.
  
  
• A total of fifty-five schools in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties will be involved in Operation ABC. The following twenty schools will participate in Phase One, Winter 2008.

Wayne County
City of Detroit

• Blackwell Institute
• Carstens Elementary School
• Roberto Clemente Academy
• Mark Twain Elementary School
• Maybury Elementary School

Outer-Wayne
Hamtramck School District

• Hamtramck Academy

Highland Park School District

• Cortland Elementary School

Taylor School District

• Myers Elementary School

Wyandotte School District

• Taft Elementary School

Oakland County
Pontiac School District

• Whitman Elementary School
• Crofoot Elementary School
• Franklin Elementary School

Macomb County
Fitzgerald School District

• Mound Park School
• Westview School

Van Dyke School District

• John F. Kennedy
• Washington Elementary School
• Marjorie Carlson School
• McKinley School

Warren Woods School District

• Westwood

To date, United Way has recruited 1,300 Volunteers to place in 20 partners schools for Phase One of Operation ABC. The current list of volunteers are from the following companies, non profits and organizations:

• AFL-CIO (Community Services)
• City Year Detroit
• Credit Union One
• Fifth Third Bank
• Ford Motor Company
• Golden Key International Honor Society
• Holiday Automotive Group
• IBM
• Leadership Detroit
• Macomb County Community College
• Michigan Department of Human Services
• Schoolcraft College
• UBS Financial
• University of Michigan Dearborn, Golden Key

United Way Operation ABC Community Partners include:

• AFL-CIO (Community Services)
• City Year Detroit
• Cities of Promise – Michigan
• Communities in Schools
• Detroit Parent Network
• Lighthouse PATH
• Literacy Project Directors of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties
• Macomb Community College
• Michigan Department of Human Services
• Oakland County Michigan Health Division – Department of Health and Human Services
• Pontiac School District
• UAW

United Way’s goal for Operation ABC is to improve MEAP reading scores in targeted schools over a three-year period (2008-2011), and to raise the level of community involvement in children’s reading.

Individuals who are interested in becoming an Operation ABC Volunteer should contact 2-1-1. Organizations may get involved by adopting a school (committing at least 10 people to serve as volunteer tutors). Contact Angela Walker at 313-226-9450 for more information.

United Way Unveils Operation ABC, Seeks 2,000 Volunteers to Support Early Education

PRESS RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Cara I. Belton, 313-226-9484 or (313) 520-8454
Laura L. Rodwan, 313-226-9484 or (313) 477-2750

Proactive, regional program will prepare children for long-term success

DETROIT – United Way today announced the launch of a new, proactive early education initiative – Operation ABC. Created by United Way, Operation ABC is a unique initiative that brings together school districts, nonprofits, corporations, and volunteers to improve the reading levels of first and second graders in Metro Detroit. As a component of United Ways’ Agenda for Change, Operation ABC is focused on Educational Preparedness, with a specific goal to assure that every child in southeastern Michigan is reading at grade level by the time they enter the third grade. In order to execute the community-based initiative, United Way will recruit and train more than 2,000 volunteers and mobilize them in classrooms across the region as reading tutors. Each volunteer will be required to commit between one and five hours of time a week beginning in 2008.

United Way president and CEO Michael J. Brennan unveiled Operation ABC at a press conference at the UAW Solidarity House. Accompanied by a representative group of Operation ABC sponsors and thirty first and second graders from area schools, Brennan took the opportunity to issue a formal call to action for volunteers throughout the southeast Michigan region.

“Part of our mission is to mobilize the caring power of the region to affect positive, lasting change,” said Brennan. “Additionally, as a member of One D, we took on the mantel of Educational Preparedness as a primary focus. Operation ABC is an example of that commitment in action. We are addressing an immediate need in our community by directly aligning resources – 2,000 volunteers, with a vital need-- tutoring first and second graders in select schools throughout the tri-county region.”

Brennan went on to explain the vital need for Operation ABC: “Our research shows that the third grade is the first benchmark for a successful education. If a child fails to read at the recommended reading level by the third grade, a potential domino effect begins, diminishing that child’s chances of completing high school. Now more than ever, the success of the region in the 21st century will require a renewed commitment to a culture of achievement in our schools and communities. Unless more youth graduate from school prepared to succeed, southeast Michigan will be unable to compete in the global economy. Early education is the key.”

Nationally, 46% of children come to school unprepared to succeed. Within southeast Michigan, the gap in early education is reflected in 2006 MEAP results. While 2006 MEAP Reading Test results showed improvements over those of 2005, nearly 7,000 third graders throughout Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties are not reading at grade level.

For the past year, United Way has been working to build the framework, partnerships and collaboration to make Operation ABC possible. Following extensive research, United Way began to shape the model for Operation ABC, including securing the necessary resources to support volunteer the effort. “Aside from the amount of human resources needed, we had to shape a training process and develop specific security clearance procedures for each volunteer,” said Dona Ponepinto, Vice President of Community Investments and Partnerships. “Once accepted, each volunteer will participate in two basic training sessions that will cover areas such as emergency procedures, child interaction coaching, and specialized training on their school’s specific tutoring model. Volunteers will then be placed based on their skills, location preference, or a school’s program needs.”

Though statistics illustrate the gaps in early education in southeastern Michigan, United Way is working to bridge the gap to high-quality early care and educational opportunities that greatly increase readiness through programs such as Operation ABC. Additional United Way early education programs already in progress include Success by Six™ and the Virgil H. Carr School Attendance Initiative.

Individuals who are interested in becoming an Operation ABC Volunteer should call 2-1-1. Organizations may get involved by adopting a school (committing at least 10 people to serve as volunteer tutors). Contact Angela Walker at 313-226-9450 for more information.

###

United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.uwsem.org.

Fulfilling resolutions easy as A-B-C

It’s the New Year and many of us are making (and some of us are breaking) yearly resolutions. One resolution United Way hopes you keep is your commitment to giving back to the community, and we have a great new opportunity that will allow you to do just that.

Operation ABC is a region-wide collaboration aimed at getting more children to read at grade level by third grade. To do this, United Way is recruiting 1,000 volunteers to serve as reading tutors in first and second grade classrooms across Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. These individuals will play a critical role in helping children build their literacy skills through reading and other learning activities that augment current curriculums.

Click here to read more.

Technology empowers next generation

United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s Leadership Next initiative is providing laptop computers to children across the region and around the world as part of an ambitious plan to make access to learning opportunities universal.

The One Laptop Per Child project was originally intended to provide a low-cost computer for poor children in developing countries. The effort led to the creation of the XO computer, dubbed the “$100 laptop.” OLPC proved to be such a good idea that it has attracted worldwide support, and interest from groups like Leadership Next and others seeking to help young people in their respective communities. The United Way leadership group is made up of young professionals who share an interest in improving conditions across the region.

"Leadership Next believes in the power of technology," says Julie Updyke, UWSEM Major Gifts Associate and Leadership Next coordinator. "We want to begin bridging the educational divides that we see in our region - and think that everyone in our community must have access to technology for this to be possible."

Click here to read more.

The GAP Generation

Success by 6® and United Way support the new GAP generation, meaning Grandparents as Parents. Society is changing, and there are a lot of grandparents raising their grandchildren. An Oakland Press ran a while back that indicated 42 percent of grandparents were acting as parents in Oakland County alone. So that’s why it really is a new generation. There are support groups for grandparents, such as the GAP program that I participate in. Most grandparents are on a limited income and through the GAP program and United Way Success by 6, grandparents can find resources needed to care for their grandchildren’s development needs as well as economic and basic needs like food and clothing.

I am very proud to be a part of all of that, knowing that there is support out there I do not feel alone because I see others in the same position I am.

When I first took over raising my three grandchildren, I was very overwhelmed. I was doing this out of my heart because I didn’t want them to get lost in the system. This same feeling is why most grandparents step up to the plate, because it’s a matter of the heart. Once our grandchildren are in the system it’s too hard to get them out. Even though I knew that, I still felt overwhelmed because I went from a 60 hour a week job to being a stay at home mom. As you get older, some people have a lot of patience and some people don’t, so I had to redevelop that patience. It was funny, my husband had all the patience with our children, but I have all the patience to deal with our grandchildren. Even though it was the right thing to do, it was overwhelming to have to start at the beginning again.

My husband and I had already moved to a smaller home thinking we were done raising our children. We had to make bedrooms and find resources for beds and other needs when our grandchildren came to live with us. I had to leave my job because it didn’t make sense to pay for daycare for three children, but that meant losing a source of income.

I had heard about the GAP program through Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency (OLHSA) because the need for resources was out there with so many of us serving in this role. We may not all go to the support group, but we still need the resources because many grandparents are living on just Social Security since most have retired. Most grandparents don’t know about all of the resources out there, and they need to know there is help and there are a lot of us to offer support.

A couple weeks ago myself and other grandparents traveled to Lansing with OLHSA to support a state bill that will provide more services and income to grandparents acting as parents. It passed in the Senate and we are just waiting for it to go through the House.

I am sure I am not the only grandma who feels overwhelmed at times with issues. We really need to spread the word in support of our grandchildren and their needs because they are the future and it’s our responsibility as grandparents and as the community to make sure they succeed and have a secure life.

Nancy Turcotte

Grandparent and participant in United Way's Success by 6

6 and beyond

Success by 6 also helped my grandson Zachary with his lack of communication. He’s always been delayed in his development. I could see his frustration as he got older because of lack of communication. When they get so frustrated and overwhelmed, kids often give up on themselves and lose self-confidence. So it was important to me to get him the help he needed. Success by 6 realized he needed speech, so they did speech with him. They helped me learn some different tools to help him build his motor skills since he was way behind.

Eventually when Zachary went to grade school I had problems continuing his therapy. At that point, I could go back and approach his Success by 6’s Headstart program, who taught me how to communicate with the grade school he attended to get the help he needed, including speech and occupational therapy. When I went back and talked to the people at Headstart, they gave me some tips such as writing the Board of Education, talking to the principal and teachers, and having him tested for special education. I pushed all those issues and ended up getting him the support he needed and enrolling him in special education. He gets all that three times a week, but it took some work and Success by 6 was there.

The program should be called Success by 6 and beyond, because they didn’t shut the door on me because of his age. The program wasn’t just a one-time thing; I was still able to go to them for help once Zach was older than 6.

It’s quite funny now, because he’s gotten all of this help and he’s able to talk to you and tell you what’s going on; he’s become a big tattletale. Before he would always get the blame for everything, because he couldn’t tell you differently. If my other grandchil