Monthly Archives: January 2010

Communities In Schools, Glover Middle School and Spokane County are offering the Strengthening Families program at Glover Middle School starting on January 21st. 
 
This program is for parents and youth ages 10-14.  Free meals and childcare are provided.  The program runs every Thursday January 21st – March 11th.
 
This is a research based, nationally recognized program offered for FREE for interested families. 
 
Session topics include using lover love and limits, goal setting, rules, dealing with stress, and building family bonds.
 
To register please email sherry@cisspokane.org or call Sherry at 509-413-1436.  We will be accepting registrations as late as January 21st.

On Wednesday, January 20, the first annual Auburn Area Middle School Career Conference will be held from 7:55 A.M. to 10 A.M. at Cascade Middle School in Auburn and from 11:55 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M. at Mt. Baker Middle School in Auburn.

Auburn School District, Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce and Communities In Schools of Auburn are partnering together to encourage middle school students to stay engaged in school, plan appropriate high school course of study, graduate from high school on time, and set goals for successes beyond high school.

A 20-minute college-bound program awareness assembly kicks off the career conference, followed by four 15-minute breakout sessions with 18 local business professionals and representatives from six community and technical colleges, and a four-year university.

Middle school students from Valley Christian School will be participating in the event with students from Mt. Baker Middle School during the afternoon session.

For More information contact: Jonathan Cole at 253-288-7659.

As a result of a new game-changing study it released on January 12, the Alliance for Excellent Education said there was demonstrated evidence that lowering the high school dropout rate will have important positive implications for the economic vitality of the forty-five largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

The study, “The Economic Benefits from Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Businesses in the Nation’s Largest Metropolitan Areas” measures on a city-by-city basis the growth in jobs, home ownership, levels of spending and investment, and car sales that will result from cutting the high school dropout rate in half.

According to the study 34% of high school students in the Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan area do not graduate on time with a regular diploma – 14,700 dropped out from the class of 2008.

If just half of the dropouts had graduated these 7,300 “new graduates’ would experience a combined $96 million annual increase in earnings. This would result in $68 million additional spending, supporting 700 new jobs which would increase our gross regional product by $128 million and deliver $9 million in additional tax revenues. After earning their diploma 71% would pursue some type of post secondary education.

According to Alliance President Bob Wise, “The report underscores the notion that the best economic stimulus package is a high school diploma. If the U.S. is to improve its competitiveness in the global economy, it must have an education system that meets the fast-growing demand for high-level skills.”

Download the Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan area results here.