Conference Summary

This was the seventh (7th) conference organized by the Civil Rights Project to call specific attention to our nation’s graduation and dropout crisis. It was held for the first time in the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington in Seattle, with emphasis placed on the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. The conference drew more than one hundred participants from the Pacific Northwest, convening students, activists, practitioners, community leaders, policymakers, and researchers.

The purpose of the conference was to galvanize regional and local efforts to confront the school dropout crisis, and to generate an ongoing national conversation about the policy changes needed in order for schools and communities to ensure that every student receives the educational opportunities leading to successful high school graduation and beyond.

Conference goals and presentations focused on:

• identifying and discussing the alarming trends and socioeconomic costs of the school dropout crisis in the Northwest;
• socioeconomic costs of the school dropout crisis in the Northwest;
• effective models and interventions for improving the graduation rate;
• better systems of accountability at the federal, state and local levels;
• the legislative changes needed in order to better support the most underserved populations in the Northwest, including African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Latinos.

The conference presented seventeen (17) research reports that shed light on the most recent national, state, and local trends and statistics, as well as on the challenges and possibilities specific to the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

The following is a list of invited speakers and presentation topics where applicable:

Sally Brownfield, Center for the Improvement of Student Learning at the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Susan C. Faircloth, Assistant Professor and Co-Director, The Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education, The Pennsylvania State University.

• “An Examination of the Dropout/Graduation Crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native Students.”

Brian Jeffries, Graduation Policy Director and Senior Policy Advisor, Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Nettie Legters, Co-Director, Center for Social Organization of Schools, Talent Development High Schools Program, Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

• Identifying the Trends and Costs of the School Dropout Crisis in the Northwest
• Locating the Dropout Crisis: What Can Promoting Power Tell Us About High Schools in the Pacific Northwest?

Supplementary materials from Everyone Graduates Center, JHU:

• What Your Community Can Do to Prevent Dropout and Secure Success for All Youth
• Everyone Graduates: What Your Community Can Do

Daniel, J. Losen, Senior Education Law and Policy Associate, Senior Education Law and Policy Associate, The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.

• Beyond Accurate Reporting: Why Congress Should Improve Graduation-Rate Accountability in the Reauthorization
• The Color of Inadequate School Resources: Challenging Racial Inequities That Contribute to Low Graduation Rates and High Risk for Incarceration

Mandy Smoker Broaddus, American Indian Student Achievement Specialist, Office of Public Instruction, Indian Education Division.

• The Dropout Crisis in Montana

Christopher B. Swanson, Director, Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.

• Diplomas 2008 Count – School to College: Can P-16 Councils Ease the Transition?, June 5, 2008 – Vol. 27, Issue 40.

Mike Tulee, Policy Analyst, Center for the Native Education, Antioch University Seattle.

• Early College in Indian Country: Meeting the Dropout Crisis Head On

The conference was made possible by generous funding from Editorial Projects in Education Research Center.

Organized by:
The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at the University of California, Los Angeles

Co-Sponsored by:
Editorial Projects in Education Research Center

Pennsylvania State University: The Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education

University of Washington: College of Education, The Diversity Research Institute, The Institute for the Study of Ethnicity (WISER), Race and Sexuality

Native American Students in Advanced Academia (NASAA), and The Office of Minority Affairs

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)

University of Oregon: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MECha)