Dropouts: One is too many
On the Cover:
James Alexander dropped out of high school twice before graduating in 2007. Now, the 21-year-old
is in college, studying to be a teacher. “I always thought I was going to be an NBA player,” says Alexander, who
admits he didn’t have a backup plan until he was older and encouraged by his own teachers to help students at risk
of dropping out. “All my teachers let me know that I was a good teacher,” he says. Click here for more on Michigan’s dropout
crisis.
Photo by Kevin W. Fowler
The MEA Voice is published for...
Your MEA Voice is published for Kentwood EA member Joe Pellerito and MEA’s nearly 160,000 members. Pellerito, a speaker at the first of 10 MEA-sponsored hearings on Michigan’s dropout crisis, said establishing caring relationships with students is one key to keeping at-risk students in school.
“If you get to their heart, you get to their head,” said Pellerito who teaches a Teen Leadership curriculum that creates an environment of success for ninth-grade students.
“They see success, see what success feels like and can grow from there.”