Press Release - Oct 24, 2007
OFFICE OF GOV. BILL RITTER, JR.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 24, 2007
CONTACTS
Media: Evan Dreyer, 720.350.8370, evan.dreyer@state.co.us
Non-media: Matt Gianneschi or Janet Lopez, 303.866.5800
GOV. RITTER TO HOST STATEWIDE DROPOUT PREVENTION SUMMIT
Gov. Bill Ritter will host a two-day education summit in December that will focus on developing new policies to achieve the Governor's goal of cutting Colorado's high-school dropout rate in half over the next 10 years.
The Colorado Dropout Prevention, Retention and Recovery Summit will be held Dec. 5-6 at Mountain Range High School in Westminster.
"My hope is that this summit will generate a robust dialogue and begin to provide an action plan for keeping kids in school until graduation day," Gov. Ritter said. "A dropout rate of 25 percent is unacceptable. It's bad for our kids and it hurts for our workforce and economic development opportunities as a state. Colorado can do better, and this summit will help us get there."
The summit will bring together members of the Governor's P-20 Education Council with statewide experts, members of the business community, local educators, researchers, legislators, policymakers and students. A grant from the American's Promise Alliance is supporting the summit, which will focus on five key areas, including:
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Supporting comprehensive and accurate graduation and dropout data
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Establishing early warning systems to support struggling students
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Supporting parental engagement and creating individualized graduation plans
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Providing supportive options for struggling students to meet rigorous expectations
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Sharing results of research and disseminating best practices.
The summit will include interactive panel discussions and community action planning sessions. It will conclude with a discussion between summit participants and a panel of invited
executive-level policymakers from state departments and elected officials.
"This will be a long-overdue forum to share ideas and develop thoughtful, realistic policies to curb the dropout rate in Colorado," said Kathy Callum of Denver, who co-chairs the P-20 Council's Dropout Subcommittee with Jim Henderson of Manitou Springs. "This is one of the most important education issues facing the state."
Gov. Ritter will address the opening session at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5.