Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth

Documents what committed educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the country are doing to reconnect out-of-school youth to the social and economic mainstream. This report provides background on the serious high school dropout problem and describes in-depth what twelve communities are doing to reconnect dropouts to education and employment training. It also includes descriptions of major national program models serving out-of-school youth. A wide range of effective dropout recovery efforts are detailed in the report, including service-learning, alternative schools, CBO-run schools, charter schools, free-standing youth employment programs, GED preparation, community college initiatives, and leading-edge state and local policies. Published in cooperation with the National Conference of State Legislatures, National League of Cities, National School Boards Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and Council of the Great City Schools.