More than half a million young people in the United States drop out of high school each year—a rate that's remained relatively constant over the last 30 years. Strategies for tackling this pressing problem will be the focus of a research forum that will be held in Portland, OR, on September 23, 2009. The Education Northwest is convening this one-day workshop to explore evidence-based practices to inform the design and implementation of dropout prevention programs.

Superintendents, principals, school board members, and state officials are invited to attend the event, which will focus on Dropout Prevention, a Practice Guide from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The publication offers six evidence-based recommendations for preventing students from dropping out of school. "As a former teacher in a dropout program, it is encouraging to hear about research-based community prevention strategies to keep students in school." says Susan Sather, the organizer of the event.

Participants will hear from Russell Rumberger, one of the authors of the recently published guide. Rumberger is a professor of education and the director of the California Dropout Research Project at the UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute (UC LMRI) at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has been conducting research on school dropouts for the past 25 years and has written 27 research papers and essays on the topic.

Joyce Harris, director of the Equity Program at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, will moderate a panel discussion on comprehensive school and community approaches to dropout prevention in Oregon. In this discussion, the panel members will talk about specific ways they might be able to use the research to continue to refine and expand their current efforts.

Participants will also engage in small-group discussions to share professional challenges and successes and to explore specific ways that they can use the research findings to focus dropout prevention efforts in their own schools and districts. Using guided activities and discussion organizers, the groups will work together to apply new learning to their own situations. The groups will also have an opportunity to report out and discuss their findings and questions with Dr. Rumberger.

Dropout Prevention: A Research Forum for Northwest Region Educators is free of charge and refreshments and lunch will be provided. To learn more and to register, visit the event page.