This week, NPR has a five-part series dealing with high school dropouts and dropout prevention. Part one profiles 19-year-old Patrick Lundvick, a former drug dealer who is now enrolled at a Youth Connection school. The story describes YC as an organization that “runs 22 charter schools in Chicago that deal exclusively with dropouts.”
Youth Connection does not provide the kind of willy-nilly, largely unproven, interventions employed by many of the recipients of North Carolina’s dropout prevention grants. Rather, YC partners with community colleges and community-based organizations to create small campuses for Chicago’s most at-risk children. They have an incredible track record, as well as 2,000 kids on wait lists.
Fortunately, the NC General Assembly eliminated the 100-school cap on charter schools; soon our at-risk kids may have the opportunity to attend a school like Youth Connection Charter School.
HT: KS
