Project Dropout

About a hundred young people drop out of high school everyday in Massachusetts; that adds up to 3.8% of Bay State kids who never graduate. Governor Patrick wants to slash that number by a quarter within two years, but there's little agreement on how to do it.

Some policy makers advocate raising the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18, but others say that would just criminalize behavior without curbing it. Still others say expanding vocational education can be a big part of the solution. Alternative schools, anti-truancy programs, and new approaches to bilingual education have all resulted in varying degrees of success across the Commonwealth.

On this week's Radio Boston, we examine what works, what doesn't, and what has yet to be tried. It's all part of the joint WBUR/WGBH series Project Dropout.