LOOP_OH / FLICKR
We've talked a lot about Ohio's dropout problem: who's dropping out, common reasons why students may leave, and how dropouts affect Ohio's economy.According to the Ohio Education Research Center's dropout tracking report, dropouts are a big problem for the state's "Big 8" urban districts. Northeast Ohio's a bit unique, in that two of those urban districts--Akron and Cleveland--are only separated by roughly 40 miles.Both districts are dealing with the issue of students leaving before graduation. Clocking in at 16.5 percent in 2010, Cleveland Metropolitan School District's dropout rate is the highest in the state. Akron Public Schools' dropout rate comes in at 6.2 percent.For many educators, community leaders, and parents, that's a problem. That's why WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN ideastream are hosting Ideas: The Dropout Dilemma, a town hall-style special about the region's low graduation rates and potential ways to solve the problem.The Sound of Ideas' host Mike McIntyre will moderate the hour-long conversation, which will include insight from audience members and these three panelists:
- Deborah Delisle, U.S. Department of Education's Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education
- Marshall Emerson III, I Can Schools' co-founder and CEO
- David James, Superintendent of Akron Public Schools.
The town hall will air at 9 p.m. tonight simultaneously on both WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN. It goes hand-in-hand with the airing of Facing Forward: A Student's Story, which chronicles the struggle of urban education through the eyes of one young student as he attends an inner-city Cleveland charter school. Missing the show? You can still follow along with StateImpact Ohio's Amy Hansen as she live tweets comments from panelists and audience members during the taping of the special beginning at 5 p.m. tonight. We want to hear what you think about Northeast Ohio's dropout dilemma--join in on the Twitter conversation by using the hashtag #dropoutdilemma.StateImpact Ohio is a collaboration among WCPN, WKSU, and WOSU.