30
35
40
45
government welfare programs, which are funded by American taxpayers.
Studies
have shown that as much as 75 percent of all
prisoners in the United States, for
example, did not finish high school.
Several cities have formed programs to help high school dropouts. In
Houston, Texas, volunteers
---
including the
mayor
---
go to dropouts’ homes and
try to convince these students to give school another try. More than 5,000 city
dropouts have returned to the classroom since the program started in 2004. In
Virginia, a private business has donated money
to open two non-traditional
schools for high school students who are struggling in conventional schools and
are likely to drop out. And in Washington, D.C., a private welfare agency has
started a program to help dropouts learn job skills.
Now there is a new national
campaign to reduce American dropout rates.
A group called the Promise Alliance is giving money to several states. It wants
each state to develop a plan for increasing its graduation rates.
Alliance leaders
hope that all fifty states will have a plan in place by the year 2010. The campaign
is funded by both businesses and philanthropic organizations. It aims to unite
government and business leaders with parents and educators. “The key is to
start working together,” said Marguerite Kondracke,
president and CEO of
Promise Alliance. “We need to recognize that by working together, we can
make enormous strides to ensure that our children succeed.”
Reading Time
_______ minutes _______ seconds
547 words
28
prisoner --- a person in prison
31
mayor --- the
head of city government
38
campaign --- coordinated actions to achieve a result
43
