I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4122 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 19, 2009 Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Davis of Illinois, and Mr. Fattah) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To support high-need middle and high schools in order to improve students’ academic achievement, graduation rates, postsecondary readiness, and preparation for citizenry.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Graduation for All Act.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)A high school diploma and postsecondary training are increasingly important for success in the 21st century economy. In fact, nearly 90 percent of the fastest-growing, highest-paying jobs require education beyond high school. (2)About 1,200,000 high school students, which is approximately one-third of all high school students, do not to graduate every year. According to the Department of Education, the 2009 United States high school graduation rate was the lowest the rate since 2002. (3)Dropouts earn less and require greater public assistance than high school completers. Compared to the 11 percent of high school graduates, 25 percent of dropouts were unemployed for a year or more between 1997 and 2001. Dropouts create an annual estimated cost of $24,000,000,000 to the public. (4)Only 16 percent of the Nation’s 50 largest school districts have a graduation rate that is equal to or greater than the national average. Additionally, the Nation’s 50 largest cities graduate about 59 percent of students on time, compared to 77 percent of students in nearby suburban communities. (5)The national graduation rate is 70 percent. The graduation rates for minority groups are far lower than that of their peers. Only 55 percent of Black students, 58 percent of Latino students, and 51 percent of Native American students graduate, while their nonminority peers graduate at a rate of 76 percent. And, only 56 percent of all students with disabilities earn diplomas. Additionally, 35 percent of Black students and 29 percent of Latino students, compared to only 11 percent of White students, attend high schools in which graduation is not the norm. (6)There is a gender gap in national graduation rates, with 72 percent of female students graduating compared to 65 percent of males. This gap is especially large among minority groups. Only 48 percent of African-American male students graduate, whereas 59 percent of African-American female students graduate. Among Latino students, 58 percent of female students graduate compared to 49 percent of male students. (7)Approximately half of the Nation’s students who drop out of high school were previously enrolled in a dropout factory—a school where 40 percent or more of the students in the freshman class have dropped out by the time the students reach their senior year. These schools are located in nearly every State and disproportionately serve minority and poor students. (8)Investing in the expansion of dual enrollment and early college programs can help individuals earn credit toward postsecondary education while simultaneously earning high school credit. These programs increase high school graduation rates and the percentage of students who complete a recognized postsecondary credential by the age of 26, including low-income students and students from other populations underrepresented in higher education. (9)Lack of basic skills at the end of the middle school grades has serious implications for students. Students who enter high school 2 or more years behind grade level in mathematics and literacy have only a 50 percent chance of progressing on time to the tenth grade. Those students who do not progress on time to the tenth grade are at significant risk of dropping out of high school. (10)High school dropouts are 3½ times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested and 8 times more likely to be incarcerated. Nearly 70 percent of inmates in our Nation’s prisons did not earn a high school diploma. Moreover, rasing the high school completion rate one percent for men between ages 20 and 60 would save the United States $1,400,000,000 annually in crime-related costs.

3.

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1)to address the dropout crisis by supporting local educational agencies in improving the achievement, increasing the graduation rates, increasing the college enrollment and postsecondary persistence rates, and improving preparation for citizenry, of students attending the Nation’s lowest-performing high schools and their feeder middle schools; (2)to support comprehensive data-based school reforms and the creation of new schools, including charter schools and other innovative school models, such as magnet schools, to prepare students for success in postsecondary education and 21st century careers; (3)to provide targeted, intensive support and effective interventions to reform schools with high dropout and low graduation rates through dropout prevention, college readiness, and credit recovery programs; and (4)to conduct an extensive evaluation of reform efforts and disseminate the results of such efforts in order to ensure the success of future middle school and high school reform efforts.