The Texas Dropout Crisis and Our Children
A Conference on Graduation Rates, Causes, and Policy Solutions

October 6, 2006
Rice University
Sponsored by
Rice University Center for Education • CHILDREN AT RISK •
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University •
Editorial Projects in Education Research Center
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Continental Breakfast, 8:30 a.m.

Welcome, 9:00-9:15 a.m.
Susie Dilg, Rice University Center for Education, Board Member and Chair of the Conference Host Committee
Robert Sanborn, President and CEO, CHILDREN AT RISK

Session I, 9:15-10:25 a.m.
Getting the Right Numbers and Getting the Numbers Right: How Research Converges on the Severity of the Problem
Moderator: Gary Orfield, Professor of Education and Social Policy, Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard

Conference Opening
The Dropout Crisis: An American Tragedy
Gary Orfield

Letting the Numbers Speak: Using Data to Understand the Dropout Crisis in Texas
Chris Swanson, Director, Editorial Projects in Education Research Center

Education Matters: The Economic and Demographic Transformations
Stephen Klineberg, Professor of Sociology, Rice University

Accountability Texas Style: The Progress and Learning of Urban Minority Students in a High-Stakes Testing Context
Julian Vasquez Heilig, Assistant Professor of Educational Administration, University of Texas at Austin

Dropout Rates Based on Longitudinal Student Data for Texas Public School Students Ages 15 to 20
Magnus Lofstrom, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Dallas

Session II, 10:25-11:45 a.m.
What Causes Dropping Out?  Do our Current Education Policies Help Students Get Through School?
Moderator: Angela Valenzuela, Professor and Director, Texas Center for Education Policy, University of Texas at Austin

A National Perspective on High School Dropouts: Causes, Costs, and Consequences
Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford University and Co-Director of the School Re-Design Network

Unintended Consequences: How Texas School Policies Exacerbate the Dropout Crisis
Eileen Coppola, Research Scientist, Center for Education, and Lecturer in Education, Rice University

Promoting Power and the Characteristics of Low Performing and Beat the Odds High Schools in Texas and the Nation
Robert Balfanz, Research Scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University

Correcting Graduation Rate Inflation in Texas: And 77,000 Missing Children
Daniel Losen Senior Education Law and Policy Associate, The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University

Masking Persistent Inequalities and Creating New Ones:  Examining a System that Counts Students as Assets or Liabilities
Linda McSpadden McNeil, Professor of Education, and Co-Director, Center for Education, Rice University

Luncheon, Grand Hall, 12:00-1:15 p.m.
Moderator: Gary Orfield, Professor of Education and Social Policy, Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard

Knowledge and Action: From Dropping Out to Holding On
María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Executive Director, Intercultural Development Research Association

Panel of Superintendents: How District Leaders Understand the Dropout Crisis and How the Community Can Support Them
Abelardo Saavedra, Houston Independent School District
Sandra Mossman, Clear Creek Independent School District
Duncan Klussmann, Spring Branch Independent School District

Session III, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
What Causes Dropping Out?  How Our Schools Approach Diverse Languages and Cultures
Moderator: Eileen Coppola, Research Scientist, Center for Education, and Lecturer in Education, Rice University

The Social Consequences of Public Policy
Carol Camp Yeakey, Professor and Founding Director, Center on Urban Research and Public Policy, and Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

Beyond the Racial Achievement Gap: The Disappearance of English Language Learners from Texas Schools
Angela Valenzuela, Professor and Director, Texas Center for Education Policy, University of Texas at Austin

Reframing Dropouts: The Complexity of Urban Life Intersects with Current School Policy
Judy Radigan, Research Scientist, Center for Education, and Lecturer in Education, Rice University, with students from Reach Charter School, Houston

Session IV, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
The Dropout Problem:  What Can Policymakers and Community Leaders Do?  What Next?
Moderator: Robert Sanborn, President and CEO, CHILDREN AT RISK

Model Legislation for Accurate Graduation Rate Reporting and Accountability
Daniel Losen Senior Education Law and Policy Associate, The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University

Organizing a Response to the Dropout Crisis
Panelists:
State Representative Dora Olivo
State Representative Scott Hochberg
Sylvia Brooks, Executive Director, Houston Area Urban League
Renato De Los Santos, Dallas Regional Office Director, LULAC National
Educational Service Center
Luis Figueroa, Legislative Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Conference Closing, 3:45-4:00 p.m.
Linda McSpadden McNeil, Professor of Education, and Co-Director, Center for Education, Rice University