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A New Effort to Lower the School Dropout Rate

Despite a significant reduction in its drop out rate in recent years, the Davenport School District has called in some outside help to push it down even lower. This summer, the district hired a Utah-based non-profit called Graduation Alliance.

Superintendent Art Tate says the district has done all it can to adapt programs and work with young people who have dropped out.
Graduation Alliance has started contacting former Davenport students, offering them the chance to earn their diplomas by taking classes online. And Doctor Tate says other superintendents have given him "glowing" reports about its success. 

Credit Davenport School District
Davenport School Superintendent Art Tate

Another benefit is that the cost for the district is "revenue neutral."

GRADALL2.mp3
We pay them what district would have received in state aid for that student.

Davenport's dropout rate is now nearly 6 per cent, down from 10 per cent just three years ago. 

It's the third largest school district in Iowa with 16,000 students. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.