Educators Focusing On Younger Students At Risk Of Becoming Dropouts

USA Today (5/20, Toppo) reports, "For years, educators have tried - often in vain - to get more students to graduate from high school on time and boost college-going rates," with few approaches having much success. Recently, however some educators have been "taking a hard look at what happens to kids years before they get to high school, where" they have found that "red flags appear with alarming regularity." USA Today adds that the Diplomas Now program at Philadelphia's Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences focuses on "students as early as the sixth grade" who are at-risk for failing or dropping out, "in the belief that by the time they're in high school, it's too late to intervene." The programs' results have been "so impressive that the program has spread to four more cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and San Antonio."