2008 Woodie Awards
AT&T works to combat drop-outs
$100 million philanthropy program to address high schools
Valeriya Ivanova
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
AT&T and the AT&T Foundation recently founded AT&T Aspire, a $100 million philanthropic education program to address high-school dropout problems.
According to America's Promise Alliance, "nearly one-third of U.S. high school students drop out before graduating - with about 7,000 students dropping out every school day, or one every 26 seconds." The organization works to prepare children and youth for college and post-college careers, according to the Web site.
U.S. Labor Department statistics conducted this March state the unemployment rate as 60 percent higher for individuals who did not complete high school compared to those who did. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the U.S. economy suffers losses of over $3.7 billion annually in earnings and remedial education costs if students are unprepared to enter college.
AT&T has always put education as their major philanthropy focus. "We are not giving our children and our young people all of the opportunities they need to succeed," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said. "If we can draw attention [toward this issue] we can bring funding sources and so forth to programs like this. I think it goes a long way towards helping people understand the importance of education in this country."
The company is offering three new developments: AT&T High School Success Special Grants, Job Shadow Initiative and Dropout-Prevention Summits.
Eligible school districts, school districts foundations and nonprofit organizations across the country will be able to receive additional funding to help their students. To qualify, students must have repeated a grade in elementary or middle school, have reading or math scores significantly below grade average, have attendance issues over a continuous period of time, fail to pass ninth grade core courses in English and/or math, or have disciplinary problems.
Job shadowing is a work-based learning experience, which allows high school students to observe a normal workday at their career choice office. This is similar to an unpaid internship, only it's a daylong program. AT&T's job-shadowing program will connect students in grades nine through 12 with AT&T employees. AT&T plans to reach 100,000 students in the next five years giving the opportunity for the students to see the necessary skills needed to succeed in a working environment.
According to America's Promise Alliance, "nearly one-third of U.S. high school students drop out before graduating - with about 7,000 students dropping out every school day, or one every 26 seconds." The organization works to prepare children and youth for college and post-college careers, according to the Web site.
U.S. Labor Department statistics conducted this March state the unemployment rate as 60 percent higher for individuals who did not complete high school compared to those who did. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the U.S. economy suffers losses of over $3.7 billion annually in earnings and remedial education costs if students are unprepared to enter college.
AT&T has always put education as their major philanthropy focus. "We are not giving our children and our young people all of the opportunities they need to succeed," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said. "If we can draw attention [toward this issue] we can bring funding sources and so forth to programs like this. I think it goes a long way towards helping people understand the importance of education in this country."
The company is offering three new developments: AT&T High School Success Special Grants, Job Shadow Initiative and Dropout-Prevention Summits.
Eligible school districts, school districts foundations and nonprofit organizations across the country will be able to receive additional funding to help their students. To qualify, students must have repeated a grade in elementary or middle school, have reading or math scores significantly below grade average, have attendance issues over a continuous period of time, fail to pass ninth grade core courses in English and/or math, or have disciplinary problems.
Job shadowing is a work-based learning experience, which allows high school students to observe a normal workday at their career choice office. This is similar to an unpaid internship, only it's a daylong program. AT&T's job-shadowing program will connect students in grades nine through 12 with AT&T employees. AT&T plans to reach 100,000 students in the next five years giving the opportunity for the students to see the necessary skills needed to succeed in a working environment.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Bill Betzen
posted 5/01/08 @ 9:51 PM EST
Three years ago, to fight our 55% Dallas ISD dropout rate, we started a 10-year time-capsule & class reunion plan called the Middle School Archive Project. (Continued…)
Post a Comment