Amended in Assembly August 24, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 96

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O’Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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July 8, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 96—Relative to Dropout Recovery Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 96, as amended, Weber. Dropout Recovery Month.

This measure would declare the month of August 2015 as Dropout Recovery Month, and would state that the Legislature intends to encourage the support of dropout recovery high schools with creative teaching strategies, alternative accountability metrics, and adequate resources.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The 2013 and 2014 Building a Grad Nation reports
found that the nation cannot achieve its graduation goals without
increasing California’s graduation rate for Latino and African
American pupils; and

WHEREAS, The America’s Promise Alliance found, in 2014,
that pupils drop out of high school because they are overwhelmed
by the effects of toxic living conditions such as homelessness,
violent surroundings, abuse or neglect, and catastrophic family
health events; and

WHEREAS, The California Dropout Research Project found,
in 2008, that approximately 20 percent of the variability in dropout
rates can be attributed to key characteristics in schools, including
the resources, policies, and practices at schoolsites; and

WHEREAS, Research by the Alliance for Excellent Education
concludes that if only one-half of the dropouts from a single year
were to earn a diploma, the economic benefits to California would
include an additional $1.4 billion in earnings annually for the
reengaged pupils and an annual increase in state and local tax
revenues of $167 million; and

WHEREAS, Research further shows that reengaged learners
demonstrate higher levels of civic engagement, contribute to the
cultural strength of their communities, and are significantly less
likely to be unemployed, on public assistance, or arrested for a
violent crime; and

WHEREAS, Research by WestEd demonstrates the challenges
faced by schools seeking to reengage dropouts in that one-half of
the dropouts who return to school stay for one year or less,
one-third of returning dropouts fail to complete even one course
after they reenroll, and as few as 18 percent of returning dropouts
graduate; and

WHEREAS, Successful dropout recovery high schools in
California are operating under Section 47612.1 of the Education
Code in partnership with federal Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act organizations, the California Conservation Corps,
and other federal and state career technical education partners to
provide significant social, economic, and academic benefits for
their pupils and for California’s population as a whole; and

WHEREAS, Research calls for alternative strategies and
accountability metrics for demonstrating the success of dropout
recovery programs, including accelerated learning pedagogies,
competency-based instruction, inclusion of noncognitive indicators,
and alternative graduation rate cohorts; and

WHEREAS, These successful dropout recovery high schools
attract and retain high-quality staff committed to transforming
their pupils from being at risk of failure to being at promise of
success; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby declares the month
of August 2015 as Dropout Recovery Month, in honor of the
schools and staff who work to reengage pupils who have previously
dropped out of school, and in honor of the pupils who overcome
significant personal challenges to reengage in high school and
become transformed learners in preparation for college and a future
career; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature intends to encourage the support
of dropout recovery high schools with creative teaching strategies,
alternative accountability metrics, and adequate resources; and be
it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.